Alibaba Group Holding’s semiconductor design arm, T-Head, on Thursday unveiled details of its advanced artificial intelligence chip with capabilities said to be on par with Nvidia’s H20, days after the unit was reportedly being prepared for a pot...

The European Union has surpassed the United States as the economy with the most serious trade disputes with China, driven by conflicts over semiconductor materials, rare earth magnets and other strategic sectors, according to a Chinese trade body. A ...

Clumps of earth dug up from the front of a Chinese woman’s rural dwelling are being sold for up to 18 yuan (US$3) as a “lucky charm” after she shot to online fame by inviting people to slaughter pigs at her home. The 23-year-old from southweste...

Hong Kong’s workforce lags behind regional peers in the frequent use of AI, a sluggish adoption rate that experts say is limiting pay rewards and job security even as companies prepare to trim entry-level roles. A 2025 survey conducted by Pricewate...

Beijing has released footage of flight tests of an upgraded J-20A stealth fighter, with signs that the jets have been equipped with long-awaited high-thrust WS-15 engines and better avionics. Chengdu Aircraft Corporation – the Aviation Industry Cor...

Hong Kong’s financial war chest increased its earnings by 51 per cent to a record last year, fuelled by a rally in local and global stocks as well as bonds. The Exchange Fund’s investment income surged to HK$331 billion (US$42 billion), the most ...

Hong Kong’s environment minister has said that the city’s first batch of dog-friendly restaurants is expected to be approved by the middle of 2026, marking a significant shift in local dining regulations to bolster the “pet economy”. Appearin...

Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election in 2020. But for more than five years, he has been trying to convince Americans the opposite is true by falsely saying the election was marred by widespread fraud. Now that he is president again, Trump is pus...

The Taiwan government has cleared Nvidia to establish a NT$3.3 billion (US$105 million) headquarters on the island that produces most of the world’s advanced semiconductors, which the Silicon Valley chip designer will need to feed the red-hot globa...

Bangladesh’s recent pull-out over perceived security concerns for the showpiece T20 World Cup cricket hosted by India and Sri Lanka next month has underscored the unprecedented way regional political tensions have spilled over into sports. Banglade...

As foreign ministers from Asean member states gathered in the Philippine city of Cebu this week, the bloc faced a familiar dilemma: how to keep pushing for peace in Myanmar without sliding into what critics warn could become “de facto acceptance”...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney does not mince his words. Writing for The Economist last November, Carney argued the post-Cold War had collapsed and said the world was “entering an era of ‘variable geometry’” involving “pragmatic coalit...

All teachers in Hong Kong will be required to renew a newly proposed practising certificate every three years to continue teaching, with the plan to take effect as early as the 2027-28 academic year, the South China Morning Post has learned. Sources ...

A widely shared video on Chinese social media shows customers scrambling to get furniture and even fighting over items during what appears to be a clearance sale at an Ikea outlet in the country. The multinational furniture retailer has announced pla...

Thefts at jewellery stores are on the rise in South Korea amid gold’s record-breaking rally, market watchers said on Thursday. International gold prices recently surpassed US$5,300 per ounce for the first time, driven by weakening confidence in US ...

A Singapore court has dismissed a man’s attempt to have his 97-year-old father declared mentally incapable for wanting to marry his long-time mistress, with the judge saying that mental capacity should not be determined solely by age or appearance....

No longer confined to the partisans and activists, the fierce backlash against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has begun to break out across American culture, spanning the worlds of business, sports and entertainment. Bruce Springsteen release...

While some Western scholars have maintained that the development of large-scale water projects fostered what they called “Oriental despotism”, new archaeological evidence from China has presented a different story. According to the Key Laboratory...

Hong Kong customs officers have seized more than 14,000 weight-loss injections bound for Macau, days after the South China Morning Post exclusively reported on their suspected illegal sale without prescriptions in the city. The Customs and Excise Dep...

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has given Malaysia’s top enforcement officials a week to prove they are serious about stamping out corruption and smuggling, warning that those who feel they are unable to deliver should step aside. “My patience is we...

Not long ago, a humble fruit stall in Shanghai saw its sales skyrocket when Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, dropped by for some food. Meanwhile, a once-obscure village in southern China has become a tourist hotspot, drawing over 10,000 visitors dail...

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) has voiced its opposition to the coming water musical festival set to take place in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur. Selangor PAS Youth chief Mohamed Sukri Omar said having an open large-scale event involving “free...

A senior transport official has said Hong Kong’s hilly landscape and the prevalence of short-haul journeys on highways justified the need for a mandatory seat belt rule, adding that bus companies will deploy ambassadors to bus stops to raise awaren...

The sudden demise of a major gold trading platform has rocked the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, leaving tens of thousands of retail investors with combined losses totalling more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion), according to investors and d...

