In China’s Gelao ethnic group, an old custom required brides to have one or two upper teeth removed before marriage, supposedly to avoid bringing harm to the groom’s family. In some cases, the missing teeth were even replaced by those of a dog fo...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. Temperatures in Hong Kong are set to d...

The Chinese ambassador to Rwanda said on Friday that China-Africa cooperation had expanded into forward-looking sectors such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, green energy, fintech and sustainable development. While attending the Seven...

At a packed and tiny storefront in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po, Yau Yiu-wai busily explains the best way to open and shut umbrellas to an endless stream of interested buyers. But the 73-year-old shop owner only received a bump in customers after annou...

People love to hate governments, and they loathe having to pay taxes. However, from now on, we’ll have to embrace more state intervention and the need for higher taxes or else legislate a more dirigiste system of directing personal savings into inv...

Hong Kong authorities have expressed confidence in swiftly identifying a location in Tai Po to build subsidised flats as part of resettlement options being reviewed for victims left homeless by the deadly inferno last month. Deputy Financial Secretar...

Christine Fong Kwok-shan, a long-time district councillor in Hong Kong known for defending constituents’ rights with fiery and sometimes controversial political acts, has pledged to abandon her past protest methods, now that she has been elected as...

A year after the curtain fell on the Assad regime’s five-decade reign of terror, Syria is emerging as a rare beacon of renewal in a conflict-weary region. President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadi filled with revolutionary zeal to rebuild his home...

China is cementing its image as a lasting partner across Africa by gifting high-profile infrastructure, such as presidential palaces and parliament buildings. A key example is the new US$32 million Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) h...

A Chinese restaurant owner has gone viral for hitting the streets in a home-made mecha suit to deliver food, earning the nickname “Chinese Iron Man” and leaving netizens in awe. The blogger known as “Gaosai Armour”, who has almost 100,000 fol...

Beijing’s embassy in Israel has protested following media reports of a secret trip by Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister to the Middle Eastern country. According to a Reuters report on Thursday citing multiple anonymous sources, Francois Wu Chih-ch...

Sitting in her wheelchair, Haneen al-Mabhouh dreams of rebuilding her family, of cradling a new baby. She dreams of walking again. But with her leg gone, her life in Gaza is on hold, she says, as she waits to go abroad for further treatment. An Israe...

A video of a woman kneeling in a shopping centre in central China, pleading with her husband to buy her a down jacket, has gone viral on social media, igniting widespread outrage against the man. The clip was recorded in early December outside a clot...

In the Mexican mountain town of San Isidro Buen Suceso, Virginia Veronica Arce Arce begins her days as she has for decades: seated at her vintage Singer sewing machine, guiding bright threads into intricate patterns passed down through generations. A...

An Italian defence company’s push to sell Eurofighter Typhoon jets to the Philippines could open the door to broader cooperation between Rome and Manila, with analysts calling the aircraft a promising choice for the country’s military modernisati...

Former Hong Kong commerce minister Gregory So Kam-leung has died at the age of 67. It was understood that So, a lawyer by profession who served as the city’s secretary for commerce and economic development between 2011 and 2017, had been in hospita...

Singapore’s Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh has apologised to the court over comments he made on CNA’s The Assembly programme after being informed that his statements were in contempt of court. “I accept that my statements may be construe...

The principal of a Hong Kong primary school opposite the scene of the deadly Tai Po fire has expressed hope that the institution can relocate, saying the horrifying view of the charred buildings will make parents feel uncomfortable and affect enrolme...

The global green energy transition is less about geopolitics and more about economic reality, according to Arif Aga, director of global renewable engineering consultancy SgurrEnergy. For many nations seeking to adopt clean energy, their priority rema...

A fire broke out in a flat at a public housing estate in Hong Kong’s Tin Shui Wai early on Saturday, leaving a man severely injured and forcing more than 200 residents to evacuate. Authorities received multiple calls at 3.43am from residents report...

North Korea sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech carried on Saturday by state media, in a rare acknowledgement of the deadly tasks assigned to its soldiers there. Pyongyang has s...

A key industrial hub in eastern China is launching a push to transform itself into one of the world’s top copper-smelting bases, aiming to forge stronger supply chains for the strategic metal as prices flirt with record highs. In an implementation ...

Once every decade, villagers in Kam Tin build a nearly 30-metre (100-foot) tall bamboo structure – large enough to hold almost half the capacity of the Hong Kong Coliseum – to stage rituals and Cantonese opera performances for an audience of resi...

The magnitude 7.5 earthquake that occurred off northeastern Japan recently highlights the need for Japan to provide safety tips and evacuation information to foreign nationals more effectively, particularly as the country witnesses an inbound tourism...

