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A social media post by London Mayor Sadiq Khan calling his city and Singapore global powerhouses has ignited scrutiny of both places, with critics arguing that they are worlds apart. Khan, who was in Singapore this week, posted a picture of himself standing in front of the Marina Bay skyline on Sunday with the caption: “This is what it looks like when two global powerhouses unite. Delighted to be ...
A fire that broke out at a primary school in Tokyo on Friday, injuring eight pupils and two teachers before being extinguished, authorities said. The fire was reported around 11am, according to the local fire department. It started in a room next to the music room on the top floor of Takinogawa Dai-san Elementary School in the Kita area of the Japanese capital. It was extinguished at around 1.45pm...
After two wars in the space of a year, diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear programme has come back to much the same place it was before the fighting began. The memorandum of understanding signed by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Wednesday sets up talks that non-proliferation experts said would largely resume the US-Iran diplomatic track Washington broke off ...
The Group of Seven nations this week agreed to pare their reliance on China for vital raw materials, while European leaders struggled to reach a consensus on how to respond to a flood of low-cost Chinese imports. No single country should supply more than 60 per cent of the G7 nations’ rare earths and permanent magnets by 2030, their leaders agreed during a summit in Evian, France. The nations will...
Hong Kong actor and singer Eason Chan bought a HK$182.53 million (US$23.29 million) property in the city’s Southern district, according to official records, joining a list of the rich and famous who have recently snapped up luxury homes. Chan, whose full name on the official record was Chan Yick Shun Eason, purchased the home in Shouson Hill in a deal registered on Wednesday, records from the Land...
A mainland Chinese research vessel has conducted a marine environmental survey in waters east of Taiwan, the latest sign of Beijing’s bid to reinforce its jurisdictional claims in the area following Japanese-Philippine maritime boundary talks. The survey, which ran from Tuesday to Thursday, was conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources’ East China Sea Bureau, which deployed the oceanographic ...
As China’s relationship with African countries has deepened, the country’s influence is spreading into more areas. In the first of a series of articles, Jevans Nyabiage explores how a drive to expand Chinese language education in Africa is being stymied by a shortage of teachers. For years, Chinese language training in Africa has been provided mainly through Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes at ...
Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire on Friday, a US official said, after deadly exchanges between the two sides in Lebanon put a deal to end the Middle East war under strain less than two days after it was signed. Talks that were scheduled for Friday between the US and Iran in Switzerland to take the deal to the next stage were postponed amid the fighting, with no new date announced. Tehran’s ...
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday, a US official said, after an escalation in fighting there jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the war in Iran turning into a lasting Middle East peace deal. US-Iran talks in Switzerland planned for Friday were cancelled as fighting flared in Lebanon, creating new uncertainty about the timing of negotiations vi...
Fighting flared in Lebanon on Friday, with authorities reporting 21 killed in Israeli air strikes and Israel announcing the deaths of four of its soldiers. The violence is the worst since the sealing of a US-Iran deal to halt the wider Middle East war, which was supposed to also pause fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The deaths of the soldiers drew a furious reaction in Israel, wi...
Lebanon said 18 people were killed on Friday in Israeli air strikes in the south, while Israel’s military reported its first soldiers killed there since the sealing of a US-Iran deal to halt the Middle East war, including in Lebanon. Israel had said it was striking Hezbollah targets overnight and into the morning, while the Iran-backed militant group said it was attacking Israeli forces around the...
Lebanon said 18 people were killed on Friday in Israeli air strikes in the south, while Israel’s military reported its first soldiers killed there since the sealing of a US-Iran deal to halt the Middle East war, including in Lebanon. Israel had said it was striking Hezbollah targets overnight and into the morning, while the Iran-backed militant group said it was attacking Israeli forces around the...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong enjoyed a few sunny spells on the Tuen Ng Festival, just a day after the city issued its top-tier black rainstorm warning twice only hours apart, as some hiking experts warned outdoor enthusiasts to be mindful of safety hazards. The Hong Kong Observat...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong once again enjoyed a few sunny spells on Tuen Ng Festival, just a day after the city issued its top-tier black rainstorm warning twice only hours apart, as some hiking experts warned outdoor enthusiasts to be mindful of safety hazards. The Hong Kong O...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong once again enjoyed a few sunny spells on Tuen Ng Festival, just a day after the city issued its top-tier black rainstorm warning twice only hours apart, as some hiking experts warned outdoor enthusiasts to be mindful of safety hazards. The Hong Kong O...
