A former assistant warden at a care home run by Hong Kong’s largest NGO for people with intellectual disabilities has been convicted of raping a female resident five times two years ago. A High Court jury of five men and two women on Wednesday foun...

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was born 25 years ago as a modest mechanism for managing borders between China, Russia and four Central Asian states. At its anniversary summit in Bishkek this week, it looks more consequential – and hard...

Indonesia on Wednesday said the government was ascertaining reports that eight of its citizens who applied for civilian jobs allegedly ended up fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Coordinating Minister for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration and...

A Boeing 747-8 operated by Air China reportedly suffered a fuel leak at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport early on Monday, forcing cancellation of the flight. No injuries were reported in or around the aircraft, which was expected to...

Vietnam faces heightened security in the South China Sea amid reports of construction works in the Paracels archipelago – which Beijing calls Xisha Islands – with analysts saying that the latest developments could alter the strategic balance in t...

The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) will summon a Malaysian participant in the Miss Equality World 2026 pageant in Thailand for questioning, following the circulation of social media posts. In a statement on Tuesday, Jakim director g...

A former Malaysian minister has been remanded for five days as part of an anti-corruption inquiry into the management of the country’s state haj fund. The suspect, who is in his sixties, was detained at about 4.30pm on Tuesday after he went to the ...

We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. After gaining EV sway, Chinese carma...

Fourteen people, including nine children, have been injured in a collision involving two school buses at a Hong Kong girls’ primary school. The Fire Services Department said on Wednesday that it dispatched 10 ambulances to handle the accident at 1....

The parent company of Philippine fast-food giant Jollibee plans to spin off and list its international operations in Hong Kong instead of New York in a strong endorsement of the city’s initial public offering (IPO) diversification efforts. Jollibee...

Chinese scientists have identified a genetic barrier that makes it hard to crossbreed African and Asian rice varieties – a discovery that could lay the foundations for creating high-yielding hybrids. While both Asian and African cultivated rice var...

Cambodia says it has flushed out a scam industry estimated to have stolen tens of billions of US dollars last year alone, but a string of arrests in recent days suggests the gangs behind it may have simply changed address. Scam centres proliferated a...

Tencent Holdings’ strategy of using its vast product ecosystem to train its new Hy4 preview model gives it an edge in developing AI agents and brings its flagship model suite back into the top tier of open-source offerings, according to analysts. T...

Hong Kong’s City University (CityU) has launched an investigation after a video surfaced showing a half-naked man carrying a woman wearing only a bra and shorts during a student-led orientation event. The university issued a statement on Wednesday ...

An American journalist who lived in Beijing, worked for Chinese state media and pleaded guilty to acting as an agent for Beijing was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in federal prison. Thomas Weir Pauken II, 51, was also sentenced to three years of ...

Nepal urged international travellers not to abandon the Himalayas, declaring the country open for tourism as it continues to assess the human and economic toll from catastrophic floods that killed hundreds and left thousands missing. “Our mountain ...

Images of a migrant worker apparently guiding visitors around one of Kuala Lumpur’s best-known heritage sites have triggered a backlash in Malaysia, with critics asking why locals were not hired instead. The row erupted after photos and video circu...

For more, check out the South China Morning Post’s full anti-corruption data bank project:

Hong Kong’s weather forecaster could issue a higher typhoon signal closer to the weekend after Tropical Cyclone Saudel experienced a rare resurgence, with the potential to change course over the South China Sea and edge towards the Pearl River Delt...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused security officials on Tuesday of intentionally failing to wake him on the morning of Hamas’ October 7 attacks, a day after his wife claimed an opposition figure knew of the onslaught in advance. Net...

China has pulled off two-way laser communication between Earth and the moon, making it only the second nation after the United States to do so. But the data rates it achieved were well behind those recorded by Nasa more than a decade ago, and that ha...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Tuesday that his country’s drones would make Russia’s airspace “completely unsafe” for the duration of the war, drawing accusations of “state terrorism” from Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Bot...

Jailed Hong Kong opposition activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has admitted instigating international sanctions against central and local authorities six years ago, such as urging foreign businesses to avoid investment in mainland China and petitioning an...

The murder case against the Utah man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year is headed for trial, and the defendant could face the death penalty if he is convicted. Utah District Judge Tony Graf on Tuesday sided with pro...

China’s health regulators have granted approvals for a string of brain-technology products this year, as domestic start-ups push to transform the treatment of conditions ranging from paraplegia to Alzheimer’s and depression. The approvals come as...

