The international community should form a strategy to provide North Korea with at least 60 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to head off humanitarian disaster, an independent UN human rights investigator said on Wednesday.The vaccines could be a way...

When Mumbai-based engineer Shailesh Tomar, 32, became a father for the first time recently, he opted to work from home and help with childcare so his wife could return to work within three months after having their son.But some relatives judged him f...

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s quest for the Philippine presidency has Loretta Rosales recoiling in horror remembering the nightmare she went through standing up to his late father’s brutal rule.Tortured and gang-raped by the elder Marcos’ troops under...

A former president of China Citic Bank Corporation, one of the country’s largest state-owned banks, went on trial on Tuesday accused of taking almost one billion yuan in bribes.Sun Deshun, the president of Citic Bank between 2016 and 2020, pleaded ...

China has taken another step toward setting up a national pension system, beginning the “balancing” of its main retirement fund to help regions with older populations continue to make payouts.National balancing was started on January 1 for the co...

An abrupt drop in airborne pollutants was a major cause of eastern China’s extreme summer rainfall in 2020, which killed more than 150 and affected 55 million people, according to a study led by Chinese researchers.Wang Hailong, an earth scientist ...

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivered his HK$170 billion (US$21.8 billion) budget for Hong Kong on Wednesday, emphasising the urgent need to address the worsening coronavirus pandemic, with billions in funding earmarked for relief and public ...

An appeal court has declined to endorse an attempt by a doctor held liable for Hong Kong’s worst beauty treatment blunder to have his manslaughter conviction overturned by the city’s top judges.DR Group founder Stephen Chow Heung-wing was initial...

China will participate in international efforts to combat plastic pollution and build on its existing policies to cut waste, the environment ministry of the world’s top producer said on Wednesday, a week before talks on a new global plastic pact.Mo...

The number of new coronavirus cases around the world fell 21 per cent in the last week, marking the third consecutive week that Covid-19 cases have dropped, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.In the UN health agency’s weekly pandemic rep...

“I dare you, watch me as I undress,” sings actor Ross Nasir in a Singapore musical comedy about dating as a plus-size woman, highlighting a nascent fat acceptance movement in a city state that once forced children to join weight loss programmes.�...

A 66-year-old man was in police custody on Wednesday after being arrested on suspicion of killing his wife with a knife in a Hong Kong public housing flat.Police were called to the Long Ping Estate on Ping Yee Road in Yuen Long shortly after 7pm on T...

Police are searching for four men who used axes to break a water pipe and smash the windscreen and windows of a Mercedes-Benz parked at a village house in northern Hong Kong before dawn on Wednesday.Officers were called to Fu Tei Pai village off Sha ...

The United Nations human rights expert on Myanmar on Tuesday said Russia and China were providing the junta with fighter jets being used against civilians, and urged the UN Security Council to halt the flow of weapons enabling atrocities.Thomas Andre...

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has ordered the island’s armed and security forces to step up their surveillance, remain alert for military activity in the region and strengthen combat readiness as tensions between Russia and Ukraine mount.Tsai, c...

The Hong Kong government is to adopt rental relief measures similar to those in Singapore and the UK to ease the financial burden on hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).SMEs in certain sectors will be allowed to defer th...

Japan will impose sanctions on Russia and individuals linked to Ukrainian regions controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists, while Australia did the same and warned businesses to prepare for retaliation through Russian cyberattacks.The measures follow de...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has suspended the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline after Russia recognised separatist-held regions in eastern Ukraine.The undersea pipeline directly links Russian gas to Europe via Germany...

The adoptive family of Liu Xuezhou, 17, who is believed to have taken his own life after twice being rejected by his biological parents, has filed for a police investigation to see if any criminal charges can be brought.Liu’s adoptive aunt, who wis...

As American consumers from New York to San Francisco are sipping the most expensive coffee in a decade, China’s middle class is finding that surging bean prices have left a bitter taste in their mouths.Many white-collar workers in big Chinese citie...

Hours after eating leftovers from a restaurant, a 19-year-old was admitted to the hospital with multiple organ failure and later had both his legs and all his fingers amputated.The Massachusetts college student had eaten rice, chicken and lo mein fro...

Japan has demanded an apology after one of its diplomatic staff in Beijing was temporarily detained by Chinese authorities on Monday.“We cannot overlook [the incident] and will never accept it,” the Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi sai...

Hong Kong confirmed an all-time daily record of 8,674 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, as officials revealed that the latest data showed an 18-times difference in the death rates between the vaccinated and unvaccinated.The developments came with...

The star witness in the bribery trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng testified that ex-Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein in 2009 met former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak ahead of US$6.5 billion in bond deals for the country’s wealth fun...

Beijing is concerned about the release of sonobuoys by foreign aircraft and warships close to Chinese vessels because of their capacity to collect information about submarines for Western militaries, according to military analysts.Reconnaissance cond...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong’s finance chief presented his final budget address on Wednesday, rolling out an anti-pandemic f...

