
Trump to name James McDonald – one of his lawyers – as Wall Street’s top cop
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he planned to appoint James McDonald as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the federal prosecutor whose office handles many of the most...
More from China

1h ago
Dear You – the Chinese migration film igniting a propaganda debate in Southeast Asia
In less than two months, the indie film Dear You has become an unlikely mass hit. Shot in the Teochew language from the Chaoshan region of southern China’s Guangdong province, the movie follows a man...

6h ago
Trump says deal to end war to be signed on Sunday, but Iran questions timing
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that an initial deal to end the war in the Middle East would be signed on Sunday, although Iran denied the signing would take place so soon. Trump added in a...

8h ago
Armed men in Haiti’s capital seize top official in rare high-level abduction
Armed men in Haiti have kidnapped James Boyard, cabinet director of the Defence Ministry and a highly respected security expert who also serves as inspector general of Haiti’s police, a person with th...

8h ago
Trump to discuss Strait of Hormuz demining efforts at G7
US President Donald Trump is expected to discuss plans to demine the Strait of Hormuz with allies during next week’s Group of Seven summit in France, a senior US administration official said on Saturd...

9h ago
Was Kim Jong-un the real winner from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea?
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea this week helped to improve Kim Jong-un’s international standing and gave him a “big strategic win”, analysts said. Pyongyang has become increasingl...

10h ago
China accuses US of power abuse with expanded blacklist of Chinese firms
Beijing has warned of a resolute response to the Pentagon’s newly expanded blacklist of Chinese companies, accusing Washington of using national security as a pretext to curb the development of Chines...

11h ago
Funeral for slain Iranian supreme leader Khamenei set for July
Iran’s state-run news agency said on Saturday funeral processions for its former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be held in July, as mediators say an agreement to end the war is close. T...

11h ago
Why SpaceX may not be a model for Chinese companies to copy
China should not try to copy SpaceX despite the US company’s successful IPO, a leading economist has said. The company raised US$75 billion when it went public on Friday and made its chief executive E...

11h ago
How to say ‘tomato sauce’ in Cantonese? Miss Hong Kong hopeful sparks culture debate
Fluency in Cantonese has captured public attention after a mainland Chinese contestant in a celebrated Hong Kong beauty queen contest spoke about her difficulties learning the language, prompting a ta...

11h ago
Chinese team flags life-threatening ‘glaring weakness’ in Nasa’s Artemis programme
In the 21st century race to the moon, there is a question that engineers must ask: what happens when the main engine fails? China and the United States are answering this in contrasting ways. Their an...

13h ago
India military transport plane crash kills 5
Five Indian air force personnel were killed when a military plane crashed while landing at a base in the country’s remote northeast on Saturday, the military said in a statement. “The Indian Air Force...

13h ago
Police seize HK$7.2m of drugs, target syndicate recruiting using online gaming
Hong Kong police have arrested four men and seized 9.5kg (20.9lbs) of suspected drugs worth about HK$7.2 million (US$918,850) in a case involving two mainland Chinese men allegedly recruited by a synd...

13h ago
Can America sustain a war with China? New reports raise questions
The United States can launch stealth bombers across continents, track missiles from space and deploy forces anywhere on the planet. But as the nation approaches its 250th birthday next month, studies...

14h ago
2 rare owl chicks fledge in Hong Kong breeding success
A pair of rare brown wood owls have been bred at a botanic garden in Hong Kong, with two chicks fledging last month. Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Tai Po kept the breeding programme under wraps...

14h ago
Hop On misses court deadline for meeting owners from blaze-hit Tai Po estate
The administrator of the Hong Kong estate devastated by a deadly fire last November has missed the deadline to hold a much-anticipated meeting with flat owners, but has promised to resolve various cha...

15h ago
Discovery of ancient Chinese anaesthesia reveals advanced early surgical practices
The invention of modern anaesthetics in 1846 is a pivotal milestone in the history of modern medicine, yet humans have long sought to alleviate surgical pain. Recent research has showed that in the 14...