A thief was sentenced to 26 months and two weeks’ jail on Tuesday for his role in a Singapore Chinatown diamond heist. He had hidden a custom-made fake gem in his mouth, switched it for the real diamond and concealed the genuine stone the same way....

Japan’s most dangerous delicacy is getting harder to prepare safely as warming seas push different pufferfish species into the same waters, where they are inbreeding to produce hybrids whose lethal toxins are not yet fully understood. Fugu – the ...

China has spent years articulating its preferred principles for the world order. In June, it went a step further, bringing many of them together in a white paper on global governance and setting out how its Global Governance Initiative should transla...

A growing number of Chinese workers are sharing tips on social media to combat “office ageing.” Suggestions range from applying sunscreen and using full-face masks to setting up parasols at their desks. Recently, a RedNote user with the handle @l...

Solar power has overtaken coal as China’s largest source of installed power generation capacity for the first time, marking a landmark shift in the world’s largest energy market, according to government data. By the end of July, China’s install...

When six Chinese heavy transport planes entered European airspace in April 2022, it was not just their cargo that drew international attention. Bound for Serbia, the Y-20 aircraft had flown thousands of kilometres from China carrying components of th...

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is partnering with tech giants to offer on-site artificial intelligence (AI) laboratories at its expanded Shanghai campus, which welcomed more than 300 students for the new term earlier this week. The campus in Zhang...

As Enflame Technology gears up for a 6.12 billion yuan (US$910.3 million) initial public offering on Shanghai’s Star Market, the Chinese artificial intelligence chipmaker must convince investors that its specialised chip strategy can withstand fier...

North Korea has never named her, confirmed her age or acknowledged her as Kim Jong-un’s heir. Yet South Korea’s spy agency says the evidence is now unmistakable: his daughter Kim Ju-ae has “effectively” become the successor-in-waiting. The as...

A senior Russian aide suggested on Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold a trilateral meeting at the next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. Leaders of the 2...

President Donald Trump pressed US oil refiners to boost domestic production of petrol and diesel during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, as he contends with high prices and mounting cost-of-living concerns before November’s midterm elections. Trum...

US lawmakers are trying to identify which foreign countries are the biggest sources of unlawful robocalls targeting Americans, as Congress steps up efforts to combat a surge in phone scams. The inquiry follows a string of US government reports tying ...

Taiwan’s defence ministry has warned that the People’s Liberation Army is stepping up its preparations for a blockade of the island, adding that it is sharpening its plans to break such a cordon in response. The assessment was made in the ministr...

On August 26, a section of glacier collapsed at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres on the Nepalese side of the Himalayas. The falling ice and rock accelerated down a steep valley at about 50 metres per second, scouring debris and transforming into...

The US Congress on Tuesday advanced a new bill that seeks to establish American global leadership in open-source artificial intelligence, an area where China currently dominates, by promoting adoption of US open-source models and publicising risks as...

Prime Minister Andy Burnham faced lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday for the first time since becoming UK leader six weeks ago, with wars in Europe and the Middle East weighing on his promise to kick-start the economy, ease the cost of livi...

Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the leadership of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, according to a UN report seen Tuesday by Associated Press. Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syri...

The US military launched new air strikes on Iran on Tuesday, marking the latest escalation in a six-month war that has seen President Donald Trump alternate between threats, economic sanctions and force. US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on soci...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Trump administration on Tuesday to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough”, as he pushed back against a fresh wave of attacks from Washington. Carney said US-Canada trade ta...

The German government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives, and announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate among other measures. The drone was found near a...

A ⁠Bank of America ⁠vice-president, Erin Piacenti, was ⁠killed in a stabbing at Times Square on Monday. Piacenti, 32, was a vice-president in BofA’s business selection and conflicts unit, according to her LinkedIn profile. “We are shocked �...

Tram services between Wan Chai and Admiralty in Hong Kong were suspended Tuesday night due to a power failure, the second such incident in two days. The Transport Department issued a special traffic bulletin at 9.37pm, saying it had been notified by ...

The latest trade war between the United States and Canada marks a turning point with key lessons for China and other major US trading partners as well as risks, say analysts and former trade officials, as US President Donald Trump continues to put hi...

Not even the world’s fastest sprinters could have outrun the devastating floodwaters that struck a border crossing between China and Nepal last week, according to one of the first peer-reviewed assessments of the disaster. Researchers from the Chin...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump says he plans to meet Kim Jong-un this ...