US President Donald Trump said conflict in the Middle East would be “over quickly”, as Iran considered a peace proposal that could lead to the reopening of the vital Strait of Hormuz. “We’ve had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it�...

Hong Kong authorities have urged the public to stop using a certain model of Zwilling electric kettle over concerns that the handle may detach, posing a risk of scalding. The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department on Thursday issued a safety r...

Hong Kong police are investigating an allegation that a four-year-old boy was indecently assaulted at an international school in Stanley, with the institution saying its security footage showed “no evidence of any wrongdoing” on the day of the su...

TikTok is investing US$25 billion in data infrastructure projects in Thailand, the company’s biggest investment announced to date in Southeast Asia, as China’s technology giants continue expanding their footprint in the region. The investment wou...

For an indication of how much the energy crisis is shaping the path of monetary policy, look no further than Australia. On May 5, the country’s central bank raised interest rates for the third consecutive time, unwinding last year’s monetary easi...

A Taiwanese company with mainland subsidiaries has fired the nephew of Taiwan’s interior minister, whom Beijing deems responsible for Taipei’s hostile policies towards the mainland. The mainland subsidiary of Taiwan’s Long Time Technology Co. L...

Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd will perform in Hong Kong for the first time in eight years as part of the final leg of his “After Hours Til Dawn Tour”, with sources telling the South China Morning Post that the concert is set to take place...

A Hong Kong court has fined an Australian lawyer HK$3,000 (US$383) after he admitted to fleeing a restaurant and a massage parlour without paying bills totalling about HK$1,200. Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, pleaded guilty at Eastern Court on Thursd...

Myanmar’s appointment of a close confidant of US President Donald Trump to rebuild ties with Washington could offer the regime a sliver of hope to rebrand itself, even as a breakthrough on major issues, such as American investment in the country’...

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday rebutted US President Donald Trump’s assertion that a South Korean-operated vessel was attacked as it was acting on its own without US protection in the Strait of Hormuz – a focal point of t...

The EU’s outgoing top trade official used her departing appearance at the European Parliament to pour cold water on the prospect of an investment deal with China, hinting instead that new weapons for dealing with Chinese “macroeconomic imbalances...

An elderly man in Hong Kong is believed to have killed his ex-wife before hanging himself at a public housing estate, as he reportedly felt “hopeless” after their separation following years of marital conflict worsened by their son’s suicide, p...

Tracy Arm Fjord, in southeastern Alaska ⁠within the Tongass National Forest, presents a majestic vista, with a narrow sea inlet surrounded by towering granite cliffs, waterfalls and glaciers. One morning last year it also was the site of a powerful...

A top online influencer in China who was fined 18.91 million yuan (US$2.6 million) for evading nine million yuan in taxes has attracted significant attention on social media. The case of Bai Bing, a food influencer with more than 40 million followers...

Gunmen on motorbikes in India’s West Bengal ambushed and killed a political aide from the ruling Hindu-nationalist party days after it swept state elections, police said on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won...

Russia warned foreign diplomats in Kyiv that it would attack the city if Ukraine disrupted World War II commemorations in Moscow this weekend, as attacks from both sides continued into Thursday. Russia did not elaborate on its threat, and Ukraine did...

The queues start to form before the lunchtime rush at Phed Mark, a Bangkok kitchen with a pop-up feel that dishes up steaming plateloads of pad kaphrao – a runny fried egg with fiery minced meat over rice – to a clientele of mainly Chinese touris...

A virus found in shrimp and fish may cause an eye disease in humans, according to a recent study that marks the first known case of a pathogen from aquatic animals infecting people. Those “who handle dissected aquatic animals daily without adequate...

Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar arrived in Moscow on Thursday for a high-profile visit that comes as Kuala Lumpur looks for alternative oil sources amid a fuel crisis linked to the Iran war. Sultan Ibrahim landed at Vnukovo-2 International Air...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The second of three witnesses from the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) testified on Thursd...

A South Korean appeals court reduced the sentence of former prime minister Han Duck-soo on Thursday by eight years for crimes relating to ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration. Yoon’s decree in December 2024 briefly suspended civil...

A Hong Kong motorcyclist has been killed after reportedly losing control of his vehicle, which overturned inside the Eastern Harbour Crossing, with police launching an investigation. Police said on Thursday that the accident occurred in Kwun Tong sho...

In the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration, conservatives in Japan were delighted and hopeful that his return would usher in robust economic growth, new trade opportunities and a stronger security relationship with Tokyo. Barely ...

Chloe Wang, a 26-year-old fund employee in Shenzhen, said she “definitely wouldn’t” pay for a subscription to Doubao, Chinese tech giant ByteDance’s artificial intelligence chatbot, at its proposed price. “I’m willing to pay for AI tools,...

