Hong Kong’s retail sales in May rose 7.9 per cent year on year, extending the streak of growth to 13 months, with the sector benefiting from an increase in visitor numbers amid mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday. The value of r...

China can provide “all-round” support for Ukraine’s post-war industrial recovery, Beijing’s envoy to Kyiv said while reaffirming his country’s commitment to pushing for a ceasefire and a political settlement for a conflict in its fifth year...

As China’s leading DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) prepares for its expected 29.5 billion yuan (US$4.3 billion) Shanghai Star Market listing, the critical question facing investors is whether the firm can convert its cyclical windfal...

There are many disconnects in financial markets. One of them is Japan’s benchmark 10-year bond yield, which currently stands at just 2.7 per cent despite the country’s large public debt burden – more than 240 per cent of economic output. Althou...

The pilot of a small plane that crashed into Beijing’s tallest building last week had long suffered from anxiety and discussed “ending his life” in his diary, authorities in the Chinese capital said on Thursday. In a brief summary of an investi...

Wu Xinbo is the dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai and a leading Chinese researcher on the US. In this interview, he analyses how shifts in US foreign policy are changing the relationship between the two co...

Indonesia’s former president Joko Widodo has begun a nationwide political tour that analysts say is aimed at transforming his younger son’s small party from a marginal player into a significant force before the 2029 elections. Widodo, popularly k...

Beijing has downplayed reports that the World Bank will phase out lending to China by 2031, with the Ministry of Finance noting that the nation’s advancing economy and changing development needs were shifting cooperation away from financing and tow...

A large number of mainland Chinese companies hoping to list shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange are anxiously waiting for a nod from the mainland securities regulator, with many now at risk of having their listing applications lapse. More than 430...

The Vatican on Thursday excommunicated six bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St Pius X and said any lay believers who “formally adhere” to the group would suffer the same fate. The Vatican decree comes a day after the traditionalist b...

India has asked WhatsApp to justify the implementation of a planned feature covering usernames and to freeze the roll-out in its biggest market, escalating a crackdown on messaging anonymity that began with Telegram, according to a government letter....

China has banned tiletamine, a common veterinary anaesthetic, after its recreational inhalation among young people escalated sharply. Since July 1, the compound has been classified as a controlled substance and is regulated as strictly as fentanyl. T...

Hong Kong lawmaker William Wong Kam-fai failed to report his arrest for alleged drink-driving to the Legislative Council as required under its code of conduct and is expected to face an internal investigation that could result in stiff penalties, the...

Singapore is set to acquire additional Hellfire missiles after the United States backed a proposed package valued at US$22.3 million. The US State Department said on Tuesday that it has approved the potential sale of an additional 24 AGM-114R Hellfir...

It’s the 1000th day of war since a Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Other conflicts have emerged in the region, and fragile ceasefires show scars of persistent attacks. Both Israelis and Palestinians are weary of the strain....

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s trip to Canada highlights deepening ties at a time when Ottawa is seeking to court middle powers and establish its presence in the Indo-Pacific. Marcos is in the Canadian capital for a four-day visit that...

A Ferrari owner in southwest China is considering legal action after some children used his supercar as a slide, damaging it while their parents remained unapologetic. Zhang, from Kunming in Yunnan province, recently parked his red Ferrari, valued at...

Chinese Tesla challengers Leapmotor and Zeekr, banking on their latest battery and self-driving technologies, bucked a downward trend in domestic electric vehicle sales with record deliveries last month, ratcheting up pressure on the US carmaker amid...

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] When Canton Tower lit up on 1 July to celebrate Lingnan University’s achievement as the world’s top university for SDG 4: Quality Education in the Times Higher Education ...

Malaysia’s heritage state of Penang has begun using body camera footage to prosecute litterbugs, widening a national clean-up drive that could see offenders fined or ordered by a court to carry out community service. The tougher enforcement, which ...

Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong has been restructured, with its Economic Department split into two and its district-level groups expanded, a move that an analyst said reflected the central government’s greater focus on financial, youth and ...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi kicks off a rare tour of Europe’s Nordic countries on Thursday, as Beijing tests whether it can use shifting geopolitical sands to find openings among some of the bloc’s most China-critical governments. The vetera...

Hong Kong police stopped and searched 15 people on July 1 in areas where protests were previously held, with one man wearing a T-shirt with political undertones taken away. The force said on Thursday that five men and 10 women, aged between 25 and 73...

Hong Kong’s stock exchange ranked second globally by capital raised in the first half of 2026, with total proceeds from initial public offerings and secondary listings rising 84.3 per cent year on year to US$26.4 billion. Among the 84 new listings ...

Hong Kong labour unions have urged worksite supervisors to step up risk assessments and precautionary measures to strengthen work safety culture, as the city reported at least 62 industrial accidents, including 24 fatal cases, in the first half of th...

