The European Union’s demand that Britain raise tariffs on Chinese cars exposes an awkward truth about post-Brexit trade. Britain might have left the EU, but it cannot easily escape the bloc’s industrial policy. According to the Financial Times, E...

Pakistani troops are expected to take over various defensive functions for Saudi Arabia to enable the Middle East country to fight an all-out war aimed at defeating Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels. According to defence analysts, Pakistani troops ...

Latvia will vote on Saturday in an election shaped by concerns over neighbouring Russia and the cost of living, but the result is not expected to steer the country off its pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course. The centre-right United List party of i...

On his 29th birthday, Hong Kong bartender Tang Lung-wai boarded a flight to the Philippines for a holiday that would change his life. He ended up spending 26 years in jail in the country. Now 55, Tang spent years fighting his drug-related charges, in...

China has announced the expansion of the resource base for a major lithium deposit in the southwestern province of Sichuan by about 70 per cent, strengthening the country’s potential long-term supply for the metal – an essential component in the ...

More than 73,000 subdivided flats in Hong Kong have applied for a three-year grace period to meet the government’s minimum standards, a figure the housing chief has described as “better than expected”. Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin s...

Mainland Chinese visitor arrivals in Hong Kong during the first two days of the National Day “golden week” surpassed the pre-pandemic total for the same period in 2018, as the tourism chief expressed confidence that the city would reach its annua...

The Airport Authority will reposition the 11 Skies commercial project after taking it over next April, with the government expecting it to become a high-end tourism landmark with minimal public investment, the transport chief has said. After develope...

A “handful” of Group of 20 trade ministers rejected US calls to curb excess industrial capacity and “non-market” policies, the US Trade Representative’s office said on Friday, exposing divisions within the group of major economies. The US, ...

The Flydubai co-pilot who officials said nearly crashed a Tel Aviv-bound flight with 182 people aboard was barred from flying by his native Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The co-...

For the first time in a decade, China has returned to the top 100 out of 145 economies in an annual global report assessing gender equality. China closed 69.9 per cent of its gender gap in 2025, rising to 96th place from 103rd the previous year and i...

Five years ago, Sarah and her husband were optimistic about Japan’s economic future and were expanding their small businesses across several sectors. Today, that optimism has been replaced by concern over a sense of hostility towards two hard-worki...

Hong Kong authorities plan to relax restrictions on indirect advertising for broadcasters amid fierce competition from online and streaming media, the commerce minister has told the South China Morning Post. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, Sec...

A video of a nine-month-old baby climbing steps at a mountain tourist site has gone viral, igniting heated debates about his family’s parenting style. Filmed at a mountain resort in central China’s Hubei province, the clip has garnered 200,000 li...

When chemical engineer Ahmad Zuhairi Abdullah joined Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) 22 years ago, Western institutions dominated the field, from global research infrastructure and high-impact publications to the greatest breakthroughs. Two decades l...

Like many films released during Chuseok, South Korea’s national mid-autumn harvest festival, The Assassin(s) shot right to the top, selling more than a million tickets in its first four days. But the box-office success of the film about the 1974 as...

Singapore is doing something about uncivilised behaviour on public buses. The city state has started enforcing new regulations that carry an immediate fine of up to S$500 (US$390) if you put your feet up on seats, play loud audio on your phone or mak...

Scams involving fraudsters posing as customer service officers caused losses of over HK$220 million (US$28.2 million) in August in Hong Kong, more than triple the monthly average in the first seven months of the year, police have said. The police for...

The race to loosen China’s grip on tungsten is moving to Kazakhstan, where United States-backed mining projects are attempting to compete in an industry where Chinese investment already has an operating foothold. Global tungsten prices have surged ...

When the time came to renew his certificate of entitlement (COE), Andrew Tan hit the brakes on coughing up an eye-watering S$112,000 (US$87,400) to keep his car on Singapore’s roads for another 10 years. Instead, the 49-year-old business consultant...

US ⁠President Donald Trump is expected to name Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to be his top adviser on AI, a position the president has called “AI tsar” in ‌the past, according to a source familiar with the decision. Clayton al...

The US has conducted a non-nuclear underground experiment to enhance its ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions that it explicitly linked with a test that Washington suspects China carried out in 2020 – an accusation Beijing denies. The US ...

US Republican Senator Steve Daines, a close aide to President Donald Trump and a key interlocutor between Washington and Beijing, has called on the two capitals to stay engaged and “not retreat” over differences on issues including rare earth sup...

Amid intensifying competition in the AI technology race, US authorities have arrested a California technology company owner accused of using Malaysia and Singapore as transit points to circumvent US export controls and send more than US$300 million w...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva named China as a possible partner in his critical minerals plans, three days before Sunday’s closely fought election. Lula told Flow, one of the country’s most-watched podcasts, on Thursday evening th...

