Thousands of spectators and paddlers have descended on Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui promenade to cheer and compete as the 50th anniversary of the city’s annual International Dragon Boat Races gets under way. More than 220 teams from 16 jurisdictions...

The pilot of a light sport aircraft that hit Beijing’s tallest skyscraper on Friday died. In a statement on Saturday, the Chaoyang district government said that only the pilot was in the two-seater plane when it hit Citic Tower. In addition, 13 peo...

Nowadays, prime ministers and even presidents cower before the mighty bond markets. These have the ability – in democracies, at least – to have leaders ejected from office via the ballot box, as even US President Donald Trump appears to acknowled...

The situation has grown more desperate by the hour in Venezuela as people dig through the rubble of collapsed homes and flat blocks three days after the devastating one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes, knowing time is running out to fi...

The late arrival of India’s monsoon season and below-average rainfall have caused problems ranging from planting delays for farmers to water restrictions for construction sites in its largest business hub, Mumbai. Water shortages have been reported...

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has apologised to actor and singer Wu Chun after the star, who was featured in its recent promotional campaign, vented his frustration online at the airline’s failure to find his missing luggage despite...

A single mother in eastern China has won widespread admiration online for her remarkable dedication, braving a job suspended hundreds of metres in the air to support her family. In Hefei, Anhui province, Xu Junyun works on the exterior walls of high-...

Thousands of residents have braved the scorching heat to watch helicopter demonstrations and try out military equipment at a PLA airbase near Hong Kong’s border. Military enthusiast Kin Man arrived at Shek Kong with his mother from Tai Po more than...

Malaysia’s southern Johor state was braced for a bruising 14-day election campaign on Saturday after 172 candidates were cleared to contest a poll pitting Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s federal allies against each other in one of the country’s ...

This article was first published on June 28, 1977. Film festival off to impressive start by SCMP reporter Hongkong’s First International Film Festival got off to an impressive start last night (June 27, 1977). It was not quite the glittering social...

On a drizzly, windy morning in June, a family gathered before a tombstone at Wo Hop Shek Cemetery in northern Hong Kong to bid farewell to a loved one who died in the Wang Fuk Court fire. Beneath the muddy grave and scattered stones lies a man surnam...

A Filipino teenager has drowned after losing his balance while walking on a bridge and falling into the sea off an outlying island in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. According to a source, the 17-year-old boy, who holds a Hong Ko...

China has removed six senior PLA officers from the country’s top legislative body, a sign that President Xi Jinping’s military anti-corruption campaign is not slowing down. According to a late-night notice issued by the National People’s Congre...

Indonesian police have arrested dozens of protesters following a rally against President Prabowo Subianto’s policies in the country’s second-largest city, a rights group said on Saturday. Around 100 people gathered near a government building in S...

Hong Kong’s welfare minister has said a three-year care order granted for home-born baby Danny could be shortened, but only based on professional assessments and the boy’s best interests. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on...

Three months of war with the United States and Israel may not have broken Iran’s resistance, but its economy has been brought to its knees. Forty days of American and Israeli bombing in March and early April – targeting energy grids, steel mills,...

Hong Kong authorities have planned to expand a scheme allowing mainland Chinese motorists to drive into the city for leisure to all 21 Guangdong cities by the first quarter of next year, after applications reached about three times the daily quota. S...

Prediction markets occupy a grey area under Hong Kong’s gambling laws, with experts warning that the increasingly popular betting platforms could pose risks related to market manipulation and consumer protection. Lawyers and a legislator said that ...

For Dr Thein Swee Lay, the only Malaysian scientist to have won the Breakthrough Prize, cracking a code in gene therapy was easier than hunting down an authentic version of her hometown popiah (spring rolls) in the US, where she has been based for ye...

As the class of 2026 join the race to find jobs, unemployed college graduates in Singapore are taking a last-ditch shot at getting ahead via temporary government-funded gigs that earn them half the median first pay cheque. The government’s Graduate...

This article was first published on June 28, 1996. Rennie’s Mill residents win battle for damages by Cliff Buddle and Ng Kang-chung Rennie’s Mill residents won their marathon battle with the Government yesterday (June 27, 1996) when a judge ruled...

As Asean foreign ministers prepare to meet in Manila from July 21-22, a quiet but significant shift is under way in the bloc’s approach to Myanmar. Although the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remains formally committed to the “five-point ...

When a friend checked in on a Meituan employee late last month to see if he had survived the latest round of corporate culling at the food delivery giant, he responded drily: “I don’t know whether it will be me next.” Anxieties were running hig...

The US government has allowed Anthropic to release its powerful Claude Mythos 5 artificial intelligence model to some “trusted” US organisations, partially reversing an order two weeks ago to suspend access over national security risks. More than...

You hear “The Hulk” before you see him: Chadchart Sittipunt’s voice carries as he canvasses for a second term as Bangkok governor in the tight, twisting alleys of a working-class canalside community. The nickname, affectionately bestowed upon h...

