Chinese artificial intelligence chip designer MetaX Integrated Circuits will make its trading debut in Shanghai on Wednesday, according to a filing late on Monday, more than a week after industry peer Moore Threads Technology’s stellar listing on t...

Fan Zeng, one of the most valuable contemporary painters in China, recently announced the birth of his only biological son while severing ties with his other children, once again bringing family disputes into the public eye. At 87 years old, Fan is c...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on Hong Kong’s leader to proactively align with the 15th five-year plan, while offering his full recognition of the local government’s work as he extended condolences to the families of victims of the city�...

A total of 3,498 properties around critical security facilities and remote islands in Japan were bought by foreign individuals or entities in fiscal 2024, with nearly half from China, a government study showed on Tuesday. Separately, the government a...

Beijing’s build-up of maritime facilities in a contested part of the Yellow Sea is expected to trigger “more scrutiny” from South Korea, a report by a US think tank has warned. According to a report published on Monday by the website Beyond Par...

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.8 per cent over the past three months, although both the labour force and total employment fell slightly. Preliminary data released by the Census and Statistics Department on Tuesday showed that...

Nearly one-third of Hong Kong companies plan to increase hiring in the next three months, while professional, scientific and technical services are likely to cut staff, especially junior positions, amid the widespread adoption of artificial intellige...

A construction worker lost consciousness after falling from scaffolding at a Hong Kong village house under renovation, amid a string of similar accidents over the past month. Police said they received a call at 10.13am on Tuesday about a 65-year-old ...

The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) have selected artists Kingsley Ng Siu-king and Angel Hui Hoi-kiu to represent the city at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026, marking the first time since 2007 that ...

Standing in the rain outside a suburban Sydney railway station, seventeen-year-old Naveed Akram stares into the camera and urges those watching to spread the word of Islam. “Spread the message that Allah is one wherever you can … whether it be ra...

Hong Kong public hospitals will offer flexibility when charging patients at accident and emergency (A&E) departments to smooth the transition to the new healthcare payment arrangements taking effect on January 1. Under the new policy, only patients c...

For over a century, the dream of efficiently concentrating low-grade heat into high-temperature industrial energy has been constrained by a stubborn ceiling: 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit). Now, a team from China has shattered that temp...

A Chinese biopharmaceutical firm has sealed a global licensing deal valued at up to US$1.44 billion, the second in a week, as a wave of cross-border tie-ups shows no sign of abating despite headwinds from the US Biosecure Act. Shanghai Scizeng Medica...

Economic and political stakes continue to rise from the Thai-Cambodian border conflict as the crucial high season for tourism begins for both countries. Thailand has imposed an overnight curfew in parts of Trat, the southern Thai province abutting Ca...

Hong Kong authorities will offer HK$500,000 (US$64,200) to each public school that applies for funding to introduce artificial intelligence into classrooms over the next three years, with about HK$500 million allocated for the initiative. Schools rec...

China has launched a national-level service platform to help returning overseas students find work and start businesses, as the country steps up its efforts to attract talent and the number of returnees surges. The Ministry of Education has partnered...

Three men had to be rescued after they fell into a 15-metre (50ft) deep well in India on December 5. The accident happened after the men were involved in a drunken brawl at a funeral ceremony in India’s southern state of Kerala.

Chinese authorities last month intercepted 430kg (948lbs) of cocaine aided by tip-offs from the United States, indicating possible progress on the issue following an agreement on counternarcotics cooperation reached by the leaders of the two countrie...

Nearly 50 years after she featured on the renminbi banknote, a woman who became known as “one yuan girl” is back in the spotlight due to a recent viral video of her. An influencer in southwestern China’s Guizhou province posted the video on Nov...

The discovery of a Malaysian baby boy left behind a house in Kampung Alor Lintang, Terengganu state’s Kampung Raja on Sunday has revealed a case of incest involving a teenage girl and her younger brother, Sinar Harian reported. Acting Besut police ...

Malaysians hit back online this week after Indonesia’s home affairs minister appeared to play down the significance of flood relief Malaysia sent to the neighbouring nation’s disaster-hit Aceh province, where catastrophic floods and landslides on...

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. ‘It’s life’: ...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s revival of Tokyo’s claim to islets whose symbolic weight far outweighs their size has rekindled an old dispute that may play well with nationalist supporters at home, but risks derailing hard-won diplomati...

A nephew of the late Hong Kong shipping tycoon Y.K. Pao has bought a HK$75 million (US$9.6 million) luxury flat in Repulse Bay, continuing a trend among the city’s wealthy buyers who have been snapping up high-end homes in recent months. Crosspark ...