16h ago
Myanmar’s junta says everything’s back to normal. Yangon clubbers don’t believe it’s true
In a blaring nightclub in wartime Myanmar, partied-out revellers doze until dawn by the dance floor, wary of journeying home despite the end of a post-coup curfew. Lasers streak the smoke-filled air a...

16h ago
Indonesia’s nickel rule changes are spooking Chinese investors
Chinese investors in Indonesia’s nickel industry recently sent a formal protest letter to President Prabowo Subianto. The message reflects their concerns over Indonesia’s political and economic direct...

16h ago
Do China’s export curbs on tungsten threaten Japan’s AI chip supply chain?
Two major Japanese chemical manufacturers could halt production of a gas crucial to AI chipmaking starting next month, as supply tightens and prices surge amid Beijing’s export controls on tungsten. T...

17h ago
Beachgoers in Australia rescue woman after shark attack at Sydney’s Coogee Beach
A woman swimmer was seriously injured in a shark attack at a Sydney beach on Saturday, authorities said, in the latest of a spate of such encounters off Australia’s coast. Emergency services were c...

17h ago
Peace for Taiwan needs ‘joint answer’ from both sides, says top Beijing official
Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait needs a “joint answer” from people on both sides, Beijing’s top Taiwan affairs official said on Saturday. “As profound changes unseen in a century accelerate a...

18h ago
Why Bangladesh chose Malaysia and China before India for PM’s debut tour
Bangladesh’s new leader is set to visit Malaysia and China later this month in a trip that Dhaka says reflects its independent foreign policy – with the decision to skip India seen less as a snub than...

18h ago
Intern doctor held over unauthorised access to data remains in custody: source
A Hong Kong intern doctor arrested on suspicion of unauthorised access to patient data remains in custody, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source familiar with the matter told the SCMP tha...

18h ago
US downs Iranian drones in Strait of Hormuz despite peace deal progress
The United States said it downed multiple Iranian drones targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz early on Saturday, hours after both sides said a deal to end the Middle East war was closer...

18h ago
US blocks foreign access to Anthropic’s newest AI models over security risks
Washington has ordered Anthropic – a leading entity in America’s AI sector – to block all foreign nationals from accessing its latest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, citing national security concerns, a...

19h ago
Kennedy Centre loses last-ditch attempt to keep Trump’s name on building
The Kennedy Centre was running out of options on Friday evening to keep President Donald Trump’s name on the facade of the iconic performing arts venue. A judge earlier in the afternoon rejected a req...

19h ago
Why driving instructor licences are becoming a hot ticket item for Hongkongers
With more than 20 years of experience as a light goods van driver, Hongkonger Fung Fu only started considering switching to becoming a private driving instructor when he noticed the economic outlook w...

19h ago
Can lah: how Singlish is finding its voice in Singapore’s language story
When Natasha Ann Lum was growing up, there was no place for Singlish – an English-based creole language in Singapore – at home. Her father was adamant that Lum and her brother not speak with broken gr...

19h ago
Chinese team builds first commercial ‘3-lane highway’ in optical fibre to boost capacity
China activated the world’s first three-band optical fibre communication system early this month, technology that its developers say could expand the carrying capacity of future AI networks. According...

20h ago
Philippines’ Duterte to undergo another health check to determine fitness for ICC trial
The International Criminal Court ordered a medical assessment of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to determine whether he is fit to stand trial, with proceedings set to start in November. I...

21h ago
G7 summit offers Trump, Modi chance to reset ties after US strikes kill Indian sailors
A possible meeting next week between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump offers a chance to reset ties following a year of strained relations over tariffs, Pakistan, and...

21h ago
Hong Kong faces another wet weekend as heavy rain and thunderstorms hit the city
Hong Kong has been hit by more heavy showers and thunderstorms as a trough of low pressure moved over the Pearl River Estuary. The downpours prompted the Hong Kong Observatory to issue an amber rainst...

