The Philippines and the United States are marking the 75th anniversary of their defence alliance with a renewed pledge to step up joint drills as geopolitical tensions in the region continue to simmer. While the allies are moving towards more frequent planning for maritime security cooperation and deterrence, there are still questions about Washington’s long-term commitment towards the security of the Philippines and the broader region, according to analysts. At an annual meeting to strengthen...

A string of deadly motorcycle accidents around Malaysia’s biggest Yamaha RX-Z gathering has intensified calls for the annual event to be scrapped, but enthusiasts say the backlash unfairly conflates a vast owners’ community with illegal street racers. More than 200,000 devotees of the discontinued motorcycle converged on Terengganu, on Malaysia’s east coast, earlier this month for RXZ Members 8.0, reflecting how the modest two-stroke bike has become a vivid badge of identity for a culture with...

A buyer with the same name as the founding chairwoman of a global immigration consultancy has bought a detached house in a luxury residential development in southern Hong Kong for over US$19 million, adding to a string of big-ticket deals as demand for trophy homes remains resilient despite a broader slowdown. Yi Bing signed an agreement for the purchase of House 11 at One Stanley on Wong Ma Kok Road on July 27, according to Land Registry records. The four-bedroom, 3,336 sq ft detached house...

A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to three years and nine months in jail for unwittingly suffocating his girlfriend to death while trying to dispose of her body after she passed out during a supposed weight-loss programme that required her to avoid sleeping. The High Court on Monday accepted that former abattoir worker Ng Ka-sing was genuinely remorseful and had little likelihood of reoffending, noting that the 29-year-old required psychological treatment to help him recover from the trauma of...

The ⁠United States is ⁠not disengaging from Asia and ⁠is instead “digging in” to maintain a favourable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, but wants its partners to shoulder more responsibility for their defence, a senior Pentagon official said on ‌Monday. Seeking to counter concerns about Washington’s reliability, Elbridge Colby, Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, reiterated the US interest in the region as he called for greater burden-sharing and “partnership, not dependency”. “America is...

New Delhi has issued names for 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh on its official maps, including sensitive sites near the disputed border with China, in a move that an analyst warned could complicate efforts to repair bilateral ties. The Indian government announced the move on Friday, just a day after officials from the two countries held a working-level consultation in New Delhi to discuss border management and reaffirm the need for peace along the Line of Actual Control. Beijing has long...

The story of a devoted couple from central China, where the husband has lovingly cared for his severely paraplegic wife for 25 years, has touched the hearts of millions on social media throughout mainland China. The couple live in Pingdingshan, Henan province. In 2001, 36-year-old Jia Fang suffered a horrific fall from a cliff while riding a pedicab, resulting in paralysis from the chest down, as reported by Henan TV. Since that life-altering moment, her husband, Li Junliang, who is one year...

Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery maker, has thrown its weight behind flying cars after its aviation battery system cleared a major safety test. A successful roll-out of passenger-carrying drone batteries, backed by CATL’s innovation drive and manufacturing heft, would bolster China’s leading position in the renewable energy sector and the future of mobility, according to analysts. “The aviation battery system is ready for mass...

A China Southern Airlines flight was forced to abandon its departure and return to the gate at Shenzhen airport over the weekend after the Airbus A321 aircraft was struck by lightning while taxiing. Flight CZ3209, bound for the city of Wuxi in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, was waiting on the ground during a heavy thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon when the incident occurred, according to a report by The First Scene, a news portal under Shenzhen Media Group. The incident came to light on...

Scheduled drone performances at tourist attractions and events across China have been grounded as the country steps up scrutiny of low-altitude aviation, although in many cases no clear reason was given for the cancellation. Tourist attractions and event organisers in 11 provinces and regions – including Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Shandong, Guangdong and Hainan – took the unusual step last week of announcing that drone shows scheduled from Friday onwards were cancelled. By Monday, none had announced...

Landslides and floods caused by non-stop monsoon rains have killed at least 12 people in the Philippines, while eight more were missing and thirteen injured, authorities said. More than half a million people in 33 provinces have been affected by the southwest monsoon that has been enhanced by two tropical cyclones, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. The agency also reported hundreds of damaged homes and infrastructure, with about 98,000 displaced from their...

Hong Kong residents raising goats, sheep and cattle in the New Territories will need a licence under a proposed regulation which aims to reduce nuisance and hygiene problems affecting neighbours, amid the acceleration of urban development under projects such as the Northern Metropolis. The plan was revealed in an Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department document, scheduled to be discussed at the Yuen Long District Council on Tuesday, in which the department sought to extend the...