Taiwan has moved to tighten conscription rules after a string of high-profile cases involving celebrities and young men who falsified their medical records to evade mandatory military service. In addition, the proposed changes would also mandate alte...

The US military said Monday that it attacked three boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing a total of eight people as scrutiny over the boat strikes is intensifying in the US Congress. The US military said in a statemen...

Crouched between mountains of discarded plastic, Lanh strips the labels off bottles of Coke, Evian and local Vietnamese tea drinks so they can be melted into tiny pellets for reuse. More waste arrives daily, piling up like technicolour snowdrifts alo...

Some of Hong Kong’s biggest names in classical music are coming together to raise funds for the family of the firefighter who died in the Tai Po fire. The concert, titled “Salute to the Brave, Soothing the Soul” and co-organised by the violinis...

The United States and Pakistan are reviving defence and minerals cooperation in a bid to reset their uneasy ties, marking a policy shift that has stirred anxiety in India even as Washington seeks to reassure New Delhi. Washington has approved hundred...

Beijing’s foreign ministry arm in Hong Kong has issued a rare open letter explaining the “facts and truths” behind former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s guilty verdict, urging international media outlets to uphold objectivity and present an...

Hong Kong police officers assigned to identify victims of the deadly Tai Po fire remain mentally stable despite facing tougher conditions than in previous disasters, the force’s psychologists have said. Police clinical psychologist Michael Fung Ho-...

Malaysians who have fallen victim to scams are being warned about a new form of fraud involving self-styled “anti-scam” law firms that promise unusually high recovery rates but ultimately exploit victims again, according to the Malaysian Chinese ...

The reported US seizure of a ship allegedly carrying Chinese-made dual-use components to Iran might signal Washington was “testing the waters” on reviving an old tactic to pressure Beijing’s ties with its adversaries, but such moves risked brea...

A political row over former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has intensified after his guilty verdict, with the Hong Kong government condemning what it called “despicable political manipulations” and the United States calling for his release. Beiji...

Recent months have witnessed an important shift in the political landscape across the Taiwan Strait, one that deserves careful consideration from policymakers in Asia, Europe and the United States. Despite considerable global turbulence, years of ris...

Ukraine said on Monday it hit and disabled a Russian missile-carrying submarine docked at a Black Sea naval base using underwater sea drones for the first time, but Moscow denied the strike caused any damage. The attack with Ukrainian-made “Sub Sea...

A 13-year-old girl in China has been dubbed a “little hero” after risking her life to save a four-year-old boy who fell into a frozen lake. The incident unfolded on December 6, in a park in Tongxin county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region in northwe...

A father and son were driven by “Islamic State ideology” when they fired on Bondi Beach in one of Australia’s deadliest mass shootings, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday. Sajid Akram and his son Naveed opened fire on Jewish crowds...

The court’s verdict in former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s trial has shed light on the ways in which implicit acts and actions taken before the national security law came into effect may constitute criminal offences, legal experts h...

Beijing has approved China’s first two cars with level 3 (L3) autonomous driving capability, taking a leap towards widely deploying self-driving technology in the world’s largest automotive market. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technol...

Kim Jong-un has publicly mourned nine North Korean soldiers killed in Russia, in a rare display of grief analysts say belies a harder message of military solidarity with Moscow and rising expectations of compensation. North Korean state television br...

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has pressed ahead with its strategic move into the fast-growing healthcare sector with a major upgrade to its artificial intelligence health app AQ, positioning the platform to work like a fitness companion or a family...

Britain’s government on Monday summoned China’s ambassador to the UK to protest the conviction of British citizen Jimmy Lai Chee-ying on national security charges in Hong Kong, while US President Donald Trump said he urged leniency for Lai in a c...

China has announced a new policy package to boost household spending by tightening coordination between commerce and financial regulators, expanding access to credit and promoting new forms of consumption. The move comes as soft retail sales and weak...

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he is considering an executive order to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug - a decision that could reshape the cannabis industry, ease criminal penalties and unlock billions in research funding. The...

US President Donald Trump sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or un...

Senior US officials on Monday pushed back against suggestions of American retreat from the Indo-Pacific, declaring that Washington is recalibrating its foreign assistance to more effectively outcompete China in the strategically vital region while ma...

The son of Hollywood actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner has been jailed as a suspect in the killing of his parents after they were found dead in their home over the weekend, Los Angeles police said on Monday. Nick Reiner, 32, who had struggled with subst...

It has been a turbulent year for the fraught US-China relationship. In a new series, we look back at the events of 2025, starting with the geopolitical struggle between the two rival superpowers. In a year marked by domestic crises and global turmoil...

US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order (EO) designating illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid driving the US overdose crisis, as a weapon of mass destruction. The EO issued by the White House asserted that “illicit fe...