The financial head of Dutch chipmaking equipment giant ASML – following a year of double-digit sales growth for the company’s machines – said he expects the firm’s already declining sales to China to fall even further, as trade restrictions p...

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited Moscow on Wednesday for the second time in less than four months, and Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasised his readiness to help the country rebuild its war-battered economy. “I know that t...

The site at 38 Oxley Road was gazetted for acquisition on Thursday, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Heritage Board (NHB) said in a media release. This follows the gazetting of the site as a national monument on December 12, 2025. ...

Four people injured in Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire remain in hospital in stable conditions, while 75 others have been discharged as of Thursday, according to health authorities. A government spokesman said that healthcare staff would continue to...

Tokyo police have arrested the suspected head of one of Japan’s largest tokuryu organised crime groups after a year-long manhunt, but analysts have warned that such gangs are typically resilient and can operate without their leaders. Horaki Obata, ...

As Asean tourism leaders met this week to discuss regional matters, observers say a common visitor visa for the bloc and aligned digital connectivity will even out tourism growth and help lagging countries like the Philippines catch up. The 63rd Asea...

US Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies on Thursday, potentially bringing the US government a step closer to a partial shutdown if Republicans and the Whi...

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “new chapter” in relations with Britain during talks with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, saying the two countries should deepen dialogue and cooperation in a complex and volatile world. The two ...

The number of children in Japan who died by suicide in 2025 hit a record high for the second consecutive year, rising by three from a year earlier to 532, preliminary government data showed on Thursday. The highest figure since records became availab...

Tesla confirmed that its annual revenues fell for the first time in the company’s history last year, as the firm announced plans to pivot towards humanoid robots and possibly build its own semiconductor factories during an earnings call on Wednesda...

Malaysian police broke up a drug processing syndicate following a raid at a luxury condominium unit in Kuala Lumpur. Sentul police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Sukarno Mohd Zahari said a couple from China, aged 46 and 39, were arrested in the r...

After three decades as a culinary landmark on eastern Hong Kong Island, Kam Shing Restaurant will serve its final meal this Saturday, with the second-generation owner saying he is closing the business to embark on a journey of personal growth rather ...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has revealed his struggle with an abdominal ailment all while grappling with a string of political woes that would churn even the strongest of stomachs – impeachment complaints, plunging ratings and simmeri...

A record share of the Japanese public now supports strengthening the country’s Self-Defence Forces, a new government survey shows, highlighting how sharply attitudes on national security have shifted amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s expand...

On January 13, the British-born corporate governance activist David Webb, who had made Hong Kong his home for the past 35 years, died. Like many who have come from near and far after finding success, he did much to contribute to our society and its f...

For generations of Hong Kong investors, Hang Seng Bank was never just a stock. It was a companion through decades of economic ascent, market turbulence and personal milestones. This is why the bank’s delisting on Tuesday after 53 years on the excha...

Bruce Springsteen is dedicating his new song to the people of Minneapolis, criticising US President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration enforcement operations in the city. The lyrics of “Streets of Minneapolis”, released Wednesday, describe how ...

A Chinese AI system has outperformed its US competitors in solving geometry problems at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) level, taking less than half the time and using simpler computational resources, according to its developers. Unlike...

An eight-year-old boy in central China who spent 55 days in a coma was brought back to consciousness by the heartfelt calls of his classmates in their videos. Liu Chuxi, a pupil from Yueyang, Hunan province, fell into a coma after a car accident in N...

A trade delegation from Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is seeking Hong Kong and mainland investors for its first integrated resort, describing the city as a key gateway to Asia and China. The high-l...

As China’s two largest cities by economic output, Beijing and Shanghai are widely seen as barometers for the country’s broader economic performance. In 2025, Beijing’s gross domestic product reached 5.2 trillion yuan (US$748 billion), making it...

An immigration judge on Wednesday granted asylum to a Chinese national who he said had a “well-founded fear” of persecution if sent back to China after exposing human rights abuses there. Guan Heng, 38, applied for asylum after arriving in the US...

Just days after a court in Tokyo ordered the North Korean government to compensate Japanese citizens who it had lured with the promise of “paradise on Earth”, the victorious plaintiffs are drawing up a strategy to force Pyongyang to pay up. The T...

A small plane crashed on Wednesday in a rural area of Norte de Santander province in northeast Colombia, killing all 15 people on board including a member of congress, authorities said. Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said l...

Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has warned the public to beware of interest rate uncertainties this year after leaving its base rate unchanged, following a similar move overnight by the US Federal Reserve, leaving borrowers in the city with a lon...

Republicans in the United States increasingly oppose friendly cooperation with China, according to a new survey released on Wednesday, marking a major break with past decades. The report titled “The Growing Partisan Divide on US Foreign Policy”, ...