DeepSeek’s long-awaited flagship V4 model has fallen short of its domestic and US rivals, according to a new analysis, as the Chinese artificial intelligence firm struggles to replicate the market-shaking success of its earlier R1 release. The comp...

Financial markets, stock markets especially, appear able to defy gravity despite the global geopolitical and economic situation. A plethora of institutional and individual explanations have been offered as to why, but most seem to miss the point. Whi...

Police have dismantled a motorcycle theft syndicate and arrested five people, believed to be linked to 14 cases across Hong Kong, amid a rise in such crimes in the first quarter of the year. Senior Inspector Fu Ho-shing of the Kowloon West regional c...

The South China Morning Post has won 74 awards at the 47th Best of News Design Creative Competition, including three silver and 11 bronze medals. An infographic on Hong Kong’s fencing boom was a stand-out winner in results announced by the Society ...

An unusual series of cargoes of military-grade fuel that is due to sail from the US across the Pacific Ocean illustrates how far the war in Iran has disrupted the global oil supply chain. A request for offers to ship 235,000 barrels of jet fuel from ...

China’s official media has released a series of guidelines for would-be civil servants, warning them to dress modestly. Candidates were told they should wear “light and elegant” suits, and men were advised to get a haircut. Women were told to h...

A surge in fossil fuel ⁠prices since the Iran war is squeezing polyester suppliers and garment makers across India ⁠and Bangladesh, threatening to raise costs for fast-fashion retailers like Zara and H&M. Filatex, one of India’s biggest polyest...

India and Germany’s new defence road map could give New Delhi fresh momentum in its long-running push to modernise its undersea fleet, while helping Europe expand its security role in the Indo-Pacific, experts say. The two countries signed a Defenc...

More than 4 million small parcels from China have arrived at the freight airport in Liege, Belgium, every day since the beginning of the year. On the receiving end, the Belgian customs inspection team at the airport has only 80 members. Belgium’s t...

Hong Kong authorities launched 18 joint operations against illicit refuelling stations this year amid a global surge in energy prices, with the customs chief noting that the practice has become increasingly common in urban areas. But Commissioner for...

With sturdy wooden columns supporting a wide walkway that leads into a living space, stilted houses – known as ganlan in Chinese – represent a quintessential element of East Asian architectural heritage, boasting a remarkable history that spans 7...

Malaysia on Saturday appointed a former judge as its new anti-corruption chief in an unprecedented move, as the government seeks to calm months of political turbulence over alleged misconduct linked to the watchdog’s outgoing head. Allies and oppon...

Amid the rubble of the US-Israel war on Iran, a new Middle East appears to be taking shape as a constellation of regional powers jockey for a seat at the table. Led by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the grouping stretches from the Gulf across the Caucasus ...

Hong Kong will step up law enforcement against coerced shopping, unlicensed tour guides and unfair sales practices targeting visitors during mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week”, the city’s tourism minister has said. Secretary for Cultur...

Xpeng, the Chinese electric vehicle start-up often cast as a key rival to Tesla, has set an ambitious goal to surpass the US carmaker’s self-driving capabilities in China by August, according to co-founder, chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng. The target ...

Hong Kong’s Aberdeen marina-residential tourism project has attracted local and overseas interest, with the city’s leading yacht club and a Singapore-based operator seeking partnerships with developers to expand their presence. Experts in the rea...

Mozambique and China have agreed to map the vast, untapped deposits of critical minerals buried beneath the African nation’s resource-rich northern provinces, as Maputo seeks Chinese capital and security expertise to unlock one of the continent’s...

Traditional public bathhouses in Japan are in deep water as soaring energy costs triggered by the Middle East oil supply disruptions threaten to extinguish the fires of a fading tradition, with some of them forced to shorten their hours or even shut ...

Li Bin, a doctor at the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, was among the wave of Chinese consumers who snapped up Apple Mac Mini computers during the country’s frenzied adoption of the OpenClaw artificial intelligence agent earlier this year. Th...

With bad loans and repayment collateral in focus, Chinese banks are increasingly using satellites to evaluate their clients’ terrestrial assets, mounting a hi-tech offensive to safeguard against rising credit risks. China Merchants Bank and Shangha...

A turret explosion that killed three Japanese crew members inside a Type 10 tank during manoeuvres earlier this week has caused shock and confusion in military circles. Japan’s defence ministry and experts concur that a round detonating inside a ta...

The idea of a token economy is gaining traction. The concept is still nascent, loosely defined and easy to dismiss as just another piece of artificial intelligence jargon. It is no surprise Chinese policymakers are quick to jump on the bandwagon. But...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States of ⁠abandoning internationally recognised diplomatic ⁠conventions in pursuit of its ⁠own interests, particularly in dominating energy markets, in an interview broadcast on Friday....

Hon Wing, 77, and his family climbed 19 floors to their fire-ravaged flat in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court housing estate on Tuesday but left almost empty-handed after a two-hour search for valuables. Hon, a retired part-time taxi driver, had hoped to...

China would see India’s attempt to expand defence industry cooperation with South Korea in artillery and anti-aircraft guns as “inevitably sensitive” given Beijing’s border dispute with New Delhi in the Himalayas, according to analysts. After...

Some 1,400 years ago, a young girl, celebrated as China’s “most pampered child,” was laid to rest in a palace-like stone coffin, surrounded by her grandmother’s affection and a wealth of treasures. Li Jingxun, an aristocrat from the Sui dynas...

The World Health Organization announced on Friday that it had given prequalification approval to a malaria treatment for newborns and infants for the first time. Artemether-lumefantrine is the first antimalarial formulation designed specifically for ...

The plastic bag is an unlikely symbol of economic frailty. But in Indonesia, the soaring cost of that humble everyday item is raising uncomfortable questions about the country’s future growth prospects. At a market in Depok, south of Jakarta, the p...

In the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, a simmering rivalry between DJI and Insta360 has transformed their shared neighbourhood into a high-stakes corporate battleground. Both companies have long been hailed as the city’s poster children for Chinese ...

Another day, another big humiliation for William Lai Ching-te. The Taiwanese leader effectively had to cancel a visit to eSwatini, the island’s last partner in Africa, for the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession to...

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has apologised to a Canadian town devastated by a February mass shooting, saying he was “deeply sorry” the company did not tell police about the killer’s troubling ChatGPT account. OpenAI had banned an account linked t...

G7 countries on Friday insisted on their support for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), warning of the dangers from a Russian and Chinese build-up. “We are concerned with China’s and Russia’s significant nuclear weapo...

The Trump administration is placing economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and roughly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil. The move, announced on Friday, makes good on the Trump administration’s t...

The Trump Justice Department said on Friday it was seeking to expand the use of the death penalty in federal capital cases and add the firing squad, electrocution and gas to lethal injection as methods of execution. “The prior administration failed...

The US and the European Union on Friday deepened their coordination on critical minerals as part of a broader push by Western allies to loosen China’s grip on materials crucial to advanced manufacturing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and EU Tra...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday there was no prospect of Ukraine’s “immediate accession” to the EU, but suggested Kyiv could join meetings of the bloc’s members without voting rights. Ukraine is pushing to speed up its bid to ...

A proposed bill to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives failed on Friday as parliamentary time ran out, nearly a year since elected members of parliaments gave their backing. Though the Terminally Ill Adults (...

Hong Kong authorities are planning to launch a public consultation over a raft of new fire safety-related requirements and offences with tough penalties following the city’s deadliest blaze in decades. Confirming an earlier report by the South Chin...

The administration of Donald Trump has threatened action to shield the US artificial intelligence industry from being “distilled” by Chinese rivals, in a move analysts say could weed out weaker players in China’s AI sector within a year. In a m...

The US Justice Department has ended its probe into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, clearing a major roadblock to the confirmation of his successor, Kevin Warsh. US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeannine Pirro said on X on Friday that her...

Hong Kong’s Medical Council resumed a disciplinary inquiry on Friday over a suspected medical blunder that left a boy permanently disabled more than 16 years ago after its decision to terminate the hearing sparked a public outcry. Dr Sit Sou-chi wa...

Huawei Technologies’ newest Ascend 950PR and 950DT chips enjoyed “day zero” adaptation to DeepSeek’s latest V4 model, the Shenzhen-based tech giant said in a livestream on Friday, just hours after the model’s release. The hardware-software ...

The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it will offer ultra-fast review to three psychedelic drugs being developed to treat mental health conditions, including depression, the latest indication of the Trump administration’s commitment to th...

Fifa’s resale site has four tickets on sale for the World Cup final for just under US$2.3 million each. The $2,299,998.85 seats for the July 19 match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, are located behind a goal in the lower deck in ...

Beijing is intensifying its enforcement against tax evasion, extending its reach into consumption taxes, which have been positioned as a critical source of stabilising local government finances that have been hit hard by the nation’s prolonged prop...

Faced with US-China rivalry and an uncertain future even beyond Donald Trump’s presidency, middle powers are building fluid coalitions and partnerships to hedge against American and wider unpredictability, according to a leading Southeast Asian aff...

Protesters gathered in Tokyo on Friday to rally against Japan’s decision to ease decades-old arms export curbs, which critics argue erode the country’s post-war pacifist tradition. The new rules permitting the sale of lethal weapons overseas sign...

Talks on forming a new Danish government are in stalemate one month on from the country’s parliamentary election, slowing decision-making amid efforts to resolve a crisis in ties with US President Donald Trump’s administration over Greenland. Car...

Hong Kong’s fire services chief has acknowledged that better communication with building authorities is needed after an independent committee earlier revealed that his officers had taken no action against possible safety breaches during renovations...

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers at the Beijing auto show are shifting their focus to overseas markets, banking on opportunities from the Middle East crisis to boost profitability amid weak sales at home. “Going global has become a top choice f...