A Houthi official on Monday warned the US it would receive a “painful response” if it entered the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has reportedly requested Washington’s help in dealing with the group as it weathers repeated attacks. Yemen’s c...

The British Council said its IELTS examinations across China would resume Wednesday, ending four days of cancellations stemming from technical problems that left test takers scrambling at the height of the overseas university admissions season. The o...

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday that officials were reviewing the off-base code of conduct for US troops in Japan following the alleged killing of an Okinawan woman by a US marine. Crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and...

Hundreds of Hong Kong postmen denied permanent contracts will get priority for other civil service jobs and easier entry requirements for clerical posts, as the postal service grapples with financial strain. The Civil Service Bureau outlined the conc...

North Korea now has a museum for its bombs. The National Defence Revolution Museum, which opened on Sunday, is the country’s first dedicated exclusively to military hardware, from rifles to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Observers say...

For Hong Kong educator Christine Ma-Lau, preparing children for exams or school interviews is only part of the job – helping them understand who they are, how to treat others and what they can contribute to society matters just as much. Ma-Lau foun...

Chinese billionaire Cao Dewang, whose glass-making empire was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary American Factory, has urged Chinese investors expanding overseas to respect local laws, regulations and culture, drawing on decades of experience ...

The Philippine Senate, sitting as an impeachment ⁠court, approved the ⁠prosecution’s withdrawal of most of ⁠the charges against Vice-President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, in a trial that could kill her hopes to run for president in 2028. Prosecu...

Fiji’s Justice Minister Siromi Turaga stepped down from cabinet on Tuesday after an intimate video of him went viral online – the second such scandal to rock the Pacific island nation’s government. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who previously...

Hong Kong police have arrested 20 people in connection with a cross-border prostitution syndicate that allegedly recruited women from Southeast Asia and required them to provide unpaid sexual services to repay travel debts. Police said on Tuesday tha...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Marcos says Philipp...

Nasa’s robotic Perseverance rover has now driven farther than any other vehicle on the surface of any world other than Earth, racking up 45.2km (28.1 miles) since arriving on Mars in 2021, the US space agency said on Tuesday. The car-sized, six-whe...

Beijing and Moscow vowed deeper maritime and logistical cooperation to protect shipping lanes and energy supplies, as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Nikolai Patrushev, chairman of the Russian Maritime Board in the Chinese capital on Monday. �...

A former department head of Hong Kong’s fintech hub Cyberport has been granted bail after being charged with accepting bribes to help an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up secure HK$20 million (US$2.25 million) in funding from a government-subsi...

Many rural projects in Hong Kong start with funding, run for a year or two, then disappear when the money runs out. Good Old Soil, a community organisation, is trying to take a different approach on Lantau. Supported by the non-profit Land Education ...

Haidilao International Holding has agreed to provide its founder, Zhang Yong, with a one-month loan of up to the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of 100 million yuan (US$14.9 million), a move that has raised market speculation as investors closely watch B...

A mysterious glow of high-energy light in our Milky Way galaxy could be the remains of an extremely rare cosmic “gold factory”, according to a new study by Chinese and US researchers. The collision of two orbiting neutron stars – dead stars so ...

Hong Kong’s new Huanggang Port recorded 79,500 passenger movements and 8,000 vehicle movements on its first day of operations, with transport officials preparing for heavier flows expected during the coming holiday weekend. Statistics from the Shen...

As missiles and drones take a bigger role in modern warfare, major defence contractors gathered in Washington this week to showcase their latest advances in the technologies – and systems to counter them. The three-day Association of the United Sta...

The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday gave its approval to Visa to make preparations for a locally registered bank card clearing organisation, calling the move a major step in the country’s financial opening up in an online statement. The US card...

Hong Kong police have stepped up their investigation into the disappearance of the ashes of late Cantopop diva Anita Mui Yim-fong by committing more resources and manpower to the case. Mui’s family had revealed over the weekend that the urn contain...

It was a detour that saved his life. Malaysian Low Hock Meng, a 71-year-old veteran trekker, had set off on his own in Nepal. He wanted to explore the Tamang trail, Langtang Valley and Gosaikunda. Along his journey, he made the decision to visit the ...

A Hong Kong therapy-dog programme run by one staff member and 65 volunteers with their dogs is fully booked until February 2027, as demand from schools, hospitals and elderly homes continues to outstrip the available visiting slots. Animals Asia’s ...

A Chinese centenarian leads a happy, healthy life despite a habit generally considered “unhealthy”, prompting curious reactions online. A 101-year-old great-grandfather in eastern China’s Zhejiang province recently went viral for his love of dr...

For Singaporean civil servant Clare*, finding a suitable lifelong partner has been an uphill battle. Swiping on dating apps soon became a chore after multiple unsuccessful first dates, so when the government launched its own platform, the 32-year-old...

