Note: SCMP Plus subscribers can attend an exclusive event with Zhou Bo, a retired People’s Liberation Army senior colonel, in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Zhou will discuss China’s military modernisation as the PLA works towards its 2027 centenary goal....

Nissin Foods, the company that invented instant noodles, appears to have created an entirely new category with a hit product: cup noodles made with cold water. Initial supplies of the handy meal – available in Spicy Kimchi and Chicken Salt Lemon fl...

The official death toll from Typhoon Maysak’s devastating floods in southern China jumped from 39 to 159 on Friday, as authorities updated the figures for the first time in six weeks. According to media briefings held in Nanning and Guigang in Guan...

Carolus Winfridus was asleep when an earthquake struck off Indonesia’s island of Flores, as he was awoken by intense rumbling and saw his wardrobe doors flying open. He and his family quickly scrambled for a way out of their house in the town of Ma...

A Chinese historian has presented fresh research on China-based Korean independence leader Sin Kyu-sik at a symposium in Seoul co-hosted by Gwangbokhoe, the official association for those who fought against Japan’s occupation. The academic exchange...

A senior manager at Hong Kong rail giant the MTR Corporation was allegedly conned out of HK$74 million (US$9.4 million) in a two-year-long scam by a fraudster posing as an employee of HSBC UK who lured the victim into investing in green bonds. Police...

A dog that attacked its handler who died soon after was a stray awaiting adoption at a Hong Kong pet training facility, the South China Morning Post has learned, with residents living nearby saying they were not worried as the animals at the centre w...

The decision by Japanese retailer Aeon to sell its MaxValu minimart chain in Thailand is the latest example of the tight grip domestic conglomerates hold over Thai consumers, retail experts say. Yet the move also hints at the shifting economic fortun...

A former Deloitte information technology manager has been jailed for 22 months for stealing 423 laptops worth HK$1.2 million (US$153,000) from the accounting firm’s Hong Kong office to fund his stock trading addiction. The District Court sentenced ...

William and Harry were united in grief as children by the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana, but their relationship as adults has been ripped apart by anger and hurt. The pair – dubbed “the heir and the spare” from an early age – h...

International students accounted for more than half of the HIV infections identified among individuals entering China through the city of Wuhan over the past few years, although the number of cases remained low, according to customs data. Public heal...

Online scam syndicates that rely on trafficked workers, guarded compounds and vast call-centre-style operations could soon become more threatening by exploiting agentic AI to run some fraud operations autonomously, a cybercrime expert has warned. Unl...

A court in southern China’s Guangdong province formally accepted a bankruptcy liquidation petition against China Evergrande Group’s main onshore unit, closing the final chapter in the unravelling of what was once the country’s largest property ...

Japanese influencer Gamix, who went viral for sobbing after Japan’s defeat at the 2026 Fifa World Cup, has sparked controversy after making a gesture widely considered racist towards East Asians while parodying Ateez member San’s viral “BAD” ...

China has approved its first private-sector commercial trial for satellite Internet of Things (IoT) services, granting a permit to a Geely-backed venture as part of broader efforts to open the country’s burgeoning satellite communications market to...

An asset-management arm of Guotai Haitong Securities, a leading Chinese brokerage, was ordered to pay 52.5 million yuan (US$7.8 million) in fines and penalties for activities undertaken by its offshore investment business as Beijing tightens its scru...

Malaysia’s Islamist opposition leader Abdul Hadi Awang has sparked outrage and ridicule with unproven claims linking religion to dishonesty, suggesting that Muslims are less corrupt than non-Muslims. Hadi’s remarks, which drew demands for evidenc...

The latest floods to hit Metro Manila and parts of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon have turned a familiar seasonal disaster into a renewed test of political accountability for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, as anger over allegedly corrupt fl...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please conside...

As Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong prepares to unveil plans to ease the strain on families during his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, a new survey points to a difficult question behind the city state’s record-low fertility rate: wha...

The premier of a Canadian province launched a blistering attack on US President Donald Trump on Thursday, calling him a “bad person” and “not to be trusted” and urging Canada to keep fighting rather than rush to make concessions in trade talk...

Solar expansion policies across China have led to a reduction in bird diversity, with wealthier and non-desert regions bearing the brunt of species loss, according to a study led by researchers in China and the US. They found that solar expansion had...

A five-year-old girl in northern China accidentally swallowed a 50-gram gold bar, sparking viral jokes online that she took the mainland nickname for children – “gold-devouring beasts” – far too literally. The Beijing Children’s Hospital, a...

Japan executed on Friday a man convicted of an arson attack on a pachinko parlour in 2009 that killed five people, authorities said. It was Japan’s first hanging since Takahiro Shiraishi, the “Twitter killer” who murdered and dismembered nine p...

The now-disbanded alliance behind Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil and two of its former leaders have been found guilty of inciting subversion under the national security law by advocating an end to “one-party dictatorship” in mainland...

