South China Morning Post

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday he expects to conclude negotiations with the European Union in June on an unprecedented partnership that would make Canada the bloc’s first “associate member”, even though the designation was left out of a joint declaration launching a new econom...

A Democratic takeover of either chamber of the US Congress could bring tougher scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s dealings with Beijing, even as lawmakers are likely to maintain a broadly hawkish stance towards China, analysts said. A change in control could shift the emphasis of congressional ...

A new subject called information and innovation technology (IIT) will be introduced gradually in Hong Kong primary schools from September 2028 to boost students’ digital literacy, with artificial intelligence (AI) one of its highlights. Students as young as seven will be able to hold simple “conv...

Christa Pike said on Friday that she remained in constant pain and struggled to speak a month after surviving a lethal injection in Tennessee, a failure she blamed on “incompetence.” In her first public statement since the execution, Pike said she never contemplated a life beyond her execution da...

Starving residents ⁠of a Russian-held town in southern Ukraine began evacuating on Friday as part of a joint relief operation by the opposing sides, the first of its kind in four years and eight months of war. Under a local ceasefire brokered by US first lady Melania Trump, an aid convoy arrived ...

Hong Kong’s development chief has refuted accusations of a policy U-turn over the establishment of a dedicated agency to help flat owners with building repair tenders, insisting the agency’s planned remit differs fundamentally from one rejected a decade ago. Secretary for Development Bernadette L...

Ministers have defended their decision not to step down over the deadly Tai Po fire, insisting they are putting Hong Kong’s well-being ahead of personal considerations. A senior official also hinted that a successor might not be named to replace Winnie Ho Wing-yin, who resigned as housing ministe...

Pope Leo has become the first pope to vote in a US general election. The Vatican confirmed on Friday that the Chicago-born pontiff had submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of November’s midterm elections, citing his long-standing belief in civic participation. Leo, formerly Robert Prevost,...

Hong Kong’s planned renovation monitoring body could be held liable for poor oversight when recommending and keeping tabs on consultants and contractors, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho has warned, as officials detailed broader reforms to curb malpractice during major building re...

China and America have escalated uncrewed aircraft deployments across sensitive Indo-Pacific waters, with mainland drones patrolling strategic passages near Japan while a US Marine detachment operates near disputed South China Sea islands. In recent days, Japan has detected an uptick in Chinese m...

China and the European Union can resolve their differences through dialogue, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday. “China has always regarded the European Union as a partner,” Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV, adding that cooperati...

Transnational drug syndicates in the Philippines continue to thrive despite decades of crackdowns targeting street-level dealers, with analysts warning that regional suppliers, financiers and trafficking networks have largely eluded enforcement efforts. Former drug officials and security analysts...

Hong Kong police are investigating the suspected theft of five styrofoam sculptures created by local artist Keith Lam Yan-kit. The sculptures were discovered missing from Hong Kong City Hall in Central hours before the opening of a major new exhibition. At just after 2.30pm on Friday afternoon, o...

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing a ban on Chinese telecommunications companies obtaining American telephone numbers, citing national security concerns and the need to protect domestic networks. The proposed rules could prevent China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unico...

Beijing is expected to gradually restore military representation in its top leadership, analysts say, as the Communist Party seeks to strike a delicate balance in its relations with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) amid an anti-corruption drive that has hit the top ranks. They said the process ...

In recent weeks, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has frequently taken to the streets – joining protest marches, staging sit-ins at police stations and confronting authorities over alleged abuses of power and corruption. Often trading the formal attire traditionally worn by India’s political...

At the recent Valdai Discussion Club, I asked Russian President Vladimir Putin if he would be open to meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Shenzhen. I also asked, more broadly, what role China could play in pro...

China’s coastguard has carried out an exercise featuring water cannons and drones near two disputed reefs at the centre of its simmering South China Sea contention with the Philippines to prepare for “foreign infringement”, according to state media. A China Coast Guard flotilla “recently” conduct...

Hong Kong’s security chief has expressed confidence that a new joint task force led by him will eradicate the decades-long problem of bid-rigging, while denying that the reforms came too late after the deadly Tai Po fire. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung also said on Friday that law e...

Hong Kong will be the exclusive host of Vinexpo Asia from 2027 to 2031, ending the international wine and spirits trade exhibition’s rotation with Singapore. The organiser of the fair, Vinexposium, confirmed its five-year commitment to the city on Friday, signing a memorandum of understanding wit...

South Korea will file criminal complaints against students caught cheating on a national university entrance exam with smart glasses and toughen penalties for their use, a government official has said. Sales of smart glasses – which allow the wearer to shoot photos and videos and interact with an...

Indonesia is looking beyond Singapore for petrol supplies as it seeks to reduce its dependence on a single source, but analysts say diversifying imports will do little to address the country’s fuel production shortfall without faster refinery modernisation and investment in alternative fuels. Ind...

China on Friday hit out at reported US intelligence allegations that a suspected Chinese spy had targeted Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, dismissing the claims as “groundless speculation” aimed at smearing Beijing. “The relevant report is based on groundless speculation and [is] purely aimed...

Recent school attacks across Malaysia have shone a light on a troubling trend of teenagers joining an online subculture that glamorises real-life killers, according to a prominent security analyst. Three violent incidents in Malaysian schools – in Kuching on October 21, Banting in July and Bandar...

