China’s coastal aquaculture ponds are shrinking due to environmental policies while India’s are expanding at the fastest rate of any country, according to a new bird’s-eye view of fish farms worldwide. The conclusions are based on a fresh datas...

US President Donald Trump will bring a scaled-back group of chief executive officers with him on a trip to Beijing next week, reflecting limited expectations for a summit that may be overshadowed by the war on Iran. The White House considered invitin...

An Australian man has been remanded in custody and hit with fresh charges in Hong Kong for fleeing restaurants without paying more than HK$2,000 (US$255) in bills, just a day after being fined for similar offences. Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, was ...

An AI-powered database tracking corruption cases against Malaysia’s politicians was independently launched on Friday, putting fresh scrutiny on the status and outcomes of the country’s biggest graft prosecutions across administrations. The Prosec...

The administration of US President Donald Trump is inviting American CEOs from Boeing, Mastercard, Citigroup and other major corporations to join his delegation to China next week, according to multiple sources. Trump is visiting China on May 14 and ...

Even as “China shock 2.0” is roiling Western manufacturers, we must, it seems, brace for “China shock 3.0” – to the global food economy – as President Xi Jinping doubles down on the imperative that has obsessed Beijing for decades: food s...

The tough sentences handed to former defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu showed that Beijing had no tolerance for people with divided loyalties, the Chinese military’s official newspaper said on Friday. The PLA Daily commentary marks the fi...

A new intergovernmental mediation body headquartered in Hong Kong has resolved a maritime dispute between parties from mainland China and Singapore this month, as more states have joined the organisation since its launch last year. Teresa Cheng Yeuk-...

As the world held its breath over the fate of the Middle East this week, France has been gripped by a very different story: a scandal over a chewy rubber giraffe. Sophie la Girafe, the country’s national toy, has long been a symbol of “made in Fr...

The risk of a hantavirus outbreak in Asia remains minimal, according to health experts, despite the return of two Singapore residents who were on board a cruise ship where three people died from the disease that triggered a regional panic. Hantavirus...

China has confirmed for the first time that it provided on-site technical support to Pakistan during its war with India last year. During the conflict, a Chinese-made fighter shot down at least one of India’s French-made fighters. On Thursday, the ...

The former chief of Sri Lanka’s state-owned airline, who was charged with corruption over the purchase of 10 Airbus aircraft, was found dead on Friday, police said. Kapila Chandrasena, the former chief executive of SriLankan Airlines, was found at ...

Tesla’s Shanghai factory reported a big year-on-year rise in deliveries last month as it benefited from local governments’ subsidies and increasing interest in electric vehicles (EVs) amid the global energy shock. The US carmaker said in a statem...

Japanese police have arrested a bus driver on suspicion of negligent driving after a crash on a Fukushima expressway killed a high school student on Wednesday, as investigators look into whether he was speeding and driving without the proper license ...

A performer at a scenic spot in central China went viral for offering visitors “lollipop kisses”, raising controversy about the boundaries of interactive tourism. Ge’s Fairy Village, a resort in Jiangxi province, combines Taoist culture with fo...

Three hikers, including two foreigners, died and 10 were missing after Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s eastern Halmahera island erupted at about 7.40am on Friday, spewing an ash cloud about 10km (six miles) into the air, a local police chief said. “T...

The spectre of the global energy crisis loomed over the three-day Asean summit in the Philippines as regional leaders converge for a final day of talks in Cebu on Friday. Analysts say that while some major flashpoints were addressed – with Thailand...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please conside...

The “unravelled” post-Cold War international order has created conditions that appear to mirror those preceding a great-power conflict, a former senior adviser to the White House has warned. “The international landscape … [is] beginning to lo...

North Korea said on Friday it would deploy new long-range artillery systems this year that were capable of striking South Korea’s capital region and would commission its first naval destroyer in coming weeks. The announcement comes days after South...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The deputy director of the Home Affairs Department and the former head of the Housing Bureau’s Independent ...

China’s rapidly growing low-altitude economy has reached a new milestone, with the first four domestically trained commercial airship pilots receiving their licenses – a step officials believe could help address a critical talent shortage in the ...

A year after fending off a massive Indian air assault with the help of Chinese warplanes and missiles, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Thursday unveiled plans to upgrade its fleet through further acquisitions of Chengdu J-10C fighters and substantial...

Sentiment is warming among some Southeast Asian members towards easing Myanmar’s isolation five years after a coup, with diplomats signalling a possible opening to bring the crisis-torn nation back into the fold. Southeast Asian foreign ministers h...

The young man on course to be Japan’s future emperor is attracting the attention of the country’s voracious media, with rumours of girlfriends and security challenges arising from life as a university student, and hints of unrest in the palace ov...

