Foreign forces are using social media to spread the notion that Chinese young people should be “lying flat” and not working hard as they seek to undermine China’s development, the country’s top anti-espionage agency warned. In recent years, a...

Hong Kong’s exports rose nearly 36 per cent year on year in March – the sharpest rate in more than five years – backed by what authorities described as “strong global demand” for AI-related electronic products and outpacing last month’s g...

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and fractured international relations, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has launched a new School of Governance and Policy (SGP) that aims...

Medical claims paid by Hong Kong insurers could double within a decade, a study has warned, raising concerns over the sector’s sustainability. The findings, released on Tuesday, showed total medical claims in the city rose by more than 60 per cent ...

Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East has turned the spotlight on a strategic waterway thousands of miles away in Southeast Asia, with littoral states having different ideas on how to control their stake. Indonesian officials la...

A South Korean appeal court increased the corruption sentence for former first lady Kim Keon-hee on Tuesday to four years in jail, up from 20 months, after finding her guilty of stock manipulation and bribery. “The court sentences the defendant to ...

An accounting clerk has admitted to helping a fraud syndicate withdraw HK$31 million (US$4 million) from a Hong Kong brokerage five years ago after being told she was under investigation by Beijing’s national security arm in the city. The High Cour...

Thalassaemia is the world’s most common genetic blood disorder. China currently has 30 million thalassaemia gene carriers, while the global total reaches 350 million. Patient with severe thalassaemia could confront a stark reality: regular blood tr...

Hong Kong’s competition watchdog has launched a public consultation on food delivery platform Keeta’s proposed measures to ensure a fair market environment, after previously raising concerns about its exclusivity clauses. The Competition Commissi...

China has cleared the way for a landmark visit by the Dutch trade minister – signalled by Beijing’s quiet removal of long-held sanctions on the official – at a time when their bilateral relations need some attention, according to people familia...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong is bracing for a sharp change in weather as a cold front and upper-air disturbances are set to brin...

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort posted a 36 per cent drop in net profit to HK$536 million (US$68 million) last year, due to higher costs, increased outbound travel by Hongkongers and weather disruptions. The Lantau Island theme park on Tuesday reported i...

A college student stranded in the mountains of Vietnam reportedly survived for 37 hours on just Orion Choco Pies. The South Korean snack, already beloved across Vietnam and often exchanged as a gift during the Lunar New Year, is now drawing attention...

A Chinese man has miraculously survived after his heart stopped beating for 40 hours, sparking an online discussion about the latest life-saving medical techniques. The case came to light after emergency doctor Lu Xiao from the Second Affiliated Hosp...

As impeachment looms, Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio and her spouse are firing back at allegations of ill-gotten wealth, with the couple’s combative responses seen as damage control over what critics say will be “smoking gun” evi...

The university in Hong Kong that is establishing the city’s third medical school has broken ground for an interim teaching and research complex, set to be completed by mid-2028 to welcome the first batch of students. Hong Kong University of Science...

Homeowners of the only block spared in the deadly Wang Fuk Court blaze in Tai Po will be included in the Hong Kong government’s resettlement plan after three-quarters indicated a preference to sell their flats to authorities, the South China Mornin...

China has vowed to take a holistic approach in responding to external shocks and safeguarding the country’s energy security, as the economic fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran continues to spread around the world. At a meeting on Tuesday, the c...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Why Indonesia is ce...

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Mexico’s most powerful criminal enterprise, suffered another blow on Monday when the Mexican military captured one of its top leaders in the northwest of the country, two months after the cartel’s leader was kil...

Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices rose to a 28-month high in March after prices jumped 1.4 per cent, according to the latest official data on Tuesday, with the property market remaining resilient despite uncertainties created by the US-Israel war on...

Catalytic converter theft is rising across Malaysia amid strong demand for rare metals used in automotive emission systems. Most of these thefts were reported to have occurred in residential areas, public car parks and transit hubs. Vehicles left una...

Hong Kong authorities should turn a new HK$30 billion (US$3.8 billion) municipal waste incinerator in Tuen Mun into a tourist attraction and an education hub for eco-protection, lawmakers have said. Their remarks on Tuesday followed the government’...

German biochemist and Nobel laureate Hartmut Michel has taken up a full-time position as a professor at Jilin University in Changchun, northeastern China, according to the university. The 77-year-old – who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Chemistry f...

Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan state was pushed deeper into crisis after Barisan Nasional (BN), a key ally in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition government, declared it had secured a simple majority to form a new state administration with the o...

A heatwave sweeping across Southeast Asia is making offices even warmer, as workers continue to adjust to energy-saving measures put in place by governments due to the war in Iran. Many countries have imposed temperature controls at government workpl...

