From chasing a TV crew for 100km to showcase his motorcycle skills, a once-poor young man from central China has built a thriving motorcycle empire, raking in 700 million (US$100 million) yuan a year. Born into a rural family in Hunan province, Zhang...

Russian drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, killed at least two people in the early hours of Saturday, local officials said. The attacks came just before a second round of peace negotiations was set to begin, as a renewed US-led...

The death toll from heavy floods and mudslides caused by Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka rose to 123, with 130 people still missing, authorities said Saturday. Nearly 44,000 people have been displaced and are in temporary shelters, the South Asian countr...

Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia’s health deteriorated since being admitted to hospital, prompting her family and party members to urge citizens to pray for her speedy recovery on Saturday. Zia, 80, was admitted to hospital on November ...

In Pakistan, a nation where power often seems to serve itself above all else, the latest constitutional overhaul has been received with a weary sense of resignation. Pushed through parliament on November 13 with barely a murmur of opposition, the 27t...

South Africa is looking to new export markets in Asia – particularly China – and Europe to diversify away from the United States, as its relations with Washington rapidly deteriorate. America boycotted last weekend’s Group of 20 summit in Johan...

A special bond that was formed between a museum security guard and a black cat that died last year continues to move countless people online. The feline called Ken-chan visited the Onomichi City Museum in Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture for the first ...

Coral reefs at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea are healthy and resilient to climate change, but growing thermal stress poses a potential bleaching risk, according to a Chinese environmental assessment. The report rated the atoll...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. A hotelier is drawing on her experienc...

Beneath the podium at Kwong Fuk Estate in Tai Po, between rows of relief booths and supply tables stacked with bottled water and meal boxes, a group of children took a break from their volunteering duties. But they did not rest for long. As soon as t...

Fake photos generated by artificial intelligence (AI) are being misused to claim refunds from Chinese online shops, sparking moral and legal concerns. As China’s Double 11 shopping festival took place around November 11, several e-commerce shop own...

Peru’s government declared a state of emergency at its southern border with Chile on Friday, expecting an influx of people trying to flee far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast’s potential presidency. Under the decree, Peru’s military will reinf...

This article was first published on November 30, 2015. By Sijia Jiang After 13 years, China’s own passenger jet enters service China’s ambition of an indigenous plane took wings on Sunday (November 29, 2015) as its first home-grown passenger jet,...

A total of 201 men have been detained in Malaysia during a joint enforcement operation at a wellness centre after authorities suspected the premises in Kuala Lumpur were being used for illicit activities. The men, aged between 19 and 60, were picked ...

Female sacrifice in China dates back thousands of years earlier than previously believed, a study of ancient DNA has revealed. Evidence from elite burials at a large Stone Age settlement in northwestern China also suggests the existence of an early h...

Tokyo’s hotel sector is fighting plans to replace the city’s long-standing flat-rate lodging tax with a percentage-based levy that could significantly increase costs for tourists and short-term visitors. Analysts and industry groups argue the pro...

Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi will travel to the US next week to sign a final agreement with his Rwandan counterpart aimed at securing peace in eastern Congo, the Congolese government said on Friday, capping months-long diplomatic efforts spea...

The United States is freezing all asylum decisions, officials said on Friday, as President Donald Trump hardens his anti-migrant stance after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members this week in Washington. Wednesday’s attack o...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. What we know so far: 128 people, incl...

The government should take the lead in assessing the structural safety of the estate engulfed by Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades before deciding whether it should be restored or redeveloped, experts have said, warning of liability problems and a ...

Voters in Sabah are casting their ballots on Saturday, in a state election seen as a referendum on Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership midway into his first term. Anwar, who came to office in 2022 after pulling together a rag-tag co...

Shanghai, mainland China’s top finance and trade hub, is set to double down on efforts to prevent the “hollowing out” of its manufacturing sector even as it pursues global financial centre status. The city’s next five-year plan, which will co...

When Alvin Kwock, co-founder of digital insurer OneDegree, took part in the inaugural Hong Kong FinTech Week in November 2016, it was held at a venue suitable for only a few hundred people. “As it was the first ever fintech event in Hong Kong, only...

In China, girls are taught early to be “appropriate” – to listen, not lead; to speak gently, not loudly. We grow up believing that quietness is likeability, and likeability is safety. But something is shifting. When Chinese writer Jiang Fangzho...

Singapore’s long-frustrated football fans are daring to hope again after a landmark Asian Cup qualification win and the appointment of a home-grown coach they believe can restore pride to a national side long eclipsed at home by English Premier Lea...

Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has released the world’s first open AI model to test and score a gold medal-level performance at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the Hangzhou-based start-up said on Thursday. De...

China is betting on bio-manufacturing to boost technological self-reliance and drive economic growth as part of the next five-year plan, elevating the sector on par with electric vehicles and semiconductors. Beijing is upgrading and expanding a natio...

A child trafficking survivor from central China who turned into a multimillionaire has reunited with her birth family, only to discover that her father had died years ago after being consumed by guilt. On November 20, during the Winter Clothing Festi...

Systemic failings around supervision of building maintenance in Hong Kong, and a lack of coordination between departments charged with ensuring it is done properly, both needed to be addressed to prevent tragedies such as the Tai Po fire happening ag...

Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it was ordering immediate repairs to 6,000 of its widely used A320 family of jets in a sweeping recall affecting more than half the global fleet, threatening upheaval during the busiest travel weekend of the year in t...

Centuries ago, Indian merchants rode monsoon winds across the seas, their cargoes stitching together a maritime world stretching from East Africa to Southeast Asia. Today, as container ships queue outside clogged ports and great powers quarrel over a...

Japan’s recent deployment of missiles on Yonaguni, an island only 110km (70 miles) away from Taiwan, comes amid rising tensions with Beijing. It also follows a steady build-up of supplies and equipment in the region by Japan’s main ally, the Unit...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. The president explained his d...

US President Donald Trump spoke by phone last week with leftist Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, with the two rivals discussing a possible meeting in the United States, The New York Times reported on Friday. The reported call comes as Trump’s admi...

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was nullifying all documents signed by autopen during the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden. “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of ...

The head of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Friday it retained the right to respond to Israel’s killing days ago of its top military commander and left open the possibility of a new conflict with Israel. Naim Qassem spoke in a televised a...

China has halted imports of soybeans from five Brazilian exporters after inspectors found pesticide-treated wheat mixed into a cargo bound for Beijing, officials from both countries said on Thursday. The suspension by China’s General Administration...

The death toll from Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in seven decades climbed to more than 100 on Friday as the government announced a three-day official mourning period from Saturday for victims of the blaze. National and Hong Kong flags at all its buil...

France on Friday charged the fourth alleged member of a four-person gang arrested over last month’s spectacular jewel heist at the Louvre, prosecutors said. On October 19, the gang raided the world’s most visited art museum in broad daylight, tak...

Charges against the man accused of shooting two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died, the US attorney for the District of Columbia announced on Friday, while investigators continue to seek a ...

Distress and uncertainty lingered among displaced residents after Wednesday’s deadly fire in Hong Kong, as they struggled to move into tiny temporary flats while calling for better long-term resettlement arrangements such as public housing. Some el...

A fierce war of words has erupted between Dutch chipmaker Nexperia and its Chinese owner, Wingtech Technology, after China and the European Union signalled that their dispute should be resolved at the corporate level. Wingtech accused Nexperia’s he...

Against the backdrop of the seven charred residential blocks, an open plaza next to Wang Fuk Court has transformed into a bustling relief centre, manned by hundreds of volunteers aiding thousands of displaced residents on the third day since Hong Kon...

Families of residents still missing after a blaze engulfed an estate complex in Hong Kong on Wednesday face an agonising wait for news of their loved ones as the government needs more time to identify many of the bodies. Secretary for Security Chris ...

William Li, 40, is one of the survivors of Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire tragedy. The deadliest inferno in decades set seven blocks in the Wang Fuk Court residential complex ablaze, claiming at least 128 lives as of Friday. Li was rescued from Wang Cheon...

The failure of fire alarms in the deadly Tai Po blaze could have delayed the response and evacuation of residents, according to a leading Hong Kong fire safety specialist. Anthony Lam Chun-man, a former director of the Fire Services Department, also ...

A research team led by Alibaba Cloud was the only group from China to receive a top award at this year’s NeurIPS, or the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, billed as the artificial intelligence industry’s most prestigious annual...

China has expressed “serious concerns” regarding a trade agreement signed last month between Malaysia and the United States, and some analysts suggest it might be related to how the pact could force the Southeast Asian nation to align with Washin...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday removed his powerful chief of staff and top negotiator, Andriy Yermak, after detectives raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe. Yermak’s removal deals a serious blow to Zelensky, who...

Popular Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki has cancelled a concert in Shanghai scheduled for Saturday evening, following a request to call off the performance. In a notice posted on Chinese social media on Friday afternoon, the organiser of the concert s...