The United States should take immediate action to correct wrongdoing in trade practices against China, the commerce ministry in Beijing said on Thursday, after a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that let China impose tariffs on US goods.The WTO ...

Staffers have accused the top director of the World Health Organization in the Western Pacific of racist, unethical and abusive behaviour that has undermined the UN health agency’s efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic.The allegations were laid ...

China will allow one of its most indebted and poorest provinces to delay debt payments and undergo a restructuring process amid growing concerns that a crisis could break out in the southwestern region that is synonymous with the popular Mao-tai liqu...

In this discussion, Dr. Mary E. Lovely, Senior Fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Sourabh Gupta, Head of the Trade & Tech Program at the Institute for China-America Studies, spoke about the growing importance of ASEAN and t...

Hong Kong’s police chief on Thursday said his attendance at an Omicron-hit birthday bash that landed several senior officials in quarantine earlier this month was part of efforts to engage with the community and meet important stakeholders.Commissi...

Honduras is grateful for the support Taiwan has provided and hopes to maintain their relationship, President-elect Xiomara Castro said on Wednesday after meeting Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai Ching-te, who is in the country to shore up shaky t...

A senior adviser to Beijing on the coronavirus pandemic has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for China if it “blindly” follows a World Health Organization recommendation to ease international travel restrictions.China’s immunisation co...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.Hong Kong will shorten its 21-day quarantine requirement for incoming travellers to two weeks from February 5 ...

When Nathanael Yau tested positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago in Singapore using a home rapid antigen test kit, referred to as ART, the 30-year-old knew he would need to cancel all activities outside and immediately self-isolate.With 88 per cent of t...

Hong Kong’s home prices rose for a 13th straight year in 2021 even as prices declined for a third consecutive month in December, according to an index published by the city’s Rating and Valuation Department.The index for lived-in homes in Decembe...

Australia reported fewer Covid-19 deaths on Thursday, a day after recording a pandemic high, while hospital cases remained steady, raising hopes the country’s worst outbreak may have peaked.Officials reported a total of 59 deaths, down from a pande...

US President Joe Biden is eyeing at least three judges for an expected vacancy on the Supreme Court as he prepares to quickly deliver on his campaign pledge to nominate the first black woman to the nation’s highest court, according to aides and all...

A rare expected departure of a cabinet minister in Hong Kong has revealed the delicate relationship between the central authorities, the city’s leader and Beijing loyalists on political appointments and where the buck stops.Insiders revealed that C...

Washington has not fundamentally changed its China policies and US-China relations face “new shocks” two months after the virtual summit between the two countries’ presidents, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday.In a telephone con...

Hong Kong’s daily Covid-19 caseload soared to 164 on Thursday, the most recorded in a single day since the pandemic began in January 2020 and up sharply from the 107 confirmed infections that emerged on Wednesday.The previous daily record was 149 n...

Atar Sandler arrived in Singapore in 2019, seizing the opportunity to live in a buzzing global city that is also a convenient base to jet off to more exotic locales nearby.But after two years of mask-wearing, socialising in small groups and travel re...

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) regained full control of al-Sina’a prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka on Wednesday, spokesman Farhad Shami said in a tweet, and all remaining Islamic State militants had surrendered.At le...

England on Thursday lifted coronavirus restrictions imposed to tackle the Omicron variant, with masks no longer required in enclosed places and vaccine passports shelved.The number of positive Covid-19 cases has fallen sharply over the past two weeks...

The threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted Nato forces to mobilise across Europe, evoking for many the military alliance’s first reasons for being.Ukraine, a post-Soviet state, has drifted in recent years toward the West. In 2008, Nato sa...

Nuclear-armed North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Thursday, drawing condemnation from the United States for what would be the sixth round of missile tests this month.It is among ...

Neil Young made good on his vow to have his music removed from Spotify after demanding the streaming service choose between him and Joe Rogan, the controversial podcaster accused of spreading disinformation.The prolific, legendary singer behind “He...

The two-week nomination period for Hong Kong’s chief executive race will begin on February 20, nearly a week later than previously indicated, formally kicking off the contest to decide who will be the next leader of the city’s new “patriots-onl...

Concerns are growing over possible Covid-19 transmissions in Hong Kong’s busy railway stations, after a recent infection occurred at Mei Foo amid an escalating outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus variant.Officials said last week that a short-range ...

Hong Kong’s banks are handing out their annual lai see to employees electronically, as the city’s resurgent Covid-19 outbreak kept many employees working from home and curtailed social mingling.Citi remitted HK$688 (US$88) on Wednesday to 4,500 e...

In the midst of a pandemic, tourism seems like a remote concept. Yet as 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, it is a year in which the city can share its cultural assets with the world and reignite the global passion for tourism...

China’s industrial firms saw December profits grow at their slowest pace in more than a year and a half, pointing to cooling demand amid mounting economic challenges for the world’s second-largest economy.The downbeat data adds to expectations of...