For decades, Hong Kong thrived as the world’s freest economy without five-year plans, while mainland China rose to become the world’s second largest economy through them. Now Hong Kong has the rare advantage of both: market dynamism and strategic...

China is poised to leverage the humanoid and robotics market to consolidate its dominance over global manufacturing – a move that echoes its decade-long rise to the top of the electric vehicle (EV) sector, according to a new report. “Looking ahea...

When a deadly blast rocked a small town in central China this week, killing dozens, hundreds of fireworks factories in the surrounding area were in peak production season for overseas orders, including for the 250th anniversary of American independen...

A young woman tourist in China died after falling from a “cliff swing” ride after her warning that the safety rope was not tied tightly enough was ignored. The heart-wrenching accident went viral on mainland social media and was viewed more than ...

A Hong Kong homemaker sits alone at a pinball machine at a shopping centre in Sham Shui Po on a weekday morning, engrossed in the game for an hour before picking up her sons from school for lunch. The 47-year-old mother-of-two, who only identified he...

A bonfire of red tape to unleash investment and complete stalled projects across Vietnam may drive economic expansion but is unlikely to offset the damage caused by US tariffs and the fuel crisis which have threatened the country’s growth ambitions...

Two Australian women “kept a female slave” after travelling to Syria in 2014 to support Islamic State, police said on Friday after the pair were charged in Melbourne. The women returned to Australia on Thursday evening for the first time in almos...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told US President Donald Trump on Thursday that his country’s rare earth reserves are open to investment from China and any other nation willing to process the minerals on Brazilian soil, resisting pres...

Beijing’s tighter oversight of vicious price competition in the automotive sector is expected to increase borrowing pressure on mainland carmakers and accelerate the exit of weaker, debt-laden players amid softening consumer demand, according to S&...

The United States and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday in the most serious test yet of their month-long ceasefire, but Iran said the situation returned to normal while the US said it did not want to escalate. The renewed hostilities broke out as Washi...

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the second instalment of a series examining how rivalry, i...

Russia and Ukraine launched major attacks on each other Friday, with a two-day unilateral ceasefire that Moscow had declared around its World War II commemorations appearing to be in tatters. Ukraine never said it would abide by Moscow’s call to ha...

The Trump ⁠administration is inviting CEOs from ⁠Nvidia, Apple, Exxon, Boeing and other big companies to accompany the president on his trip to China next week, Semafor reported on Thursday. Executives from Qualcomm, Blackstone, Citigroup ‌and ...

When the United States and the Philippines opened this year’s Balikatan exercises, the message travelled far beyond the parade ground. More than 17,000 troops are taking part in drills set to run until May 8. What matters is where the drills unfold...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said the European Union must ratify its trade deal with the United States by July 4 or face “much higher” tariffs, after European officials fell short of agreement on the pact. The US president said he spoke ...

The White House called Star Wars ⁠star Mark Hamill “one ⁠sick individual” on Thursday after ⁠an AI-generated image of US President Donald Trump in a shallow grave was posted on one of the actor’s social media accounts. “If Only” was i...

Paris’ public prosecutor has opened ⁠a judicial ⁠investigation into Elon ⁠Musk’s X social media platform, a new step in an investigation over alleged abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data, the prosecutor’s office said on Thursday. The l...

The man who threw petrol bombs at ⁠a pro-Israel rally last year in Colorado, setting several people aflame including a woman who later died from her burns, was sentenced on Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison but said he wished to be e...

The Trump administration has expanded its pressure campaign against Cuba into the critical minerals sector, sanctioning a nickel joint venture tied to Canadian miner Sherritt International in a move that could reverberate through China-linked battery...

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Thursday slammed as “indecent” reported attempts by an American to pay locals US$200,000 each to sign a petition calling for Greenland to join the United States. US President Donald Trump has ...

UK police said on Thursday they had arrested a man wielding a weapon who “was behaving in an intimidating manner” close to the home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in eastern England. Norfolk police confirmed they had been called to an incident lat...

Beijing’s study of the wars in Iran and Ukraine could sharpen its ability to wage information warfare against Americans during a Taiwan Strait conflict, exposing vulnerabilities in US preparedness, experts said on Wednesday. S. Clinton Hinote, a re...

Authorities in Norway arrested a Chinese citizen on espionage allegations on Thursday in connection with a purported effort to set up a receiver to collect sensitive satellite data, the country’s domestic intelligence service said. Norwegian securi...

The Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom has dismissed the conviction of two men linked to a Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) as a “political move”, after a British court found the pair guilty of spying on activists. Following the ver...

The World Health Organization insisted on Thursday that a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic did not mark the beginning of a Covid-like crisis. “This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic,” ...