China’s decision to ease residency restrictions on social insurance applicants will help unleash positive, long-term economic growth, according to analysts. The new measures announced on Friday by the State Council are part of China’s broader pus...

A group of Hongkongers have started the city’s first corpse restoration team, aiming to bring an affordable service in reconstructing badly disfigured bodies, allowing the dead to be buried with dignity and consoling their families. The six-member ...

In ancient China, women were largely denied formal education and confined to the roles of dutiful wives and mothers. Against this restrictive social order, two women pushed beyond the limits and left notable marks on medicine, astronomy and mathemati...

War is now a possibility in Norway, by the prime minister’s own admission. The country, which borders Russia, has gone into “total defence” mode, preparing its population for the worst in light of the fighting in Ukraine. Dug beneath a peaceful...

A fatal fire at a subdivided flat on Thursday has highlighted the need to eradicate substandard housing in Hong Kong, the housing minister has said, noting that affected residents had a living space of just five square metres (54 sq ft) on average. S...

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has twice in recent weeks urged the country’s armed forces to defend its sovereignty, in a carefully calibrated attempt to sound more assertive on the South China Sea issue without directly challenging ...

France has committed €23 billion (US$26.7 billion) to Africa’s private sector in a bid to counter Chinese dominance and rebuild its influence on the continent. Speaking at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi earlier this month, President Emmanue...

Hong Kong authorities will consider requiring claw machine operators to display the odds of winning, while remaining open to increasing prize values and maximum payouts under proposed changes to the regulatory regime, the home affairs minister has sa...

For many Indonesians who have built careers abroad, Nadiem Makarim once represented a particular kind of homecoming success story. The Brown and Harvard University-educated co-founder of Gojek had walked away from the start-up world to serve in gover...

For months, the United Arab Emirates had denied Iran’s accusations that it was in league with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or hosting his country’s military personnel. Then, US ambassador to Israel Mick Huckabee handed Tehran a propa...

At least 90 people have been killed in a blast at a coal mine in the central Chinese province of Shanxi. State news agency Xinhua reported that the gas explosion happened in Qinyuan county, about 520km (320 miles) southwest of Beijing, on Friday afte...

Ten passengers and crew members were injured when a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Brisbane to Hong Kong was hit by severe turbulence on Saturday, with one traveller saying the impact felt like “free-falling from a drop tower” as everyone scr...

For Hongkonger Annyee Chan, the decision to stop breastfeeding her son at eight months was a pragmatic response to a city that often feels at odds with the needs of nursing mothers. Returning to work just one month after childbirth, the self-employed...

Donald Trump’s blunt warning that he was not looking to have “somebody go independent” after his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping has reignited debate in Taiwan over whether Washington is hardening its message on the island. For many in Ta...

A rare albino buffalo with flowing blond hair ⁠has become an unlikely ⁠celebrity in Bangladesh ahead of the ⁠Eid al-Adha festival, drawing crowds of curious visitors who say the animal bears a striking resemblance to US President Donald Trump. ...

Hong Kong’s first astronaut has encouraged the city’s young people to chase their dreams, declaring that “there must be a better tomorrow” if everyone works hard and bears the country in mind when pursuing one’s goals. Payload specialist La...

When Xi Jinping and Donald Trump concluded their Beijing summit, the most consequential outcome – for China at least – may prove not material, but conceptual: the adoption of “constructive strategic stability” (CSS) as the guiding framework f...

A mock political party erupted across Indian social media this week, becoming a symbol of Gen Z disillusionment with the country’s political establishment and anger over a worsening jobs crisis in the world’s most populous nation. The Cockroach J...

Embattled Chinese developers have turned to a new strategy to resuscitate their ailing businesses: diversifying into semiconductor production. Certain listed property companies have seen their shares skyrocket – some by hundreds of per cent – aft...

If you are working on a space station orbiting hundreds of kilometres above the Earth, the woman set to become Hong Kong’s first astronaut when the mission launches this weekend is exactly the type of person you want by your side, according to the ...

A four-week United Nations conference reviewing the treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons ended on Friday without agreement as the United States and Iran sparred over Iran’s nuclear programme. Vietnam’s UN Ambassador Do Hung Viet, who c...

Scientists in Shanghai have used stem cells to create the world’s first laboratory-grown sinoatrial node – the tiny structure that acts as the heart’s natural pacemaker. Capable of beating autonomously, the organoid is a breakthrough that resea...

Twenty-seven countries have moved since the Iran war started to put in place crisis instruments that could quickly access funding from existing World Bank programmes, according to an internal document viewed by Reuters. The World Bank document did no...

Seated in a wheelchair, an elderly woman bends silently as her wrinkled fingers move with surprising speed to fold pieces of coloured origami paper into intricate shapes. Beside her, another woman does the same, both adding their finished pieces to a...

