The annual report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Tuesday that journalism was at least partly blocked in nearly three-quarters of the 180 countries surveyed.Its World Press Freedom Index found 73 countries “totally blocked or seriously i...

A 70-year-old Hong Kong man died in hospital on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after firefighters broke into his burning flat in Sham Shui Po and rescued him.A preliminary investigation showed burning joss sticks was the suspected cause of the blaze tha...

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had hoped a fight over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed would result in an easy win – placating the ultraconservative quarters at home while being hailed as a defender of Islam abroad.The gamble seems to have back...

In the lobby of Bangkok’s Pullman Grande hotel, medical teams clad in full-body protective gear shuttle back and forth, greeting well-heeled coronavirus patients as they arrive by ambulance for treatment. About 250 rooms in the five-star hotel have...

The High Court has rejected a trade union’s bid to intervene in a judicial challenge from former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, who is calling for authorities to identify teachers found guilty of professional misconduct over the anti-government ...

A couple has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering their five-year-old daughter three years ago in one of Hong Kong’s most horrifying cases of child abuse.They were also on Tuesday given concurrent jail terms on two counts of child cruelty...

South Korea on Tuesday challenged the United States to produce scientific grounds for its support of Japan’s planned release of radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong all but acknowledged t...

Five Hong Kong students were among 22 people rounded up following the seizure of HK$34,000 (US$4,376) worth of illegal drugs and liquor in an anti-narcotics operation over the past three days, according to police.The five suspects were believed to be...

Zimbabwe plans to sell the right to shoot as many as 500 elephants for as much as US$70,000 per animal to help fund the upkeep of its national parks.The hunting season, which takes place over the southern hemisphere winter, will resume this year afte...

China’s pork imports jumped to an all-time high in March on supply concerns following a resurgence of African swine fever in the world’s biggest consumer and producer.Inbound shipments increased 16 per cent from a year earlier to 460,000 tonnes, ...

The World Health Organization’s emergency committee said on Monday it was against international travellers being required to have proof of vaccination, partly on grounds such a measure would deepen inequities.“Do not require proof of vaccination ...

Chinese President Xi Jinping said no nation should dictate global rules or interfere in other countries, as Beijing continued to signal its unhappiness over what it sees as growing international meddling in its affairs.Without naming any country, Xi ...

A long-awaited Covid-19 travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore will remain on course for a mid-May launch, according to sources, despite the former having confirmed community cases of a mutated coronavirus strain.The two cities are set to outl...

A severely paralysed former firefighter who struggled with mental health issues after the accident is now inspiring other people in similar situations and helping them find happiness in life. Zhu Mingjun, a 29-year-old man from Anqui in eastern Chin...

It has been a year since migrant workers in Singapore were confined to dormitories to prevent an outbreak of Covid-19 in their ranks from spreading across the island. Now, weeks after new cases among the labourers dropped to almost zero and thousands...

Hong Kong’s first locally detected mutated strain of the coronavirus could be the South African variant, a leading government adviser on the pandemic said on Tuesday, with authorities expected to reveal more details in the afternoon.Professor David...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was falling behind China in the race to seize opportunities created by climate change, in a speech that cast the challenge of a warming planet as a chance to create more jobs and export American values...

The US State Department on Monday branded as an “unprovoked escalation” reported Russian plans to block parts of the Black Sea, which could ultimately impact access to Ukrainian ports.Russian state media have reported that Moscow intends to close...

Britain has imposed its strictest travel curbs on India following an explosion of coronavirus cases in the South Asian nation, with the United States also advising against all travel to the country.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that effe...

China’s top economic planner has warned that the impact of Covid-19 and increased political risks in countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative are among the main challenges the multibillion-dollar project faces in the next five years. A...

China kept its benchmark lending rate for corporate and household loans steady for the 12th straight month at its April fixing on Tuesday, matching market expectations.The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was kept at 3.85 per cent, while the five-year ...

China’s military is thought to have instructed a hacker group to conduct cyberattacks on nearly 200 Japanese research institutions and firms, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing unidentified people in a police investigation.The investigators fo...

Walter Mondale, a leading liberal Democratic voice of the late 20th century who was US vice-president under Jimmy Carter and lost in a historic landslide to Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election, died on Monday at age 93, his family said.�...

Texas police will serve search warrants on Tesla on Tuesday to secure data from a vehicle that crashed on the weekend, killing two people, a senior officer said on Monday.Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4, said evidence including witnes...

China conducted a large-scale aerial bombardment exercise over the weekend as tensions escalated over Taiwan, prompted by a joint statement about the island from the United States and Japan.The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command, ...

