China has opened a new shopping centre on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel Islands, bolstering its civilian presence on the strategically vital South China Sea outpost. The Sansha City Commercial Centre opened to business on Thursday, according t...

China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has allowed the use of naked flames on board to accommodate a form of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The use of fire on the vessel is to be allowed so that cupping therapy can take place. The...

The Hong Kong Jockey Club is planning to build its fourth public riding school on a former landfill site in Tseung Kwan O to reduce applicant wait times and boost the equestrian talent pool. The project has already gained in-principle support from au...

China’s private rocket makers are stepping up their dash for public funding, with Beijing-based LandSpace becoming the first commercial launch provider to clear a key regulatory “tutoring” milestone ahead of a planned listing on Shanghai’s Na...

Beijing has imposed sanctions against 20 US defence firms and their executives in response to Washington’s massive arms sales package to Taiwan last week. The deal, if approved by the US Congress, would mark the largest-ever American weapons packag...

Two men arrested over a 1 billion yen (US$6.4 million) robbery in Hong Kong were remanded in custody after appearing at Fanling Court on Friday. Lee Wan-kwong, 36, and Lee Chun-wa, 28, were each charged with conspiracy to commit robbery alongside sev...

China has unveiled plans to tighten controls over e-cigarette production and investment to address concerns over fierce intra-industry competition and excess capacity, the latest step in the country’s broader effort to enhance its regulatory power ...

Malaysia’s smallest state, Perlis, has been plunged into political uncertainty with the resignation of Chief Minister Mohd Shukri Ramli and the sacking of three assemblymen from his party, sending ripples across the country’s political alliances....

Biomedical scientist Professor Chen Xiaoyuan denies allegations of sexual harassment and says he will appeal against the termination of his tenure by the National University of Singapore (NUS) over an alleged breach of staff conduct policies. The ter...

A novel approach by South Korea to stop its rural areas from dying by paying people to live there appears to be working. Okcheon in North Chungcheong province saw its population grow by almost 1,000 in just over two weeks since it became a participan...

Malaysia’s jailed former prime minister Najib Razak was found guilty on all charges in the final criminal case linked to the multibillion-dollar state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), bringing to a close a seven-year trial over one of the ...

Prosecutors on Friday demanded a 10-year prison sentence for former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol in the first of four trials linked to his failed attempt to impose martial law, as a potential ruling against Yoon next month could keep him behi...

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China space stories of the year. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Stranded Chinese astronauts return home from space station mission Three astronauts whose return to ...

Global pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are scrambling to cement their lead in India’s booming obesity drug market before cheaper generic versions hit shelves ‌in March next year. Novo’s strategy emphasises price cuts and accele...

Chinese surgeons have performed the world’s first operation to graft a patient’s torn-off ear onto her foot before putting it back in place. The woman’s ear was torn off in a workplace accident in April that also ripped away a large part of her...

A Chinese village has faced an online backlash after it introduced controversial fines for pregnancies outside marriage and couples living together before they wed. The village, in Lincang, Yunnan province, southwestern China, sparked heated debate o...

Christmas season in Japan often means a KFC feast for millions of Japanese families celebrating the holiday. Colonel Sanders’ restaurant has been part of the Christmas tradition since the 1970s in Japan, where the holiday is mainly a secular festiv...

Hong Kong’s food and beverage sector recorded a 10 per cent year-on-year drop in business over the Christmas period, an industry leader said, as 1.2 million trips were made through the city’s borders on the first day of the long holiday. But the ...

Forcibly recruited into a rebel militia affiliated with Islamic State, two boys have revealed the “torment” of living in its camps as members committed massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeast. The two minors freed from the All...

Israel is cashing in on soaring international demand for combat-proven air defence systems, as analysts say the billions of dollars' worth of weapon sales will significantly expand the country’s influence beyond the Middle East. The weapon exports ...

Hong Kong authorities have vowed to investigate a mainland Chinese driver under the southbound travel vehicle scheme and may suspend his eligibility after he posted a video of himself using adaptive cruise control illegally in the city on social medi...

Inside an abandoned control room at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a worker in an orange hard hat gazed at a grey wall of seemingly endless dials, screens and gauges that were supposed to prevent disaster. The 1986 meltdown at the site wa...

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please conside...

The Japanese government on Friday approved a record budget for the coming financial year to pay for everything from bigger defence spending to ballooning social security costs as inflation persists. The 122.3 trillion yen (US$782 billion) budget for ...

China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to keep up efforts to fight corruption next year after a record 63 high-ranking officials – known as “tigers” – were placed under investigation on suspicion of graft in 2025. During a meeting on Thur...

China’s state-owned planemaker intends to supersize its flagship jet through a partnership with a major domestic carrier to meet rising market demand for bigger narrowbody types, according to sources. The Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac) s...

