Huawei Technologies is doubling down on foundation models with a newly formed unit, heating up the race for dominance among Chinese tech giants in the artificial intelligence sector. The AI foundation model unit was established under Huawei’s 2012 ...

Chinese entrepreneur Guan Yuxiang built her drink can empire from scratch after retirement, earning her the titles of the country’s “Drink Can Queen” and “the greatest retired female worker.” Born in Shenyang, in northeastern China’s Liao...

India’s parliament is debating a draft law that would give employees the right to ignore work calls, emails and messages outside official hours, weeks after a tycoon’s call for a 72-hour work week sparked a furore on social media. The Right to Di...

Hong Kong police have arrested nine men for suspected involvement in military-style combat training, the first such case under the domestic national security law, after raiding a factory space in San Po Kong. The force’s National Security Departmen...

A group of civilians including two former government officials, filed a corruption complaint against Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte, in a fresh political challenge for the estranged deputy of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. The complaint, fil...

For three decades, Xu Chongyu was Europe’s secret weapon against the rising tides. From his quiet office at the University of Oslo, his hydrological models have guarded cities from Copenhagen to Brussels, predicting floods before the first clouds f...

It is almost eight years since US President Donald Trump first declared that “trade wars are good, and easy to win”. How much longer will it take him and his tariff hawks to eat those words, and acknowledge the crass economic illiteracy of that c...

A man fell and hit his head, suffering a traumatic brain injury, after seeing his neighbour’s dog exit a lift at their condominium in Singapore. His daughter later sued the neighbour for negligence in how he had handled the dog and for breach of th...

Hong Kong will hold the Apec finance ministers’ meeting in October next year as part of China’s efforts to host the regional economic forum, the Post has learned. A source also revealed on Friday that Macau would host the tourism ministers’ mee...

The secretive aftermath of a United States review of the three-nation Aukus defence deal to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines is necessary to shield the pact from any doubts over its viability, which analysts say could undermine politi...

Judge David Lok Kai-hong, who chairs the Electoral Affairs Commission, will lead an independent review committee set up by the government to investigate the Tai Po fire that killed at least 160 people, Hong Kong’s leader has announced. Chief Execut...

A Chinese business group has urged the European Union to halt its “discriminatory and disproportionate” use of anti-subsidy probes to target Chinese companies, as Brussels steps up its scrutiny of firms allegedly receiving unfair state subsidies....

The United States is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Th...

China’s new ambassador to the Philippines has said both sides should try to get relations back on a “healthy” course, while President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has said differences between the two countries should be the “exception rather than the...

The wages of scaffolding workers in Hong Kong are likely to increase as plastic meshes that have passed a new mandatory fire safety test are expected to be installed at more than 200 buildings from next month, according to a construction industry rep...

A British backpacker has been sentenced to four years in prison after a fatal collision with a father-of-two while riding an electric scooter in Australia. Alicia Kemp, 25, from Redditch, Worcestershire, appeared at Perth District Court, Western Aust...

Malaysia’s home minister has urged senior clerics to lodge formal complaints over claims that a mysterious South Korean Christian “cult movement” has been attempting to spread its teachings among Malaysian Muslims. The controversy surfaced afte...

A massive international grey market in mobile phone SIM cards is fuelling large-scale manipulation and fraud online, a University of Cambridge study has found. The researchers say physical and virtual SIMs from providers like SMSActivate, 5Sim, SMShu...

Scientists have developed a new type of semiconductor that they hope will overcome a major problem for bioelectronic devices: the immune response that causes the body to reject implants. Bioelectronics is the science of integrating electronic systems...

A woman from southwestern China, who has been battling social anxiety, has gone viral after spending three years overcoming her fears by “crashing” around 100 wedding banquets of strangers to collect leftover food to feed over 120 stray cats. The...

Malaysian prosecutors have dropped their appeal against the acquittal of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of jailed former prime minister Najib Razak, in a case involving money laundering and tax evasion, saying they saw no prospect of success. Since 2018, th...

A jobless Hong Kong man has been remanded in custody on suspicion of defrauding HK$18,000 (US$2,313) in financial aid intended for those affected by last month’s deadly Tai Po fire. Kwai Chung resident Fung Chun-kit, 36, was not required to enter a...

The quota for Hong Kong’s ride-hailing vehicles to be set by authorities should reflect Uber’s operating situation in the city, the firm’s CEO has urged, adding that the company’s focus on safety will help it stand out among competitors. Dara...