The world has seen tremendous progress in the capabilities of robots in the past year. Robots can now walk, dance, run and perform increasingly sophisticated movements, yet impressive demonstrations do not equal commercial value. Beyond the hype surr...

A reported trip to China next week by a cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers could carry “pronounced” symbolic weight but is unlikely to herald a thaw in ties between the two neighbours, Chinese experts suggest. For the first time since bilate...

Hong Kong should press ahead with its proposed tax break on carried interest, the performance fees earned by hedge fund and private equity managers, after Singapore unveiled a rival tax-exemption scheme, according to industry participants. The bill, ...

Russia’s Pacific Fleet said on Thursday it has conducted a missile test off a group of Russian-held, Japanese-claimed islands amid an intensifying row over the disputed territory following President Vladimir Putin’s first-ever visit there last we...

More consumers in Hong Kong have come forward to allege aggressive sales tactics across the beauty sector, including credit card abuse, unwanted physical contact and pressure to buy costly products, on the back of a crackdown on the local operations ...

Japan has spent years casting the International Criminal Court as a pillar of the rules-based order. This week, its closest ally sanctioned the Japanese judge who leads it. The move has left Tokyo in an uncomfortable bind: defend Tomoko Akane, the Ja...

US authorities charged a woman who allegedly supported the Islamic State group with a terrorism offence on Thursday after she told an FBI informant she “wanted to destroy” the New York State Capitol building, court filings showed. Located in Alba...

The US State Department said on Thursday that it had determined after a detailed investigation that Min Zin, an American political analyst of Chinese descent detained by Beijing last month, was being improperly held. That formal designation shifts th...

When the US government announced the addition of 43 Chinese companies to an import blacklist in late July over allegations of forced labour in the country’s western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region – including several household food and apparel b...

Much of the Western debate about China begins with a category error. “Communism” is often treated as synonymous with a monolithic command economy, limited private enterprise and bureaucratic control over every commercial decision. Modern China do...

A US Army unit is offering its troops a special bonus if they re-enlist soon: four extra days off timed around the November release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI. Commanders of the 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion based at Fort Stewart, Georgia...

Peru’s new government has pledged to bring its free-trade agreement with Hong Kong into force this year as part of an effort to position the country as a commercial bridge between South America and the Asia-Pacific, even as its first comprehensive ...

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has returned to the country after a more than two-month absence that has fuelled fierce debate about his ability to rule after 44 years in power. Biya, who at the age of 93 is the world’s oldest serving head of stat...

China rejected a White House report on Thursday that accused its exporters of routing goods through Mexico and other countries to avoid US tariffs, hours after word emerged that Mexico was preparing to restrict Chinese products further. He Yadong, a ...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday urged China to join Washington’s latest efforts to economically pressure and isolate Iran after negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the six-month conflict collapsed. “Keep in mind, t...

Christian metal band Demon Hunter is suing Netflix, alleging trademark infringement associated with the streamer’s hit film KPop Demon Hunters. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Hyde Lane, the corporate entity for Demon Hunter, against Netflix, N...

A Belgian university on Thursday suspended a US academic who spearheaded accusations of plagiarism against Jason Arday, the black ex-Cambridge professor found dead last week after resigning over the scandal. Researcher Nathan Cofnas – a self-define...

A hospital in east China has used reprogrammed stem cells to treat severe heart failure, with 90 per cent of patients showing significant recovery in heart function after the novel therapy. On Wednesday, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, affiliated with N...

Beijing has urged Washington to scrap planned tariffs of up to 100 per cent on imported drones, warning the measures unfairly target Chinese products and threaten global supply chains. The tariffs are not set to take effect until September 3, but Chi...

An aeroplane pilot died on Wednesday after a violent collision with a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter near a runway at a small airport, but both state troopers aboard the helicopter survived, authorities said. The plane was coming down on the ru...

A 33-year-old woman who operated a pet training facility in northern Hong Kong has been found dead after being mauled by a dog, police have said. Confirming an earlier South China Morning Post report, investigators said closed-circuit television foot...

Taiwan has unveiled a record NT$1.12 trillion (US$35 billion) defence budget for 2027, with sharp increases in spending on weapons, ammunition and military operations amid growing pressure from Beijing. The proposed spending – the first to cross th...

At first glance, Kim Yo-jong’s latest message to Washington looked like a rebuff to US President Donald Trump’s insistence that he would meet her brother Kim Jong-un later this year. But analysts said the North Korean leader’s powerful sister s...

A court on the Indonesian resort island of Bali sentenced a Swiss tourist on Thursday to one year in prison for insulting a sacred Balinese Hindu observance. Luzian Andrin Zgraggen, 26, was found guilty of violating Indonesia’s new criminal code by...

Chinese AI companies are optimising software to cope with surging demand for inference, as part of that workload still relies on computing power from a limited pool of high-end chips amid restricted access to Nvidia processors. Compared with training...