China is tightening approvals for intercity railways and urban metro projects – long-standing pillars of fixed-asset investment – as policymakers pay closer attention to debt risks while shifting the growth model towards consumption. The move com...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang bought street snacks worth 65 yuan (US$9) at a market in Shanghai while giving its owner a lai see of 600 yuan (US$90), but the operator did not recognise the artificial intelligence (AI) chip mogul. Huang recently sparked a s...

Indonesia’s decision to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” has raised eyebrows at home, with critics zeroing in on how it deviated from Jakarta’s values by serving the interests of only the US and Israel instead of Palestine....

Bali’s elephant-riding attractions have begun shutting down after Indonesia’s forestry authorities ordered conservation centres to end the practice, as local officials threaten to revoke the relevant permits for non-compliance. The directive call...

Prominent Republicans and gun rights advocates helped elicit a White House turnabout this week after bristling over the administration’s characterisation of Alex Pretti, the second person killed this month by a federal officer in Minneapolis, as re...

Teachers who fail to complete the required hours of professional development will be denied practising certificates, Hong Kong’s education authorities have said, ahead of meeting next week to discuss details of the proposed scheme. Secretary for Ed...

Alibaba Group Holding and Moonshot AI have unveiled their latest flagship artificial intelligence models, narrowing the gap with US industry leaders OpenAI and Google DeepMind. The new models from two of China’s leading AI developers mark the first...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is preparing to visit Beijing, following in the footsteps of other world leaders seeking to boost trade and investment ties with China without sparking reprisals from US President Donald Trump. Starmer will be in C...

US allies are shifting their focus to Beijing as Donald Trump doubles down on his tariff threats. After fresh US warnings, the year has started with a diplomatic rush to Beijing as European, Asian, and North American leaders seek stability through bi...

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that major powers must set an example as the world faced “multiple risks and challenges”, during a meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Beijing on Tuesday. “Major powers in particular must take t...

Baidu has merged two of its consumer app businesses into a new artificial intelligence-focused unit, stepping up its push into China’s fast-evolving and fiercely contested market for consumer AI applications. The company combined its online documen...

Six men who had been sent back to Indonesia after immigration breaches tried to re-enter Singapore illegally on a sampan, but were caught when it sank. On Monday, they were sentenced to jail terms of one year to one year and nine months, and between ...

A Malaysian minister has clarified rules surrounding eligibility to receive cash aid from the government amid reports applications were “cancelled” for locals who frequently travel to neighbouring Singapore. Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong...

Hangzhou’s space industry got off to a flying start in 2026. On January 7, China’s leading private rocket firm Space Epoch broke ground on a medium-to-large liquid rocket assembly, testing and reuse facility in Hangzhou’s Qiantang district. Bas...

Hong Kong’s rail giant has sold its first-ever Australian dollar-denominated green bonds for a record A$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) to fund environmentally friendly projects, marking the country’s largest order book. The bonds, issued in two equal...

Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen-3 became the world’s first general-purpose artificial intelligence model to be uploaded and operated in orbit, marking a milestone in China’s bid to lead the nascent space-based computing sector. Chinese aerospace start-up ...

US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will reinstate 25 per cent tariffs on South Korea is less indicative of a sudden rupture in relations but more an attempt to reassert leverage over an ally ahead of a critical US Supreme Court ruling...

The Sabah-Kalimantan border issue on the island of Borneo is still under discussion, Malaysia has said, following media reports of a land trade with Indonesia. “Negotiations are still ongoing. The areas on the map and on the ground are different. D...

Seven foreign-born players for Malaysia’s national football team have been cleared to keep competing after the Court of Arbitration for Sport temporarily halted Fifa-imposed bans while their appeal is reviewed, Malaysia’s football federation said...

This article was first published on January 27, 2016 Exit the Dragon­air as Cathay rebrands by Sijia Jiang Cathay Pacific group is likely to announce a rebrand­ing of its Dragon­air sub­si­di­ary as “Cathay Dragon” as the com­pany seeks to...

When Hong Kong-based EcoCeres opened Malaysia’s first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel plant in Johor on Monday, officials pitched it as a new export segment positioned for strong growth, backed by the country’s ports, processing capaci...

China is approaching the United States in terms of overall world power including economic mettle, a former European Commission leader and Portuguese prime minister said this week. The United States remains the “most important global power” but Ch...

Hong Kong should focus on connecting its capital markets with African financial centres so that companies and Belt and Road Initiative projects on the continent can raise funds in the city, according to a council that advises the government on develo...

The Hong Kong government is reviewing feedback from 90 per cent of property owners hit by the devastating fire at Wang Fuk Court on their long-term rehousing preferences, with the city leader stressing that “every option” is on the table amid cal...

Abby Choi Tin-fung’s ex-husband, his brother and father will stand trial for her alleged killing in September, three years after the death of the Hong Kong model. In a closed-door hearing on Tuesday, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, his elder brother Anthony K...