Ripe mangosteen and rambutan hang unpicked from trees in eastern Thailand, where a shortage of migrant workers is forcing growers to decide which crops are valuable enough to harvest and which will be left to rot. For Jomsak Putirattana, who also gro...

Over the coming weeks, Hong Kong and Shenzhen will host two major gatherings of Asia-Pacific decision-makers. Hong Kong’s first Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting takes place on October 20-21, with around 500 visitors expected, while Shenzhen hosts ...

Shares in Chinese companies present better opportunities today than at other times, a disciple of legendary investor Charlie Munger said in a rare reflection on the world’s second-largest economy amid tensions with the US and the ongoing artificial...

China Mobile, one of the country’s state-backed telecoms giants, has tripled the capacity of its largest intelligent computing hub in northern Inner Mongolia, amid Beijing’s push to boost digital infrastructure to power the country’s artificial...

Some senior American executives are lukewarm about attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and related business events in Shenzhen next month, according to people familiar with the matter. They cited limited scheduling details, few exp...

Hong Kong travel agencies and border shops have capitalised on the opening of the revamped Huanggang Port as thousands of visitors poured through the control point, with special tours on offer and shopkeepers reporting brisk business. Agents said the...

Investor Ben Lindsay relocated from Sydney to Singapore in March, with wife and dog in tow – his sights set on growing venture capital firm Investible from an Australian outfit into an Asia-Pacific one. Lindsay is among a growing number of investor...

Nato’s top military commander said the alliance is “ready to fight tonight” if it is attacked, as European officials warn Russia could test Nato’s defences with increased covert attacks or a limited military incursion. European nations have i...

China’s finance minister, Lan Foan, will deliver a keynote speech, while presentations by three prominent financial institutions will be among the highlights of next week’s Apec meeting in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. A dr...

Actor RJ Mitte, whose personal experience living with cerebral palsy informed his role as Walter White Jnr, the physically disabled son of a methamphetamine kingpin in the landmark television series Breaking Bad, died on Monday at age 34. News of Mit...

Rains and flooding along Mexico’s Pacific Coast from Hurricane Simon and Tropical Storm Rachel have left five people dead, authorities said Monday. The El Nino phenomenon, characterised by rising water temperatures in the Pacific, is fuelling a mor...

A group of Chinese officials are in the middle of a highly sensitive meeting involving critical decisions yet to be made behind closed doors, with documents stamped “classified” spread across the table. Suddenly, an invisible laser beams into the...

Last month, Japan’s internal affairs ministry released its yearly data ahead of Respect for the Aged Day. People aged 65 and over now make up a record 29.6 per cent of the population. But the figure I keep coming back to was this: 9.43 million Japa...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday urged Alberta to remain in Canada, warning that a vote next week on whether to hold a referendum on leaving Canada would begin a “long and uncertain process” at a dangerous time for the country. “Th...

Catholics serving in the US Army should not take part in the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan that the Pentagon is planning to live stream on December 3, a prominent US archbishop said on Monday. In an unusually strongly worded...

Actress Selma Blair was arrested after she was accused of injuring two flight attendants on a trip from Los Angeles to New York. She was also accused of kicking a police officer taking her to the hospital and kicking a nurse once she got there. She p...

The European Union will on Tuesday open new negotiation chapters with Ukraine, an essential step in Kyiv’s long path to join the bloc. Ukrainian lawmakers on Monday passed legislation protecting the rights of national minorities, which removes a ma...

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday that a suspected plot targeting the RAF Fairford airbase in Britain was “highly likely” to have been coordinated in Iran, and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (I...

Elon Musk, the world’s only trillionaire, has quietly become the biggest known donor in this year’s midterm elections, doling out more than US$276 million since July to try to save Republican majorities in Congress. The numbers, first reported by...

Hong Kong’s institutional advantages and close ties with mainland China and the wider world can contribute to the Asia-Pacific region’s prosperity, a key adviser to the city’s leader has told a conference. Stephen Wong Yuen-shan, head of the Ch...

Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic US congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a startling escalation in a criminal investigation that brings renewed focus to the frequent target of Trump administration derision in the final weeks of her re-el...

An Israeli teenager was killed and more than 20 other people injured Monday by a suspected leftover Hezbollah bomb as they hiked near the Lebanese border, officials said. The Israeli military, which dispatched helicopters to the scene, said an initia...

One of Hong Kong’s oldest makers of bread and biscuits, the Garden Company, has apologised and pledged to review its crowd-management procedures after a world-record attempt involving more than 700 students making sandwiches descended into chaos. T...

A Hong Kong court has awarded more than HK$89,000 (US$11,340) to a worker at a dog shelter who was seriously injured in a canine attack, rejecting her employer’s argument that she was a volunteer. District Judge Harold Leong Kwok-on said on Monday ...