Greece’s finance minister was on Thursday named head of the Eurogroup, the body that helps shape euro zone policy, underlining his country’s turnaround since the years when it came close to crashing out of the single currency. Kyriakos Pierrakaki...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please conside...

The Hong Kong government has hit back at accusations in a US congressional commission annual report that Beijing has failed to honour its international obligations to protect the city’s autonomy and human rights, saying its remarks are “fact-twis...

The 2025 film Nuremberg ends with a sober line from British historian R.G. Collingwood: “The only clue to what man can do is what man has done” – a stark reminder that history repeats when justice does not. While the crimes of Nazi Germany were...

A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of northern Japan on Friday, the weather office said, days after an even larger tremor shook the region and injured at least 50. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded Friday’s quake to a 6.7 magni...

Hong Kong’s High Court will hand down its judgment in the national security trial of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying on Monday. Judges Esther Toh Lye-ping, Susana Maria D’Almada Remedios and Alex Lee Wan-tang will deliver their verdict at 1...

Canada’s governing Liberals were one seat short of a simple majority in Parliament after a Conservative lawmaker defected and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney’s party on Thursday. Michael Ma was the second Canadian Conservative opposition lawmak...

China is on track to slash its reliance on imported soybeans to less than 30 per cent within a decade, from the current 90 per cent, research from Goldman Sachs suggests, as Beijing accelerates efforts to shore up self-sufficiency – including inocu...

A Hollywood director was convicted on Thursday on charges that he scammed Netflix out of US$11 million for a show that never materialised, while he instead used the cash for lavish purchases that included several Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari and about US$...

US and Japanese defence chiefs spoke on the phone on Friday about a confrontation between Chinese and Japanese fighter jets over the weekend, with Tokyo saying it did not seek to escalate the tensions. During the call, Japanese Defence Minister Shinj...

Families of victims of karoshi, or death from overwork, on Thursday protested against the recent selection of Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark emphasising work as this year’s catchphrase, saying the choice hurt their feelings and ...

Bangladesh’s national security adviser recently made a low profile visit to New Delhi, holding talks with his Indian counterpart in what many in Dhaka saw as a sign that the two neighbours might reset ties following bilateral tensions over the self...

Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE), the private investment holding company of the Cheng family and the parent firm of debt-ridden New World Development (NWD), has no plans to sell its prized Rosewood brand, according to sources familiar...

Within hours of the Wang Fuk Court fire, international news channels were broadcasting harrowing scenes of burning buildings and a community in chaos. Thousands were displaced, the death toll has, sadly, reached 160, and the city is still seeking ans...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is rapidly cementing its position as a global leader in the digital asset sector on the back of its regulatory infrastructure and the institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies, according to industry insiders at the fou...

An inherent “asymmetry” of power poses a challenge to resolving South China Sea disputes via the quiet diplomacy traditionally favoured by Southeast Asian nations, a leading Malaysian security expert has said. Chinese analysts said Beijing suppor...

An elderly son in eastern China followed local customs by lying on his late mother’s bed to comfort her soul, only to contract a severe illness. According to the mainland media outlet, Hongxing News, the man surnamed Chen, who is in his 60s and fro...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. A cold front is expected to begin affe...

A “Hong Kong model” being developed by the city’s first Chinese medicine hospital that integrates traditional and Western practices will be easier for overseas institutions to adopt, offering a niche for promoting such treatments worldwide, exp...

Japan’s ability to communicate effectively in English has dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to a global ranking that paints a worrying picture for a nation that prides itself on being an economic and educational powerhous...

The Indiana Senate on Thursday rejected a new congressional map that would have boosted Republican chances of keeping control of the US House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump’s nationwi...

Global investors should shift their focus from Asia’s dominant AI hardware “titans” to a growing group of mid-cap “battleground” sectors that offer stronger growth potential amid intensifying competition, according to BofA Securities. In a ...

Despite a high-level phone call between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, 2025 is likely to end without the long-promised US-India trade deal, as the “America first” leader continues to stall the agree...

One-time cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison after a US$40 billion crash revealed his crypto ecosystem to be a fraud. Victims said the 34-year-old financial technology whiz weaponised their trust to convince t...

Rising tensions in the Middle East despite the fragile ceasefire agreement in Gaza are continuing to fuel demands for arms in a region where China has emerged as a major supplier. As well as supplying drones and missiles, China is looking to expand i...

A grand jury declined for a second time to reindict New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, refusing to resurrect a mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by US President Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter. It is...

At the Islamabad Conclave earlier this month, Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, urged a rethink of how South Asia approaches security, trade, climate and connectivity. He called for practical cooperation, disaster re...