The new owner of one of Hong Kong’s largest franchised bus groups has confirmed it is considering a merger of Citybus and New World First Bus (NWFB) in a bid to keep business afloat amid heavy losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.Speaking openly for...

An 18-year-old Hongkonger was in police custody on Thursday after being arrested in an anti-narcotics operation that netted more than HK$16 million (US$2.1 million) worth of illegal drugs.Officers from the narcotics bureau, acting on intelligence, in...

In Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, Yee Mon has spent weeks rendering whatever help she can to residents in her township as the economy, already ravaged by February’s coup, takes a further beating from a spiralling Covid-19 disaster.Yet, the ...

A Hong Kong man has admitted hacking his son with a knife so badly that the younger man had to be hospitalised for 27 days to treat a skull fracture and multiple cuts suffered in an attack stemming from a dispute over bathroom use.The District Court ...

Smartphone shipments in mainland China declined 17 per cent in the quarter ended June, as the void left in the market by US-blacklisted telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co could not be filled by the country’s other big Android handset v...

A shallow 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the Alaskan peninsula, the United States Geological Survey said, prompting a tsunami warning.The earthquake hit 91km (56 miles) southeast of the town of Perryville, the USGS said.There were no immediate r...

The High Court has snubbed prosecutors’ calls to draw on legal principles from mainland China when sentencing the first Hongkonger to be convicted under the national security law.Prosecutors stressed on Thursday they had not consulted Beijing offic...

Facebook spent more than US$23.4 million on security costs for CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2020, according to the company's annual executive compensation report.Zuckerberg receives a pre-tax annual allowance of US$10 million for his family's security, and...

Malaysia’s king on Thursday said he was “very disappointed” that the government had misled parliament by incorrectly stating that a state of emergency he assented to in January had been terminated.The development has raised questions among obse...

Hong Kong police arrested a 50-year-old man on Thursday after he allegedly attacked his wife with a meat cleaver in a public housing flat around daybreak.Emergency personnel were dispatched to Sau Yuen House in Chuk Yuen South Estate in Wong Tai Sin ...

China’s new ambassador to the United States Qin Gang said he would endeavour to bring the deeply fraught relationship between the two countries under control and strive for peaceful coexistence, despite unprecedented “risks and challenges”.Spea...

Japan faces its most serious situation since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the country’s top medical adviser warned on Thursday, urging the government to send a “clearer, stronger message” about growing risks, including to the medical system.Oly...

Hong Kong’s launch of walk-in coronavirus vaccinations for residents aged 70 or above attracted queues early on Thursday despite the hot weather.Many of the dozens seen waiting in line at two vaccination centres said they were taking advantage of t...

As the Delta variant sweeps through Indonesia, causing a record 2,069 deaths on Tuesday, regions outside the worst-hit areas of Jakarta, surrounding Java island and tourist hotspot Bali are now reporting worrying coronavirus spikes. The province of ...

Astronomers recently saw something they’d never seen before while peering at a black hole some 800 million light-years away: X-ray light emissions coming from directly behind the black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy.The findings were report...

As China aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, telecoms giants Huawei Technologies and ZTE are leveraging technologies to help customers and suppliers cut their carbon footprint and embrace renewable energy.The companies are helping the internet...

A geologist in Canada may have discovered fossils of ancient sponges dating back 890 million years, making the potential discovery between 330 and 350 million years older than the oldest undisputed sponge fossils.The fossilised structures found in ro...

Beijing’s hardline stance during senior-level talks with the US may seek to set constraints on American actions in the region, analysts say, but will not change how other countries are working with Washington or pushing back on sensitive issues suc...

China broke out of its usual pattern of daily liquidity operations by boosting cash injections into the financial system, after the country’s stocks and bonds tanked on regulatory risks.The People’s Bank of China pumped in 30 billion yuan (US$4.6...

ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, the long-bearded bassist for the million-selling Texas blues rock trio known for such hits as Legs and Gimme All Your Lovin’, has died at age 72.In a Facebook post Wednesday, guitarist Billy Gibbons and drummer Frank Beard sa...

Claims the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 is making women’s breasts grow larger have been brushed off by New Zealand’s Ministry of Health.Many women have taken to social media to report their breasts and lymph nodes had “swollen” after receiving...

China’s securities regulator convened executives of major investment banks on Wednesday night, in an attempt to ease market fears about Beijing’s crackdown on the private education industry.The hastily arranged call, which included attendees from...

More than a year after youth-led pro-democracy protests first swept the country demanding Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s resignation and a new constitution, street politics have returned to Thailand.This even though Covid-19 cases are surging w...

This story has been made freely available as a service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.Hong Kong’s malls, shops, restaurants and digital payment platforms have unveiled billions of dollars’ worth of n...

