Fifteen Indian workers were feared trapped on Tuesday after a blast caused by a suspected gas leak in a tunnel at ‌a hydroelectric project in the rugged state of Sikkim killed 10, authorities said. Monday’s incident took place at state-owned Nati...

Malaysia is close to overhauling its nearly 30-year-old cybercrime law and giving authorities long-sought tools to pursue online fraud, digital impersonation and AI-generated abuse, but experts say the bill’s impact will depend on whether investiga...

While Beijing has lifted refined fuel export restrictions this month amid elevated global oil prices and ample national reserves, it has also introduced compliance requirements for refiners – a cautious pivot aimed at safeguarding domestic stockpil...

Nvidia’s H200 chips, a step down from its most advanced Blackwell line, have resumed imports into China, albeit in small quantities. Meanwhile, China’s chip exports nearly doubled in the first half of this year. Much of these exports are mature l...

A man stabbed and wounded two tourists Tuesday morning near the ancient Acropolis in Athens, Greece’s top tourist attraction, police said. The assailant attacked a man and a woman, both Greek Americans, with a knife on a pedestrian street near an e...

Though it will not host the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting until November, the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen is already tightening its security, banning travellers on the subway from carrying perfume and imposing a no-fly zone for drones. The l...

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has threatened to remove ministers and federal appointees who use public office to attack their own government partners, drawing a new red line as the ruling coalition’s rival camps collide again ahead of t...

New findings on Chinese financing in the Philippines are challenging the assumption that Beijing reduced its funding under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr because of worsening tensions in the South China Sea. Instead, Chinese capital had continued to ...

Nicaragua’s long-serving President Daniel Ortega said the Central American country will no longer hold elections, eliminating the possibility of an electoral challenge when his term ends next year and further entrenching the rule he shares with his...

China has lodged a formal protest with the Philippines, accusing it of initiating an attack on its coastguards following the latest clash between the two sides in the South China Sea. Monday’s clash near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal involved a ...

An attempted robbery outside a bank in Malaysia ended without any cash stolen after a security guard’s swift action secured 82,000 ringgit (US$20,000) inside an armoured van. Selangor police chief Commissioner Shazeli Kahar said the incident occurr...

BYD has rolled out its 100,000th new-energy vehicle from its Brazilian assembly line, underscoring the growth potential for Chinese products in South America, just as electric cars fuel fresh tension in Europe. China’s largest electric vehicle (EV)...

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. Malaysia’s US$500...

Chinese police scientists have offered a rare insight into how they were able to break into the dark web using artificial intelligence to decode underground content. The dark web – a realm unfamiliar to most – is built on encrypted communications...

A Chinese ride-sharing driver has dedicated himself to his city’s emergency medical services, offering first aid to nearly 400 cases in the past year. Liu Xianfu, 54, is a driver and first aid volunteer in Foshan city, in southern China’s Guangdo...

The death of veteran actor Patrick Tse Yin at 89 marks the loss of one of the last icons from Hong Kong’s cinematic golden era, a time when the city’s movie industry held sway across Southeast Asia. Charles Cheung Chi-wai, an associate professor ...

More than 1,000 shoppers turned out on the final day of the annual Hong Kong Book Fair on Tuesday, even as some exhibitors reported weaker foot traffic and spending throughout the week compared with last year. Several booksellers told the South China...

Hong Kong authorities have vowed to introduce a smart management system and speed up the replacement of water mains to reduce the number of pipe bursts and leakages, after residents in Shau Kei Wan went without fresh water for more than a day. The Wa...

Iran targeted US radar and air defence installations in the Gulf on Tuesday, warning Washington of “more decisive and powerful” attacks to come as the conflict threatened to widen with a blockade of Saudi ports by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Iran’s...

A sharp pullback in US space-technology giant SpaceX and renewed valuation pressure on Wall Street’s tech heavyweights are unlikely to trigger a major sell-off in Hong Kong equities, according to analysts, who note that local tech firms operate und...

Victims of transnational online scams in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand lost up to US$114.1 billion last year, a UN report said on Tuesday, with estimated losses at least tripling from 2023. Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia a...

A 16-year-old Hong Kong student has been sentenced to up to six months at a detention centre for attempted voyeurism after he admitted trying to spy on a female pupil in a school toilet. Kowloon City Court Magistrate Tsang Chung-yiu on Tuesday told t...

Chinese and Russian navy ships were spotted conducting joint live-fire drills within Japan’s claimed exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, its defence ministry said. Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi first revealed that t...

India’s first privately developed orbital rocket has given the country’s fledgling commercial space industry a long-sought proof point, but analysts say Skyroot Aerospace must now show it can launch regularly, cheaply and reliably enough to win c...

Hong Kong police have arrested a man on suspicion of making unauthorised investments using assets from a securities brokerage, resulting in an estimated loss of HK$150 million (US$19.1 million), the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said...

