News - South China Morning Post

Brazil is set for a presidential run-off after right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro won a surprise first-round victory, threatening Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s grip on power in South America’s largest economy.

The 2026 Nobel Prize season opened on Monday with the Medicine Prize being awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for their research into light-gated ion channels and optogenetics.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has granted a banking licence to Bakai Bank, marking the first Central Asian bank to set up in Hong Kong amid closer ties in the economy and trade flows between China and the region, according to a statement on Monday.

This article was translated from Chinese into English using Alibaba’s Qwen3.7-Plus, then checked and tweaked for accuracy by a South China Morning Post journalist.

Britain’s disgraced former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has launched a High Court challenge “to quash search warrants” obtained by police ahead of his arrest earlier this year, the judiciary has confirmed.

A reported plan to station US defence personnel inside Taiwan’s military headquarters would take cooperation from external help into the heart of defence planning, potentially angering Beijing while raising questions over Taipei’s policymaking autonomy and

For decades, China’s property sector was defined by spectacular scale: farmland transformed into suburbs, skylines rising across regional hubs and, more recently, the prominent unravelling of heavily indebted developers.

Southeast Asian governments are learning some hard truths about the data centre boom they spent years working to attract, analysts say – it promises jobs, digital infrastructure and a foothold in the AI economy, but the rapid buildout is also straining po…

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced early elections Monday after his government suffered a bruising legislative defeat last week on emergency measures related to the country’s housing crisis.

Hong Kong lawmakers have backed the government’s proposed tax incentives for large innovative companies, but many said on Monday that the planned five-year concession period is too short to attract major firms to establish headquarters or expand operations

Eight more companies from countries involved in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative have applied to list in Hong Kong, the city’s trade promotion chief has said.

Chinese doctors have performed an unprecedented surgery to save an unborn child who developed a fast-growing tumour.

Taipei’s top diplomat is in Arizona this week to open a de facto consulate and tour the state’s semiconductor corridor, even as US President Donald Trump has just wrapped up the pageantry of a state visit for President Xi Jinping.

Malaysia was aflush with Formula One fever this weekend, rekindling talk of permanently bringing the race back to the Southeast Asian nation after a long hiatus – despite days of traffic chaos that left thousands of fans stranded for hours.

The mother of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has accused her former in-laws of living off her family’s wealth without contributing anything to her grandchildren.

Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Hospital launched its first phase of operations, treating nearly 300 patients at its family medicine centre on Monday morning, with the daily number projected to reach 1,800 by the end of the year.

A former South Korean lawmaker has called for the abolition of the military exemption system granted to outstanding national athletes, arguing that military service should not be used as an incentive for achievements in sports or the arts.

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond.

DFI Retail, the food and beverage unit of Hong Kong-headquartered conglomerate Jardine Matheson, is looking to sell its mall at The Peak, one of the city’s wealthiest neighbourhoods.

Hong Kong has unveiled a four-step artificial intelligence (AI) “talent ladder” strategy to counter entry-level job shock and foster industry leaders, viewing the technology as a “catalyst, not a threat”.

Chinese scientists have built a small, stable co-production plant that uses one system to extract hydrogen and fresh water from seawater, while also recovering uranium and bromine and improving electricity use efficiency by about 15 per cent.

India is taking a more direct role in efforts to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, engaging both sides on issues including shipping and reducing hostilities, Minister of External Affairs S.

Hong Kong’s largest public hospital, built on the former airport site in Kai Tak, will begin its first phase of operation on Monday after more than a decade of planning and preparation.

Samoa’s prime minister apologised on Monday after video surfaced showing him saying “Heil Hitler” and making a Nazi gesture.

An elderly man in central China, who has spent the past 21 years making ends meet as a scavenger, experienced a remarkable stroke of luck when he discovered that his pension fund contained over 420,000 yuan (US$63,000).

Housewife May and her three children were overjoyed last September when they moved into a 200 sq ft subdivided flat in Kwai Tsing, a Hong Kong district with one of the city’s lowest average monthly household incomes.

Malaysians delight in visiting family and friends, so much so that these visits made up 44 per cent of domestic travel.

FBI Director Kash Patel is engaged to his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, the pair announced in a post to X on Sunday evening.

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is looking to secure more laboratory space in the Northern Metropolis university town to expand its research capacity and attract talent, its new vice-president for research has said.

A Laotian citizen deported by the United States to eSwatini under Donald Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was released from a maximum-security prison in the African nation on Sunday after being held there for more than a year, his lawyer said.

Hong Kong refrained from setting overly rigid economic indicators in its first five-year plan to avoid fuelling concerns that it was moving towards a planned economy, according to the city’s constitutional affairs minister.

Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim is expected to roll out a populist budget on Friday aimed at placating voter concerns over the cost of living and access to essential services, experts say, as the prime minister seeks to shore up support ahead of a general electi…

US Authorities on Sunday suspended the search off the Massachusetts coast for six people on an air ambulance that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston.

Zheng Yongnian is a political scientist in China and a government adviser.

The US Air Force has removed its bombers stationed at a US-run military airbase in England used to strike Iran following an investigation into a planned terror attack at the RAF Fairford base.

Bosnian Serb nationalist politician Milorad Dodik has declared victory for his party in an election in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday that was shaped by economic pressures, the prospect of the Balkan nation joining the European Union and ethnic tensions…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a security review of international flights to Israel on Sunday, after an attempt by an Omani co-pilot to crash an Israel-bound plane from Dubai.

Iran’s top diplomat insisted on Sunday that there would be no military solution to the United States’ war against the Islamic republic, with talks on ending the conflict apparently at an impasse.

Up to 500 schools across France will be totally or partly closed on Monday because of a wave of student protests that has shaken the country, the education minister said.

Police in Moscow detained about 60 people at a rally on Sunday held by Russia’s Kremlin-friendly Communist Party, the party said.

Brazil’s presidential election will go to a run-off on October 25 between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who has promised the Trump administration access to Brazil’s rare earths to cut US reliance on China.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday ⁠he believed Russia ⁠may have shared jet-drone technology ⁠with its long-standing ally North Korea.

The UK’s left-wing Green party voted Sunday to define Zionism as racism at the party’s annual conference, drawing sharp backlash from three British Jewish groups, the ruling Labour Party and Israel’s government.

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Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of attempted robbery after she brandished a knife at staff at an MTR station customer service centre and demanded Octopus cards and cash.

A march protesting against the imprisonment of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan kicked off in northwest Pakistan on Sunday after talks to avoid the demonstration stalled.

More than 1,500 Hong Kong residents toured the revamped Huanggang Port border crossing on Sunday as authorities pushed ahead with preparations for its opening.

Losses linked to the abrupt closure of Hotstone Yoga have risen to nearly HK$8 million (US$1 million), with close to 700 reports filed by affected customers in Hong Kong, according to authorities.

Beijing has been urged to do more to protect its overseas interests with a call for diplomatic engagement to reshape international rules and deeper security cooperation with other countries.

China Eastern Airlines has reported a male passenger to the police for allegedly disturbing order, after a flight attendant was filmed kneeling in a cabin aisle to apologise for bumping his elbow with a service trolley.