Doctors said Wednesday they feared the aftermath of Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes could trigger a widening medical crisis marked by untreated injuries, infectious diseases and a healthcare system already on the brink. Thousands of displa...

Some years it comes, and some years it does not. But, drifting up and across the Strait of Malacca, it can hang in the air for weeks on end over cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – regional economic hubs that host two of the world’s busie...

The arrest of a 65-year-old woman accused of selling abortion pills in Manila has offered a glimpse into the shadow economy growing around ending unwanted pregnancies in the Philippines, one of the few countries in the world where the procedure remai...

Unstaffed coffee ⁠shops, ramen eateries and flower outlets are spreading across South Korea as owners turn to robots and self-service to overcome rising labour costs in a business model that relies on the widespread honesty of users. Such stores, u...

The operator of budget online marketplaces Temu and Pinduoduo is ramping up its commitment in a state-backed development zone – dubbed a “city of the future” in official discourse – months after the e-commerce group was hit by the heaviest pe...

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in the early hours on Thursday, blasting apart residential buildings, killing at least 13 people and wounding scores. Multiple explosions shook buildings and reverb...

A court order requiring Japan’s government to compensate the family of a Peruvian man whose arm was broken at an immigration facility has intensified scrutiny of the country’s detention system, with rights experts warning that the case shows refo...

If ViuTV’s Court! feels unusually grounded for a legal drama, it is because the series dares to show what the public rarely sees – and what the profession has perhaps been too polite to say out loud. There are no dramatic ambushes or theatrical m...

China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, passed in March, takes effect this month. It stands alongside the 1984 Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy as a foundational, comprehensive statute on ethnic affairs, placing the task of forging a str...

Residents and tourists have flocked to Hong Kong’s harbourfront to welcome two PLA Navy vessels on a five-day port call to the city as part of celebrations marking the handover anniversary. The guided-missile destroyer Nanning and the guided-missil...

A Chinese single mother who quit school after Primary One carried steel tubes to support her daughter, who excelled in this year’s college entrance exams. When Zou Pinzhi and her daughter Liu Fang saw the freshly published results of her gaokao, or...

More than 2 million cars could be damaged by tsunami waves in the event of a megaquake along the Nankai Trough off Japan’s Pacific coast, according to a survey by an organisation offering free rental vehicles to disaster victims. The survey, which ...

When Kwun Tong Maryknoll College in Hong Kong announced that it would tighten its mobile phone rules on campus, some pupils reacted so strongly that the Catholic boys’ school was forced to put the changes on hold. The secondary school, which curren...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong’s weather forecaster will keep the No 1 typhoon warning signal in force throughout Thursday and m...

Ukraine’s unresolved decision regarding two North Korean prisoners of war who have said they want to go to South Korea has given Kyiv leverage as it presses Seoul to sell weapons for its war against Russia, observers say. The soldiers, captured in ...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that indirect talks with Iran in Qatar were making progress, offering a tentative sign that diplomacy was holding after recent exchanges of fire threatened efforts to end the Middle East war. Iran’s Deput...

Alibaba Group will pay US$600 million to settle a US Department of Justice investigation into allegations that its e-commerce platforms enabled the sale of thousands of illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, and other prohibited products int...

Martial arts icon Bruce Lee, who was born in San Francisco, will become the first Chinese-American in California history with an annual namesake day. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Tuesday afternoon officially designating May 17 as Bruce Lee D...

Hong Kong’s educational institutions are forecast to ramp up their investment and leasing in the commercial property segment, with leading universities and international schools among those paying top dollar to acquire or lease office and retail sp...

In comments directed at Asean, a top Communist Party official reiterated that Beijing did not want to become a regional hegemon, while vowing to strengthen its energy cooperation with the Southeast Asian bloc. “For a country like China, which has �...

The United States confirmed on Wednesday it would not renew its North American trade pact, its trade chief blaming Canada’s pursuit of Chinese investment. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the three governments met virtually and that Wash...

When people speak of the Great Game, they usually mean the 19th-century rivalry between the British and Russian empires for influence over Central Asia. It conjures up images of spies crossing deserts, mountain fortresses and imperial intrigue – an...

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will celebrate their wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the security plans. The festivities will kick off with a smaller rehearsal dinner planned for Thur...

Beijing’s move this week to add 20 more Japanese entities to its export-control list is the latest chapter in a complex US-Japan-China geopolitical triangle. Over the past seven months, an angry China has punished Tokyo repeatedly. A miffed Japan i...

A ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz while using a route not approved by Iran, state television in Tehran reported on Wednesday. The vessel was identified as a foreign container ship, with no other details. The report appeared aimed at underlin...