US President Donald Trump said a month-long ceasefire with Iran was on “massive life support” as he rejected Tehran’s response to a peace proposal. The Iranian reply was a “piece of garbage”, Trump told reporters in the White House on Monda...

China has more than doubled the production efficiency of stealth fighter components in a “dark factory”, where autonomous vehicles and AI-driven machinery operate nearly 24 hours a day. The process once required employees to monitor its round-the...

Asia-Pacific’s commercial property investments surged in the first quarter, according to data tracked by analysts, as early signs of recovery in office and retail segments across Hong Kong and mainland China boosted deal volumes. Total investment i...

Bridging the gap between science fiction and reality, a Chinese robotics firm on Tuesday unveiled a manned “mecha” capable of transitioning between bipedal walking and four-legged mode. Developed by Unitree Robotics, the GD01 – resembling an Au...

A Hong Kong sushi restaurant has apologised after a customer spotted a threadlike parasite crawling out of a piece of sashimi, triggering widespread food safety concerns across social media. Popular Japanese chain Gatten Sushi, which debuted in the c...

British Prime ⁠Minister Keir Starmer’s position ⁠is under serious threat after ⁠dozens of his own lawmakers called for him to set out a timetable for his departure, or resign, in the wake of heavy losses in local elections. Here’s what coul...

Investors can finance part of the production cost of a stage play produced by film star Louis Koo Tin-lok and featuring award-winning actress Fish Liew Chi-yu, after a Hong Kong fintech firm converts it into tradeable digital units. Esperanza Fintech...

A man sent a woman an AI-generated photo of her face on a nude body and set up cameras under her work desk for a live “upskirt” feed. The woman was alarmed by his actions and became fearful whenever she was approached by men as a result. Desmond ...

A Hong Kong merchant has pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his wife and three daughters by burning charcoal in their public rental flat two years ago, saying he was “out of options” after struggling to repay debts totalling nearly HK$900,...

One of Japan’s best-loved snack brands is switching to monochrome packaging for a number of its products due to a shortage of naphtha – a crude-oil derivative used in petrochemicals and printing inks – caused by the closure of the Strait of Hor...

On his last morning in charge of Malaysia’s anti-corruption watchdog, Azam Baki did what he had always done – talked tough and walked away on his own terms. But the man who spent the past six years making the country’s powerful sweat left behin...

Israeli lawmakers approved a bill on Monday setting up a special tribunal that would try and have the authority to sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza. The measure passed...

A global data leak involving learning platform Canvas has exposed the personal information of more than 72,000 students and staff across Hong Kong educational institutions, with authorities warning of further threats targeting those affected. As of T...

A special education institute in eastern China that targets “problematic” teenagers has sparked controversy for allowing its students to carry toy dolls throughout the school day as part of gratitude lessons. Yuanzhong Special Education School, l...

A woman and a man have been sentenced to community service by a Hong Kong court for committing sexual acts at an outlying island pier last year. Saleswoman Ma Lai-hing, 62, and sailor Ng Tau-ming, 63, pleaded guilty last month to outraging public dec...

Malaysian rescuers were searching on Tuesday for 14 Indonesians missing after a boat believed to be carrying undocumented migrants sank off Pangkor Island, the latest emergency along a dangerous sea route used by workers trying to enter Malaysia by b...

European governments have rejected a suggestion by Russian President Vladimir Putin that former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could represent them in possible future talks with Moscow on the continent’s security. Putin said on Saturday he bel...

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. ‘Foreigner won’...

South Korea is treading carefully in attributing blame for the strike on one of its cargo ships earlier this month, even as preliminary signs point to Iranian drones being the culprit. Seoul has surveillance footage of the incident in the early hours...

Beijing is on stronger footing over Taiwan compared with Donald Trump’s first presidential term, according to a leading mainland analyst. Wu Yongping, dean of the Institute for Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said the issue would ...

A Hong Kong couple have been spared a criminal conviction for storm chasing with their children during Super Typhoon Ragasa last year after prosecutors agreed to settle the case with a bind-over order. The couple were bound over at Eastern Court on T...

When a 52-year-old Indonesian woman approached her saying she was broke and needed a place to stay, Lim felt sorry for her. Out of sympathy, the 29-year-old Malaysian rented out her flat in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, to the Indonesian without signing any ...

With a fragile US-Iran ceasefire barely holding, the Strait of Hormuz still blockaded, and all eyes on the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting, investors are embracing a new market narrative: “Nacho”. The acronym – short for “Not a chance Hormuz opens�...