This is the fourth in a series of stories on China’s job market, looking at its history, the role of migrant workers, inequality and the future for its graduates entering the workforce.Like women in workplaces the world over, struggling to juggle t...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in Kuwait on Wednesday where he pledged his support to the UN agency’s investigation in China into the origins of the coronavirus pandem...

People should avoid chanting or carrying items related to the controversial protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times” publicly in future, as they could be violating the national security law, legal professionals and scholars ha...

US prosecutor Thea Kendler, a lawyer on the criminal case against China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and its Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, will be nominated for a Commerce Department post vital to controlling exports to China, the White House ...

A research team in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, has developed stealth technology for use by small satellites to blind radar detection.Spotting and tracing a small satellite is difficult, even with a large telescope, but some ground-based radar stations...

A city in Sichuan province has become the first in China to offer subsidies to help families raise more children, as the country tries to boost the birth rate.China announced a major policy shift in May, allowing couples to have up to three children ...

Leftist Pedro Castillo was sworn in as Peru’s fifth president in three years Wednesday on the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence, promising an end to corruption and a new constitution.The 51-year-old rural schoolteacher, who has vowe...

At least one Chinese national was wounded in a gun attack in the southern Pakistani megacity of Karachi on Wednesday, police said, in the latest assault targeting Chinese citizens in the country.Local police said two masked assailants riding on a mot...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett on politico.com on July 28, 2021.The Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal finally moved forward on Wednesday night ...

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is not President Vladimir Putin’s “cashier” nor did he buy Chelsea FC as a vehicle to corrupt the West, his lawyer told England’s High Court in a defamation hearing over a book about Putin’s Russia.In th...

A jewel thief was jailed for more than five years in Britain on Wednesday for stealing millions of pounds worth of diamonds by switching them with pebbles in a daring sleight of hand.Lulu Lakatos, 60, posed as a gem expert under the alias “Anna” ...

Britain announced on Wednesday it would begin donating millions of coronavirus vaccine doses around the world, including Commonwealth countries, following its pledge to provide 100 million jabs globally by next June.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab sai...

Hong Kong’s justice chief has secured consent from mainland China’s top court for local lawyers interested in practising in Guangdong province to be offered training courses, a move that is likely to boost the city’s legal profession.The consen...

Superstar US gymnast Simone Biles pulled out of a second event to protect her mental health on Wednesday, putting the spotlight on athletes’ well-being at a Tokyo Olympics held under strict rules to prevent the spread of coronavirus.Biles, who caus...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday warned that Afghanistan would become a “pariah state” if the Taliban took control by force, after he met with India’s premier and top diplomat on the same day a delegation from the insurgent gro...

A cryptocurrency trader was robbed of more than HK$3 million (US$128,500) in cash at knifepoint when he went to meet a bitcoin seller in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon.The 39-year-old trader from South Korea arrived at Astoria Building on Ashley Ro...

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Tibet was a way for Beijing to flex its muscles and send a clear message about its dominance of the region, according to analysts.The president’s latest policy edict on Tibet – summarised in eight ...

Zhengzhou’s much-hyped smart city systems, which were supposed to help planners with urban management and safety, have come under heavy scrutiny after recent floods wreaked havoc with city infrastructure and caused dozens of deaths.Two high-profile...

The outspoken Chinese tycoon Sun Dawu was sentenced to 18 years in jail on Wednesday on charges ranging from provoking trouble to illegal fundraising.The Gaobeidian People’s Court also handed down jail sentences of between 18 months to 12 years to ...

The coming wine and food festival will boast spectacular ocean views if talks prove successful between tourism authorities and a company offering a “cruise to nowhere” for residents stuck in Hong Kong during the Covid-19 pandemic.Genting Cruise L...

A senior official in charge of flood control has vowed to step up monitoring and early warnings after Typhoon In-fa wreaked havoc in central China, with more extreme weather ahead.The combined effects of Typhoon In-fa and an area of high pressure in ...

Back in 2005, any US investors buying into the initial share offering on Nasdaq by Baidu, China’s equivalent of Google, could reasonably expect a decent return: as of early 2018, they would make nearly 10 times their investment, a compounded annual...

International law and legal customs that govern the high seas have the full support of the United States, which will work with partners in Asia to ensure that all nations can “equitably” benefit from marine resources, the US navy’s top admiral ...

One of Hong Kong’s most popular shopping festivals is set for a summer outing for the first time next Friday, as organisers look to capitalise on the government’s HK$5,000 (US$643) consumption voucher scheme and boost spending among residents.The...

Chile is being looked to as a bellwether for Covid-19 control as cases drop dramatically in Latin America’s most vaccinated county, but concerns about the impact of the Delta variant loom.Over 60 per cent of Chileans are now fully vaccinated, a hig...

A former managing director of the now defunct UA cinema chain will take over as chief executive of Hong Kong’s Ocean Park in September as the debt-ridden theme park presses on with a planned HK$6.8 billion (US$874 million) revamp.Ivan Wong Chi-fai ...