Questions surrounding South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back’s military service have resurfaced, with the government and his accuser offering conflicting accounts of what happened more than four decades ago. At the centre of the dispute is a ga...

Two hours from the tourist beaches of Bali, slavery is alive and well on the Indonesian island of Sumba, where people are still born into bondage. They work from dawn to dusk without pay, are passed on in marriage, and are sometimes beaten and raped ...

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) would proceed with its listing reform to allow confidential filings and a lower market capitalisation requirement, as part of the exchange operator’s plan to increase its international competitiveness, two so...

At least 10 people have been injured when a bus crashed into a barrier on Tuen Mun Road, prompting an emergency response. Police said they received a report at 8.59am on Tuesday of the crash on the Kowloon-bound carriageway near the Bellagio private ...

Sri Lanka’s ⁠public health services and hospitals are battling the worst outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue in nearly a decade, and turning to the island nation’s armed forces to help curb the spread of the disease. The efforts range from air fo...

Last month, 12.9 million students in China sat for the National Higher Education Entrance Examination, or gaokao, the number sliding for a second year, and down from 13.3 million last year. Given that births have fallen below 8 million annually to a ...

The Hong Kong Observatory has warned that downpours are approaching the city and has said periods of heavy rain are expected to become more frequent throughout the day. A spokesman said at 8.20am on Tuesday that an area of thundery showers over weste...

A top lawmaker from Australia’s far-right One Nation party has grabbed headlines after exploding at a misbehaving dog as he was grilled on live TV. Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was being interviewed on national broadcaster ABC on Mond...

A teenager from eastern China told his parents he was going on holiday, but secretly travelled with a friend to a flood-stricken region to join relief efforts. Earlier this month, 18-year-old Shanghai student Wu Yulun had just completed the gaokao, C...

Hong Kong’s first-time lawmakers have raised fewer questions than their veteran counterparts but recorded a higher attendance rate, a South China Morning Post check has found. Alan Chan Chung-yee, who is also the chief operating officer of Miramar ...

Chinese tourists are being unfairly blamed for Kyoto’s overtourism crisis, according to a new report, even as data shows mainland visitor numbers have fallen sharply amid worsening ties between China and Japan. The report released earlier this mont...

Chinese robotics companies lack both sufficient data and a good “brain” to improve the interaction of their products with the physical world, according to industry insiders at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), which concluded o...

The US Department of Justice said on Monday it launched a probe reviewing whether some Harvard University financial aid programmes were discriminatory, marking the latest fight against ‌the university by President Donald Trump’s administration. �...

China imported 12.08 million tonnes of Brazilian soybeans in June, up 13.7 per cent from a year earlier, while volumes from the United States fell 20.6 per cent to 1.27 million tonnes, far off the pace implied by the purchasing deal agreed by Preside...

US President Donald Trump signed orders on Monday to impose new 50 per cent tariffs on many Canadian goods, claiming “discriminatory treatment” by Ottawa against American alcohol, automobile and dairy products. The tariffs take effect in 30 days ...

US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at reducing dependence on China for defence-related critical minerals, directing military contractors to shift away from Beijing-linked supply chains beginning in January 2027. Witho...

Oil prices are set to rise once more as renewed US attacks on Iran leave the Strait of Hormuz, a major artery of oil trade, closed again. With US strategic petroleum reserves at their lowest in over 40 years, America will have trouble keeping oil pri...

A federal judge in California on Monday ordered Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery to temporarily pause their merger while a case brought by multiple states challenging the deal moves forward. The companies are prohibited from closing their...

Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate will fight extradition to the United Kingdom where the brothers are accused of rape and sex trafficking, their lawyer said on Monday, suggesting their arrest in Miami was politically motivated without ...

The United States has accused China of operating three intelligence-gathering facilities in Cuba and sharply expanding its personnel on the island, portraying Havana as a strategic platform for Beijing to monitor American military activity. A State D...

When the US Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, his attention soon turned from the justices to China, prompting a sarcastic social media post. “I would like to congratulate President Xi, and...

Chess legend Judit Polgar on Monday turned down Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s offer to join his push to break with the Viktor Orban era as the country’s president. The pro-European conservative had nominated Polgar, widely considered th...

Chinese ⁠Premier ⁠Li Qiang on Monday extended congratulations to Andy Burnham on ‌becoming Britain’s new prime minister. Strengthening dialogue and cooperation between ⁠China and Britain will benefit ‌the two countries and “inject stabi...

British prosecutors said ⁠on Monday a 28-year-old man ⁠had been charged with murdering ⁠former government minister Ann Widdecombe, and police said they were still investigating why she was attacked. Widdecombe, 78, who was a prominent member of...

Hungary’s government announced an investigation on Monday into a large foreign investment by Chinese carmaker BYD negotiated by a former foreign minister who last week resigned from parliament to take an executive position at the company. Peter Szi...