Hiroshi Suzuki, Japan’s ambassador to Britain, is becoming a social media sensation as followers embrace his unbridled enthusiasm for everything the country has to offer. Videos of him singing the Welsh national anthem, for example, and his valiant...

Chinese-language videos suspected to be AI deepfakes with different narrators berating Singapore for its treatment of China and sidling up to the United States have caused a stir online and sparked discussion on their source. The clips, each featurin...

Pakistan is poised to become the latest partner in a China-centred trading network, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, to sell “panda bonds”. Islamabad seeks to raise as much as US$250 million through its first-ever sale of the bonds – yuan...

Ten people have been injured in a crash involving a truck and a bus outside a shopping centre in Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong. Police said they received a report of the crash in Sau Mau Ping at about 6.20am on Tuesday, where a light goods vehicle collided...

K-pop superstar G-Dragon’s decision to gift his long-serving staff members flats worth a combined total of hundreds of millions of won (around several hundred thousand USD) has sparked a frenzy among netizens, with some asking, “Are you still hir...

Renowned biologist Xu Xianzhong has returned to China, taking up a full-time position in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, months after four researchers in his laboratory at the University of Michigan were accused by the United States of “biologic...

Hong Kong taxi industry leaders and Uber have both voiced concerns over a looming quota for ride-hailing vehicles, even as transport authorities promised to consult stakeholders before settling on a figure. They were responding to the Transport and L...

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing through legislation to establish the country’s first centralised intelligence agency since the second world war, driven by concerns that its existing set-up is too fragmented to keep pace with espi...

A Southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, was charged in April with one count...

Netflix was sued on Monday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who accused the streaming company of spying on children and other consumers by collecting their data ‌without consent and designing its platform to be addictive. The lawsuit says that...

A US government witness in a trial of an alleged illegal Chinese police station in New York testified on Monday that he was harassed after holding a protest against establishing the Fuzhou-directed facility, one of several that China purportedly set ...

CK Hutchison Holdings’ shares climbed to their highest level since 2020 after the conglomerate announced plans to exit the UK mobile market, signalling that investors believe the Li family may once again have timed an industry peak before the broad...

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In this story, part of a series examining how rivalry, interd...

The Treasury Department wants US banks and other financial institutions to monitor for suspected Iranian money-laundering networks that use their funds to smuggle sanctioned oil through shell companies and cryptocurrency networks. The move, which eff...

US President Donald Trump is expected to be accompanied by more than a dozen business leaders, including Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and Tim Cook of Apple, during his trip to China this week. The White House on Monday released the list of executi...

Two South Florida police officers claim Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s recent action thriller The Rip used too many real-life details in its fictionalised narrative, causing harm to the officers’ personal and professional reputations, according to ...

With the war in the Middle East entering its third month, questions have surfaced over its geopolitical ramifications in the region and beyond. An entity that has drawn particular scrutiny is Brics. The 10-member grouping is defined less by a clear s...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Taiwan would be discussed in his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and pledged to raise the case of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying at their summit in Beijing this week. Speaking to ...

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faced down calls to resign on Monday over a scandal in which thieves stole bundles of cash in foreign currency hidden in a sofa on his ranch. In a televised address to the nation, Ramaphosa said he respected a ...

US President Donald Trump’s coming visit to China is being closely watched by business leaders, policymakers and Chinese-American groups hoping for signs that Washington and Beijing can stabilise one of the world’s most consequential relationship...

The widow of a man killed in last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University is suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI, blaming the company’s artificial intelligence chatbot for giving advice on how to carry out the rampage. The lawsuit comes after sta...

Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it. The photo of the soldier, a ciga...

A Bolivian court on Monday reissued a warrant for the arrest of former president Evo Morales on charges of trafficking a minor after he failed to show up for the start of his trial. Bolivia’s first Indigenous president has been accused of fathering...

Federal agents are investigating the deaths of six people thought to be immigrants found inside a shipping container at a Union Pacific rail yard near the border with Mexico in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday as a “potential human smuggling event”. A Un...

Britain on Monday announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s “information warfare campaigns” over its full-scale Ukraine invasion, alongside those behind the alleged forced deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children. The sanctions pac...

Pressure from Washington was likely to have played a decisive role in Taiwan’s opposition parties backing a sharply expanded special defence budget last week, analysts said, as concerns mount in Taipei ahead of a summit between US President Donald ...

Philippine authorities said on Monday they would not arrest for now a lawmaker wanted by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, capping a lengthy Senate stand-off. Senator Ronald Dela Rosa,...