“What did your family talk about at the dinner table?” Snug under the Tuscan sun, at a writing retreat on a permaculture farm outside Florence, I was ready to mine my fondest food memories. For a moment, scenes from films and television flashed a...

In the second of a two-part series on the economy as Hong Kong marks 29 years since its return to Chinese rule, Lo Hoi Ying and Leopold Chen look at the city’s efforts at closer integration with the nation and the opportunities and obstacles it pre...

As China’s relationship with African countries deepens, the country’s influence is spreading into more areas. In our series Jevans Nyabiage looks at how Beijing’s blanket import clearance for three African food products will affect ties between...

A 75-year-old grandfather became a beauty influencer to raise money for his grandson with a rare disease, saying he did so out of love for his only daughter. Zhu Yunchang, from eastern China’s Jiangsu province, looks after his nine-year-old grandso...

President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a rendering of a new limited-edition US passport to mark the country’s 250th anniversary of independence, featuring his stern-faced likeness. “The U.S.A.’s New Passport, which says, ‘Welcome, but be g...

Hong Kong is pressing ahead with an overhaul of listing rules and the launch of new product initiatives, the city’s deputy finance chief said on Friday as the bourse operator marked 26 years as a publicly traded company. Speaking at the anniversary...

Jane Lyu flew to Malaysia on Tuesday to visit a city that she had never heard of until recently. The 32-year-old engineer from Guangxi, southern China, first spotted it on Weibo. Now, standing outside the pink-domed Putra Mosque in Putrajaya, she exp...

The Texas Board of Education on ⁠Friday approved mandated reading ⁠lists for children in public schools that include passages from the Bible – the latest effort by leaders there to infuse the education system with conservative and religious ide...

My four-year-old son has become fascinated with his new friend, who has endless patience and an answer for everything. She is an artificial intelligence assistant on Doubao, one of China’s most popular AI applications. My son, obsessed with space, ...

A high-profile visit to Washington by Taiwanese Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu reflects a broader US effort to strengthen ties with the island’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), according to analysts. Han’s trip follows visits to the United Stat...

Burkina Faso’s ruling junta on Friday severed diplomatic ties with former colonial ruler France, accusing Paris of persistently acting against its interests. The military regime led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, in power since a coup in September 2022...

Billionaire investor Leon Black said on Friday that Jeffrey Epstein deceived him during a years-long relationship in which he paid the disgraced financier US$158 million, but insisted he committed no criminal wrongdoing as he appeared before the Hous...

US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened a 100 per cent tax on imports from any country that imposed a tax on digital services from American companies. In a post on social media, Trump took aim at European countries that he said were discussing...

The US struck Iran on Friday in response to a drone attack a day earlier on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, a provocation President Donald Trump said violated the ceasefire between the two countries. US Central Command said the military struck ...

As the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump fades in the rear-view mirror, marked by anaemic deliverables, poor transparency and missed opportunities, analysts and former US officials point to another disappointme...

A German court on Friday jailed for life a Saudi psychiatrist who killed six people and wounded more than 300 when he drove a rented SUV through a crowded Christmas market in 2024. Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, 51 – an anti-Islam activist and adheren...

Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty on Friday to illegally retaining classified information, sealing a deal with federal prosecutors that could allow him to avoid a prison term. Bolton, who became an outsp...

Hong Kong authorities have penalised an Education Bureau staff member over a Primary One admission allocation blunder after human error was found to be involved, with the officer to be denied a pay rise and transferred to other roles. The government ...

The first scientific ship built by private interests in China is still waiting for its first assignment after it launched last month near Wenling, in Zhejiang province, on the east coast, according to Chinese media reports. The 82 metre-long (269-foo...

China is establishing an identity system for artificial intelligence agents, as part of new national standards released on Friday to regulate the next frontier of autonomous technology. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) unveiled t...

Hong Kong’s civil service chief has pledged to deliver a “reasonable and attractive” pay adjustment once the economy and public finances improve, following the legislature’s approval of a flat 2 per cent pay rise for civil servants this year....

The official death toll from twin earthquakes that flattened parts ‌of Caracas and surrounding areas rose to 920, the authorities said on Friday. The government has estimated hundreds of people still trapped and missing nearly two days after magnit...

A light sport aircraft hit Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, Citic Tower, on Friday, triggering evacuations and scattering debris across the Chinese capital’s central business district. It was not immediately clear whether the crash caused any casual...

The United States represents the primary obstacle to continuing oil-for-loan arrangements between China and Venezuela, analysts say, creating a significant wild card in what ranks among the largest debt restructurings in history. Following Washington...

A potentially dangerous haze season looms for Southeast Asia, as rising energy and fertiliser costs threaten to weaken fire-prevention efforts just as extreme weather patterns raise the risk of forest and land blazes. Analysts warn that agricultural ...