Chinese fintech firm Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, has picked healthcare as a new artificial intelligence-driven business pillar, as it seeks growth in China’s rapidly ageing society, according to CEO Cyril Han Xinyi. The group,...

The defeat of a Chinese contestant in a world slapping event, which left him with a broken cheekbone, has triggered a heated discussion on mainland social media. Power Slap is a global competition which features two opponents taking turns slapping ea...

In a scene that could have stepped out of a sci-fi film classic like Blade Runner or Ex Machina, Xpeng founder He Xiaopeng had the back of his company’s new humanoid robot unzipped to prove there was no person inside – after its lifelike movement...

The Panama Canal Authority is “moving fast” to pre-qualify bidders to build two new port terminals, with one-on-one meetings with operators set for the first week of December, its chief administrator said on Friday, amid the stalled sale of Hong ...

A 60-metre (196-foot) tower collapsed during demolition work at a decommissioned thermal power plant in the South Korean city of Ulsan, killing three people and leaving at least two others presumed dead, officials said on Friday. Five people remain t...

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn will embark on the first trip to China by a Thai monarch since the two nations established diplomatic ties half a century ago. The state visit, at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping and scheduled to t...

On the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 2007, a celebratory special by state media included a brief history of the late Deng Xiaoping’s observations. “In June 1987, while analysing Inner Mongolia’...

A total of 32 people, including more than a dozen frontline bank staff, have been arrested in a joint operation by Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency and police for scamming HK$140 million (US$18 million) in government-backed preferential loans. Th...

Multiple explosions shook a mosque at a high school during Friday prayers in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, injuring at least 54 people, mostly students, police said. Witnesses told local television stations that they heard at least two loud blasts ...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Friday that there were “no active discussions” about selling the company’s state-of-the-art Blackwell chips to China. Blackwell is Nvidia’s current flagship artificial intelligence chip that the Trump administr...

Chongqing, a key economic hub in southwest China, has unveiled a plan to support the development of innovative drugs as the country steps up its push for scientific and technological self-reliance. The plan’s headline goals include having one to th...

China has called for further talks on Iran’s nuclear programme to get the process “back on track” after European countries reimposed sanctions on Tehran a few weeks ago. “China appreciates Iran’s recent reaffirmation that it has no intentio...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. A severe tropical storm has formed east of the Philippines and is expected to come within 800km (497 miles) o...

Hong Kong authorities have saved about HK$190 billion (US$24.4 billion) in costs from more than 540 public works projects over the past nine years, according to a top official who also pledged to further advance construction innovation. Deputy Financ...

Few places in the small African kingdom of eSwatini have a more feared reputation than the Matsapha Correctional Centre, a high-security sprawl of concrete and rust outside the capital, Mbabane. “It’s like a jungle,” a former detainee told Agen...

The US lifted its arms embargo on Cambodia, the latest sign of Washington’s renewed engagement with the Southeast Asian nation after it backed President Donald Trump’s peace accord with Thailand. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the decision �...

At a meeting in Brussels last month, foreign ministers from the European Union’s 27 member states sat down to discuss the bloc’s plans for the Indo-Pacific region. The conversation, according to several people familiar with it, lasted just seven ...

South Korea flew military drones over Pyongyang just weeks before then-president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law last December, a provocation that triggered North Korea to prepare for war, according to Seoul’s defence intelligence agency. The re...

A man who slashed actor Ryan Lian over a staring incident outside Singapore’s NEX shopping centre was sentenced to nine months’ jail on Friday. Aaron Samuel Yukon, a 22-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one count of causing grievous hurt. A...

A Chinese tech company has been rewarding its employees with gold keycaps as a bonus for four consecutive years, earning their appreciation for “helping them manage wealth.” The firm, Insta360, based in Shenzhen, in southern Guangdong province, r...

When New York elected its first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, on Tuesday, Malaysians were quick to notice how many Americans blundered in pronouncing his surname as “Madani”, the slogan Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has spent three years trying to...

Hong Kong is not only a place for family offices to invest, but also a partner in their enduring journey where they anchor their legacy, the city’s leader said at a Post event, as he pledged to roll out more incentives to attract more operators. Sp...

China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, entered into service on Wednesday at a grand ceremony in Sanya, Hainan, according to state media reports from Friday. The Fujian is China’s most advanced warship and its first aircraft carrier to be equ...

In 2021, while China-born businessman Chen Zhi was building a multibillion-dollar empire now enmeshed in multiple criminal allegations, staff at his family office in Singapore ran into seemingly minor technical glitches. At first, some of them strugg...

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...

US forces on Thursday struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from Washington’s controversial anti-narcotics campaign to at least 70. The United ...

