The government-appointed administrator of Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) with owners of the flats on July 19, ending months of delays. In a notice issued on Saturday, Hop On Management Compa...

Almost anywhere you look these days, you can find claims from political, academic and other various sources that China’s supposed overproduction and exports of manufactured goods pose unfair advantages. These sources may also claim such unfair adva...

A top social media agency in mainland China, suspended from business operations two years ago for selling fake Hong Kong brand mooncakes, is back in the spotlight for selling live-streaming courses. Three Sheep Network, based in eastern Anhui provinc...

When Chelsea Wang travelled to Seoul with two friends in late April, they barely visited any of the city’s palaces or tourist attractions. Instead, their three-and-a-half-day itinerary revolved around duty-free shopping, beauty treatments, hair sal...

Thousands of opponents of Germany’s far-right AfD took to the streets of Erfurt on Saturday and blocked roads to the party’s annual conference ahead of regional elections that could see it take power at state level for the first time. Protesters ...

The first phase of Hong Kong’s Hetao innovation hub, a key cross-border initiative under the Northern Metropolis megaproject, has been well received, with two of its wet laboratory buildings fully leased, its chairman has revealed. Permanent Secret...

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a major tourism drawcard, has avoided being listed as endangered despite the United Nations reporting “utmost concern” about mass coral bleaching and the impact of climate change. Canberra welcomed on Saturday th...

The Gaza war was the spark that touched off years of Middle East conflict culminating in the US-Israeli war with Iran, but as Washington and Tehran wrangle over terms for peace, the devastated territory’s fate seems largely out of mind. “Ever sin...

The life-size robotic elephants in Prasanth Prakashan’s backyard workshop have ears that flap, tails that swish and trunks that squirt water. But that’s about all they have in common with their real-life counterparts revered across India as manif...

Funeral ceremonies for Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei officially began on Saturday, state television reported, an event drawing thousands and intended to serve as a show of strength to the Islamic republic’s foes. Iranian authorities say...

How many crises does it take to change the way the world trades? For Asia, the answer appears to be three. First Covid closed the factories that fed the logistics networks, then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine choked off Black Sea grain exports and se...

Former Hong Kong lawmaker Andrew Wan Siu-kin has been released from prison after completing his jail term in a landmark subversion case, saying he hopes to turn a new page in his life. Wan, of the now-defunct Democratic Party, left Stanley Prison on ...

America turns 250 on Saturday – a landmark birthday that coincides with a time of deep national division and a president determined to seize the festive centre stage. The independence anniversary also comes in the middle of a brutal heatwave that h...

While most Hong Kong children find sanctuary at home, Bobo* spent her primary and secondary school years constantly on high alert, always looking for a new place to hide in her flat. “Every single day I had to figure out how to avoid that person, h...

Starting in September, Wang Ming’s 12-year-old son will need to go to school in a city 120km (75 miles) from his home in Beijing. Originally from northeastern China, Wang and his wife have lived in Beijing for more than 20 years. But even though th...

A dangerous heatwave upended Fourth of July celebrations across swathes of the central and eastern United States on Friday, forcing officials in the nation’s capital and elsewhere to cancel or postpone dozens of parades, concerts and fireworks disp...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The Hong Kong Observatory lifted its amber rainstorm warning on Saturday afternoon, but said the city would c...

As Hong Kong moves forward with its huge new Northern Metropolis development zone, analysts argue the government should take a cautious approach to land sales to help sustain the recent recovery in the residential property market. The large-scale pro...

Costa Rican scientists may have discovered a new species of ghost shark in Pacific waters near Cabo Blanco and Cano Island. The latest discovery has a “shorter” snout, a “darker coloration pattern” and a “much longer spine on its dorsal fin...

For 19 seasons, the Malaysian Grand Prix made Sepang International Circuit one of Asia’s premier racing venues. Sepang opened in 1999 as an emblem of a Southeast Asian nation that was on the up at the time. But the government ended its support for ...

An unmistakable pattern has emerged in the US’ strategy to contain China. Washington has sought to deny China access to frontier technologies and key commodities, and to redirect related supply chains to revitalise American industries. In this cont...

A courier in eastern China has been celebrated as a hero after bravely charging into a burning flat three times to extinguish the flames before collapsing from smoke inhalation. An Erpei, 21, from Hangzhou, had just returned to his rented flat after ...

AI’s rapid takeover of entry-level tasks is disrupting Hong Kong’s career ladder, leaving fresh graduates with fewer opportunities to gain practical experience, according to experts. Lam Wai-kong, an employee representative on the Labour Advisory...

Five years into her marriage to a finance executive, Clare* is still doing the sums on leaving behind a life unencumbered by the high price of parenthood. At 31, the Singaporean doctor instead finds herself wondering if she will feel different about ...

