China ordered companies to ignore US sanctions against five oil refiners accused of buying Iranian crude, an unprecedented pushback against American financial measures less than two weeks before a presidential summit. The US action “violates intern...

Malaysia’s Umno is making a heady gamble by planning to strike out on its own, experts say, as the former ruling party looks to rally support from among the country’s Malay-Muslim majority in preparation for national polls that must be called in ...

China and Indonesia have launched a new cross-border QR payment system, marking the latest step in Beijing’s drive to build a regional digital payments network as it pushes to internationalise the yuan and reduce dependence on the US dollar. Users ...

Hong Kong’s overall tax revenue rose 22 per cent to HK$458.3 billion (US$58.5 billion) last year, driven by a buoyant stock market and increased property transactions. Commissioner of Inland Revenue Benjamin Chan Sze-wai, on Monday announced the pr...

A 67-year-old driver has been arrested after his vehicle reportedly lost control at a border checkpoint in a traffic accident that killed his 62-year-old wife. Police received a report at 4.41am on Monday that a private car had rammed into multiple t...

A local online media outlet has been cleared of tax evasion after a year-long review, but the process still cost HK$40,000 (US$5,106) in accounting fees, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said on Monday. Describing the case as an “unfair punish...

Lost anti-fascist Yiddish language songs from World War II will be making their Asian debut this month. Yiddish Glory will be performing in Shanghai – a city where some 18,000 Jewish refugees found shelter from the Nazis – Hong Kong and in South ...

A court in China has ruled it illegal for a company to terminate an employee on the grounds that an artificial intelligence replacement would be cheaper, affirming limits on AI-driven job displacement amid a wave of anxiety over the technology’s po...

A drone hit a residential tower in an upscale Moscow district in a rare strike near the city centre ahead of the traditional World War II Victory Day parade. Moscow air defences repelled an attack by two Ukrainian drones, and one hit the building on ...

A Hong Kong court has convicted a beautician of exposing her former boyfriend’s identity by uploading the couple’s photos online as part of a blackmail plot, threatening the married man she was having an affair with to pay her HK$2.6 million (US$...

Singapore and New Zealand on Monday signed the world’s first legally binding bilateral agreement to keep essential supplies – including food, fuel, healthcare products and chemical and construction materials – flowing even during crises. The Ag...

Residents displaced by the deadly Tai Po fire will have their taxes waived for an additional year, the Hong Kong government has announced. In a statement on Monday, the government said homeowners and residents of Wang Fuk Court would be exempted from...

A Hong Kong dancer left paralysed after being struck by a giant screen at a concert by popular Cantopop boy band Mirror testified for the first time in court on Monday, with his lawyer revealing he had received treatment in Beijing and Thailand after...

For Washington, the Lobito Corridor rail project is meant to circumvent Chinese influence in Africa’s mineral supply chains. Once up and running, the corridor will stretch 1,600km (1,000 miles) westward through mineral-rich Zambia and the Democrati...

A young Chinese man who risked his life to save a driver from a burning truck, called his mother during his heroic act to tell her that he “might not return”. The actions of Zhang Jian, 24, who is from eastern China’s Shandong province and was ...

South Korean scientists have identified a potentially promising new pathway for treating ischemic stroke, long considered one of the most difficult challenges in modern medicine. According to the South Korean team, doctors in China are interested in ...

More than 300 families have been evacuated after massive amounts of ash billowed from the Mayon volcano over the weekend due to the collapse of lava deposits from its slopes, Philippine officials said on Monday. There was no explosive eruption from M...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Durian Express? China brings in cheaper fruit wit...

Select FamilyMart convenience stores in Japan have installed boxes to collect used clothing and household goods for reuse, joining similar initiatives taken by retailers, as a step to reduce waste and attract more customers. In a trial launched joint...

Judges in Shenzhen – China’s Silicon Valley – processed 50 per cent more cases last year than in 2024 with the help of a pilot system powered by AI technology, according to the city’s Intermediate People’s Court. It said the artificial inte...

Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency on Monday questioned former economy minister Rafizi Ramli over a billion-ringgit semiconductor deal with British chip designer Arm Holdings, escalating a politically sensitive inquiry that has swept up ministers, s...

Ultra-low-priced Hong Kong tour packages reliant on commissions and pushing mainland Chinese visitors to make additional purchases remain prevalent despite tighter government regulations, the South China Morning Post has found. The business model has...

A United Airlines jet with 231 passengers and crew escaped a major disaster on Sunday after one of its wheels clipped a light post and truck on a highway while on final approach to land in New Jersey. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials s...

Hong Kong’s Exchange Fund, the war chest used to defend the local currency, reported its smallest investment gain in five quarters as the Middle East crisis weighed on stock market performance. The fund gained HK$34.5 billion (US$4.4 billion) in th...

