News - South China Morning Post

The EU removed Panama from its tax havens blacklist on Friday after the country made progress on sharing tax information and reformed a “harmful” regime of exemptions for foreign-source income.

The Philippines is developing a national road map to combat child labour as part of a broader push across Southeast Asia, where poverty and insecure livelihoods continue to drive children into work despite government efforts to stamp out the practice.

Saudi Arabia said on Friday that three people were killed including a pilot, in attacks on Riyadh’s international airport, after Yemen’s Houthis claimed a series of attacks targeting the facility.

Hong Kong’s securities watchdog is renewing its push to boost market liquidity, setting out further reforms as emerging markets grapple with capital outflow pressure amid a rally in US equities and a strengthening dollar.

Hotel room rates across mainland China fell short of expectations during the National Day “golden week” holiday despite a tourism boom, as company officials and analysts called for stronger asset and revenue management to ease pricing pressure.

Former UN human rights chief Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

China’s central bank rejected claims that the yuan is undervalued, rebutting a key European argument amid crunch negotiations ahead of a possible trade war.

Hong Kong-headquartered DFI Retail Group, which owns and operates the city’s largest supermarket network, says it will continue to invest in new stores even though consumers remain cautious.

While Russian authorities have denied the death of a woman who worked in a laboratory at an anti-plague institute in Siberia was connected with the pathogen, the incident has sparked global concern – including in China – over a potential spread of the dis…

Polish police have arrested a string of young people, mainly for making threats related to school attacks, they said on Friday, as authorities sought to calm fears spurred by rumours online of a “Bloody ‌Friday” after two stabbing sprees in as many days.

Chinese state funds are ramping up support for the country’s second-largest contract chipmaker, pouring billions of yuan into the parent of Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor and a new manufacturing facility to fuel Beijing’s drive for self-reliance in mature-n…

As Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the final stage of the massive Tsentr-2026 military exercise in the Urals recently, Chinese troops were training alongside forces from Russia, Belarus and other countries.

Grace often hears other Singapore mothers debating how much private tuition their children need.

China and the Philippines have traded accusations over a medical evacuation near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, as Manila reports a near-doubling of Chinese military and coastguard vessels around contested South China Sea features in September.

Malaysia’s government will boost spending on social welfare while maintaining subsidies to rein in the cost of living under its 2027 Budget unveiled on Friday, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seeks to shore up public support while under pressure to call f…

A Hong Kong court has sentenced a university student to seven years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting five women, with most of the offences taking place during orientation camps.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may skip a meeting of Apec finance ministers in Hong Kong later this month to focus on preparing for President Donald Trump’s historic visit to Shenzhen in November, sources told the South China Morning Post.

The murder trial of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has been delayed again while the court addresses legal issues raised by lawyers in the high-profile case.

Hong Kong’s competition watchdog has raided 11 offices and homes over alleged bid-rigging for contracts to supply virtual reality (VR) systems to schools and non-profit organisations, with the deals valued at HK$10 million.

When Professor Lam Hon-ming returned to Hong Kong after completing postdoctoral work in the United States in 1997, he was fixated on one question: how can science help feed the country and the world?

Lawmakers and engineering sector leaders have called for a review of Hong Kong’s building inspection mechanism and a blacklist to bar errant contractors from government tenders, after Hong Kong’s first privately built “starter homes” project hit a snag ov…

A senior Japanese government spokesperson said it was regrettable that the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office had requested that Dutch authorities extradite International Criminal Court president Tomoko Akane and eight other officials.

Timothy Chan Chi-fung was 19 when a testicular tumour sent him into a Hong Kong hospital system largely designed for children or much older adults.

Two years after the Philippines banned its notorious offshore gaming hubs, or Pogos, a recent crackdown on hundreds of foreigners has highlighted a worrying trend of embedded corruption that still enables the sector to thrive.

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.

In 2014, a University of Hong Kong research team watched two years of reef restoration work collapse in Sai Kung.

Hong Kong national security police have charged a man with publishing seditious material on social media, while court proceedings did not reveal details of his posts.

Hong Kong’s corruption watchdog has charged the former head of a listed company for allegedly accepting HK$20 million (US$2.5 million) in bribes from a mainland Chinese property developer in exchange for acquiring a stake in the developer’s real estate pr…

The revamped Huanggang border crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen will open on Monday, after both sides confirmed the facility was ready for service.

China should seize a window opened by the widening US-China yield gap to strengthen the financing, hedging and asset-absorption systems behind the yuan, turning its cyclical low-interest-rate advantage into lasting global use of the currency, according to…

In ancient China, royal families washed elephants to pray for good fortune – until one elephant went rogue and brought the tradition to an end.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday he would ask US President Donald Trump to remove federal immigration agents from the city as tensions flared over the latest shooting involving ICE.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was busy travelling abroad last month.

The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) is standing by its decision to screen South Korean political thriller The Assassin(s) as its opening film, despite calls from South Korea’s conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) to withdraw it o…

Twenty-seven individuals and groups have been named finalists for the 14th Spirit of Hong Kong Awards, which recognises the unsung heroes of the city who have made major contributions to society.

Hong Kong’s police have revealed they will launch an academy offering specialised courses for overseas officers and shared new details about the force’s bachelor’s degree programme, with classes expected to start next March.

A rare work of Chinese calligraphy long presumed destroyed in the chaos of 1945 only to resurface 81 years later, fetched HK$177.45 million (US$22.6 million) in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the US of being unwilling to help Ukraine after a Russian bomb attack on Thursday killed at least 35 people in the east, sending the two-day death toll from Russian strikes to over 70.

In March, artificial intelligence agents powered by leading Chinese models reportedly displayed deception, concealed failure and pushed against imposed limits in controlled tests.

A boy and his sister lost their lives in a road accident after they wanted to attend classes despite their school being closed due to the haze in Malaysia’s Johor state.

China is running the most systematic effort of any outside power to learn from the drone war in Ukraine, with military and defence-industry analysts typically writing up new battlefield techniques within about four months, according to a new analysis.

China’s once-notorious “gutter oil”, recycled from kitchen and drainage waste, has almost vanished from dining tables in recent years and now carries the nickname liquid gold.

A decade after the shutdown of Soranet – a sprawling online hub for secretly filmed and non-consensual sexual videos that became a symbol of South Korea’s digital sex-crime crisis – the country is still struggling to stamp out similar networks and copycat…

Flavio Bolsonaro said he would work with the US and China if he becomes Brazil’s president, after a surprise election performance left him poised to join a wave of conservative leaders pushing Latin America closer to Washington.

In a rare market move, a long-established local developer sold a Central retail shop that was held for over 50 years to an heir of Swiss underwear maker Triumph, according to data from the Land Registry, a deal analysts have called “highly unusual”.

The Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be live streamed after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the execution would be “public”.

Chinese researchers have developed a catalyst that converts synthesis gas into sustainable jet fuel – a breakthrough that could boost production, help meet net-zero carbon goals and yield a gross profit margin exceeding 50 per cent.

The United States has downgraded Hong Kong to the lowest tier in its annual human trafficking report, citing shortcomings in prosecutions and victim identification, an assessment the city’s government rejected as “entirely unfounded”.

The Pentagon announced on Thursday a new multimillion-dollar initiative for “maintaining American leadership” in quantum computing capabilities amid accelerating competition between the US and China over the military application of advanced technology.

The convicted US killer who survived a botched execution was walking around her hospital room though she was mentally “foggy”, her lawyer said in an interview broadcast on Thursday.