Panama’s comptroller general said on Friday that his office would send prosecutors more audit material on former executives of CK Hutchison’s local subsidiary next week, as part of a criminal investigation into the Hong Kong conglomerate’s annu...

Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) used water cannons to expel a mainland Chinese fishing vessel near Dongsha Island, authorities said on Friday. The incident occurred on October 1, 27 nautical miles east of the Taiwanese-controlled Dongsha ...

King Charles will acknowledge the “darkest days” of colonial rule and slavery while touring Caribbean countries on a visit beginning this month, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Friday. The king will first visit the Bahamas and Guyana alone,...

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday faulted police and prosecutors for failing to fully investigate an alleged gang rape in 2024 at Cornell University, saying she was “deeply disturbed” by how the incident was handled. Hochul was speaking at...

An off-duty senior ambulanceman has died after falling from a cliff while abseiling in Hong Kong. The Fire Services Department said on Friday that it had received a report at 2.33pm that a man had fallen from Kowloon Peak in Wong Tai Sin while abseil...

The Chinese embassy in Manila has expressed concern over the cases of two Hongkongers who have remained in custody in the Philippines for months despite being discharged from prison, according to the Immigration Department. The department confirmed o...

Hong Kong could dethrone London as the top choice for arbitration within the next decade given the Asian city’s status as a global fundraising capital for businesses in mainland China and beyond, the head of the Bar Association has said. Jose-Anton...

Group ⁠of Seven countries agreed on Friday to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from emergency reserves and pledged to refrain from energy export restrictions after pressure from US President Donald Trump. The US led a pressure ca...

US President Donald Trump is planning to attend the Asean summit next month, the South China Morning Post understands, as Washington vies with Beijing for influence in the region. If the trip happens, Trump’s appearance at the Association of Southe...

US President Donald Trump wants to retire one of the technology sector’s most recognisable acronyms, arguing that the term “artificial intelligence”, or AI, is no longer fit for purpose. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order directing US ...

China is ramping up its efforts to bring young Americans to China, and ready to be seen as a country concerned with environmental protection, lifting people out of poverty, protecting minority cultures and building the technology of the future. Durin...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump condemns ‘sick conspiracy’ against ...

A second attempt to guide a shark stranded in a canal in the South Korean port city of Busan back to the open sea ended without success on Friday, with the animal staying in the waterway into its third week. Rescuers, who had been using a net to try ...

US job growth slowed more than expected in September, but that likely does not signal a material shift in the labour market, with the weakness likely related to a calendar quirk. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 jobs last month after ‌a downwar...

A reported move by the United States to restrict exports of aircraft parts to China would place another speed bump on production of the C919 – a Chinese passenger jet designed to compete with Airbus and Boeing – as alternative sources of critical...

The Airport Authority has averted a “lose-lose situation” by terminating a nearly 50-year contract with Hong Kong developer New World Development for the 11 Skies commercial project, with most facilities now set to open in 2028, the statutory bod...

The Japanese government on Friday announced additional sanctions against Russia amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, targeting a so-called shadow fleet of vessels engaged in transporting sanctioned oil from Russia. Joining international efforts to c...

The MTR Corporation will hand over HK$2.25 billion (US$287 million) to the Hong Kong government as a one-off settlement for the delayed completion of the high-speed rail line, while reaching a consensus to avoid a payout over hurdles affecting the Sh...

The Indian airline captain who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a Flydubai flight described on Friday how he fought for his life in the minutes after his co-pilot stabbed him and the plane began a steep descent. Captain Smit Machchhar, reco...

As “long-dormant old money” steps back into Hong Kong’s retail property market, McDonald’s has sold the property housing its first New Territories restaurant for HK$120 million (US$15.3 million), extending its year-long sell-down of self-owne...

China has set up several new institutions at military academies to train specialists in hi-tech and discipline inspection as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) works towards its centennial modernisation goals. The College of Unmanned and Intelligen...

Chinese semiconductor plants amassed hundreds of immersion lithography machines worth billions of dollars in recent years, according to former US officials, who urged Washington and its allies to shut down further exports. Chinese-owned fabs had acqu...

A director of Hotstone Yoga has been arrested on suspicion of contravening the Trade Descriptions Ordinance by accepting prepayments for services before the wellness chain’s abrupt closure, as the amount of financial losses claimed by customers sur...

Around 150 Chinese language teachers in the Philippines are returning home following mounting criticism from Philippine security officials that educational exchanges involving China could pose national security threats. The withdrawal affects teacher...

India’s opposition parties and the youth-led “cockroach” movement took to the streets on Friday, demanding action over alleged irregularities in voter rolls and calling for the resignation of the country’s chief election commissioner, as the ...