Multiple documents on websites run by public institutions in China were found to feature fake names and people, a pattern state media warned could harm government credibility and provide a haven for corruption. The series of blunders unfolded when in...

When US tech giant Meta Platforms released its flagship Llama family of artificial intelligence models in February 2023, they were open-sourced, a move that singled it out among global AI model developers at the time. That September, one of the many ...

After decades of human activities and overgrazing, desertification has accelerated at an alarming speed in China, resulting in sandstorms, flooding and drought. The economic repercussions are potentially affecting more than 400 million people. In the...

McDonald’s Hong Kong was voted Company of the Year at the 2025 Business Awards organised by SCMP Live, a highlight for the company as it marks half a century of operating in the city. The restaurant chain’s CEO Randy Lai and chairman Zhang Yichen...

Daniel Ho’s clients want the best money can buy: branded residences and glass-wrapped penthouses complete with panoramic views and high-rise parking spots fit for supercars in the elite enclaves of Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. A world...

A South Korean man sued his wife for “malicious abandonment” and filed for divorce after she refused to donate part of her liver to save him, sparking heated debate on Chinese social media. The couple, both in their early 30s, had been married fo...

When high school students in the West Hartford Public Schools district study World War II in the coming year, they will learn about more than just the typical hallmarks like Japanese-American detention camps. They will also hear about Sadao Munemori,...

Ambiguous rules, lax supervision and uncoordinated policies involving at least four departments are among some deep-rooted problems contributing to the inferno that killed 160 residents in Hong Kong, analysts have said, as the Post reviewed what went...

Former National Basketball Association (NBA) centre Jason Collins, who has a deadly form of brain cancer, is undergoing an experimental treatment in Singapore, with those involved in the trial hailing the city state’s reputation as a medical innova...

Christine Choy, a trailblazer for Asian-Americans in independent film and whose documentary on the fatal beating of Vincent Chin was nominated for an Academy Award, has died. She was 73. Choy died on Sunday, according to a statement from JT Takagi, e...

In 1865, when a British entrepreneur built a demonstration railroad near Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi saw not progress but danger – of disruptions to feng shui, imperial graves and rural order – and had the tracks torn up. Two decades later, whe...

During a trip home, I took my daughters to the Nanking massacre memorial hall. It is not an easy place to visit. In shadowy rooms, photographs of victims line the walls. The names of the dead stretch across black stone. In glass cases lie bones unear...

King Charles said on Friday that his doctors can reduce his treatment for cancer in the new year, describing the moment as a “blessing” and testament to remarkable medical advances. Charles, 77, was diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer la...

Iranian security forces on Friday detained the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi along with at least eight other activists in an arrest condemned as “brutal” by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Mohammadi, who was granted temporary leav...

The European Union on Friday indefinitely froze Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, cannot prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine. Using a special procedure...

European Union members have observed an uptick in China’s support for Russia, multiple sources said, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prepares to drag into its fourth year. Officials are parsing evidence of an increase in battlefield weapons being...

The reigning Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, has lost her title and crown due to a racism scandal, the organisers of the beauty pageant announced. They said at a press conference on Thursday that they accepted no form of racism or discriminatory behaviou...

Cambodia and Thailand both reported attacks on Saturday, including on civilian areas, the day after US President Donald Trump said that the nations’ leaders had agreed to renew a truce after days of deadly clashes. The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affa...

Democratic lawmakers released a selection of photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including some of now-US President Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the UK’s former prince Andrew. Trump is featured in three of the 19 photos shared by...

The European Union will start collecting a three-euro flat fee for each small parcel valued below €150 (US$176) sent directly from a non-EU country to customers in the bloc, following a decision adopted by the EU finance ministers meeting in Brusse...

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] The new intelligent dialogue application developed by HKChat OmniServe achieved a significant milestone within five days of its trial launch release on November 20. In that s...

The global race to deploy data centres in space to power artificial intelligence (AI) development has begun, with China seizing an early lead. “In terms of the highest performance of space-based computing or the completeness of [the] technological ...

US-based rare earth firm REalloys believes it has a road map to build a North American supply chain for critical minerals that bypasses China, working with Canadian and Japanese partners – a potential first, though not without risks and challenges....

A federal judge ordered on Friday that US immigration officials could not detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, hours after his release from immigration detention. Abrego Garcia was appearing on Friday morning for a scheduled appointment at an Immigration and...

After witnessing the effects of a tumultuous trade war with the United States this year, China’s top leaders have issued a directive to fortify the domestic economy against persistent or even heightened trade frictions. Following the annual central...

Singapore’s government on Friday gazetted as a national monument the former home of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, a site long at the centre of a bitter family dispute among his children. The action marks a pivotal moment in the saga that ha...