China’s exports fell in October amid a volatile trade war with the United States – though recent high-level talks between the world’s two largest economies have since eased tensions. Outbound shipments fell 1.1 per cent year on year to US$305.3...

Dozens of disgruntled customers have come forward after claiming they were duped by a Malaysian influencer who sold them lab-grown diamonds instead of the real deal. MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Michael Chong said that at least ...

Talks between the Chinese and South Korean leaders have renewed diplomatic momentum, but what happens next could hinge on how Seoul balances its relations with Washington, according to analysts. Chinese President Xi Jinping – on his first visit to ...

Indonesia is intensifying a crackdown on illegally imported second-hand clothing blamed for battering its domestic textile industry, a move that has been welcomed by manufacturers but rattled thrift sellers and shoppers struggling with shrinking purc...

Hong Kong police have arrested two people after three customs officers were attacked with a knife during an anti-drug operation, with all of them now in a stable condition. The pair, arrested in Mong Kok at 12.45am and in Kowloon City at 3am on Frida...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called critical minerals a key priority as he hosted the leaders of five Central Asian nations at the White House, emphasising his administration’s efforts to expand and secure US supply chains through new glob...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed back at the idea that the company would seek federal guarantees to reduce the risk of its artificial intelligence infrastructure spending spree, one day after a top executive at the ChatGPT maker suggested there may be a ...

Hong Kong and mainland China will continue to be the growth engine for asset-management companies as both local and international investors are starting to shift from holding cash to investing in equities and bonds in the region, according to the top...

A representative of a pharmaceutical company fainted on Thursday during a White House announcement on slashing the cost of weight-loss drugs, forcing US President Donald Trump to suspend the event. As one of the bosses of the two drug companies invit...

North Korea has denounced new US sanctions targeting its cybercrime networks, accusing Washington of harbouring “wicked” hostility, but analysts have said Pyongyang’s unusually restrained response suggests it is leaving the door open to future ...

The dream of hosting the 2036 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games is within reach for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area development zone. But dreams alone do not win the games. They are realised through bold vision, strategic planning and timely act...

Huaqiangbei, home to the world’s biggest electronics wholesale market, is seeing a dramatic increase in the prices of memory chips and other storage products, which is expected to drive up the cost of consumer electronics goods such as smartphones,...

An 18-year-old Chinese student has been hailed as “underpants man” after he rescued an elderly couple from a fire wearing only his briefs. Senior pupil, Zhu Ye, at the Tongliang No 2 Secondary School in southwestern China’s Chongqing municipali...

More than 10 enterprises, including pharmaceutical and logistics firms, are in talks with Hong Kong authorities to set up a presence at the Northern Metropolis megaproject, according to the city’s investment promoter. In an interview on Thursday, I...

China’s real estate investment trust (C-Reit) is poised to grow by 30 times to become a US$1 trillion industry in the next 20 years – a transition borne out of several factors, including declining home sales – which is expected to benefit selec...

Japan and the United States are preparing to jointly tap deep-sea rare earth deposits near Minamitorishima, in what analysts see as a strategic bid to insulate their hi-tech sectors from China’s grip on critical minerals and fortify supply chains a...

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army for more than two years, announced on Thursday that they had agreed to a proposal for a humanitarian truce put forward by mediators. The announcement follows the paramili...

Fosun Pharmaceutical, a leading healthcare group, has taken a substantial step towards introducing particle therapy systems to hospitals in mainland China, aligning with Beijing’s efforts to make advanced medical treatment accessible to cancer pati...

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu is scheduled to speak in a fireside chat on Friday during the third Family Business Summit in Hong Kong, as the city burnishes its role as the offshore fundraising hub and ‘superconnector’ between the Chinese main...

The National Games’ unprecedented tripartite hosting arrangement is a calculated strategy, showcasing the Greater Bay Area’s synergy while mitigating the substantial financial and logistical burdens on any single host city, according to experts. ...

Tesla shareholders on Thursday overwhelmingly endorsed a massive pay package for CEO Elon Musk that could reach US$1 trillion. The pay package - crafted to ensure Musk’s continued service to Tesla as the company pursues breakthrough technology on a...

This year marks half a century of formal diplomatic relations between China and the European Union as well as the 25th anniversary of the founding of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Here, Shi Jiangtao looks at how the relationship ha...

Economist Paul Samuelson famously quipped that stock markets accurately predicted nine of the last five recessions. The same could be said of financial economists. So-called leading indicators like market sentiment swing with the daily news. Optimism...

China has backed a landmark rainforest protection fund launched by Brazil at the Cop30 climate summit on Thursday but is not expected to announce any financial contribution during the event, Brazil’s finance minister said at a press conference. The...