The Iran war is rattling Asian chipmakers as damage to Qatar’s gas facilities chokes off supplies of helium, an essential ingredient in manufacturing products ranging from smartphones to medical scanners. Analysts warn that the supply disruption is...

Indonesia and Malaysia have ordered civil servants to work from home to save fuel amid the Iran war but with digital surveillance measures far stricter than those used during the pandemic. Civil servants in Indonesia must activate location tracking a...

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 expected to be hit by thunderstorms and showers on Saturday, with the weather to remain unsettle...

Hong Kong customs officers have seized about 162kg of suspected dried shark fins from protected species worth about HK$280,000 (US$35,720) from Panama at the airport. The Customs and Excise Department said on Friday that officers inspected an air con...

The Trump administration has assured us that the long-awaited summit in Beijing between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump will now be held on May 14 to 15. Whether you believe the meeting will go ahead is up to you. Beijing has not c...

A Chinese fugitive suspected of drug-related crimes has been repatriated from the United States and handed to police in China, the first such case in years, according to state media. The suspect was returned to China by US Immigration and Customs Enf...

Iran on Friday said it shot down an F-35 fighter jet. A statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s elite military force, said the fighter jet was shot down over Iranian airspace by a new, advanced defence system. There was no...

Hong Kong’s elderly residents have raised concerns about the financial burden placed on their low-income peers under the revised HK$2 (26 US cents) transport fare scheme that came into force on Friday, with some avoiding higher-charging, long-route...

A major Hong Kong catering and restaurant conglomerate has stepped up its annual fundraising efforts to provide emergency relief to those affected by the deadly Tai Po fire and long-term community projects for vulnerable groups. For more than 18 year...

Fourteen Chinese nationals and a Malaysian man have been detained by the immigration department for various offences in Kuala Lumpur. In the first case, three Chinese nationals were detained for using fake passes as supporting documents to obtain ent...

From controlling the weight of aircraft to sending more flights to Europe via Russian airspace, Chinese airlines have adopted a range of measures in response to the surge in oil prices resulting from the Middle East conflict that threatens to crimp t...

Japan’s order for hundreds of Tomahawk missiles from the US is under threat as the American-Israeli war with Iran burns through inventories, the latest example of how the conflict is drawing in supplies and troops at the expense of defending agains...

Threatening to destroy Iran’s electricity grid and to reduce the country of 90 million to destitution, US President Donald Trump is shattering precedent by not just accepting but gloating about acts seen as potential war crimes. The consequences fo...

Indonesia is accelerating the transition to clean and renewable energy while pushing for more investments in oil and gas projects, critical minerals and rare earth mining, amid the global energy crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict. In the pa...

China’s attempt to launch its most powerful privately developed rocket failed on Friday after the vehicle suffered a flight anomaly. The Tianlong-3 rocket is being developed in hopes of breaking a key bottleneck in the country’s roll-out of inter...

His makeover from junta chief to president now complete, Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing may seek to tiptoe back into the international fold as a civilian leader. But critics say the change is just a “veneer” that poses a challenge for Asean, the reg...

Tesla has regained the global pure electric vehicle (EV) crown for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2024, after its deliveries rose 6.5 per cent year on year in the three months ending March. The modest increase was enough for the US carmak...

Following a dispute with his neighbour, a Chinese man resorted to blasting ghost stories for more than 10 hours a day as revenge, deliberately keeping the volume just below the legal limit, drawing widespread ridicule online. The case was revealed by...

Hong Kong’s No 2 official has pledged to fast-track a new university town’s development following a visit to similar projects in mainland China and said authorities will devise a strategy to attract top institutions from across the border and ove...

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...

Cuba’s government announced on Thursday that it was pardoning 2,010 prisoners as a “humanitarian” gesture during Holy Week, after pledging in March to release dozens amid heightened US pressure on Havana. The major announcement comes days after...

An Indonesian woman who spent nearly 15 years on death row in a Malaysian prison for drug trafficking has returned home after receiving clemency, in a case rights groups say highlights the exploitation of poor migrant women in cross-border drug opera...

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Hong Kong police are on the hunt for two men who allegedly attacked a taxi driver with whom they had an argument in Yuen Long in the early hours of Friday. The force received a report from the 57-year-old victim at 2.50am. The cabby said he had asked...

Korean Air said on Friday it will faithfully respond to legal procedures in the United States, where a lawsuit was filed in Virginia on behalf of the estate of Porscha Tynisha Brown, who died at age 33 in March 2024, during a flight from Washington t...

This article was first published on April 3, 2011 If the altitude doesn’t give you a nosebleed, the room rates might By John Carney You could say it is the height of luxury. And if putting on the Ritz is your thing, it’s just the place for you. T...