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a Nato-like defence agreement in Mecca as the United States’ war on Iran prompts countries in the region to rethink security arrangements. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement stipulates that “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all”, the three countries said in a joint statement. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz...

China’s central government has invited dozens of scientific, technological and academic experts to its annual summer retreat, highlighting how the country is focusing on innovation and breaking through “chokepoints” amid fierce competition with the US. According to state news agency Xinhua, the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, China’s cabinet, invited 60 experts to the seaside resort of Beidaihe from August 1 to 7. The list of invitees – who represented fields including...

Signs of recovery in Hong Kong’s real estate industry are becoming more apparent, so much so that key indicators in parts of the sector are experiencing some of the fastest growth rates in the Asia-Pacific. In the hotel market, average daily rates, which were declining in annualised terms for most of 2025, grew 9.5 per cent in the first half of this year. This was the third-fastest growth rate among 14 leading markets across the region, according to data from CBRE. Another sign that the recovery...

A former procurement manager at Tse Sui Luen Jewellery in Hong Kong has pleaded guilty to stealing diamonds worth more than HK$11 million (US$1.4 million) from suppliers over six years by manipulating consignment records to fund his gambling habit. The High Court heard on Monday that Mui Ka-fai, 63, obtained small diamonds from the jeweller’s regular suppliers and resold them once or twice a month for profit between 2017 and 2023. He pleaded guilty to three counts of theft. An investigation...

More than 70 per cent of Hong Kong working professionals use artificial intelligence (AI) tools on a daily or weekly basis, more than double the global average, but junior staff also harbour deeper anxiety over job security amid its growing adoption, a survey has found. The study conducted by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) surveyed 3,722 working professionals in the city between March and April this year, with more than 60 per cent of them aged between 30 and...

A Malaysian lawmaker is offering a 5,000 ringgit (US$1,200) bounty for the person responsible for an arson attack which left an elderly woman in critical condition in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. The 62-year-old counter staff suffered 50 per cent burns to her body after an unidentified individual doused her in what police believe was petrol and set her on fire at a lottery shop in Kepong, a suburb some 14km (nine miles) from the city. Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said the attack was an “act of...

Indonesia’s top Islamic clerical body has warned men not to wear “women’s clothing” for Independence Day festivities despite a long-standing tradition of men in dresses playing football as part of the annual fun. Amid a rising tide of anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation, the influential Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said in a statement such behaviour was “haram” or forbidden. The MUI said its intervention was “an effort to prevent the covert campaign of the...

The Hong Kong Bar Association has filed a judicial challenge against a disciplinary panel’s decision to clear barrister and former opposition lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee of professional misconduct over her participation in an anti-government protest in 2019. The association’s council on Friday applied for a judicial review of the disciplinary tribunal’s decision that Ng’s conviction for taking part in an illegal gathering was not so serious as “to bring the profession of barrister into...

China’s rare earth producers have reported or anticipated hefty first-half profits, with Beijing’s use of the strategically critical minerals as leverage in trade relations with Japan and the United States not appearing to impede normal activity. The geopolitical factor – US President Donald Trump announced more than US$2 billion of domestic mining investment on Friday, widely viewed as diversifying the country’s rare earth supply chain away from China’s near-monopoly – has helped drive up...

An Indonesian minister has called for better protection of students after nearly 1,000 weapons were found at a private school in South Jakarta. Police seized 995 airsoft guns and one live firearm from a school run by the Harapan Ibu Islamic School Foundation on Friday, Antara news agency reported. The foundation’s former chair, identified only by the initials IWD, has been called in for questioning. IWD had been dismissed amid allegations of misuse of foundation funds, according to the Jakarta...

A ⁠gunman was arrested after firing shots at a local government office on the outskirts of Thailand’s capital on Monday, officials said, ‌just days after a teenager’s killing rampage at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control. The suspected shooter, a former lawmaker, fired at a senior provincial official and his driver, said Major General Dejrapee Kongdee, the police commander of Nonthaburi, which borders Bangkok. “There were two people wounded, who have been sent to...

Hong Kong police have arrested eight people over an alleged compensated-dating scam syndicate that cheated victims, including teachers and healthcare workers, out of about HK$6.2 million (US$790,000) by telling them they had to pay a “legal fee” to formalise contracts to become “sugar babies”. Police said on Monday that they had investigated 80 cases involving scammers who used compensated dating as a pretext to lure victims between February and July this year. The largest individual loss was...