Former US president Donald Trump on Tuesday hailed Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine as “genius” but said the crisis would not have happened under the Republican firebrand’s administration.During an appearance on a ri...

Hong Kong’s benchmark stock index climbed from a three-week low, rebounding as traders scooped up beaten-down stocks amid a raft of relief measures offered by the city’s government to counter the economic effects of a resurgent Covid-19 outbreak....

France removed Australia from its list of key partners in the Indo-Pacific region as tensions between the two countries linger five months after the Aukus submarine debacle.A decision by the government in Canberra to abandon a multibillion-dollar sub...

A man with a firearm who held several people hostage at Apple’s flagship store in central Amsterdam was overpowered late Tuesday after a siege lasting several hours, police said, adding that the last of the hostages had been freed.Police had deploy...

It is not often that somebody can claim a medical emergency was turned around by a can of cola, but this appears to be the case for a four-year-old girl in Shanghai.Doctors discovered a goose egg-sized stone in her stomach after being admitted to hos...

Hong Kong businesses expressed anger over the government’s decision to extend stringent social-distancing measures until April, instead of the usual two weeks, in a bid to contain surging Covid-19 infections, warning the move will be the straw that...

Japan might rank among the top holiday destinations for Southeast Asians, reflecting the good impression that most have of the country. But it’s a different story when it comes to how much trust those in the region have towards Japan or how they vi...

When Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised troops to cross Ukraine’s border into regions controlled by Russian-backed separatists, the White House initially stopped short of calling it an invasion.That changed on Tuesday, and key allies in Eu...

Bringing forward the summer holidays for students in Hong Kong as part of a government plan to conduct citywide Covid-19 screening will add to the workload for schools, disrupt teaching and learning, as well as affect the vaccination drive for young ...

A mainland Chinese biotechnology firm has confirmed that it is in talks with the Hong Kong authorities about supplying the city with its Covid-19 treatment.Brii Biosciences said in a statement that detailed information could not be disclosed because ...

The current Omicron situation has already overwhelmed our public hospitals. As an obstetrician, I have experienced the impact this has had on my own patients and how this has led to serious, disproportionate physical and mental health implications fo...

Ukraine on Wednesday began calling up reservists into the armed forces and urged its citizens to leave Russia immediately amid fears of an all-out invasion.One of Europe’s worst security crises in decades was unfolding after Russian President Vladi...

Indian teenage chess grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa won praise Tuesday for a stunning victory over world No 1 Magnus Carlsen in an online championship.Praggnanandhaa, 16, who in 2016 became the youngest international master in history at age 1...

China’s “robust” trade relationship with Russia could put it in a position to offer economic and diplomatic help to Moscow, as it faces numerous sanctions from the United States and its European allies over its aggression towards Ukraine.China�...

Gary Brooker, whose Whiter Shade of Pale launched the Summer of Love in 1967, has died, his bandmates in Procol Harum announced on Tuesday.Brooker, who was 76, had been receiving treatment for cancer and died at home, the band said in a statement.The...

Chinese scientists say they have developed a new technology that could protect satellites from attack by high-power microwave weapons.The team, from the China Academy of Space Technology, said it had completed ground testing of the technology, and as...

It is rare to come across a description of US president Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China that does not use the words “historic” or “groundbreaking”. The phrase “Nixon goes to China” has entered the American political lexicon, which j...

A Missouri man convicted of killing his wife, burying her body and lying to authorities about her whereabouts pleaded guilty on Tuesday to child abuse charges involving the couple’s young daughter.Joseph Elledge had originally pleaded not guilty to...

A US jury found three white men guilty of federal hate crimes on Tuesday for the murder of a black man who was shot dead while jogging in their Georgia neighbourhood two years ago.Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael and their neighbour Wil...

On Monday, Vladimir Putin recognised the independence of two separatist regions of Ukraine, pushing Russian actions one step closer to large-scale conflict in Europe.In doing this, the Russian president is following the same game plan that he used in...

Lawmakers gave Russian President Vladimir Putin permission to use force outside the country on Tuesday – a move that could presage a broader attack on Ukraine after the US said an invasion was already under way there.Several European leaders said e...

As US allies lined up on Tuesday to denounce Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine, one voice was conspicuously absent from the multinational chorus of condemnation: India’s.New Delhi’s ambassador to the United Nations told a Security Council meet...

Western powers and allies started to unveil tough new sanctions on Tuesday against Russia over its recognition of two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine, with US President Joe Biden calling Moscow’s move a “flagrant violation of international...

Hong Kong customs officers have seized more than 15,000 suspected fake surgical masks and arrested a woman after raiding a stall in a shopping centre.The bogus 3M-brand N95 respirators, with an estimated value of about HK$30,000 (US$3,800), were conf...