A massive Russian ⁠glide bomb strike on the centre of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed at least four people, including a child, on Friday and injured 27, Regional Governor Oleh Hryhorov said. Other areas in Sumy region and in southeastern...

Researchers at TikTok parent ByteDance have discovered a new scaling law governing how fast artificial intelligence agents can improve by performing real-world tasks, a finding that could help prolong the AI boom just as traditional development metho...

Taiwan is requiring its reservists to train longer and harder, introducing drones and US-made Himars rocket systems into a revamped 14-day call-up programme as it races to offset worsening troop shortages amid a demographic decline. One of the bigges...

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got married on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, where actor Adam Sandler was the surprising officiant at a ceremony packed with stars of sports and entertainment. The deep secrecy that surrounded the build-up to th...

China is such a giant player in the global economy that understanding how the US-China contest of the century for international primacy will evolve has become crucial. Some Westerners, especially those in the United States, feel so threatened that th...

The fallout from Venezuela’s powerful twin quakes has evolved into a major test for acting President Delcy Rodriguez, sending her scrambling to prevent the humanitarian disaster from becoming a political one as her mandate as interim leader expires...

European Nato allies have mostly replaced the assets that the US has cut from its rescue plans in case of a war in Europe, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe John Stringer said in an interview. Stringer made the assurance ahead of the alliance’...

Nasa launched a robotic mission on Friday to try to prevent one of its ageing telescopes from burning up in the atmosphere, a complicated operation expected to last several months. The unprecedented US$30 million effort involves sending a robot to re...

The parents of a 13-year-old Hong Kong girl critically in need of a new heart and lungs have appealed to the public in hopes of a “miracle”, with the girl fearing she “won’t be able to go home”. In a letter published on Friday, Ching Ching�...

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to ...

Alibaba Group Holding has banned its employees from using Anthropic’s Claude Code for work, citing security risks related to the US artificial intelligence firm’s previous use of hidden code to track Chinese users – a move that has sparked wide...

China has tested a satellite engine with a record-breaking operating life, a key technology that could help propel the world’s largest communications, military and deep-space spacecraft into their intended orbits faster and more reliably. The upgra...

Adli Hakimi knows the first obstacle in Johor’s state election is not the ballot box, but the Causeway. The 26-year-old nurse is among Johor’s workers based in the city state – often called “SGD fighters” online for earning stronger Singapo...

Germany ⁠does not have to shy ⁠away from talking up its record on defence spending, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday, when asked about US President Donald Trump calling Germany’s past efforts “ridiculous”. The issue of defence spend...

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Friday said Malaysia would maintain its legal pursuit of Jho Low even if the fugitive financier were to receive a US presidential pardon. Low, the alleged mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal, was charged in 2018 with co...

The mother of Siranudh “Psi” Scott, the 29-year-old scion whose childhood abuse accusations against his brother triggered public sympathy and revealed a rupture inside one of Thailand’s richest families, on Friday dropped her “ungrateful chil...

High-profile conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s split with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party will jeopardise the party’s prospects in the US midterm elections and intensify the quarrel over its identity and direction, accordi...

There will be parades and speeches, fireworks and barbecues, and a healthy dose of patriotism. This Fourth of July, Americans celebrate the 250th anniversary of their country’s independence from the British empire. Many remain unaware of when their...

Hong Kong is positioning itself as a middleman in the fast-growing global space economy, senior officials and experts have said, noting the city can turn its financial markets, common law system and dispute-resolution capabilities into a commercial a...

Chinese autonomous-driving start-up Momenta drew massive subscription numbers for its HK$5.89 billion (US$751 million) initial public offering in Hong Kong, even as it competed against five other issuers launching their IPOs at the same time. The Suz...

Chinese companies are seeking more fresh university graduates with backgrounds in artificial intelligence this year because widespread use of the technology is making their businesses more efficient, according to a recruitment portal based in Beijing...

Chinese researchers are using “a huge amount” of government funding to buy personal items, including home appliances and skincare products, and claiming them as laboratory expenses, according to a recent paper. Two researchers at the People’s P...

Cybersecurity experts have called on authorities to impose fines on firms that suffer data breaches after the personal information of more than 1 million people linked to a leading Hong Kong appliance distributor was maliciously encrypted. They made ...

Interpol on Friday named the suspect in the Monaco bombing that reportedly targeted a Ukrainian tycoon with links to Russia. It identified Anastasiia Berezovska, a 39-year-old woman from Ukraine, as the suspect in a Red Notice posted on its website s...

Hong Kong authorities have approved the city’s first three subdivided units to comply with official minimum standards, with the successful applicant urging landlords to seek professional help to avoid wasting time and money. Hayson Chan Hin-hay sai...

The head of a top UN security think tank has warned that the international community, along with industry, must pivot to pragmatic dialogue on artificial intelligence (AI) in warfare, as a major global regulatory convention remains unlikely in the sh...