Chinese state media have escalated criticism of what they characterise as Japan’s growing “neo-militarism”, warning that Beijing has sufficient policy tools in reserve to respond should Tokyo endanger China’s core interests. People’s Daily,...

More Hongkongers are travelling over the Christmas holiday period compared with last year, with traditional destinations in Japan remaining popular despite geopolitical tensions, and mainland cities such as Harbin and Yunnan gaining appeal. Some indu...

China’s Dai ethnic minority have an unusual way of making romantic connections. Women make matches by taking chickens to the market during Dai New Year in the hope of attracting suitors, using the birds as matchmaking tools. “Chicken as a Matchma...

Aspiring prime minister and political heavyweight Tarique Rahman was welcomed back to Bangladesh on Thursday by huge crowds of joyous supporters after 17 years in self-imposed exile. Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and heir appar...

India’s aviation sector is poised to become more competitive after authorities granted initial approval to two new airlines to start operations in the country, in a move that will further challenge the duopoly of IndiGo and Air India. The expansion...

At a church in Sumatra, dozens of worshippers sang hymns at a Christmas mass, gathered together for their first service since deadly floods swept the Indonesian island. The Angkola Protestant Church, in the hard-hit South Tapanuli district, was festo...

The first physical store of Chinese-owned fast-fashion giant Shein – which opened in central Paris in November amid heated protests – has become a new retail destination for many denizens of the French capital as they rush to finish their Christm...

A 61-year-old taxi driver has been hospitalised in Hong Kong after her vehicle crashed through the back door of a school building in Kwun Tong, requiring fire services to extract her from the car. Police said they were alerted at 10.33am on Thursday ...

The deadly inferno that raged through a housing estate in Hong Kong last month has prompted youngsters at charity Kids4Kids to spring into action to help children affected by the blaze. Last month’s fire swept through seven of Wang Fuk Court’s ei...

Four former defence company bosses have been sacked by China’s top political advisory body amid an ongoing anti-corruption campaign in the military and related sectors. They are among eight members removed from the Chinese People’s Political Cons...

While many Hongkongers have left the city over the Christmas holiday, hundreds of others have flocked to the annual Hong Kong Food Festival in Wan Chai for the first of a five-day fair featuring gourmet seafood, snacks and other delicacies. “I’m ...

Contemporary Amperex Technol­ogy Ltd (CATL), the world’s biggest maker of electric-vehicle batteries, is set to restart a major lithium mine in eastern China, in a move that could ease raw material costs for the EV supply chain. Jiemian News, a Sh...

Coupang’s significant spending on lobbying politicians in the United States has apparently paid off, with Republicans criticising the South Korean government’s ongoing investigation into the Seattle-headquartered e-commerce firm. They have denoun...

Tens of thousands of Hongkongers were stuck for hours at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Christmas Day, as residents streamed out of the city’s border checkpoints for the holiday. Police and rail giant the MTR Corporation also warned on Thursd...

Controversial British adult film star Bonnie Blue has again earned the wrath of Indonesia after a video of her insulting the Southeast Asian nation’s flag went viral on social media. In a clip filmed in front of Jakarta’s embassy in London, Blue,...

Chinese sports utility vehicle maker Jetour, with an eye on becoming a global SUV powerhouse, plans to accelerate its overseas expansion in the Middle East with products tailored to local motorists. Already present in more than 100 countries and regi...

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China military stories of the year. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, enters service China’s third aircraft car...

Traces of alcohol in pottery vessels discovered from a Bronze Age cemetery in northwestern China indicate that people at the time consumed beverages made using a fermentation starter of rice and a red mould. Archaeologists said the drink, similar to ...

A privately run college in China has come under fire for asking students who failed exams to pay as much as 79,800 yuan (US$11,000) to join a nonexistent “micro study abroad” programme to have their fail record removed. Xian Technology and Busine...

Retired Hong Kong civil servant Ng Kook-yiu takes a shuttle bus every day from his transitional housing flat to the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. “I long to see my home, where I spent four decades of my life. It breaks my heart to see it e...

China’s offshore yuan strengthened further on Thursday, dipping below the benchmark rate of seven against the US dollar – another sign of the currency’s continued appreciation after a brief breach of the same threshold on Wednesday evening. The...

The Philippine Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of three policemen who killed a teenage boy at the height of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in 2017, a watershed moment that legal analysts say affirms the country’s j...

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. Hongkongers woke up to a cold Christma...

Australian police are investigating a “suspicious fire” after a car carrying a sign celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah was set ablaze on Thursday in Melbourne. The empty car, which had a “Happy Chanukah” sign fixed to the roof, was s...

Flash flood warnings were in effect in Los Angeles and most of southern California on Wednesday as one of the worst Christmas storms in recent memory brought heavy rain and fears of deadly mudslides. Driven by an atmospheric river known as “the Pin...