Hong Kong’s airport and West Kowloon rail station were packed with holidaymakers as the Easter break got under way, even as some said ongoing geopolitical tensions had made them more cautious about future travel plans. An industry leader noted that...

The Philippines is weighing a new anti-disinformation law, but digital rights advocates and researchers warn that the leading proposals could give the government sweeping powers while doing little to stop the networks that actually drive online influ...

Leapmotor, one of China’s strongest-performing electric vehicle (EV) makers this year, is accelerating its global push with a new innovation centre in Europe and plans for potential local assembly in Canada, as it looks to entrench production of it...

Challenging six decades of convention, Chinese scientists have proposed a new composite material manufacturing method that could improve the strength and reliability of structures used in drones, aircraft and spacecraft. By introducing an advance in ...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday the tallest bridge in Iran had been destroyed, hours after threatening to bomb the country “back to the Stone Ages”. Ghodratollah Seif, the deputy governor of Alborz province, where the B1 bridge is loca...

The sentencing of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been cited by several Western officials and media outlets as further evidence that Hong Kong’s legal system is in decline. Lai, the founder of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper, faced multiple charges, i...

A Malaysian electrician was recruited by a syndicate and travelled to Singapore to set up devices in a rented house that would blast thousands of automated scam calls, with call origins masked to appear like they were being made locally. The devices ...

More Hongkongers are expected to travel elsewhere during the five-day Easter weekend from Friday despite a sharp jump in fuel surcharges, according to industry leaders. They also expect more visitors from mainland China during an overlapping Ching Mi...

A man in China who followed his parents into the sewage removal business has used nine septic tank trucks to greet his bride on their wedding day. The nuptials, the first of their kind in China, unfolded on March 28 in Suixi county of central Anhui p...

After playing in a forested area in the Solomon Islands, Billy’s children often break out in rashes or itchy boils at home. A few years ago, the family became dizzy, suffered headaches and vomited – they believed it was due to the clams from near...

After crashing his SUV last week in Florida, Tiger Woods took out his phone and told a deputy, “I was just talking to the president,” according to body camera footage released Thursday showing Woods’ arrest on a DUI charge. The phone conversati...

As China and the United States wrapped up their sixth and most recent round of trade talks in Paris this March, a minor mishap briefly stole the spotlight. A sudden gust of wind toppled two American flags in the background, where journalists were wai...

Four Artemis astronauts were zooming towards the moon on Thursday after a major engine firing, a milestone that commits Nasa to the first crewed lunar fly-by in more than half a century. With enough thrust to accelerate a stationary car to highway dr...

The mighty Zambezi River has its source in northern Zambia, and flows north, west, south, then east, tracing borders for several countries including Zimbabwe. As the river enters Zimbabwe, the water molecules begin to flow faster, unknowingly energis...

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the Army’s top uniformed officer to step down, the Pentagon said on Thursday without giving a reason for the departure as the United States wages a war against Iran. General Randy George “will be retiri...

In a leafy Tehran park on Thursday, Iranians gathered for picnics on the final day of the Persian new year holidays, shrugging off US President Donald Trump’s threats to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages”. The country has been at war for more t...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has voiced “serious concerns” over China’s intensified inspections of Panama-flagged vessels, vowing that the US “stands firmly” with Panama amid the Latin American country’s escalating fallout with Beiji...

After avoiding much of the churn, firings and senior official turnover that marked his first term, US President Donald Trump on Thursday added to the string of high-profile departures in recent days, as bad news heaped more pressure on the White Hous...

Direct trade between China and the United States continues its shrinking trend, new US government data showed on Thursday, as the anniversary of “Liberation Day” highlights how last year’s tariff escalations deepened tensions between the two gl...

An employee of the property management firm at Hong Kong’s inferno-ravaged Wang Fuk Court housing estate has admitted the company failed in its contractual obligations to identify and follow up on fire hazards, while none of its top management test...

Four children were stabbed to death on Thursday at a kindergarten in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, police said. The male suspect, in his thirties, gained access by posing as a parent before attacking children aged around two and three with a knife, po...

A UK-led meeting of some 40 countries on the Strait of Hormuz crisis wrapped up on Thursday with a demand for the “immediate and unconditional” reopening of the vital shipping route but no immediate breakthrough. “Iran is trying to hold the glo...

The US is likely to “escalate to de-escalate” its conflict with Iran, planning more aggressive strikes in the coming weeks to force a resolution, even as a complete ceasefire seems unlikely, according to Chinese analysts. In a prime-time address ...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Iran’s exiled prince Reza Pahlavi plans to ...