Hong Kong police have arrested two tourists after an alleged violent fight in a serviced apartment that left both with facial injuries. A source said on Tuesday that the force was alerted to the incident at K11 Artus at 11.47pm the previous day, afte...

Last month, Hong Kong completed its first green methanol bunkering operation, a significant step in its efforts to support the decarbonisation of global shipping. As the maritime industry accelerates its transition towards cleaner fuels, this milesto...

The Pentagon is considering outsourcing warship design and building to South Korea and Japan with a proposed US$1.85 billion feasibility study into the project, according to US media reports. The study – included in the 2027 budget – will look at...

Once a neglected figure in ancient China’s folklore, literature and artefacts, the panda has become a national treasure and a defining symbol of the modern nation. How did this black-and-white creature, long overlooked, come to occupy such an iconi...

Across Southeast Asia, governments are seeking Russian oil and gas to ease fuel shortages triggered by the continuing chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a crisis that has sent energy prices higher and forced import-dependent countries to look beyond ...

China’s population is projected to fall by about 60 million over the next decade, threatening economic activity in wealthier coastal provinces and putting growing pressure on the public pension system, according to recent analyst reports. Research ...

The United States has “no defence against hypersonic weapons or cruise missiles”, a senior Pentagon official told Congress on Monday, as US President Donald Trump’s US$185 billion Golden Dome missile shield faces continued scepticism. “The Go...

Hong Kong authorities will cordon off parts of the shoreline of Sharp Island in Sai Kung to protect corals, with 1,000 visitors expected in the area each day during the coming Labour Day “golden week” holiday. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conse...

The coming summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump offers a window to stabilise bilateral ties through trade deals, but former diplomats and business figures have urged the leaders to move beyond commerce durin...

DeepSeek has slashed prices on its artificial intelligence models, including its latest V4 which now costs 97 per cent less than OpenAI products, potentially triggering a price war in the highly competitive AI market. DeepSeek said on Sunday that it ...

Signatories of the landmark nuclear non-proliferation treaty began a meeting on Monday at the United Nations in New York as fears of a renewed arms race escalate, with atomic powers again at loggerheads over safeguards. In 2022, during the last revie...

“Balikatan 2026” is meant to reassure allies and deter adversaries. But the military exercise hosted by the Philippines also reveals a harsher truth: the Indo-Pacific is drifting into a security logic in which deterrence no longer contains risk b...

The man accused of opening fire at a Washington dinner attended by Donald Trump was charged on Monday with attempting to assassinate the US president and could face life in prison if convicted. Cole Tomas Allen, 31, wore a blue jail-issue V-neck shir...

Nearly 25 years after rap star Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC was killed, a man admitted in court on Monday to a role in the shooting that stymied investigators for decades. Jay Bryant pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge, telling a judge that he hel...

⁠Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in the United States on Monday for a four-day trip, welcomed by self-proclaimed royal fan Donald Trump even as the US president has differed with the British government over the Iran war. The stat...

Lebanon’s social affairs minister has backed calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, but cautioned the process would take time before a “political settlement” could be reached, noting that the group is also a “community”. Haneen Sayed told ...

US President ⁠Donald Trump said on Monday that Jimmy Kimmel should immediately be fired by ABC and parent company Walt Disney, joining his wife Melania Trump in calling out the late-night talk show host for a monologue he delivered prior to a shoot...

Indonesia’s president ordered an investigation on Tuesday after a long-distance train smashed into a stationary commuter train overnight, killing 14 people and injuring dozens. Officials ended a nearly 12-hour rescue effort near Bekasi Timur statio...

Pope Leo and new Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally met for the first time on Monday, in a symbolic encounter at the Vatican in which the leaders of the long-separated Catholic Church and Church of England exchanged gifts and prayed together. Mu...

Following high-level mediation efforts in Islamabad over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Monday. The diplomatic surge comes as US President Donald ...

Archaeologists and researchers at the ancient Roman site of Pompeii have used artificial intelligence for the first time to digitally reconstruct the face of a man killed in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius that smothered the city, offering a new...

Nato is considering ending its recent practice of holding annual summits, six sources told Reuters, a move that could avoid a potentially tense encounter with US President Donald Trump in his final year in office. Trump’s administration has engaged...

A small plane crashed on Monday in South Sudan near the capital Juba, killing all 13 passengers and the pilot, local officials said. On top of instability, conflict and poverty, South Sudan also lacks reliable transport infrastructure with frequent p...

Yoyo Yue has spent much of her life navigating the complex US immigration system. The 31-year-old Chinese content creator moved from China to a US boarding school, went to university, secured an H-1B visa and later a “green card” – a path long ...