Filipinos are losing faith in the news faster than audiences elsewhere, as analysts attribute the decline in confidence to years of attacks on the Philippine media industry and the growing reach of influence operations on social media. Only 28 per cent of Filipinos said they trusted news most of the time, down from 38 per cent in 2025, according to the latest survey by the Reuters Institute Digita...
The sportswear brand Lululemon has apologised and withdrawn its latest marketing video in China because of a controversy surrounding a big Japanese drum and the Great Wall. The video was designed to promote a yoga-themed event the brand held on the world-renowned historic site in suburban Beijing on May 30. The activity, which was supposed to salute Chinese culture, featured top-tier Chinese actor...
Hong Kong’s welfare minister has defended the government’s decision to drop the poverty line as an indicator for allocating assistance, saying it was a limited “statistical concept” that had failed to identify needy groups beyond those with low incomes, such as carers. A day after the government unveiled a new 21-indicator framework to identify vulnerable groups in a report, Secretary for Labour a...
Hong Kong’s welfare minister has defended the government’s earlier decision to drop the poverty line as an indicator for allocating assistance, saying it was a limited “statistical concept” that failed to identify needy groups beyond those with low income, such as carers. A day after the government unveiled a new 21-indicator framework to identify vulnerable groups in a report, Secretary for Labou...
Visitors to the Acropolis can now see the Parthenon’s western side looking whole for the first time in about 220 years. Officially unveiled Thursday, restorers have slotted two new marble blocks into long-empty gaps high on the temple’s western end – the view visitors see when they first enter the ancient monument in Athens. The 25-century-old monument overlooking the Greek capital attracted about...
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. Iran and US sign peace deal, Strait of Hormuz to immediately reopen: Pakistan Iran and the US have signed a peace deal that will take ...
Drumming, powerful paddling and the cheers of thousands of competitors and revellers electrified Hong Kong’s shores on Friday as dragon boat races went ahead during the Tuen Ng Festival despite unsettled weather. Just a day after a black rainstorm warning was issued twice, competitors and spectators were in high spirits. Beaches and waterfront areas across Stanley, Aberdeen, Sha Tin’s Shing Mun Ri...
European Union national leaders have asked Brussels to come up with new trade instruments to deal with the economic threat posed by China, following a rare summit debate about Beijing late on Thursday night. After a two-hour discussion, the EU’s executive branch was told to engage with China to try to fix the persistent trade problems, according to a Brussels official. But it was also instructed “...
Ghost nets and plastic pollution plague Indonesia’s Anambas Islands, harming marine life and exposing the gap between regional pledges and enforcement. This environmental crisis is further worsened by rapidly surging growth-driven consumption, campaigners say. Devina Mariskova, head of Yayasan Anambas, said the nets are often thrown from vessels off the coasts of surrounding countries, largely pla...
Malaysian police arrested 58 people and seized more than half a million ringgit (US$124,000) in illicit proceeds in a World Cup gambling sweep as authorities in Southeast Asia crack down on illegal football betting during the tournament. Malaysia, where unlicensed betting is a criminal offence, has been bracing for a rise in illegal sports wagers, with the quadrennial spectacle attracting punters ...
Malaysian police arrested 58 people and seized more than half a million ringgit (US124,000) in illicit proceeds in a World Cup gambling sweep as authorities in Southeast Asia crack down on illegal football betting during the tournament. Malaysia, where unlicensed betting is a criminal offence, has been bracing for a rise in illegal sports wagers, with the quadrennial spectacle attracting punters t...
Foreign trawlers slip into waters off the Malaysian state of Terengganu under cover of darkness, local fishermen say, working near Pulau Redang and Pulau Bidong before leaving by dawn to avoid detection. The incursions have become a recurring problem for fishermen along the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia, where the South China Sea separates Malaysia from Vietnam by just hundreds of kilometre...
Labour mayor Andy Burnham cleared a path to ousting British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after decisively winning a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday, in what could be the most consequential local election in more than six decades. Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor nicknamed the “King of the North”, won the contest in Makerfield in northwest England with 54.8 per cent of the vote...
Labour mayor Andy Burnham cleared a path to be able to attempt to oust British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after winning a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday in what could be the most consequential local election in more than six decades. Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor nicknamed the “King of the North”, won the contest in Makerfield in northwest England with 24,927 of the ...
Plans for US Vice-President J.D. Vance to travel to Switzerland for a new round of talks with Iran have been delayed, according to the White House. In a statement on Thursday, the White House said the arrangements for the “technical talks” had not yet been finalised and that the US delegation remained prepared to depart at the first available opportunity. “The logistics of these negotiations have ...
