The EU and China were due to hold talks to defuse escalating trade tensions after Europe voted last week to adopt a tough new approach. EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic was set to meet China’s top trade envoy, Li Chenggang, on the sidelines of an Orga...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s ruling party swept most of the country’s major local elections, but a narrow defeat in Seoul has given conservatives a foothold to challenge his reform agenda. The loss in the capital, South Korea’s politi...

China has rejected a recent OECD report that said its firms receive far higher government subsidies than international peers, calling the findings “one-sided and arbitrary” at a time when EU concerns over Beijing’s industrial policy are intensi...

Thailand’s shrimp industry is reeling from the latest blow to its once market-dominant business after Malaysia this week suspended imports from its northern neighbour, triggering fresh despair from a sector whose revenue has nosedived in the 15 yea...

Chinese academics specialising in Tibet must find more creative ways to shape the global conversation about the region while remaining strictly aligned with the Communist Party’s ideology. That was the message Li Ganjie, head of the Communist Party...

For a sign of how the fierce demand for memory chips triggered by the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) is benefiting technology-driven economies, look no further than South Korea. Last month, exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy grew at a...

AirAsia X has called recent media reports claiming its Philippine operations were being grounded “coordinated and sensationalised” and part of a “deliberate smear campaign”. In a statement, the airline group said the smear campaign had long b...

For Chinese parents worn down by exam pressure, the solution now being offered by many creators on RedNote is not another tutoring strategy but another country: Malaysia. On the Chinese lifestyle app, mainland creators living in Malaysia are pitching...

Direct flights between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan could save travellers up to 10 hours and open the city’s shorelines to tourists from landlocked Central Asia, lawmakers have said after the flag carrier announced plans to launch an Almaty route next ...

A Chinese scientist behind China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System rejects the “goddess” label, asserting that research transcends gender. Xu Ying, 43, hails from Sichuan province in southwestern China, born to a maths teacher mother and an ...

A Nepali climbing guide who went missing on Mount Everest for six days and was feared dead has been found alive after crawling alone almost to Base Camp, officials said on Thursday. His wife had even begun to offer last rite prayers for his soul, she...

The group leading the charge in the search for extraterrestrial life has given the all-clear: an interstellar comet looks to be completely natural and free of any alien tech. The SETI Institute said Wednesday that extensive radio scans by its telesco...

Uzbekistan plans to launch direct flights to Hong Kong this year, with details being finalised with local authorities, the South China Morning Post has learned, in a move to strengthen ties between Central Asia and the city. The new route follows clo...

Indonesia’s free meals programme has long been beset with governance problems, quality issues and mass food poisoning cases. Now, allegations of corruption and the arrests of top former officials overseeing Prabowo Subianto’s flagship scheme risk...

A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, is facing growing resistance from protesters in Albania. The government says the development on the Adriatic coast would be transformational f...

Hong Kong authorities have confirmed that an unmarried couple arrested on suspicion of child neglect are the biological parents of undocumented infant Danny. A police source told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that Tsang Wai-bong and Kwan P...

Some people living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) have never been able to stand on their own. SMA is a genetic disorder that causes the nerves that connect the brain and muscles to deteriorate over time, making it challenging or even impossible f...

Hong Kong’s weather forecaster is monitoring a tropical depression that has formed within 800km (497 miles) of the city, but says it is unlikely to issue a typhoon warning signal. The Hong Kong Observatory said on Thursday that an area of low press...

More than 20 people were injured in a traffic accident involving two public buses and a truck in Hong Kong’s New Territories, temporarily closing an arterial road on Thursday morning. A minibus, a double-decker bus and a truck collided on Fanling H...

A former student of a well-known Hong Kong basketball coach, seen in a video slapping a young player, has defended his disciplinary approach as acceptable despite legal experts warning the conduct could constitute common assault. Veteran coach Yung K...

Details of how a Cambodia-based scam syndicate allegedly targeted victims in Singapore through a three-level scheme emerged in court on Wednesday, as a woman went on trial over her alleged participation in the operation. De Villar Rizalyn Panganiban,...

In the Grand Hall of London’s Central Criminal Court, ubiquitously known as the Old Bailey, lies a plaque commemorating the courage of the jury in the 1670 trial of William Penn. Penn – who would later found the US state of Pennsylvania – and h...

Becoming an astronaut and exploring space has been the dream of generations of young people and Hong Kong has welcomed this pioneering moment. Dr Lai Ka-Ying, who studied computer science at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has become the first ast...

Beijing could conduct military operations, bolster its electronic warfare strength and roll out trade sanctions in response to Tokyo and Manila’s deepening defence cooperation, according to Chinese experts. Last week, Manila and Tokyo announced the...

As artificial intelligence steps out of the digital realm and into the real world, the race to build the embodied “brains” powering next-generation robots has become the newest battleground in tech competition between China and the United States....