A guessing game went viral online and at Kai Tak Stadium during Blackpink’s three concerts in Hong Kong, with two-dish-rice and other street food such as egg tarts and pineapple buns among the top items that fans speculated the lead singer of the K...

Japan’s alliance with the United States would collapse if Tokyo turned a blind eye as US forces were attacked in joint operations in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday. “If something serious happens there, we would have...

Taiwan’s Mandopop queen Jolin Tsai’s new concert tour has been branded a “cult” event online. But the singer has hit back and received support from fans, including mainland China’s state media. Tsai unveiled her new world tour concert, Plea...

Hundreds of migrants may be missing at sea or feared dead following reports of multiple deadly shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean in recent days, the UN’s migration agency warned on Monday. The International Organisation for Migration said it ...

Hong Kong’s leader has called for the public to recognise that seat belts are widely implemented in other jurisdictions, following complaints about the city’s new mandatory rule on buses, with passengers lamenting that the restraints were ill-fit...

A “threat assessment” of Thailand amid deadly land border clashes has finally convinced Cambodia to ratify a major UN maritime treaty, according to analysts. Speculation that the Thai navy might close off supply lanes in the Gulf of Thailand also...

Spanish police have broken up a vast cocaine trafficking operation ‌that used speed boats to bring the drug ‍onshore from floating bases in the Atlantic, seizing around 10 tonnes of the drug and arresting 105 suspects. Police said on ⁠Monday th...

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. Malaysian badminton...

Poverty in Britain has deepened, according to a report released on Tuesday, with approximately 6.8 million ‌people now living in “very deep poverty”, the highest level in three ‍decades. “Very deep poverty” refers to households with an af...

In an era of ruptured global order, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s much-anticipated visit to China, scheduled for later this week, marks the culmination of London’s “re-engagement” strategy with Beijing, prioritising trade and growth a...

It all began with a phone call out of the blue to a doctor running a cosmetic surgery clinic in Tokyo’s swanky Ginza district in the winter of 2014. “Do you remember me? I’d love to get together after all these years,” the man on the line tol...

Anta Sports, China’s largest sportswear firm, is acquiring 29 per cent of German brand Puma from Groupe Artemis of the Pinault family, one of France’s wealthiest, for €1.5 billion (US$1.8 billion). The Fujian-headquartered group said on Tuesday...

Hong Kong police have launched an investigation into animal cruelty after more than 100 fish, including large koi, died while a pond was being cleaned at a public housing estate in Tseung Kwan O. The incident occurred on Monday morning when a cleanin...

US President Donald Trump sent his top border enforcer to Minneapolis on Monday and struck a conciliatory note in a bid to tamp down nationwide outrage over the second killing of a US citizen protesting militarised immigration raids this month. The W...

In the science and tech race, China is steadily advancing while America is retreating. That’s the conclusion of multiple Western studies. US President Donald Trump’s own policies have greatly contributed to this trajectory. Several salient featur...

An outbreak of the highly fatal Nipah virus in India’s eastern state of West Bengal has sparked widespread attention and public concern in China ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday when millions will travel. While the virus has infected at least fi...

Hong Kong has struck a deal with the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) to deepen cross-border connectivity in bullion trading, as the city steps up efforts to build a broader gold ecosystem spanning trading, clearing and storage. The agreement comes as go...

A Chinese mother enrolling her toddler in an Islamic preschool, a move that remains uncommon in Malaysia, has sparked widespread attention and debate on social media. Chan Zhu Er, 31, said she enrolled her three-year-old son, Low Zi Kang, at a Pusat ...

At Seah Im Food Centre in southern Singapore, Nur’Ain Zainuddin is constantly on the lookout. Other than serving customers, the owner of hawker chain Aspirasi Chicken Rice has to make sure no uninvited visitors enter the stall. “The birds like to...

Erick Tsang Kwok-wai has resigned as Hong Kong’s constitutional and mainland affairs chief, saying that he has elevated prostate cancer markers in his blood and cannot cope with the heavy workload. State news agency Xinhua first reported the State ...

China should build on its “most important” strategic assets of domestic stability and progress to navigate US President Donald Trump’s shattering of global norms, a Washington watcher at a Chinese think tank says. Ni Feng, a researcher and form...

More than 300,000 internet users have donated about 20 million yuan (US$2.3 million) to a struggling Beijing-based charity hospital which treats children with cleft lips. The Beijing Smile Angel Children’s Hospital, in the Chinese capital’s Chaoy...

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng is aiming to double its overseas sales in 2026, as it battles domestic rivals such as BYD and Leapmotor for a bigger slice of the global market. The Guangzhou-based company expects to deliver more than 90,000...

Mainland Chinese tourists coming to Hong Kong on Saturday and Sunday made it a record-breaking weekend for this month, driven by K-pop girl group Blackpink’s shows, while the figure was just 2 per cent below New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day fo...

Twenty-five years after the deaths of two rescuers trying to help a drunk passenger at a Tokyo station shocked Japan and spurred safety upgrades, platform doors and other safeguards have reduced alcohol-linked accidents in the capital, but experts sa...