Chinese people use the phrase “yao chan wan guan,” or “carrying ten thousand strings of cash around the waist,” to describe wealth. But how much was a string of cash, and what could one buy in ancient China? Guan was a traditional Chinese unit of account. Literally referring to the string used to...

As tightening US visa restrictions and geopolitics lock out Asian researchers from Western institutions, South Korea is emerging as a new academic sanctuary for top talent. According to Yoo Ji-beom, president of Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) in Seoul, that reflects a broader trend that has seen ...

Saudi Arabia said on Friday it intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels near Islam’s holiest city, a claim the Houthis denied. A coalition spokesman, Major General Turki al-Malki, said the drone was intercepted in the region surrounding Mecca, Islam’s holies...

Eight companies have applied for licences to provide ride-hailing services in Hong Kong under the new regulatory regime ahead of Friday’s deadline, the Transport Department has confirmed. US-based Uber, Singapore-based Tada, Amap and Didi Chuxing, all of which currently serve the market, confirme...

China successfully conducted take-off and landing operations of the GJ-21 drone from its first Type 076 warship, the Sichuan, this month, Xinhua said on Friday. More to follow …

Chinese President Xi Jinping renewed a years-long anti-corruption drive at a major Communist Party meeting, while the general who led a military anti-graft purge was promoted to the Politburo. The party must “ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to commit corrupt...

Flying cars developed by Chinese companies are by design more feasible for commercial use than Tesla’s Roadster, according to an executive at Xpeng, after a recent demonstration by the US tech giant sparked discussion about tech leadership in mainland China. Wang Tan, co-founder of Aridge, the af...

A leading economist warned on Thursday that the United States and China are in a “conflicted co-dependency” that this year’s two bilateral summits failed to address. “I think there’s a good chance that we’re in a temporarily more stable place. But to say that has solved the deep-rooted problems b...

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has revealed that personal data and flight details of 53,000 bookings were compromised after hackers breached its technology service provider’s system. The carrier is among hundreds of airlines worldwide deploying technology solutions provided by Amad...

Amid attempts this year to impress each other with splendour, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appear to have decided that the relationship between their two countries should primarily run through their personal relationship. This has been a hallmark of the Trump years. ...

Beijing has given new details about the scale of its anti-corruption drive into the People’s Liberation Army and defence industry, with fresh names confirmed as being investigated. They include top generals who once oversaw theatre commands, heads of the powerful Central Military Commission’s Gen...

Malaysia received its first South Korean-made light combat jet on Friday under a nearly 4 billion ringgit (US$990 million) procurement, in what analysts describe as welcome relief for an ageing air force still years away from replacing its frontline fighters. The FA-50M Block 20 jet arrived at th...

A mobile network outage in France this week has raised questions about the reliability of Finnish telecoms giant Nokia’s products against the backdrop of continued European Union efforts to phase out Chinese suppliers Huawei Technologies and ZTE over security concerns. The problem first hit the n...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to travel to Beijing next month as Canberra seeks to deepen a relationship which stabilised after years of trade disputes but has been recently complicated by geopolitical tensions. Sources told the South China Morning Post that Albanese woul...

Pollution from smoke emitted by months of wildfires across Indonesia caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in the vast Southeast Asian archipelago in September, according to a new study. The same month, about 57.8 million people in Indonesia were inhaling unhealthy to hazardous air, said the Centre fo...

Modern medicine has spent the past few decades rediscovering the connection between a healthy gut and a healthy mind and body, something traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners have understood for many hundreds of years. In China and around the world, doctors and scientists trained in We...

The Communist Party of China has pledged to vigorously crack down on the “unwritten rules” that enable corruption in the party, deepening its long-running campaign to keep officials in line. At a Friday press conference, senior officials described the important takeaways from the 20th Central Com...

The former father-in-law of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has made a U-turn midway through her murder trial and pleaded guilty to the illegal disposal of her body. As the High Court trial entered its fifth week before a nine-member jury, Kwong Kau made a stunning reversal on Friday...

France’s interior minister has warned of a “very high risk of public disorder” and announced the deployment of around 70,000 police officers for a new wave of protests this weekend. France has been rocked by widespread anger over the rising cost of living and inequality, with nationwide demonstra...

Liquidators of China Evergrande Group have agreed to sell a controlling stake in its property management arm to investment firm PAG for HK$4.03 billion (US$513.6 million), as they seek to recover assets for creditors owed US$46 billion. The sale of a 51.016 per cent stake in Evergrande Property S...

Hong Kong officials’ apology over the deadly Tai Po blaze nearly a year ago came too late, residents of the fire-ravaged estate have said, as they urged authorities to learn from the disaster and pursue long-term reforms. Several Wang Fuk Court residents also said on Thursday the resignation of h...

Shares of major Chinese optical communications suppliers slumped on Friday before clawing back some of their losses, extending a two-day sell-off despite upbeat third-quarter earnings driven by the global artificial intelligence infrastructure boom. During morning trading in Shenzhen, Chengdu-bas...

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 consider subscribing. 1. Win for Lula boosts China’s foo...

Seven members have been selected for a specialist panel that will assess companies identified by the Singapore government over potential links to transboundary haze, the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Friday. Three are investigation firms: Control Risks Gro...

Hong Kong’s M+ museum, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Centre Pompidou in Paris signed an agreement on October 30 to establish a three-way cultural alliance, aiming to redefine how visual culture is collected, exhibited and shared globally. The framework agreement, signed at M+ in ...