Chinese researchers have found a safe way to shrink advanced tumours from an aggressive form of liver cancer, an advance that could see microbubbles used to enhance current treatments. The tiny gas-filled bubbles, typically a few micrometres in diameter, were originally designed as contrast agents in ultrasound imaging, but scientists have recently been exploring their therapeutic potential. According to a paper published by the peer-reviewed Scientific Reports on July 19, the study compared...

Two individuals in Beijing found themselves trapped in a mountain but refused rescue due to a superstition that responding to strangers brings bad luck. The police and firefighters in the Huairou district received a call on the evening of July 29, reporting that two neighbours from a nearby village had gone missing while foraging for herbs in a wild mountain area. The pair, a 73-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman, frequently foraged together. Both had hearing impairments. They did not carry...

Malaysia is seeking to elevate its economic partnership with South Korea beyond traditional manufacturing and trade by positioning itself as a long-term strategic partner in high-value industries, ranging from semiconductors and AI to electric vehicles, renewable energy and the fast-growing global halal economy. Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) director Redzuan Abd Rahman and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) trade commissioner Mohamad Termizi HJ Piee...

A Hong Kong court has approved a final attempt by 11 jailed opposition politicians and activists to clear their names, following their convictions for conspiracy to commit subversion in a landmark national security trial. In a written judgment delivered on Monday, the Court of Appeal identified five legal issues that warranted further scrutiny by the Court of Final Appeal over the appellants’ involvement in an unofficial legislative primary election in 2020 and a broader scheme to paralyse the...

The haze is back in Malaysia – with at least two states registering unhealthy air readings on Monday as raging forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia send clouds of smoke northwards. Transboundary haze is a long-standing problem in Southeast Asia, particularly affecting Malaysia and Singapore due to their proximity to Indonesia, where vast tracts of forests and agricultural land become fire hotspots during the dry season. A wildfire scorched 550 hectares (1,360 acres) of land in the Bromo...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Why Beijing struggles to win Indian hearts and minds despite diplomatic thaw Though the relationship between the Chinese and Indian governments has been thawing, Beijing has yet to win over the Indian public as it lacked a long-term strategy and communication channels, according to Chinese...

Residents in Beijing have been warned not to go outside unless it is absolutely necessary as the capital and multiple other cities are on high alert for the arrival of Typhoon Dolphin, which is travelling north. In Beijing, a red rainstorm alert – the second highest – was issued on Monday for a number of districts, with rain expected to continue over the next three days. According to the city’s forecaster, the rain will get increasingly stronger with the most concentrated period expected to be...

For people navigating rare diseases, which are mostly genetic in origin, the search for answers is a gruelling marathon often called the “diagnostic odyssey”. Patients can spend years visiting specialists and undergoing inconclusive tests, while the underlying cause of their condition remains hidden within three billion base pairs of DNA in the human genome. But Artificial intelligence is emerging as a tool to shorten this time frame. Chinese researchers have created an open-source AI system...

More frequent showers expected later this week should bring relief from Hong Kong’s extreme heat, the local forecaster has said, although scorching conditions will persist in the coming days, with temperatures in some areas forecast to reach at least 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit). The Observatory said on Monday that outer subsiding airflow associated with Tropical Storm Dolphin continued to bring extremely hot weather to Guangdong province and Hong Kong. The heatwave is expected to continue...

A fire in Indonesia’s ⁠Mount Bromo National Park ⁠in East Java ⁠that burnt 550 hectares (1,360 acres) has been extinguished, according to an official on Monday, but there are new hotspots near the caldera. Gatot Soebroto, head of the local disaster mitigation agency, said authorities had found new fires in ⁠areas around the caldera covering some 20 hectares. Mount Bromo is ‌an active volcano, and is a popular tourist destination and best known for its “sand sea” ‌caldera. The national park...

A man wielding a knife has been arrested in Hong Kong after allegedly injuring two people at a housing estate in Pok Fu Lam. The force received multiple reports at around 9.20am on Monday that a man in his 20s was attacking residents at Baguio Villa, located at 550 Victoria Road. A domestic helper was injured in the back while a doorman was grazed on the elbow. The helper was sent to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam for treatment. It was unclear whether the injuries were caused by the...

With its first scheduled international route launching this month, the maiden flight of a high-altitude variant newly completed and a thumbs-up from European test pilots, China’s flagship C919 airliner is hitting new heights. China’s dream of a home-grown civil aviation fleet to rival Boeing and Airbus is coming closer with a national push to speed up certification of a domestically designed jet engine and smooth the development of a widebody C929 airliner, and combined orders of more than 1,200...

