A popular Chinese snack brand has ignited online controversy after netizens revealed that its employees have to change their surnames to “rat” and refer to customers as “master”. Recently, a mainland netizen posted online claiming that “aft...

A 7.5 billion yuan (US$1.06 billion) hydroelectric construction project in southeast China is under investigation for alleged corner-cutting and legal violations, with experts raising concerns that there may be serious safety problems. The scandal-st...

A retired Hong Kong star tutor has been spared jail for taking upskirt footage of a woman at a railway station last year. Sha Tin Court on Monday placed Kenneth Kwong Si-san, 64, on probation for a year in light of his timely guilty plea and previous...

A Japanese singer was forced to stop performing on stage in Shanghai over the weekend, triggering accusations of excessive restriction amid the downward spiral in tensions between Beijing and Tokyo over a Taiwan contingency. On Saturday, Japanese sin...

A district councillor under public scrutiny amid Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades has said she will personally file reports with both police and the corruption watchdog to request an investigation. Peggy Wong Pik-kiu, a directly elected distr...

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. Substandard protective nets with defec...

Oysters in Japan are dying en masse in parts of the country’s top production area, likely due to warmer sea temperatures, officials said on Monday. In some coastal areas surrounding the Seto Inland Sea in western Japan – an area that accounts for...

Russia is inching closer to its first yuan-denominated sovereign bond sale, aiding China’s push to raise the global standing of its currency. Russia’s Finance Ministry will start taking orders on December 2 for the two-part, domestically traded n...

With the rise of social media and generative AI, how much of what we see online is true? In this new series, SCMP Fact-Check, the Post investigates claims circulating online and debunks viral misinformation impacting the daily lives of Hongkongers. A...

Raids on men-only saunas and spas across Malaysia have raised fears of an intensifying crackdown on LGBTQ communities, in what activists view as a steadily illiberal turn under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government. While officials defend such ...

Russia’s accusation that the United States and Germany are recruiting Filipino mercenaries to fight in Ukraine is almost certainly disinformation, analysts say. Yet the claim exposes how easily Southeast Asian nations can be drawn into the informat...

China’s state-asset watchdog has urged the country’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to act as an anchor for strategic industries, while also calling for a predictable, level playing field for private firms – a combination it said was essential ...

TikTok owner ByteDance has entered the race against Apple to define the future of smartphones by putting its artificial intelligence agent Doubao into a ZTE-made handset. The Beijing-based company on Monday launched the Doubao Mobile Assistant in a t...

A court in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka sentenced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison and her niece, British Labour Party lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to two years in prison on Monday for corruption involving a government land pr...

This article was originally published on December 2, 2000 By Felix Chan Warning for MPF-dodging bosses Employers were warned on Friday (December 1, 2000), the day the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) was launched, that they could not escape paying thei...

Chinese food tasters are going viral by sharing videos that reveal a job much tougher than its dreamy image, even if the task comes with a “weight-gain subsidy”. The unusual workers are hired by snack brands, food factories and supermarkets. They...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China halts soy imports from Brazil plants, pivot...

The leader of one of South Korea’s largest cultlike churches stood trial on Monday accused of bribing the country’s former first lady with gifts including a designer handbag and a diamond necklace. The arrest of leader Han Hak-ja in September roc...

The toll in deadly flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,000 on Monday as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel to help survivors. Separate weather systems brought torrential, extended rainfall to the e...

African leaders have made a new push to have colonial-era crimes recognised, criminalised and addressed through reparations. At a conference in Algiers on Sunday, diplomats and leaders convened to advance an African Union resolution passed at a meeti...

India and Indonesia are close to finalising a US$450 million sale of BrahMos missiles, in a deal analysts say could give Southeast Asia a long-sought alternative to dependence on the US or China. The deal, discussed last Thursday during the third Ind...

In an escalation of Beijing’s campaign against perceived pro-independence agitators, mainland Chinese authorities have issued arrest warrants and offered hefty rewards for two Taiwanese social media influencers accused of “inciting secession”. ...

US authorities believe the Afghan immigrant accused of ambushing National Guard members in Washington DC was not radicalised until after he came to the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Sunday. Speaking on NBC’s Meet th...

Australian police said on Monday they had charged four men in Sydney in relation to “satanic” child sex abuse material circulating online. Detectives were investigating an “international satanic child abuse material ring”, when they identifie...

Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election will be held as scheduled on December 7, as recovery and rebuilding work from the city’s deadliest blaze in decades is proceeding largely smoothly, a source has told the Post. The insider said the decision...

Tengku Zafrul Aziz is rarely seen without his signature gleaming white smile and well-tailored suit over a trim physique and flat tummy, evidence of a strict exercise regimen. Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry jokes that he is o...