21h ago
Out of the shadows: Huawei’s ‘chip queen’ steps back into the spotlight with scaling law
After seven years working in the shadows, He Tingbo stepped back into the limelight last month. The head of Huawei Technologies’ secretive semiconductor business – widely dubbed the company’s “chip qu...

22h ago
US strike kills leader of Venezuelan prison gang: Trump
President Donald Trump said late on Friday that a “swift and lethal kinetic” US strike has killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called “the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang. T...

22h ago
Why Japan’s Russia outreach could fuel G7 concern over unity: ‘bad signal’
As Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi heads to the G7 meeting in France next week, she is expected to hear rumblings of discontent over Tokyo’s apparent diplomatic outreach to Moscow. With Europea...

22h ago
When a Chinese auntie met the right uncle
Let me pick up where I left off in a previous column. On sabbatical in China, I was reeling from being pored over by parents at the Shanghai marriage market, and judged to be too old and overqualified...

22h ago
Can 150kg drones carry cement and bricks? Hong Kong is putting them to the test
Hong Kong’s Development Bureau will test whether heavy-duty drones, weighing nearly 150kg (330.6lbs) each, can carry essential items across up to six sites over the next 12 months, the South China Mor...

22h ago
Chinese woman reunites with family 22 years after running away over broken shower gel bottle
A woman in eastern China has been reunited with her birth family 22 years after running away as a child, fearing punishment for breaking a bottle of shower gel. Liu Xiuhong, from a rural family in Gan...

23h ago
US judge reprimanded for having sex in chambers apologises: ‘I have no excuse’
A US federal judge who was disciplined after an investigation found that she had sex with a police officer in her chambers and then lied about it wrote a letter to a former law clerk apologising for h...

23h ago
Asean at 60: peace, prosperity and polite paralysis
Dan Rae Hugo has never heard of the Asean Petroleum Security Agreement. All he knows is that his diesel costs have doubled, his profit margins have evaporated and the rice on his neighbours’ tables no...

1d ago
Indians grieve and demand action after US strike kills sailors
Sushila Devi sat sobbing on the floor of her house in Deoria, northern India after authorities told her that her husband was one of three sailors killed in a US attack on a ship off Oman. “If he had t...

1d ago
Pay cut for Japan Airlines boss after crew members hid preflight drinking
Japan’s transport ministry on Friday reprimanded Japan Airlines and urged it to compile preventive measures by July 17 after an incident in which two cabin attendants drank the day before a flight in...

1d ago
China’s navy has missiles and drones. Why is it bringing back the ‘big guns’?
In an era of naval warfare defined by air superiority, precision missiles and autonomous drones, China’s navy appears to be bringing back the “big guns”. A new naval gun system is said to be in develo...

1d ago
Philippines’ belligerence towards China out of step with Asean trend
The Philippines’ confrontational approach to maritime territorial disputes, such as its championing of the 2016 South China Sea arbitration ruling, has not only failed to resolve regional tensions, it...

1d ago
China missed the World Cup. Its brands didn’t
Inside a sprawling broadcast hub in Dallas, thousands of devices supplied by Lenovo are helping Fifa manage and distribute content from stadiums across the United States, Canada and Mexico, forming pa...

1d ago
Suspect dead after West Texas shooting kills 1 and injures at least 9 others
A shooter who opened fire in the West Texas city of Midland died on Friday after a stand-off with police following an attack that left one person dead and at least nine others injured, city officials...

1d ago
Pope Leo’s plane grounded, so Spain’s king gives him a ride
Even popes have travel delays. Lucky for Pope Leo, King Felipe VI offered a way out, and a way home. Leo’s Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a week-long visit to Spain, was grounded b...

1d ago
Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire – what could he buy with all that money?
Catapulted by the market debut of his rocket company SpaceX, Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire. That level of wealth, all owned by just one person, was once unfathomable. Before Friday,...

1d ago
Iran says peace deal with US ‘never been closer’, as Pakistan says final text agreed on
The US and Iran have “never been closer” to a deal on ending the war in the Middle East, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday, as mediator Pakistan said a final text had been agreed...