Several Chinese TikTok celebrities have apologised for promoting the worship of money and consumption after being criticised by state media for videos depicting their extravagant lifestyles.Big Logo, a food influencer famous for videos of him dining ...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he is prepared to send military ships to “stake a claim” over oil and mineral resources in the South China Sea – while noting that challenging Beijing in the disputed waters will only lead to violen...

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is facing a “Catch-22” dilemma ahead of Saturday’s high-level talks on Myanmar’s post-coup crisis, observers say, as the bloc comes in for criticism for inviting the putsch’s architect Min Aung Hla...

Hong Kong employment agencies have called for alternatives to a two-week coronavirus-related ban on arrivals from the Philippines, India and Pakistan, including allowing vaccinated domestic workers entry to the city, saying more than 1,000 families w...

China is not likely to shy away from retaliating against Japan over the Taiwan issue but it is expected to take security rather than economic measures, according to analysts. Tensions have escalated after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga discus...

Cuba marked the end of an era on Monday with the official transfer of power from the Castro clan, in charge for six decades, to the communist country’s first civilian leader, Miguel Diaz-Canel.The transition, while hugely symbolic, is unlikely to r...

China’s biggest bad bank, which was created in 1999 to take bad assets from the country’s biggest bank, has degenerated into a really bad bank after 22 years, and it may need to rescued by offloading its bad assets to another bad bank.Lai Xiaomin...

Hong Kong’s shopping malls are upping their family entertainment offerings in a bid to woo back local shoppers put off by the pandemic.Companies operating such attractions are only too happy to take advantage of the lower rents on offer, eagerly sn...

Iran and world powers have made some progress on how to revive the 2015 nuclear accord later abandoned by the United States, and an interim deal could be a way to gain time for a lasting settlement, Iranian officials said on Monday.Tehran and the po...

Hsiu-Lan Chang and several friends in the Boston area have become increasingly fearful as hate incidents proliferated amid the pandemic and comments by former president Donald Trump fuelled prejudice and stereotypes.After Chang, 70, had a man aggress...

The speed at which Hong Kong plans to have sweeping electoral reforms approved and implemented is impressive. A bill was introduced to the Legislative Council last week and officials hope to have the changes in place by May, in time for elections in ...

Employees of the two main US immigration enforcement agencies were directed on Monday to stop referring to migrants as “aliens,” a dated term that many people consider offensive.Memos issued by Customs and Border Protection, as well as Immigratio...

Ahead of this week’s summit of global leaders to discuss ways of tackling climate change, the South China Morning Post looks into how attitudes have changed among China’s leadership, the challenges faced by the world’s largest polluter and what...

The Czech government will not invite Russia’s nuclear energy company Rosatom to take part in security assessments before a planned tender for a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant, Industry Minister Karel Havlicek said on Monday.The decisi...

Relations between China and Australia have become fraught over the past year after Canberra pushed for an international probe into the origin of the coronavirus without diplomatic consultations beforehand, and Beijing eventually responded with a nu...

Jurors in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin began deliberations on Monday after a prosecutor implored them to “believe your eyes” as he replayed video of the former Minneapolis police officer kneeling on a dying George Floyd’s neck.Chauvin’s ...

US President Joe Biden held a meeting on Monday with a bipartisan group of politicians who have all previously served as governors or mayors, as the White House seeks a deal on his more than US$2 trillion jobs and infrastructure proposal.“I am pre...

Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou’s marathon extradition case may be about to get even longer, after her lawyers asked to adjourn the final phase of the hearing for more than three months, saying they expect new evidence about her alleged ...

French producers of the famed blackcurrant liqueur known as creme de cassis de Dijon announced a legal victory on Monday that will prevent a Chinese firm from selling any Dijon-labelled bottles.“We are thrilled,” Claire Briottet, president of the...

British people are to receive booster shots to extend the effectiveness of their vaccines against Covid-19, the UK’s health secretary said on Monday.Health Minister Matt Hancock said the government was “ramping up plans” for an extra shot to ma...

US congressional staffer Mark Akpaninyie, an African-American, had clumps of his hair hoarded as souvenirs. Think tank analyst Bryce Barros was told his skin was too dark to be an American. Technology expert Shirley Hargis was asked if she was Beyonc...

Islamic State sympathisers have called for the beheading of an Indonesian man who claimed to be the “26th prophet”.A man identifying himself as Jozeph Paul Zhang made the claim alongside other remarks offensive to Muslims in a YouTube video that...

The EU is poised to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific after the European Council adopted a strategy on Monday to reinforce its focus and actions in the region.The new European Union strategy comes amid rising geopolitical tensions and is widely ...

A lawyer for Russia’s main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who has been on a hunger strike in prison since the end of March, said on Monday that the political figure’s health had deteriorated and the situation was “only getting worse”.Lawy...