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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The sportswear brand Lululemon has apologised and withdrawn its latest marketing video in China because of a controversy surrounding a big Japanese drum and the Great Wall.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 ...
Plans for US Vice-President J.D. Vance to travel to Switzerland for a new round of talks with Iran have been delayed, the White House said on Thursday. In a statement, the White House said plans 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 never been simple or ...
Yusran first learned about the danger facing his teenage cousin, Elmi Febrianti, at an Indonesian tourist attraction in South Sulawesi when he got a phone call from a family member who sounded frantic. Elmi, a 17-year-old Indonesian student, had been at a popular photo spot in Apparalang, Bulukumba Regency, and had fallen into the sea in the afternoon on June 7 while taking a selfie on the picture...
Hong Kong homebuyers showed interest in 130 flats put on sale by developers on Thursday evening, but the pace of buying was more measured after an interest-rate increase later this year became more likely. Agents said 30 of the 75 units put on sale at Phase 4B of La Montagne at the Southside project at Wong Chuk Hang MTR station sold on Thursday. The two-bedroom units had saleable areas ranging fr...
A Hong Kong surgeon who operated on the wrong organ of an elderly patient had shown “confirmation bias” in identifying structures in the abdominal cavity, an investigation into the blunder has found, prompting a former lawmaker to call for his dismissal. Tseung Kwan O Hospital on Thursday released a cause analysis report on the February 7 incident involving an 85-year-old woman with obstructive si...
As a cultural strategist, my work takes me across the region as I explore new markets, mine local insights and connect with new consumers. Most recently I was in Seoul, a city voted for four consecutive years by millennial and Gen Z readers of a US-based travel media outlet as their favourite place to visit. Walking the streets of cool-kid neighbourhoods such as Hannam-dong, Seochon and Seongsu-do...
Nie Huihua, a professor of economics at Renmin University, discusses how an effective understanding of China’s development requires a shift from Western-centric frameworks to an integrated perspective that recognises how formal institutions, informal grass-roots mechanisms and cultural collectivism couple together to create a self-consistent and adaptive governance system. SCMP Plus readers get ea...
South Korean police have taken the rare step of placing three 12-year-old boys in juvenile facilities after they allegedly stole cars and drove without licences in two separate incidents within a week, underscoring growing concern over serious offences committed by children too young to face criminal prosecution. Police in Cheonan, a city about 90km south of Seoul, said on June 17 that the boys ha...
Using a few mirrors, solar panels and a microwave transmitter, Fan Guanheng and his team can send power over 100 metres (330 feet) through the air. But they are dreaming much bigger – 36,000km (23,460 miles) bigger. The team at Xidian University in Xian, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi province, are testing hardware that could one day be used to generate power in space and send it back to Ear...
An artificial intelligence model recently deployed at the Hong Kong Observatory and mainland China’s National Meteorological Centre can solve one of the toughest challenges in weather forecasting: predicting when a typhoon will rapidly intensify. Li Qinglan, a professor at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) who is leading the project, said the system was installed around three w...
A Chinese health centre scammed more than 100 elderly people out of a total of over 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) by putting soy sauce in an intestinal cleaning liquid to dupe them into thinking they had toxins in their bodies. The Beijing police have arrested more than 30 people involved on suspicion of fraud. They cracked the case after the family of a woman in her 60s discovered she had spen...
A Chinese health centre scammed more than 100 elderly people out of a total of over 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) by putting soy sauce in an intestinal cleaning liquid to dupe them into thinking they had toxins in their bodies. The Beijing police have arrested more than 30 people involved on suspicion of fraud. They cracked the case after the family of a woman in her 60s discovered she had spen...
In the first of a two-part series tracing the new trends of illegal betting in Hong Kong amid excitement over the World Cup 2026, Edith Lin looks at how social media has become a new channel pushing the youth to engage in unlawful bookmaking activities. Ken Chan* started betting on football matches when he was 18. He started betting through legalised channels, spending a third of his income for a ...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in southern Lebanon, where it has occupied up to 10km (6 miles) from the border. The remarks were his first comment since the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the militant Hezbollah group. It was unclear...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in southern Lebanon, where it has occupied up to 10km (6 miles) from the border. The remarks were his first comment since the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end the Middle East war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the militant Hezbollah group. It was unclear...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ruled out a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon for the foreseeable future. In a speech, Netanyahu described the “security zone” established by the Israeli military as a barrier between the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and civilians and communities in northern Israel. Israel would not withdraw as long as its security needs requir...