From political gaffes and diplomatic stumbles to courtroom fury and security breaches, many of Singapore’s viral moments in 2025 showed how quickly everyday incidents in the city state could turn into national focal points. Passionate online discus...

Hong Kong police have arrested nine employees of a company suspected of submitting at least 45 forged certificates for surveying equipment used at five hospital expansion projects and a government construction site. The force said on Thursday that it...

Huawei Technologies in late November sold more than 10,000 units of its artificial intelligence toy, Smart Hanhan, in the first week of its release, as similar smart playthings seize a growing share of consumer spending worldwide. Shenzhen-based Huaw...

Two people have been arrested in Malaysia after a viral video showing a man wearing a headscarf while drinking alcohol at a hair salon triggered religious sensitivities in the Muslim-majority country. The 28-second clip widely shared across social me...

“Justice is open to all – like the Ritz” is a quote often attributed to Sir James Mathew, a 19th-century Irish judge. This is another way of saying that while in theory justice and the courts are open to everyone, in practice only those who can...

The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance becomes operational in Hong Kong on January 20, and will enhance child protections. It contains a mechanism for the early and effective detection of child abuse cases. It requires particular profession...

Tourists planning to spend Christmas in Hong Kong have fuelled a surge in guest house bookings since October, driving occupancy and room rates to their strongest levels in five years. But those arriving without reservations may end up paying double t...

Chinese researchers have proposed a simple yet powerful theory to explain one of physics’ oldest puzzles: why time only moves forward and why travelling to the past remains impossible. Physicist Cai Qingyu and his team at Hainan University in south...

A shopping centre in southern China has installed special glass on the doors of men’s toilet cubicles that becomes transparent when people smoke inside, winning applause online. The move involving bathrooms at Shenzhen’s Shuibei International Cen...

Traveller safety and outdated facilities remain pressing issues that could undermine Malaysia’s tourism ambitions if left unaddressed, according to Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing. Tiong said many attractions lack basic infrastru...

A decision by a court in Switzerland this week to hear a climate lawsuit brought by four Indonesian fishermen against cement giant Holcim has been welcomed by campaigners as an important step for climate justice, even as they warned the legal fight c...

Pope Leo held the first Christmas mass of his pontificate on Wednesday, greeting thousands of faithful in St Peter’s Square before the service. During the mass, Leo said Christmas was a feast of “faith, charity and hope” and criticised a “dis...

All eyes are on how Beijing’s “Chinese dream” of eventual Taiwan reunification will unfold at a time when the leader of the United States – Taipei’s top international backer – appears less likely to intervene in case of a cross-strait con...

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura won Honduras’ presidential election, electoral authorities said on Wednesday, ending a weeks-long count that has whittled away at the credibility of the Central American nation’s fragile electoral system...

Seoul has been putting its weight behind lowering the temperature on stalled US-North Korea denuclearisation talks. The issue remains fraught with tension: Washington has grown increasingly sceptical of the prospect of Pyongyang’s complete denuclea...

The US Justice Department said Wednesday that it may need a “few more weeks” to release all of its records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents, further delaying co...

Just before Christmas, US President Donald Trump has unleashed a fresh blast of vitriol at late-night comedy talk shows, saying comedian Stephen Colbert is a “pathetic train wreck” who should be “put to sleep”. Colbert’s The Late Show is sc...

Hundreds of worshippers gathered for mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Wednesday night as the Palestinian city ushered in its first festive Christmas in more than two years, emerging from the shadow of the war in Gaza. Throughout the...

Brazil is preparing to waive visa requirements for Chinese citizens travelling for tourism and business, local media reported on Wednesday citing government sources, in a move that would mark a significant shift in policy and deepen ties with its lar...

The European Union is back in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over its tech rules, which Washington denounced as an attempt to “coerce” American social media platforms into censoring viewpoints they oppose. The US State Department said...

Hong Kong police have made their 16th arrest in connection with last month’s deadly Tai Po blaze, detaining a man on suspicion of manslaughter. Police earlier arrested 15 people in connection with the fire, which engulfed seven of eight scaffolding...

Algeria’s parliament unanimously approved on Wednesday a law declaring France’s colonisation of the country a crime, demanding an apology and reparations in a move Paris condemned as “hostile”. Standing in the chamber, lawmakers wearing scarv...

Hongkongers are out in droves to experience festive vibes on Christmas Eve, while more than 540,000 residents have left the city for the holidays. By Wednesday evening, a growing crowd had gathered at the open-air plaza at Harbour City shopping centr...

US-blacklisted company iFlytek has set up a new corporate entity to expand into semiconductors and other artificial intelligence-related fields as part of efforts to bolster China’s broader tech self-sufficiency initiatives. The new entity, Shandon...

Amber Lam has been writing and making her own Christmas cards since childhood and enjoys handing them personally to friends each festive season. The 25-year-old clerk, who sends about 20 cards a year, started the tradition when she was in primary sch...