New Zealand is weighing the purchase of advanced warships from Japan or the UK to modernise its ageing fleet and bolster its defence capability. The South Pacific nation, member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network alongside Australia, the U...

Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s grand entry to Beijing on May 14, his cavalcade is already on the move in the Chinese capital. Two black SUVs with tinted windows and US government plates were spotted on a Beijing highway, according to images t...

North Korea’s UN envoy said his country was not bound by the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) on nuclear weapons and external pressure would not change its status as a nuclear-armed state, official media reported on Thursday. Pyongyang threatened to ...

A new study from the University of Chile suggests that common artificial sweeteners may trigger biological changes that are passed down to future generations. The research focused on sucralose and stevia, two of the world’s most widely used non-nut...

Profit trajectories between automotive assemblers and electric vehicle (EV) battery producers in China are set to diverge further due to lacklustre car sales and buoyant demand for energy-storage systems. Leading players, including China’s EV batte...

The revival of Chinese hanfu, or traditional dress of the Han people, in recent years has drawn attention to the complicated etiquette surrounding buttons. As the Xinzhongshi, or neo-Chinese style clothing, took over the market in recent years, some ...

Traffic accidents involving animals in Hong Kong have surged more than 11-fold over the past four years, with advocacy groups blaming a wave of pet abandonments and the blurring of urban-rural boundaries caused by large-scale development. The latest ...

North Korea has removed references to “national reunification” from its constitution and newly defined its territory as land bordering South Korea, a move analysts say may signal Pyongyang’s intent to avoid direct conflict with Seoul. The const...

A US federal judge on Wednesday released a document described as a suicide note ⁠purportedly written by the late Jeffrey ⁠Epstein and including the line: “It is a ⁠treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye”. Epstein, the disgra...

US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeal court in New York to temporarily block a long-time columnist from collecting a US$83 million defamation award. The lawyer, Justin D. Smith,...

A trial of a US citizen of Chinese descent accused of creating a covert police station in Manhattan opened on Wednesday, considering evidence of what the US government says is part of Beijing’s bid to expand its influence well beyond Chinese shores...

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the first part of a series examining how rivalry, interdepend...

The US Air Force is targeting a Fourth of July delivery for a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar that would join the Air Force One fleet in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, a US official and a person familiar with the programme said. The White Hous...

“In an increasingly severe security environment, no single country can now protect its own peace and security alone,” declared Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month, signalling a major shift in Tokyo’s defence posture. “Under the ...

The scheduled summit next week between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will almost certainly include proclamations about cooperation, friendship and respect between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies, but be...

It was billed as an Atlantic odyssey to some of the most remote islands in the world. Instead, the cruise on the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius was left stranded off Cabo Verde, formerly known as Cape Verde, with passengers in their cabins, medical w...

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will not serve time with an electronic ankle tag as punishment for illegal funding of his 2012 re-election bid, an informed source said on Wednesday. Sarkozy, 71, has faced a raft of accusations since leaving o...

US forces struck an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, even as Washington and Tehran appeared to move closer to a tentative agreement to end their two-month war, with US President Donald Trump warning that renewed bombing could begi...

Israel struck Beirut ⁠on Wednesday for the first time since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last month, with Israel saying it targeted a commander of the militant group’s elite Radwan force in the city’s southern suburbs. Israeli Prime M...

The FBI has opened a criminal leak investigation focusing on a journalist who wrote a critical article about Kash Patel, the head of the US law enforcement agency, the cable news channel MS Now reported on Wednesday. Patel filed a US$250 million suit...

Ted Turner created CNN in 1980, revolutionising the way America, and the world, got their news, and then went on to become one of the most prominent business leaders and philanthropists of his era. A brash risk taker, Turner – whose death aged 87 w...

The finance director of Hong Kong Chu Hai College has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling HK$770,000 (US$98,262) after the head of the institution reported the case to the police. Jane Zhang, president of the Tuen Mun‑based college, contacted ...

A young woman has been accused of helping to rob four people as a teenager by luring them to a remote area in Hong Kong where her gang was waiting to use violence and take nude photos to force them to pay. Hau Yan-ki, an unemployed 23-year-old, is on...

Pope Leo will inaugurate the soaring central tower of Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica when he visits Spain next month in a week-long trip that will also take him to a migrant reception centre in the Canary Islands, the Vatican said on We...

A passenger bus collided head-on with a fuel tanker truck on a highway on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and injuring four others, officials said. The crash occurred around midday on the Trans-Sumatra Highway in...

The YJ-20 is China’s first sea-based hypersonic anti-ship missile to have entered mass production, giving the People’s Liberation Army a decisive strike advantage over all rival surface combatants worldwide. The YJ-20, with its remarkable range, ...