Hong Kong universities are rapidly gaining favour among mainland Chinese families as they shun the intense domestic competition of the gaokao and uncertainties stemming from Sino-US tensions, embracing the city’s generous non-local admission quotas...

On a quiet March morning at Incheon International Airport, the head of a government agency responsible for administering industrial accident insurance stood before a memorial adorned with flowers and a photo of Nguyen Van Tuan. The 23-year-old Vietna...

Congratulations to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po for getting the city’s budget to sail through the Legislative Council. It wasn’t always such smooth sailing and Chan would do well to acknowledge as much. When Chan was first given the keys t...

A Hong Kong policeman turned public relations adviser will be promoted to lead the government’s Information Services Department, the South China Morning Post has learned. John Tse Chun-chung, who has served as the government’s information coordin...

A bride from eastern China slipped into a coma after a botched cold treatment, but she awoke and smiled at her fiancé just two days before her wedding. Wang Ranran, 24, from Taian in Shandong province, had been in a six-year relationship with her fi...

The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran has continued into its third week. There are signs of a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz looming on the horizon. These are the major takeaways from what happened overnight. What did Trump say? President ...

Hong Kong should develop its shipping insurance and management capabilities, among other areas, to strengthen its status as a global maritime hub amid intensifying geopolitical tensions, former city leader Leung Chun-ying has said. Leung, in his capa...

AI skills are becoming a clear salary advantage for Singapore’s software engineers, with those who have such capabilities earning up to 25 per cent more than their peers, according to a new salary report by NodeFlair. The Singapore-based tech talen...

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is hospitalised in critical but stable condition, his spokesperson said Sunday, days after the Republican hoarsely told his talk show audience that his voice was “a little under the weather”. The spokesper...

Investment scams targeting Hong Kong’s elderly rose by 17 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 against a year ago, despite an overall decline in the number of cases, with police warning that better-educated retirees with more investment experience...

One Palestinian man was killed and four others seriously wounded during an Israeli military raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the man’s wife was ...

Two US service members are missing in southwestern Morocco after taking part in annual multinational military exercises in the North African country, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) said on Sunday. The service members are US Army soldiers ...

Bai Chongen is a prominent Chinese economist and government adviser. He is the dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management and serves concurrently as vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. From 2015...

Beijing’s decision last Monday to block Meta’s US$2 billion acquisition of the Chinese-founded AI start-up Manus came as little surprise. The central government had already flagged its investigation and barred the company’s two founders from le...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he must accept that US President Donald Trump does not share his opinions to work with the United States within Nato but stressed there ‌was no link between their rift and a planned troop drawdown. Merz dismiss...

A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization and South Africa’s Department o...

Jean-Luc ⁠Melenchon, the leading figure in ⁠the hard-left France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) political party, will stand in next year’s presidential election, he said on Sunday. “Yes, I am a candidate,” Melenchon told TF1 ‌TV. Melenchon...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Pope Leo on a trip to Rome this week, in the wake of the pontiff’s clash with US President Donald Trump, a Vatican source said on Sunday. The source confirmed Italian media reports about the meeting, whic...

The United States will launch an effort on Monday to “guide” stranded ships from the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said, as two ships around the strait reported attacks. Trump gave few details about what could be a sweepin...

Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs has called on the alumni of the prestigious Tsinghua University to help the city better serve national development with their patriotism, pragmatism and global networks. Adding to the remarks by the director...

China may be feeling uneasy about talk of a rare five-year defence cooperation plan between North Korea and Russia that could accelerate Pyongyang’s military modernisation on multiple fronts, analysts said. According to the Russian state news agenc...

A state-backed Nigerian militia, operating alongside the military, killed scores of ethnic Fulani herders in a raid, local sources have told journalists. The herders were killed in an operation that also involved vigilantes from Benin, just across th...

China has ordered companies throughout the country not to comply with US sanctions on five Chinese oil refiners accused of trading in Iranian fuel, a move observers say could mark a new stage in Beijing’s pushback against American long-arm jurisdic...

For decades, the global image of Chinese trade was synonymous with massive container ships loaded with footwear, bags and furniture. However, a profound structural shift is under way. Having conquered the world of physical goods, China is now rapidly...

At the end of March, China inaugurated the World Data Organisation in Beijing, a body with a stated mission of “bridging the data divide, unlocking data’s value and powering the digital economy”. The move is the latest signal of a broader trend...

Calls have been renewed to allow Hong Kong’s young families to use part of their mandatory pension savings to buy homes, with a recent survey finding that high flat prices and large down payments have dampened their desire to own property. The stud...