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing in a much weaker position than he did more than four years ago, when he launched his invasion of Ukraine shortly after his last visit. US President Donald Trump left Beijing after much fanfare. Howe...

Hong Kong will send its first astronaut to the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Saturday. Lai Ka-ying, a police superintendent and tech expert with a doctorate in computer science, will join the Shenzhou-23 mission a...

In 1957, the Soviet Union kicked off the Cold War’s space race, shocking the world by sending Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, into orbit. Four years later, it did the same to cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, making him the first human in ...

Ancient China dreamed of future technology long before the modern age, conjuring visions of magic mirrors, ingenious machines and even lifelike wooden puppets. In the Tang dynasty (618–907) text Duyang Miscellaneous Records, a mysterious stone call...

Graduates of Hong Kong’s largest vocational training institution have largely avoided the negative effects of AI and could reap more internship opportunities from a coming megaproject, the body’s new leader has said. In an interview with the Sout...

In a swanky penthouse office outside Kuala Lumpur, tech firm Zetrix AI is putting a grand plan into motion to get 1 million people across Southeast Asia using its artificial intelligence agent, Avatar, by the end of the year. Designed as an autonomou...

SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that Nasa is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he w...

A US federal judge dismissed a criminal case on Friday filed against a Salvadorean man at the centre of a row over US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on migrants. US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled that the indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garc...

Chinese President Xi Jinping viewed the Thucydides Trap as the “best diagnosis” of the challenge Beijing faces with Washington when he raised the concept with US leader Donald Trump this month, signalling an awareness that their current path risk...

In an era when technology seems to defy all limits, one age-old barrier has managed to endure: geography. As geopolitical turbulence continues to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz – a vital shipping artery, especially for energy – the ...

US ⁠President Donald Trump said on ⁠Friday he would not attend the ⁠wedding of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jnr, to Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson, because he has to stay in Washington for government business. “While I very much wanted...

Foreigners applying for permanent residency in the US will now have to go back to their home countries to seek green cards. “From now on, an alien who is in the US temporarily and wants a green card must return to their home country to apply, excep...

When Marco Rubio was confirmed as US Secretary of State last year, fireworks of optimism went off in New Delhi. Given his years as a senator championing a pro-India, staunchly anti-China posture, policymakers anticipated an unprecedented alignment. H...

Kevin Warsh, whose broad criticism of current US ⁠Federal Reserve officials, playbook for rate cuts and ties to President Donald Trump elevated him past ⁠other contenders to lead the central bank, was sworn in as Fed leader on Friday at a pivotal...

Two Chinese nationals were indicted on charges of conspiracy to launder money for drug cartels, the US Justice Department announced on Friday. Ruhuan Zhen and Hongce Wu allegedly hid the source of illegally obtained funds on behalf of various cross-b...

Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday she was resigning ⁠from her job as US President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, saying her husband had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and that she was stepping away from her role to h...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered his military to prepare options to retaliate against Ukraine for what he described as a drone attack on a student dorm that killed six people and wounded dozens, with 15 still unaccounted for. Putin ...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday that Alberta was “essential” to the country’s future, hours after the province’s leader moved the oil-rich region closer towards a referendum on independence. Separatists in the western provi...

Everlane, the retailer that bucked the fast-fashion industry by promising affordable ethically sourced and sustainable clothing, is being acquired by the king of fast-fashion, China’s Shein. A letter to Everlane employees from CEO Alfred Chang conf...

Chinese AI firms MiniMax Group and Knowledge Atlas Technology – better known as Zhipu AI – will join the Hang Seng Tech Index next month. Their inclusion follows investor criticism that the city’s primary technology gauge has underperformed by ...

China has moved to ease residency restrictions that prevent migrant workers from accessing social insurance where they work, in a sweeping effort to expand coverage and strengthen labour protections nationwide. The new measures were announced on Frid...

France’s former prime minister Gabriel Attal said on Friday he would run for president next year when Emmanuel Macron steps down, becoming the second prominent centrist to challenge the far-right. “I can’t take this kind of French politics anym...

The original think tank paper was published in Chinese. SCMP Plus members can read an English translation here. A Chinese state think tank has offered a detailed road map to steer China and the US towards peaceful coexistence, as the competition betw...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s coming trip to New York and Canada is expected to lay the groundwork for President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US and warmer ties with Ottawa. China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Wang would chair ...

The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday that the Ebola outbreak in Congo is “spreading rapidly” and now poses a “very high” risk at the national level. WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the UN health agency...

The expanded second passenger terminal at Hong Kong International Airport will be crucial to the city’s role as a global aviation hub, with its departure concourse set to open at the end of next year, the managing authority has said. The Airport Au...