Nato chief Mark Rutte said the alliance “cannot be naive” about China’s military build-up, after the nation conducted its first known launch of a strategic missile from a nuclear submarine. “What happens in the Indo-Pacific is relevant to wha...

Malaysia’s former economy minister Rafizi Ramli and his breakaway party, Bersama, are unlikely to emerge as a credible third force in the country’s political landscape, but they could still siphon votes away from the reformist Pakatan Harapan (PH...

Sri Lanka launched an investigation on Tuesday into its deadliest prison riot in years, as the death toll from clashes between rival drug gangs rose to 27. Armed police and commandos were not sent into the prison but were deployed to guard the perime...

Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led a business delegation to New Delhi for the 16th India-Japan annual summit. During last year’s summit in Tokyo, Takaichi’s predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi o...

Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France’s president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit, wounding at least four people according to Syrian state media. Emmanuel Macron had entered the presidential palace to meet Syrian Presi...

Beijing has staged a special screening of a blockbuster film that sparked a debate about propaganda in Southeast Asia, inviting 150 foreign diplomats and their families to the event to help them “better understand China”. Diplomats from 74 embass...

South Korea’s Incheon International Airport achieved a historic milestone in global aviation by recording 1 billion cumulative passengers in the shortest period among the world’s major hub airports, the airport operator said on Tuesday. According...

Hong Kong’s stock market could face sell-off pressure amid a torrent of new share supply in coming days as the six-month lock-up period ends for hot artificial intelligence and semiconductor picks including Zhipu AI and MiniMax. Meanwhile analysts ...

China’s last surviving female Red Army veteran has marked her 105th birthday, as her extraordinary wartime story stirred admiration across mainland social media. On June 27, Wang Quanying, from Sichuan province in southwestern China, sat in a wheel...

Vietnam has introduced a raft of incentives to encourage couples to have more children as the Southeast Asian nation seeks to reverse a fast-declining fertility rate. Gone is the country’s long-standing two-child policy, scrapped last year. In its ...

China’s semiconductor equipment industry is heading into the first-half earnings season under intense scrutiny, as a broad stock rally turns one of the tech sector’s least visible niches into a crowded investor trade. The rally has swept across m...

China’s crude oil demand is expected to peak this year, according to executives from the country’s largest oil firm, a scenario set to further reshape the global energy market following the Strait of Hormuz crisis. The world’s top oil importer ...

Hong Kong jailed activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has indicated he will plead guilty to conspiring with a fugitive former lawmaker to collude with foreign forces six years ago. The High Court has scheduled a plea and sentencing hearing for the 29-year-o...

⁠Democratic Party leaders on Monday called on Graham Platner to withdraw as their nominee to run against Republican US Senator Susan Collins of Maine, after media reports that a woman accused him of forcibly having sex with her nearly five years ag...

A video showing a Chinese tourist berating hotel staff in Malaysia for not flying China’s flag has gone viral after viewers pointed out the flags belonged to the nations competing in the Fifa World Cup finals. The man, who was reportedly in Kuala L...

No further action was necessary by Singapore’s parliament against Workers’ Party (WP) politicians Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap over their lying under oath, as the case fell outside a legal time bar, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah said on Tuesd...

Hong Kong police have arrested a 74-year-old minibus driver on suspicion of dangerous driving after he allegedly ran over a 90-year-old man crossing a road in Kwai Chung. Police said the accident was reported at about 7.24am on Tuesday on 188 Hing Fo...

Cuba on Monday suffered its third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, causing mounting despair in the face of an energy collapse precipitated by a US fuel blockade. The communist island was already struggling to keep the lights on be...

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. US touts regional �...

Hong Kong’s Primary Six students cheered and shed tears of joy on Tuesday as they received their secondary school allocation results after years of hard work, with some already looking ahead to future university subjects or the possibility of study...

Japan is facing mounting calls to decide whether its long-frozen development aid to Myanmar should stay that way, as rights advocates warn that any resumption could ease pressure on a regime accused of widespread abuses. The decision is a delicate on...

Landslides, floods, strong rainstorms and tornadoes have led to multiple deaths across China, with people still missing as meteorologists warn the country faces “complex” disaster prevention challenges this year. The annual flood season, which of...

Singapore is the world’s most expensive city for luxury spending for a fourth consecutive year, as prices on items such as watches and jewellery surge around the globe. Zurich climbed to second place, edging out London, while Monaco entered the top...

Hong Kong’s high-quality economic development will be guided by its first five-year blueprint and the coming policy address, with artificial intelligence (AI) as the “central plank”, the city’s leader has said. Speaking at the South China Mor...