The death toll among Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades has increased to nine after two more were confirmed dead, with 36 others remaining unaccounted for, according to the country’s consulate. The announcement came ...

Japan’s beloved Princess Aiko is often cheered like a pop star. During a visit to Nagasaki with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, the sound of her name being screamed by well-wishers along the roads overwhelmed the cheers for her parents. As she...

The head of Swiss right-to-die organisation Dignitas has died through assisted suicide, the group said in a statement on Sunday. Ludwig Minelli, who founded the group in 1998, died on Saturday just days before his 93rd birthday, Dignitas said. Dignit...

Hong Kong’s property market is expected to extend its gradual recovery into the end of the year, supported by improving sentiment, rising rental yields and firmer demand in the mass-market segment, according to property analysts. The latest mortgag...

Academics have sounded the alarm over the decline in programmes devoted to Japanese language, culture, history, art and other social science disciplines at universities in the United States, warning that a “short-sighted” approach could threaten ...

Hong Kong is going through one of its most difficult times in recent history. From what we have seen of the communities coming together for Tai Po, where the worst fire in decades ripped through a residential block leaving devastation that is almost ...

Last year, JYP Entertainment spent 1.12 billion won (US$763,000) on developing new talent, according to its annual business report. The South Korean company operates a dedicated rookie development division that selects K-pop trainees through audition...

After a turbulent year marked by the trade war and domestic headwinds, China will head into 2026 cautiously as it grapples with structural challenges to growth. Global investors are watching closely to see how Beijing works to shore up confidence, do...

A plump man in China who went up against muscle-bound competitors in a bodybuilding contest has trended on social media and caused much amusement. Videos of 28-year-old Chen Hao at the Chongqing Yongchuan District Youth Fitness and Bodybuilding Compe...

For 17 odd years as a pastor, Reverend Jenny Lam Yat-kwan witnessed life and death and helped those in despair, but after losing three members of her family in the devastating Tai Po fire in Hong Kong, she needed all the courage and strength she coul...

An increase in office leasing activity in Hong Kong, coupled with a moderate amount of new space coming onto the market, translates to improved prospects for the battered commercial property sector next year, according to analysts. The supply of new ...

As the clock strikes 8am in Penang, Syamil Azizi slips into his daily grind: picking up passengers across the island in his little Perodua runabout. At noon, he pauses just long enough to pick up his two daughters from school before returning to the ...

Despite a sharp and record-breaking rise in overall global arms sales last year, the combined revenue of the eight Chinese firms listed in the weapons industry’s Top 100 fell drastically, a Swedish think tank has found. The 10 per cent fall to US$8...

Zhou Bo is a retired senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army and a senior fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy. His military career included roles in the Ministry of National Defence’s Foreign Af...

The recent flurry of sporting events has thrown up a number of aspects which I found particularly inspiring. With much of the media focus on China’s 15th National Games naturally on the sporting contests, less attention was paid to the fact that th...

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dismissed on Sunday US President Donald Trump’s threat to exclude Pretoria from next year’s Group of 20 summit, reaffirming South Africa’s status as a founding member of the group. Washington boycotted th...

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday he had recently spoken with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro amid soaring tensions between the two countries, while Caracas condemned what it called US preparations for an attack. The United States has be...

Eight more wild boar with suspected cases of African swine fever were discovered near Barcelona, La Vanguardia newspaper reported on Sunday, as Spain struggles to limit the damage to a pork export industry worth billions of euros a year. The newspape...

Diplomats faced an uphill battle to reconcile Russian and Ukrainian positions as a renewed US-led push to end the more than three-year war gathered steam, with Ukrainian officials attending talks in the US over the weekend and a Washington official e...

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid on Sunday to protest against Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, accusing his left-wing government of corruption and demanding his resignation and early elections. The demonstration was organised by...

British finance minister Rachel Reeves on Sunday denied she misled the public over official forecasts ahead last week’s budget, saying she had been honest about the need to build up a bigger financial buffer. In a speech on November 4, Reeves appea...

Thousands of mourners poured into Tai Po on Sunday, forming a solemn river of remembrance for the 146 lives lost in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in more than seven decades, while Beijing called for unity and healing as a massive rescue and recovery o...

A Filipino domestic worker who fled Hong Kong’s deadly inferno with her employers’ three-year-old daughter in her arms has expressed regret that she was unable to persuade a neighbour who perished in the blaze to also try to escape. Reinalyn Nier...

Hong Kong’s deadly fire in Tai Po has prompted an outpouring of generosity from the public, with donations already surpassing the total raised in the initial aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. By noon on Sunday, the government’s support fu...