Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment China (AMEC), the country’s top chip-tool maker, says its preliminary profit will nearly quadruple in the first half of the year as robust demand for home-grown semiconductors continues amid US sanctions. Based ...

When Russian-born Belgian mathematician Yurii Nesterov reached retirement age in 2023, he found himself at the centre of a technological storm. The accelerated gradient algorithm he derived with pen and paper 40 years ago had become the engine drivin...

The banning of British band Massive Attack from Singapore for pro-Palestine acts during their concert has split opinion in the city state, with some lamenting what they see as laws that are too strict and others urging foreigners to comply with local...

Hong Kong’s retail sales rose by 4.6 per cent year on year in June, extending the growth streak to 14 months, with the government expecting continued economic growth, rising incomes and a steady increase in visitors to support the sector. The value...

The internet cafe was supposed to become obsolete. Instead, it has become indispensable. Across East Asia, these businesses are quietly evolving into temporary homes, budget hotels, co-working spaces and, for some, an unofficial social safety net. Th...

Malaysian police have identified a Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) security screener as a person of interest after a Malaysia Airlines pilot allegedly carried more than 70,000 Ecstasy pills through four layers of checks before the drugs wer...

The alleged ringleader in the fatal assault of an entrepreneur during a bar fight last month has told a Hong Kong court that he was deprived of basic necessities while being held in a “filthy” police cell. Tsang Wai-ching, 40, was escorted to Kow...

US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” on Monday assured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s withdrawal in Gaza would only begin after Hamas’ complete disarmament, following his objections. Two members of Netanyahu’s sec...

On the South Atlantic coastline, Angola stands out as rare ground on which the United States has been willing to vie with China for influence in Africa. It was the only country on the continent visited by former US president Joe Biden, albeit in the ...

Three lions have died of suspected heatstroke at Tokyo’s Tama Zoological Park amid Japan’s record-breaking “cruelly hot” summer as officials boost animal welfare measures to cope with climate-fuelled extreme weather. The zoo’s lion exhibit ...

The Li Ka Shing Foundation has partnered with The Walt Disney Company to offer 24,000 foreign domestic helpers free tickets to watch the latest Toy Story movie in the newest collaboration between the organisations to support Hong Kong’s migrant wor...

Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has warned of suspected fraudulent e-visa application websites that request personal data from unsuspecting applicants, with victims suffering losses of up to HK$1,700 (US$216). The Office of the Privacy Commissioner fo...

As China enters the peak of summer heat, an increasing number of youth believe they have found a solution to fatigue, oily skin, and low energy: qushi, or eliminating dampness from the body. Rooted in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the centuries...

An adult man wearing a pink women’s one-piece swimsuit at a South Korean swimming pool has sparked debate online. The photo of the man circulated on social media Sunday with a caption describing a visitor as a public nuisance at the Han River pool ...

Shenzhen’s health authorities have issued a warning to private medical service providers, urging them to halt unauthorised operations and marketing activities in Hong Kong after local officials alerted their mainland Chinese counterparts to an unli...

Bangladesh has asked India to clarify its stance on exiled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s planned virtual address from New Delhi, warning that allowing political activities by a fugitive could hurt ‌improving bilateral relations. The remar...

A China-led team has detected the highest-energy light particle ever recorded, showing that the universe can accelerate matter to 30 times the previously predicted limit. The particle was born in a violent binary system – known as Cygnus X-3 – in...

Hong Kong authorities have been urged to speed up pipe replacement and monitoring after three ruptures in the same area within a week raised fresh concerns about ageing water infrastructure. The latest burst pipe in Tuen Mun follows a series of leaks...

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. What Negeri Sembila...

A 65-year-old repeat sex offender in Hong Kong has been jailed after he was seen groping a secondary school student on a bus two months ago in a widely circulated online video. West Kowloon Court on Tuesday sentenced former household hardware salesma...

Russia said on Monday that seven people, including three children, had been killed and 40 injured at its Black Sea holiday resort of Gelendzhik in what it said was a deliberate Ukrainian drone attack on civilians. There was no immediate comment from ...

India’s tech titan Nandan Nilekani faces an uphill battle overhauling the country’s education system amid exam scandals, student protests and rising youth unemployment. Nilekani, co-founder of technology behemoth Infosys, was appointed head of a ...

Opposition parties in Taiwan have accused the government of failing to defend the island’s long-standing claims in the South China Sea, following its muted response to Philippine attempts to delimit a disputed shoal. “The government speaks loudly...

North Korea’s state media has recommended dog meat soup as protection against summer heat, reviving Pyongyang’s long-running effort to promote the controversial dish as record high temperatures grip both sides of the Korean peninsula. Rodong Sinm...