An “unknown projectile” struck and caused a fire on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, British maritime security agency UKMTO said. The incident occurred near one of the world’s most important energy shippi...

Shares of Kuaishou Technology plunged 12 per cent on Tuesday after Tencent Holdings slashed its stake in the short-video platform by selling 273 million Class B shares, just days after leading a US$3 billion financing round for Kuaishou’s artificia...

A man ⁠scaled the 140-metre-high (460 ⁠foot) tower of ⁠a cantilever bridge in the Australian city of Melbourne on Tuesday and painted a giant cartoon bird on it, disrupting morning commuter traffic. The man demanded ‌a peanut butter sandwich ...

The South China Morning Post will host its China Conference in Kazakhstan’s capital in September, following a high-level Hong Kong delegation led by the city’s leader to Central Asia last month, marking the first such event organised by a local m...

At Carousell’s Singapore office, a red tunnel greets employees with the company’s mission to “make second-hand the first choice” – a slogan its leaders say is moving closer to reality as the platform for buying and selling used goods record...

New Zealand’s flood-prone homes are outperforming the rest of the country’s moribund housing market, as buyers chase lower prices and shrug off climate risks. Properties facing the highest flood risk have gained 26.1 per cent in value since Janua...

China’s innovation ecosystem has witnessed a resurgence, minting 67 new unicorn start-ups in the first half of 2026 – the biggest increase in almost five years – as AI and robotics kick off a new investment cycle. The growth translates into an ...

The Furious, Hong Kong’s latest action flick, is crushing it on Rotten Tomatoes and has garnered critical acclaim abroad – proof of what human-centric filmmaking can still deliver in today’s market. But before we rush to hail the return of Hong...

Lynas Rare Earths said on Tuesday it had signed a partnership deal with South Korea’s JS Link to develop a magnet factory in Malaysia. The Australian rare-earths producer will also supply materials to JS Link’s magnet factory in South Korea and t...

A young boy from central China went viral after proudly promoting his burn-survivor mother’s street stall during a chance visit to a university football pitch. On June 28, eight-year-old Chunchun from Zhengzhou, Henan province, accompanied his moth...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong recorded at least 11 flooding cases in the northern New Territories while the amber rainstorm warni...

Taiwan has revived its “anti-communist patriotic education” programme for military academy graduates, reflecting growing concern over Beijing’s efforts to infiltrate the island’s armed forces after a string of espionage cases involving servic...

Hong Kong’s top International Baccalaureate (IB) scorers this year credited AI and a balanced study routine for their academic success after receiving their results on Monday. Amid the intense pressure of the final assessments, top achievers from D...

Kim Jong-un stood on a cliff top and watched his navy come of age. As the North Korean leader looked on, 10 cruise missiles tore off the deck of the Kang Kon in rapid succession in a display of naval power Pyongyang could once only dream of staging. ...

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a car in the country’s south on Monday killed four people, including three women, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said a school princip...

Norway wants China to use its ⁠ties to the Russian ⁠leadership to help bring about ⁠a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine, also for the sake of better relations with Europe, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday. “...

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to ...

In a closely watched outcome, Canada on Monday chose a major German defence contractor over its South Korean competitor to build a US multibillion-dollar fleet of submarines, as mid-tier nations increasingly work together in the face of a less reliab...

Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis is positioned as the city’s next engine of growth – a long-term solution to land supply, economic transformation and cross-boundary integration. Just as importantly, the government has stressed that this massive ...

US President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that leading American artificial intelligence companies would make a public “contribution” to the country, offering few details but fuelling speculation about a greater government role in the booming ...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers. Confirmation of the project came as constructio...

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Damascus on Monday for the first visit by a Western European head of state since Syria’s new authorities took power. President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been rebooting Syria’s international credentials and se...

With the integrity of Fifa and the World Cup under attack from European football leaders, Fifa President Gianni Infantino acknowledged taking a call from US President Donald Trump before US forward Folarin Balogun was cleared to play against Belgium ...

Nato cannot be “naive” about China’s military development, as the Indo-Pacific and European theatres are becoming “more intertwined”, evident in Beijing’s support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Nato’s secretary general has said. During ...

Prince Harry arrived in Britain on Monday for a five-day visit expected to go ahead mostly without his wife and children after they were reportedly refused police protection. Harry’s visit has been hit by several snags as plans for his family to ac...

Comcast’s Sky has agreed to buy the broadcast channels and streaming service of Britain’s ITV for £1.6 billion (US$2.13 billion), creating a British champion to compete with global players YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney. Sky CEO Dana Strong...