Singapore is at the sharp end of the energy crisis. Imported natural gas accounts for an estimated 95 per cent of the city state’s electricity generation. According to Nomura, Singapore is the fourth most vulnerable Asian economy to the energy shoc...

A mainland Chinese woman has been acquitted of forging academic qualifications in her application for Hong Kong’s talent scheme, with the judge saying she could have been defrauded by her agent during the process. Xu Lina, 36, was cleared of any ch...

A mega-dam in Tibet must make ecological integrity and safety a priority, Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing said during a visit to the project. The dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo will be the world’s largest hydropower facility and it is a key element ...

A mentally ill Hongkonger has been sentenced to an indefinite period at a psychiatric hospital for killing his 50-year-old mother and hiding her body under the bed while under the delusion that she was a “monster lizard”. The High Court on Monday...

China’s reported decision to halt sulphuric acid exports, together with the failure of peace talks between the United States and Iran over the weekend, risks driving prices higher and disrupting global mining and fertiliser supply chains that have ...

The world’s largest water fight erupted across Bangkok on Monday as the three-day annual Songkran festival drew a surge in tourists to a country whose bruised economy badly needed a reason to celebrate. Thailand has refused to let a fuel crisis tri...

There is no necessity to introduce the death penalty into the Road Transport Act 1987 for driving under the influence, according to Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke. Loke said existing laws were sufficient to prosecute serious offences and t...

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Walk into a bank and you will probably hear the tapping of keyboards and see smartly dressed staff. Now, you may also catch the scent of Singapore’s renowned pandan cake. I...

Faltering confidence in the US dollar has handed China a “golden window of opportunity” to promote the global use of its currency, according to a former head of the Chinese central bank. “The core driving force behind the current changes in the...

In South Korea’s capital, more than one in three people live alone, creating headaches when it comes time to visit hospital or simply move home. But Seoul has a solution: a “companion service” that dispatches helpers to assist solo residents wi...

Passenger flight cuts triggered by surging fuel prices could temporarily affect Hong Kong’s status as a transit hub, but the impact will be relative and depend on how long the Middle East conflict lasts, aviation experts have said. Steven Cheung Ki...

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) stocks rallied against a falling broader market in Hong Kong on Monday, as strong export data and rising oil prices bolstered the appeal of battery-powered and hybrid cars while a coming wave of model launches sparked ho...

A Chinese diner has gone viral after its owner rejected the trappings of popularity, mirroring a so-called lying flat attitude adopted by many youngsters in the country. The chicken pot restaurant in Foshan, Guangdong province, southern China recentl...

Australia has pledged A$2.5 million (US$1.7 million) in aid to Pacific neighbours Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, after tropical cyclone Maila caused devastating floods and landslides that killed 11. Australia stood “shoulder to shoulder�...

A Hong Kong travel agency has had its licence revoked after one of its tour guides allegedly coerced mainland Chinese travellers into purchasing items while visiting the city. The Travel Industry Authority on Monday said it had earlier launched an in...

Australia said on Monday that a woman would lead ⁠its army for ⁠the first time in history, ⁠as part of a reshuffle of the country’s defence force leadership. Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, the current chief of joint capabilities, will become...

China’s tea-drink market, with estimated annual sales of 370 billion yuan (US$54.2 billion), has become yet another example of involution as brutal price competition threatens to expel thousands of unprofitable small players. The dire scenario repr...

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. ‘Cancelling orders’ in China: Hormuz oil cris...

A Chinese artificial intelligence framework has autonomously resolved an open problem proposed more than a decade ago by a US mathematician, according to the Peking University-led team that developed it. The dual-agent framework solved the problem po...

US congressman Eric Swalwell ⁠on Sunday said he was suspending his campaign for governor of California, as he faces calls from fellow Democratic lawmakers and dozens of his former staffers to leave Congress following accusations of sexual assault. ...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. An independent committee examining the causes of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, which claimed 168 l...

Malaysia’s Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said ⁠it detained ⁠two tankers for allegedly conducting ⁠an illegal ship-to-ship transfer of about 700,000 litres (185,000 gallons) of diesel off the island of Penang over the weekend. Malaysia ha...

China has launched a national action plan to embed AI across its education system, in a strategic push to future-proof its workforce amid intensifying global competition in advanced technologies. The “AI+ Education” action plan, unveiled by the M...

Hong Kong is betting on a 36-fold increase in supercomputing power to propel the city into the top tier of global artificial intelligence (AI) hubs, as it ramps up infrastructure to keep pace with rivals London and New York in the race for digital su...

US President Donald Trump delivered an extraordinary broadside against Pope Leo on Sunday night, saying he did not think the US-born global leader of the Catholic Church was “doing a very good job” and that “he’s a very liberal person”, whi...