In countries like France and Norway, the government census strictly avoids asking about race and ethnicity. Governed by a desire for national unity, these states operate on a firm premise: categorising citizens by skin colour risks creating divisions...

A 20-year-old woman in eastern China miraculously survived after jumping from the balcony of her 18th-floor flat following a heated argument with her boyfriend. The woman, known by the alias Xiaoyi, had been quarrelling with her boyfriend for hours i...

US President Donald Trump sharply criticised ⁠US Attorney Jeanine Pirro ⁠on Monday for dropping ⁠a case of alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, saying she had “choked” under pressure from a judge and “f...

Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary general Anthony Loke has announced his resignation as the party’s Negeri Sembilan chairman following its performance in the recent Malaysian state election. Loke announced his decision after a DAP central exe...

Hong Kong delivery rider Raj Bhattarai* felt the pain – both physically and financially – after a vehicle rear-ended his motorcycle on the job about a year ago. Bhattarai, who is in his forties, spent a month on sick leave with a back injury and ...

South Korea’s financial authorities are weighing tighter curbs on high-risk leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as part of broader efforts to stabilise the country’s notoriously volatile stock market, which has left many investors with heavy l...

The US State Department has notified Congress that it plans to close five foreign missions in a rare downsizing of America’s global diplomatic footprint, according to people familiar with the notice. In the notice sent to some congressional committ...

Leading Chinese brokerages have expressed optimism for domestic tech shares traded in August, distinguishing them from the sharp sell-off that has rattled South Korean financial markets. Citic Securities said it believed mainland-traded shares – al...

Technology giants Meta and Anthropic will be among the companies invited to the White House on Tuesday to discuss a voluntary framework under which America’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) developers could give the government early access to ...

Bank accounts held by US President Donald Trump were closed by Capital One in 2021 after it flagged financial activity that had characteristics of money laundering, the bank disclosed in a court filing over the weekend. The court filing is tied to a ...

Lyle Goldstein is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, and director of Asia engagement at the Washington think tank Defence Priorities. How do you assess the progress of the People’s Libe...

United Nations rights experts have urged Canada to take all feasible measures to protect the Sikh activist Moninder Singh, who has been repeatedly warned by the Canadian authorities of credible threats to his life. In a letter to the Canadian governm...

India’s property market has gone from strength to strength. All the main sectors continue to perform extremely well. Last year, take-up of shopping centre and warehouse space reached record highs. In the first half of this year, office leasing volu...

US President Donald Trump on Monday said Iran was facing its “last chance” to reach an agreement with Washington to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the five-month-long war. “This is a last chance for them to sign a good document,” Trump s...

A group of 25 Democratic-led US states sued US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday, arguing that the president’s latest round of tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners, like most of his earlier sweeping tariffs, exceeds his legal...

President Volodymyr ⁠Zelensky dismissed Ukraine’s ⁠ambassador to the ⁠United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in a presidential decree published on Monday. Stefanishyna had been in her job for nearly a year. Her departure had ‌been expected for s...

Colombian prosecutors are investigating allegations that executives of a Chinese state-owned contractor building the Bogota metro demanded cash from a local subcontractor in exchange for releasing payments owed for work on the project, according to a...

Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, state health officials announced Monday, the first deaths confirmed in the US related to the microscopic parasite. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said both people had ...

The government in Madrid has rejected allegations that it ignored warnings from the CNI intelligence service about a mass arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in North Africa. It said on Monday that no intelligence...

France on Monday condemned a proposal by hard-right Reform UK party to launch, if it wins power, “the largest military operation” in the Channel “since World War II” to stop migrants crossing on small boats. The party’s leader, Brexit campa...

Jay ⁠Clayton was sworn in on Monday as ⁠the US director of national intelligence after a contentious Senate confirmation hearing in which he refused to directly acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. He takes...

The US has signed a more than US$3 billion deal with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to ramp up production of Patriot and ‌THAAD interceptor missile parts, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain stockpiles. The deal, announced by the Pentagon...

About 500 Hong Kong students are getting a taste of army life, with the PLA garrison launching its annual summer camp to instil patriotism and discipline, and teach military skills, among young people. Among the new recruits is Lo Wan-lung, a Form On...

Bertrice Pompe was born in Diego Garcia, situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, in 1971, making her one of the last Chagossians to enter the world on an island that her family would soon be forced to leave. “Some famil...

Beijing has signalled the start of the summer break for China’s political elite with the announcement of retreats at the seaside resort of Beidaihe. State news agency Xinhua reported on Monday that Cai Qi, the man often referred to as President Xi ...

Doctoral researcher Hu Qi still has about two years left in his programme at the University of Hong Kong, but headhunters are already reaching out to pitch specific jobs and ask when he will graduate. Hu, who specialises in artificial intelligence ag...