Japanese warships have sailed through waters close to Chinese-controlled islands and reefs in the South China Sea on at least two occasions in the last 10 months, entering the contiguous zone around the disputed Spratly Islands, Japanese media have r...

CanSino’s inhaled Covid-19 vaccine booster induces a higher level of immune response for those vaccinated with two Sinovac shots than a third dose of the Sinovac vaccine, a team of Chinese researchers has found.Study participants who received the C...

Dozens of Hong Kong residents are set to be evacuated after experts found evidence of vertical Covid-19 transmission in their tower block, where two more infections have been detected amid the city’s Omicron-fuelled fifth wave of the coronavirus.Th...

Owners of flats built with combustible cladding have welcomed a UK government move to make developers contribute more to the cost of its removal following the deadly 2017 Grenfell Tower fire but say much more is needed.“I would say it’s a step in...

A man in China has been sentenced to seven years in jail for setting internet equipment ablaze after becoming enraged over a slow connection, authorities have said.The man, surnamed Lan, was at an internet cafe in the southern Guangxi region last Jun...

Taiwanese rescuers on Wednesday located the wreckage of a F-16V jet that crashed into the sea less than two months after the island launched the first squadron of its most advanced fighters.The jet disappeared from radar screens around half an hour a...

Demand for chicken in Thailand is soaring as more diners opt for the meat, amid a severe shortage of pork that has seen prices double – as other Asian countries have halted imports of Canadian beef following discovery of mad cow disease.Thailand’...

Hong Kong police have arrested a motorist on suspicion of drug trafficking after intercepting a car in Tsim Sha Tsui and seizing nearly HK$800,000 (US$102,608) worth of narcotics on Tuesday night.The car, suspected to have been used for delivering il...

Premium telescopes, violin bows and speciality paper are bucking a deflationary trend that has defined Japan for decades – all have had their prices increased by companies confident they can charge more without losing business.Years of stagnant pri...

A mild winter and muddy ground could complicate possible Russian plans to launch an invasion of Ukraine, potentially delaying plans for military action, senior Biden administration officials told The New York Times.Ukraine tends to experience a hard ...

Just a week ago, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic had a clear plan. He had been given the green light by Victorian officials to enter Melbourne despite being unvaccinated and he was set to defend his Australian Open title.Instead, he found himself ...

For Timothy Tian, like millions of other Chinese civil servants, the forthcoming Lunar New Year promises to be an austere one as government workers face the toughest round of belt-tightening in a decade.Even if Covid restrictions allow it, the city g...

The United Nations has launched its biggest ever appeal – for over US$5 billion to help 22 million Afghans whose country is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis and economic collapse as well as 5.7 million Afghan refugees in five neighbouring coun...

Singapore officials warned people chasing digital investment opportunities such as non-fungible tokens and metaverse assets to exercise caution and participate “responsibly” – a recommendation that mirrors the city state’s own balancing act a...

China’s southern city of Shenzhen remains on high alert after a further four new Covid-19 cases – one of them asymptomatic – were uncovered on Tuesday night, doubling the day’s previously reported tally.The new infections are a blow to neighb...

The percentage of positive Covid-19 tests have reached a record high in the Philippines, fuelling fears of a return to stricter curbs on movement and triggering a sell-off of stocks as hopes fade for a swift economic recovery.Positivity rates are ris...

Scientists are seeing signals that Covid-19’s alarming Omicron wave may have peaked in Britain and is about to do the same in the United States, at which point cases may start dropping off dramatically.The reason: the variant has proved so wildly c...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Wednesday opened the inaugural session of the first “patrio...

China has reopened a busy checkpoint on its border with Vietnam after a three-week closure over Covid-19 concerns, which had left thousands of trucks stranded and drawn criticism from Hanoi.Cargo and traveller clearance in the coastal border city of ...

As the pandemic has evolved and vaccinations have become politicised, the door has opened for some questionable alternatives to treat Covid-19.Urine therapy – where advocates encourage people to drink their own urine to tap into its redemptive prop...

Condom sales declined precipitously during the pandemic, according to the world’s largest manufacturer of the contraceptive, based in Malaysia, which saw sales falling as much as 40 per cent in the last two years.While many would assume that people...

A decision by Hong Kong authorities to cut their lengthiest quarantine period for close contacts of Covid-19 patients from 21 days to 14 has brought closer scrutiny to the city’s tough isolation regime, and prompted some local experts to argue the ...

China’s improving consumer and factory-gate inflation outlook will leave more room for easing monetary policy in the coming months, with next week’s headline growth rate figures set to confirm the anticipated slowdown.Data released on Wednesday s...

Hong Kong’s leader is expected to unveil details of the biggest overhaul of the government since 2007 at the inaugural session of the new legislature on Wednesday, as well as provide an update on her ambitious plan to build a new town along the bor...

The mother of a Chinese student studying in Japan who was stabbed to death by the ex-boyfriend of her friend has won a civil lawsuit against the friend who was told to pay nearly 700,000 yuan (US$110,000) as compensation.Jiang Ge was fatally stabbed ...

When Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi announced her ministry’s targets for this year, she said the country would intensify negotiations to resolve border disputes with nations including Malaysia and the Philippines.Indonesia, an archipe...

The biggest spreader of Covid-19 so far in Hong Kong’s growing Omicron outbreak is an unvaccinated woman who directly infected eight people and triggered fifth-generation transmission in less than two weeks, a review of local cases by the Post has ...

Fortunes turned quickly for Karim Massimov. Kazakhstan’s former intelligence chief was once seen as a contender to succeed the country’s powerful founding president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.But during a week of deadly unrest that Kazakh authorities ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for boosting the country’s strategic military forces as he observed the test of a hypersonic missile, state media said on Wednesday, officially attending a missile launch for the first time in nearly two years...

Hong Kong’s biggest developers continue to buy prime land sites in top-tier cities in mainland China, as they take advantage of the general malaise among competitors that are struggling to survive an unprecedented debt load in the industry.Kerry Pr...

US President Joe Biden took a major political gamble Tuesday in calling for an end to the Senate’s supermajority rule so that Democrats can override Republican opposition to voting rights reforms that he called crucial to saving US democracy.Speaki...

Quebec, Canada’s second most populous province, is planning to force adults refusing to get Covid-19 vaccinated pay a “health contribution” in a move likely to spur a debate about individual rights and social responsibility.Premier Francois Leg...

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday warned the Communist Party’s top provincial and ministerial officials not to waver on anti-corruption efforts and to strictly follow Beijing’s strategic decisions as his administration prepares for a crucia...

The United States briefly halted some flights on its west coast after North Korea test-launched a ballistic missile, its second weapons test in less than a week, officials said Tuesday.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed it had “temp...

A new US Senate bill would punish Chinese officials for preventing an investigation into whether the Covid-19 pandemic could be tied to an infectious disease laboratory in Wuhan.Introduced on Monday by Marco Rubio of Florida and 15 other Republican s...

China has built a research facility that simulates the low-gravity environment on the moon – and it was inspired by experiments using magnets to levitate a frog.The facility could provide valuable research for China’s lunar exploration activities...

US President Joe Biden and top health officials on Tuesday defended the administration’s response to the unrelenting pandemic as daily US Covid-19 cases reached a new high, largely fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron variant.Biden, who has bee...

Back in April 2020, during the first coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong, disinfection robots developed in the city were deployed at the airport to help fight Covid-19. Today, as we face the risk of a fifth wave of infections, service robots are becomi...

WHO experts warned on Tuesday that repeating booster doses of the original Covid-19 vaccines is not a viable strategy against emerging variants like Omicron and called for new jabs that better protect against transmission.An expert group created by t...

Russia staged live-fire exercises with troops and tanks near the Ukrainian border on Tuesday while sounding a downbeat note over the prospects for talks with the United States that Washington hopes will remove the possible threat of an invasion of Uk...

Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum praised David Sassoli, the parliament president who died on Tuesday at 65, for his “clear-cut support” of lawmakers who had run afoul of China.Sassoli – a centre-left MEP fro...

The World Bank on Tuesday cut its forecasts for economic growth in the United States, the Euro area and China and warned that high debt levels, rising income inequality and new coronavirus variants threatened the recovery in developing economies.It s...

The outbreak of violence in Kazakhstan has awakened the question of Sino-Russian competition in Central Asia. The assertion of Russian hard power is interpreted as being an example of Moscow getting the upper hand, to Beijing’s detriment.Yet this a...

Greek officials on Tuesday vowed to track the people behind the filming of a gay sex scene on Athens’ Acropolis, the country’s most important archaeological site, after footage emerged online.A culture ministry spokesman said that they had launch...

Henan in central China has become the first province in the country to officially combat Omicron and Delta coronavirus variants at the same time, after the city of Anyang confirmed two Omicron infections on Monday.In all, 58 new community cases were ...

A landmine-hunting rat that was awarded a gold medal for heroism for clearing ordnance from the Cambodian countryside has died, his charity said on Tuesday.Magawa, a giant African pouched rat originally from Tanzania, helped clear mines from about 22...

One of Britain’s largest energy suppliers has apologised for advising customers to cuddle with pets or challenge children to hula hoop competitions to keep warm without turning up the heat as gas and electricity bills soar this winter.The suggestio...

Beijing has pledged its support for Russia sending troops to Kazakhstan and for China to deepen coordination with Russia in global affairs, as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalate.The assurances by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi came as ...

The battle over the HK$11.3 billion estate of late Hong Kong tycoon and philanthropist Henry Fok Ying-tung reopened in court on Tuesday with three of his 13 children seeking to restore his flagship company’s right to a valuable mainland China devel...

People who frequent the Hong Kong districts of Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Kowloon Bay, Kwun Tong and Yuen Long in the coming week could face a “high risk” of getting infected with the Omicron coronavirus variant, according to a study by Polytechnic Univ...