Rashid arrived on the Malaysian island of Langkawi as a young child after spending weeks at sea in a fishing boat crammed with Myanmar’s unwanted: Rohingya Muslims driven out by soldiers and ethnic Buddhist militias who had razed their villages. A ...

A Malaysian minister has said it was unacceptable for public littering to remain a rampant issue as he expressed serious concerns over the state of urban cleanliness in the country. In a statement on Thursday, Housing and Local Government Minister Ng...

Chinese drugmakers have signed a late-year burst of out-licensing agreements with overseas partners, underlining China’s growing role as a source of novel medicines as multinational pharma groups hunt for new assets. Jacobio Pharmaceuticals said it...

Hong Kong could take a leading role in supporting children with autism in the Greater Bay Area, a former medical faculty dean has said, ahead of plans for a comprehensive care platform to come into operation within a year. Professor Francis Chan Ka-l...

Chinese researchers have taken a major step in the global race to build practical quantum computers, becoming the first team outside the United States – and the second in the world after Google – to cross a key threshold that determines whether t...

A man in China who was abducted at the age of four has reunited with his birth parents and severed ties with the family who brought him up. On December 12, Peng Congcong, now 26, originally from Jiangxi province in southeastern China, shared an onlin...

Tai Po residents are forging ahead with new paths forward following a catastrophic blaze that claimed the lives of 161 people. In this first part of a series on how the community is moving on one month from the fire, Fiona Sun explores how the neighb...

North Korea’s move to publicly reveal the full hull and displacement of its first nuclear-powered submarine under construction appears to be a strategic counter to bids by the US and South Korea to expand their undersea capabilities. North Korea’...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the US launched a “powerful and deadly” strike against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country’s government of failing to rein in the persecution of...

Britain’s King Charles called for “compassion and reconciliation” at a time of “division” across the world in his Christmas Day message on Thursday. The 77-year-old monarch said he found it “enormously encouraging” how people of differe...

US President Donald Trump’s new battleship plan, apparently aimed at deterring China, faces huge implementation hurdles and could cause Beijing to double down on its anti-ship weapons, according to analysts. Trump unveiled a new class of navy battl...

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel took aim at US President Donald Trump as he warned on Thursday about the rise of fascism in an address to UK viewers dubbed “The Alternative Christmas Message”. The message, aired on Channel 4 on Christmas Day, reflect...

As 2025 draws to a close, Wall Street’s love affair with Chinese equities is in full swing. While the relationship between global investors and China has been a rocky one, market sentiment is now about varying degrees of bullishness. In a panel dis...

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro endorsed his son ‌Flavio’s 2026 presidential bid on Thursday in a statement from a hospital where he ‍underwent a scheduled hernia operation that doctors said went smoothly. Supreme Court Justice Alexa...

Moscow has made an offer to Paris regarding jailed French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who is facing espionage charges that could see him sentenced to 20 years in a Russian prison, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The surprise public overture comes as b...

Britain’s Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie attended the royal family’s traditional Christmas Day church service ‌on Thursday, while their father Andrew, recently stripped of his titles ‍over ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was ...

Hong Kong authorities will extend the operating hours of Lo Wu and Shenzhen Bay checkpoints while stepping up public transport to manage cross-border passenger flow after the New Year countdown next week. Under special holiday arrangements, the Lo Wu...

Xiaomi on Thursday unveiled the 17 Ultra, its latest premium smartphone model that features improved night photography and mobile imaging capabilities on the back of the firm’s enhanced partnership with German camera maker Leica. “We work togethe...

Researchers at China’s National University of Defence Technology have successfully accelerated a tonne-class vehicle to a record speed of 700 km/h (435mph) within just two seconds on a 400 metre (1,310-foot) magnetic levitation test line, and broug...

Six labour unions with Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department have denounced banker turned film producer Checkley Sin Kwok-lam for comments about its chief’s handling of the Tai Po fire. The unions banded together on Thursday to slam Sin’s commen...

Russian air attacks caused death and destruction across Ukraine, authorities in different regions reported on Thursday, with Russian authorities reporting similar Ukrainian attacks on their territory. A Russian drone attack in the southwestern Odesa ...

Mercedes-Benz on Thursday said it completed the acquisition of a 3 per cent stake, worth 1.34 billion yuan (US$191 million), in motorcycle maker-turned-autonomous driving systems developer Chongqing Qianli Technology, three months after the deal was ...

Chinese humanoid robot maker UBTech Robotics is moving to lock down key manufacturing capacity, agreeing to pay nearly 1.7 billion yuan (US$237 million) in cash to take control of Shenzhen-listed mechanical component maker Zhejiang Fenglong as it pus...

More than six centuries ago, roughly 80 years ahead of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, Chinese admiral Zheng He reached the eastern coast of Africa with a massive fleet and a crew of more than 20,000 under his command. The Ming dynasty ships brave...