Oil palm planters in Malaysia are confronting a hard truth – behind the red-hot rally in prices are thousands of jobs that nobody wants.While high prices typically encourage planting and production of crops, output in No 2 grower Malaysia slumped t...

US government scientists said on Wednesday they have taken an important step in the long trek toward making nuclear fusion – the very process that powers stars – a viable energy source for humankind.Using the world’s largest laser, the research...

Indonesia and Singapore signed a new extradition treaty on Tuesday that Jakarta hopes to use to repatriate corrupt Indonesians who have been hiding their ill-gotten gains in the city state.An extradition treaty between the two countries was signed in...

Tencent Holdings has quietly embedded video game engine Unreal Engine into its increasingly obsolete messaging platform QQ, according to an updated version of the app, and analysts say the move forms part of the social media and gaming giant’s fora...

Former chief executive Leung Chun-ying has called for a visionary Hong Kong leader to grasp “the last window of opportunity” offered by Beijing’s national development plans, but stopped short of confirming whether he wants the city’s top job ...

The former Communist Party chief of Chinese e-commerce hub Hangzhou has been expelled from the party and accused of supporting “disorderly expansion” of private companies.A party corruption probe into Zhou Jiangyong, announced in August, has been...

The US government warned companies on Wednesday to be extremely wary of doing business in Myanmar, citing the risks of being linked to a military government involved in lawlessness and human rights abuse.Those involved with businesses controlled by t...

The European Union has launched a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against China, having completed its own investigation into Beijing’s alleged coercion of Lithuania.The EU filed a request for consultation with China in Geneva on Thursday, havin...

A chunk of a SpaceX rocket that blasted off seven years ago and was abandoned in space after completing its mission will crash into the moon in March, experts say.The rocket was deployed in 2015 to put into orbit a Nasa satellite called the Deep Spac...

When the 2013 Korean drama series My Love From the Star raked in 150 billion Korean won in China, the untapped potential of the Chinese market beguiled and enticed South Korea’s entertainment industry.The male lead of the series, Kim Soo-hyun, saw ...

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said his comments suggesting biennial World Cups could convince African people not to risk “death” by crossing the Mediterranean Sea were “taken out of context”.Infantino was addressing the European Council on ...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson did authorise the evacuation of animals from Kabul during the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, a claim he has previously dismissed as “nonsense”, according to government emails released on Wednes...

Prince Andrew wants a jury to decide a lawsuit by a sexual assault accuser if he cannot get the case dismissed altogether, his lawyers said in court papers on Wednesday.Virginia Giuffre, an American, has accused the British royal of sexually abusing ...

China’s imports of coking coal plummeted in 2021, as the country strived to diversify its sources amid an unofficial ban on Australian coal and coronavirus pandemic-hit Mongolian imports, analysts said.China imported 54.7 million tonnes of coking c...

The Taliban must uphold the fundamental human rights of women and children, the United Nations chief said on Wednesday, urging the international community to release frozen Afghan aid to prevent families from selling their babies to buy food.UN Secre...

The UN Security Council will meet on Friday with a minister from Asean chair Cambodia to discuss the chaotic situation in Myanmar, one year after a coup ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, diplomatic sources said.Cambodia currently heads the Association ...

The United States on Wednesday rejected Russia’s key demand to bar Ukraine from Nato and said it believed Moscow was ready to invade but offered what it called a new “diplomatic path” out of the crisis.Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he ...

A Hong Kong-led research team has cracked a centuries-old problem that has made it impossible to use water for cooling extremely hot surfaces, from rocket engines to frying pans.Lead researcher Wang Zuankai, a chair professor of mechanical engineerin...

Stephen Breyer, one of three liberal justices on the US Supreme Court, plans to retire, paving the way for President Joe Biden to name the first black woman to the nation’s highest court.Breyer, 83, will step down after the court’s current term, ...

Burkina Faso’s ousted president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, “is physically well” and is being held by the army in a villa, a source in his party said on Wednesday.Kabore’s state and whereabouts have been a key issue since he was overthrown b...

Germany, which has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine in the face of a possible Russian invasion, offered on Wednesday to send 5,000 helmets instead, a move slammed as an “absolute joke” by the mayor of Kyiv.Justice Minister Christine Lambrech...

The World Trade Organization (WTO) authorised China on Wednesday to impose US$645 million of compensatory tariffs against the United States in a ruling likely to receive a cool reception in Washington.China went to the WTO in 2012 to challenge anti-s...

Astronomers have discovered a mystery object in the sky that was sending out a beam of radiation every 20 minutes – an unusual pattern that has not been seen before.But the scientists said it was not aliens sending signals to Earth. It was probably...

China should enhance economic and security ties with Eurasia to offset resistance from the United States and its allies, but Beijing needs to be alert to geopolitical instability and anger over its alleged mistreatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjian...