The redeployment of US military assets from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East has split security analysts, with some arguing that any strategic damage is largely “psychological” while others warn of a real and measurable gap opening in the regi...

US President Donald Trump said he had asked China to postpone his planned trip to Beijing by “a month or so” due to the war in Iran. “I think it’s important that I be here,” Trump told reporters in the White House on Monday. “So it could ...

Not only was he punched repeatedly by a peer, a Malaysian student at a secondary school in Kuching, Sarawak, was caned and forced to write a note admitting his mistake, China Press reported. Angered at how the case was handled, the boy’s mother sha...

Hong Kong’s conservation authorities captured eight wild boars in Wong Tai Sin on Tuesday following a report from residents. Police said staff from the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) staff tranquillised the animals – t...

Even before the war in Iran sparked a surge in energy prices, Malaysia stood out from its Southeast Asian peers as the new-found darling of global investors. A rare stretch of political stability and investments in higher-value manufacturing and data...

Chinese researchers have unveiled a new rare earth alloy so cold and efficient it could upend decades of reliance on helium-3 and send shock waves through the global race for quantum computers or ultra-sensitive detectors. A mini-fridge built with th...

Multiple explosions staged by suspected suicide bombers rocked the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others, police said Tuesday, . The three blasts, which struck on Monday evening, came af...

Hong Kong will continue its efforts to expand business opportunities in the Middle East despite recent geopolitical tensions, as the city remains a safe and stable investment hub amid global volatility, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said. Desp...

Hong Kong welcomed 9.95 million visitors in the first two months of this year, an 18 per cent increase from the same period last year, with the uptick primarily driven by mainland travellers visiting the city over the Chinese New Year period. Provisi...

Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency has charged a former university professor with allegedly accepting a HK$40,000 (US$5,100) bribe from a friend and offering red packets to colleagues to facilitate a student’s admission into a master’s degree p...

A man was charged on Tuesday with molesting and harassing an air stewardess on a Singapore Airlines flight on February 9. Akash Tiwari, a 36-year-old Indian national, is accused of using criminal force on the woman by using his body to make contact w...

Hong Kong’s Ocean Park has euthanised red panda Rou Rou after the 17-year-old endangered animal experienced degenerative joint problems and stopped responding to palliative care. Ocean Park said on Tuesday that its animal care and veterinary teams ...

Beijing is launching a pilot programme to expand industrial use of hydrogen energy, at a time when war in the Middle East is exposing the risks of global reliance on fossil fuels. Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz amid its war with ...

A Taiwanese singer has sparked controversy for performing a “vacuum belly” workout routine at a concert in northwestern China. Videos of Ella Chen Jiahua showing her contracted belly, with her ribs prominently protruding, at her concert in Xian, ...

Malaysia charged two men on Tuesday and moved to bring back another from Thailand as authorities sought to contain a wave of religiously charged provocations that has sharpened tensions in the multicultural country. Controversial preacher Zamri Vinot...

A suspected wartime mortar round has been safely detonated by bomb disposal officers at a Hong Kong construction site, with no evacuations needed. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to the South China Morning Post that the suspicious object ...

Hong Kong authorities will announce arrangements this month for residents displaced by the deadly Tai Po blaze to return to their fire-damaged flats and collect personal belongings by the end of April, the city’s leader has said. Chief Executive Jo...

A subsidiary of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings has accused Panama of missing a deadline for international arbitration initiated by the company, as it confirmed its offices had earlier been raided by alleged “armed security forces”. ...

Malaysia will wait for Washington to submit updated terms before deciding its next steps on their tariff deal, the country’s trade minister has said – just days after he declared the agreement had been rendered “null and void” by a US Supreme...

A Utah woman was convicted on Monday of aggravated murder after poisoning her husband with fentanyl and self-publishing a children’s book about coping with grief. Prosecutors said Kouri Richins slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic op...

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. As US missiles leav...

The Hong Kong government will set up a collaborative mechanism with the legislature to craft the city’s first five-year plan to align with national development, according to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who said the blueprint will be ready by ...

Chinese and Chilean scientists have reached the bottom of the Atacama Trench, where light does not penetrate, in what they called the “most ambitious” deep-sea expedition ever conducted in the eastern Pacific. The joint mission to one of the deep...

Settling in Japan as a foreign national is about to become much more expensive after the government passed legislation to sharply increase visa application fees. Critics argue the policy is short-sighted amid a worsening labour shortage, but conserva...

⁠South ⁠Korean President Lee Jae Myung said ‌on Tuesday security and safety must be ⁠a top priority for ‌a concert by ‌K-pop band BTS ⁠on ⁠Saturday in ‌Seoul, including readiness for ‌any ‌possible acts ‌of “terror”, ⁠ac...

President Xi Jinping has vowed to advance the creation of an international port alliance under the Belt and Road Initiative, at a time when the world’s top merchandise exporter confronts mounting challenges to global shipping routes – from the St...

Spain’s monarch said on Monday the Spanish conquest of the Americas included “much abuse” and “ethical controversies”, striking a conciliatory tone amid a years-long row between Spain and Mexico over colonial-era abuses committed by the Spa...

Hong Kong travel agencies have suspended all tours to the Middle East this month, including those requiring flight transfers through the region, citing safety concerns amid the ongoing war. The announcement was issued on Monday evening, after renewed...

The Trump administration has initiated a series of sweeping trade investigations that could lead to the imposition of fresh tariffs after the US Supreme Court struck down its previous tariffs. The US trade representative (USTR) announced two new inve...

This article was first published on March 18, 2006 by Benjamin Wong and Clifford Lo Officers shot with stolen police gun An off-duty police­man shot two uni­formed con­stables, killing one of them, with a gun stolen from and used to kill an office...

Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast wasted no time. Less than a week after his inauguration, Chile’s arch-conservative president on Monday began overseeing preparations to build a border barrier - part of his flagship campaign promise to block immi...

A Malaysian woman has accused her husband of choking, slapping and threatening her with a knife in an alleged case of domestic violence after she asked him to buy ayam gepuk (pounded fried chicken). Cheras Assistant Commissioner Mohd Rosdi Daud said ...

Japan has identified nearly 1,500 additional facilities that could serve as shelters in the event of missile or bomb attacks, amid mounting fears over the deteriorating security situation in northeast Asia. The government launched a study in 2024 to ...

On February 10, China’s State Council Information Office released a white paper titled “Hong Kong: Safeguarding China’s National Security Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems”. This is the third white paper issued by the Chinese ce...

A 12-year-old girl from central China showed her business acumen by using her savings to buy a stationery shop and hiring her mother for 3,000 yuan (US$440) a month. Li Yue, who lived in Jiangxi province and received over 44,000 yuan (US$6,400) in la...

Vietnamese authorities have warned the country’s aviation industry to prepare for potential flight reductions from April after China and Thailand halted exports of jet fuel due to the Iran war, increasing the likelihood of shortages. Vietnam import...

Hong Kong lawmakers have said Andrew and Tristan Tate cannot be extradited to the UK or Romania – where they face prosecution – without formal requests from those governments, as the infamous influencer brothers continued their visit to the city ...

South Korea is unlikely to rush into joining a US-led military effort to secure the Strait of Hormuz, officials and analysts have said, after President Donald Trump urged allies to send ships to the strategic waterway. Seoul is expected to seek parli...

A drone and rocket attack targeted the US embassy in Baghdad early Tuesday, while a strike killed four people at a house reportedly hosting Iranian advisers, security officials said, pulling Iraq deeper into the Middle East war. Black smoke was seen ...

South Korea and Japan have led declines in global stock markets amid the oil shock, underscoring how supply disruptions in the Middle East are weighing on growth in economies heavily reliant on fuel imports. The Kospi index in Seoul has slumped 12 pe...

If he had to pick one word, Jean-Claude Van Damme says he would describe his oil paintings as “simple”. The star of Bloodsport (1988) had swaggered into his art exhibition 40 minutes late, clad in full black, including the sunglasses he wore indo...

Hong Kong is poised to launch the world’s first open-source human-AI agent collaboration network, along with a series of everyday artificial intelligence products to assist citizens with activities such as applying for schools and analysing horse r...

Large passenger jets and advanced chips, BeiDou satellites and the Tiangong space station: these large-scale science and technology projects could be part of China’s efforts to mobilise resources nationwide to speed up the development of new weapon...

US President Donald Trump vowed on Monday to “take” Cuba as the communist island plunged into darkness under a total power blackout linked to a crippling oil embargo imposed by Washington. After nearly seven decades defying the United States, Hav...

The war in Iran, culminating in the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has again exposed the world’s energy and maritime sector to acute vulnerabilities. The spike in oil prices and surging freight rates may grab headlines, but beneath these...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his planned trip to Beijing later this month may be postponed, adding uncertainty to a visit expected to include talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Speaking at a news conference at the White House, Tru...

Afghanistan accused Pakistan of killing at least 400 people in an air strike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in the Afghan capital late on Monday. It marked a dramatic escalation of a conflict that began late last month and has seen repeated cross-...

A US federal appeal court allowed the Trump administration on Monday to temporarily resume summarily deporting undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own. The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in a 2-1 vote, lifted a block on ...

US President Donald Trump’s administration ⁠has asked a judge to reconsider his ruling that has effectively blocked a criminal investigation into US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, according to court documents made public on Monday. Washi...

A United States diplomat has told Brazilian port industry executives that Washington does not want a Chinese company to win the concession for a major container terminal in Santos, the largest port in Latin America, in the latest sign that the race f...