China’s aviation authorities have mobilised a range of resources to support European certification of the C919, the home-grown airliner aiming to take on Boeing and Airbus, with steady progress made in recent months, multiple sources said. Technici...

When the unthinkable becomes normal, stability becomes the new premium – and Hong Kong is well positioned. The world we thought we understood even two years ago no longer exists. We are living through a period of disruption that, until recently, wo...

Some foreign residents in South Korea will be eligible for government cash handouts, ranging from 100,000 won (US$67) to 600,000 won, to be distributed later in April under a supplementary budget aimed at offsetting high fuel costs amid the prolonged...

Hong Kong’s reputation as a safe haven could be reinforced by the geopolitical shock waves from the US-Israel conflict with Iran, potentially supporting demand for premium office space in its core business districts, according to analysts. While th...

A woman in central China who took a five-hour-long office nap during working hours and issued a tearful online complaint that her boss threatened to fire her if she did so again has captivated mainland social media. The unidentified woman said she fe...

With various Hong Kong industries battered by the world’s highest petrol and diesel prices, economists and business leaders predict the oil crisis caused by the Middle East war will trigger a wave of imported inflation, driving up the cost of items...

Japan and Nato are drawing closer together, with 30 representatives from the transatlantic security alliance’s member states set to visit Tokyo this month amid mounting concern over Washington’s reliability as a security partner. The Nato envoys ...

The number of phishing scams in Hong Kong fell by more than half last year but total losses suffered by victims doubled to HK$110 million (US$14 million), police have said. The latest numbers were revealed as police warned that workers remained susce...

Chinese carmakers are rapidly gaining ground in Europe, squeezing out Asian rivals such as Japan and South Korea as exports to the region surge past 1 million units for the first time, according to an industry report. Imports of Chinese-made cars int...

Scholar and author Sheng-Wei Wang discusses how studying an ancient Chinese world map led her to conclude China explored and mapped the world before the European Age of Discovery and how the legacy of colonialism and a Eurocentric record of global hi...

Peru’s Keiko Fujimori looked set to face a run-off against a conservative rival after a troubled first-round presidential election on Sunday marred by logistics foul-ups, police raids and allegations of fraud. First counts and exit polls showed the...

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu visited one of the schools offering free after-school care for low-income families last month. After receiving positive feedback from participants, he pledged to extend the programme to benefit more families...

At least 200 people were feared dead after Nigerian military jets struck a village market while pursuing Islamist militants in the northeast of the country ‌on Saturday night, a councillor for the area and residents said on Sunday. The Nigerian Air...

A truce between Russia and Ukraine to mark the Orthodox Easter formally expired on Monday, both sides having accused each other of thousands of violations, despite a lull in Russian air raids. The truce lasted 32 hours, from 4pm on Saturday until the...

Viktor Orban’s 16-year grip on Hungary is over, with the prime minister conceding Sunday’s election in a phone call with Peter Magyar, leader of the main opposition Tisza Party. “The election result is painful but clear. I congratulated the win...

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Sunday he was working to stop the Israel-Hezbollah war, even as Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu told troops in south Lebanon that the fight there was far from over. The Lebanese Red Cross said in a state...

A stampede at a mountaintop fortress popular with tourists in northern Haiti has killed at least 25 people and injured dozens of others, authorities said, revising an earlier, higher number of fatalities. Municipal authorities in the city of Cap-Hait...

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the United States has no valid reason to carry out a military attack against the island or to attempt to depose him. Speaking in an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press programme, the president said an invasi...

Hong Kong authorities have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with mainland China’s top internet regulator to promote the digital economy, with the city’s leader pledging to contribute to building a strong technological nation. The MOU wa...

A Chinese company has tried to use AI analysis to track US aerial refuelling missions to detect the strike patterns of bombers over Iran. MizarVision, a private geospatial intelligence firm, published a report earlier this month analysing the activit...

Wrapped in bloodied bandages, seven-year-old Aline Saeed barely survived the Israeli strike on her home in south Lebanon last week. She was there to bury her father as hopes of a truce spread across the region, but a new strike killed her infant sist...

US President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping naval operation targeting the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil transit chokepoints, in a move that risks deepening a global crisis and further complicating ties with Beijing ...

The war in Iran is not just a regional crisis. It is reshaping global energy flows, disrupting shipping routes and forcing governments to reassess the vulnerability of their supply chains. For China, the conflict has exposed an increasingly urgent pr...

Hong Kong and Shanghai have taken a significant step in the digital integration of the two financial hubs by linking authentication systems, while five mainland Chinese enterprises have established operations in the city, officials have said. Both si...

Police broke up a blockade in the centre of Dublin by fuel protesters who have brought much of Ireland to a standstill during the past week, as the government on Sunday prepared to approve cost-cutting measures they hope will end the six days of disr...