Residents of a city in central China have come to the aid of a poor 19-year-old student who works more than 10 hours a day as a food delivery rider to earn money to cover his tuition fees. Tang Wei, from Xinhuang county in Hunan province, was admitte...

Xenophobia and financial woes in the West have created tremendous opportunities for higher education institutions in Hong Kong and the broader Eurasian region, the head of a leading university in Kazakhstan has said. Professor Waqar Ahmad, the presid...

Authorities are considering a pilot booking system for one of Hong Kong’s most popular hiking routes and creating a new marine park at Sharp Island in Sai Kung, following bigger-than-expected crowds during mainland Chinese holidays. The proposals w...

Just over a year after consolidating its status as Singapore’s main opposition, the Workers’ Party (WP) is grappling with internal fissures as chief Pritam Singh’s role is being questioned by his own members. Singh, who has led the WP since 201...

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks in Washington on Wednesday. The two sides, which do not h...

Hong Kong is an international economic powerhouse brimming with talent and capital, but how much of that has trickled down to local communities? This was the question that weighed on Daniella Lopez’s mind when she acquired the licence for TEDxHongK...

The need for Beijing and Washington to pursue “reconciliation and cooperation” and avoid war is the central message of her US trip, Taiwan’s main opposition leader Cheng Li-wun said in San Francisco. Cheng, leading a delegation from the Kuomint...

The Republican-led House voted to halt the US war with Iran, breaking with President Donald Trump on an unpopular foreign conflict that is taking an escalating economic toll on Americans. The 215-208 vote on Wednesday showed worries over the war spre...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed on Wednesday that China is “very interested” in additional Boeing plane purchases, an issue the Trump administration plans to press when President Xi Jinping visits the United States in September. “Th...

Despite recent back-to-back visits to Beijing by US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, no new trilateral framework or major diplomatic breakthrough has emerged. Yet, according to observers, the summits highlight Beijing’s ...

The US and its “Five Eyes” intelligence partners issued what they said was an unprecedented joint notice warning about attempts by Chinese spies to use websites such as LinkedIn to recruit assets. “China’s military intelligence services are u...

Since the Ukraine war began in 2022, Asia has been watching conflict as if enrolled in a study course. We have heard every argument: Nato enlargement, Russian insecurity, Ukrainian sovereignty, European fear, American power, energy politics, sanction...

US ⁠President Donald Trump suggested he might keep the Ultimate Fighting Championship cage-fighting arena being built on the lawn of the White House as a permanent fixture. The Republican compared ‌the structure, which is being built for a night ...

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said ⁠on Wednesday that Hungary ⁠and Ukraine reached an agreement on the ⁠rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, which could allow approval of the first cluster, or a group of negotiating chapters, in...

The administration of US President Donald Trump has proposed new tariffs of up to 12.5 per cent on imports from China and dozens of other trading partners, using a forced-labour investigation to advance what analysts see as a bid to rebuild its tarif...

Portugal and Austria defeated Germany for seats on the powerful but deeply divided UN Security Council on Wednesday in a hotly contested race after intense campaigning. The 10 rotating seats on the 15-member Security Council are earmarked for differe...

Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russia are causing “panic” for the Kremlin, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday, saying Moscow was lashing out at Kyiv with increased attacks. Ukrainian drones hit energy and military sites in St Pete...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva thanked China for clearing the country’s beef of foot-and-mouth disease and fired a barb at US President Donald Trump, saying “I will sell to someone else”, after Washington announced new tariffs on...

German filmmaker Wim Wenders on Wednesday said he has pulled his 1975 movie The Wrong Move over a nude scene featuring a then-13-year-old Nastassja Kinski. Kinski, now 65, has urged Wenders to re-edit the film. Last month, she told the German newspap...

US President ⁠Donald Trump said ⁠in a podcast interview aired on Wednesday that Vice-President J.D. Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, teaming up for a 2028 presidential run, would be ‌unbeatable. Both men are seen as contenders for t...

The non-executive chairman of Hong Kong rail giant the MTR Corporation has been elected as the new head of the city’s largest business chamber for a one-year term. Jacob Kam Chak-pui, 64, took over as chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Co...

A man holding hostages inside a building in California that houses a bank branch and school district office has been shot and killed by the FBI, police said on Wednesday. The suspect was killed in “an officer-involved shooting involving Federal Bur...

Kenya’s health minister said on Wednesday that the US-funded quarantine centre would proceed, days after deadly protests erupted over the project. The US-built facility at Kenya’s Laikipia Air Base was due to open last week, according to US offic...

Swedish authorities who have taken over the care of the daughter of a Hong Kong couple with a troubled parenting history have said that whether a child faces risks at home is one of the key factors when deciding if intervention is needed. But the soc...

Skipping pleasantries like “please” and “thank you” when talking to chatbots could save enough energy to power the annual needs of 760,000 residents in sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the massive but often hidden environmental toll of artifi...