For decades, Hong Kong has been a magnet for the rich. From wealthy Chinese setting up family trusts to millionaires migrating from across Southeast Asia, all of them have been sucked in by the city’s promise of free capital flows, a trustworthy legal system and extensive financial expertise. It is a winning combination that helped Hong Kong leapfrog Switzerland as the world’s biggest cross-border wealth hub last year, as the city rode a wave of blockbuster listings by Chinese technology...

China is using an artificial intelligence-driven fish identification system to conduct round-the-clock tracking of species passing along a fishway on a dam on Tibet’s largest river. Monitoring the route once relied on labour-intensive manual counts, but it now uses an AI-based “fish facial recognition” system to identify species unique to the Tibet autonomous region, according to a report published by Global Times on Tuesday. Since the 116-metre-tall (381 feet) Zangmu Hydropower Station began...

Pakistan’s foreign minister said a new defence agreement his country signed with Saudi Arabia and Turkey was not directed against any country and remained open to other nations in the region. The landmark Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the three countries seek to deepen security cooperation amid heightened tensions between the United States and...

Something unexpected happened at the town hall meeting held a week ago to gather public opinion on Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and the coming policy address. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu spoke about the need to upgrade the city’s urban management systems. Our results-oriented, reform-focused chief executive seems to be ready for another colossal task. Lee began his term with plans to reform policy bureau operations, introducing key performance indicators and additional...

While many people have embraced the trend of hugging a giant winter melon to sleep as a means of cooling down during summer, some have shared their “painful” experiences, recounting instances where the fruit exploded, releasing a foul-smelling and putrid liquid that soiled their beds and floors. They detailed this “disastrous scene” on social media, noting that the winter melons exploded after several nights of being held, as reported by the Sichuan Daily. “It exploded. The stench was...

Youth membership in Hong Kong’s uniformed groups has declined by 8 per cent over the past five years despite steady government funding, the South China Morning Post has found, a trend attributed to persistently low birth rates and a wider array of extracurricular activities for students. While several lawmakers have called for introducing key performance indicators (KPIs) for uniformed groups to ensure prudent public spending, some organisations are concerned that linking funding to membership...

Indonesia’s faster-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter has offered a ray of hope for a sustainable turnaround after months of negative news over the rupiah, investor confidence and global uncertainties. Analysts, however, urged caution about the country’s economic outlook in the coming quarters, saying the latest data also revealed uneven sectoral performance and a reliance on government spending. Southeast Asia’s largest economy grew 5.29 per cent year on year in the April-June...

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that his new White House counsel will be Will Scharf, the staff secretary who as the Trump-appointed head of the National Capital Planning Commission helped secure approval for the US$400 million ballroom project. Trump said that, beginning September 1, Scharf will be replacing David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Trump noted that Scharf previously served as a federal prosecutor and represented him in a...

The Canadian federal government said on ⁠Sunday it would ⁠help British Columbia ⁠as raging wildfires forced thousands of people to evacuate by providing shelter and accommodation for residents displaced in regions around Summerland and Peachland. The Bald Range wildfire, which prompted British ‌Columbia to declare a provincial state of emergency and evacuate about 18,000 people, had spread to more than 10,300 hectares by at the weekend as firefighters continued to battle the blaze. “Last night,...

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has vowed to crack down on hard-to-cancel subscriptions and fake discounts as part of measures to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, Downing Street said on Sunday. The announcement came as the new Labour leader was set to return to work after a holiday and begin a tour of the country to talk to people about their financial pressures, his office said. Burnham said in a statement that “people are sick and tired of rip-off discounts and subscription traps”, where...

Professor Wang Gungwu is regarded internationally as an authority on Chinese history. The 95-year-old is best known for his explorations of Chinese history in the long view, and for his writings on the Chinese diaspora. He has been a professor at the National University of Singapore since 2007 and emeritus professor at the Australian National University since 1988. He was vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong from 1986 to 1995. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other...

As China seeks to reshape the global order, Malaysia’s political instability offers a cautionary tale about the challenges Beijing may face abroad. A recent Pew Research Centre survey found that global perceptions of China have improved relative to those of the US, driven partly by the view among some respondents that China under President Xi Jinping is more reliable than a US led by President Donald Trump. As Washington retreats from global leadership roles, Beijing has sought to present itself...

Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes overnight that killed civilians and injured many others on both sides, local authorities reported on Sunday. Large-scale Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have become almost routine in recent weeks, with Moscow exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptors for the US-made Patriot systems – the sole air defence weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles. In the latest attacks, Ukrainian drones killed five people and injured...

US President Donald Trump signalled on Sunday he is prepared to let economic pressure mount against Iran, apparently backing away from ordering more military strikes even as Tehran issues tough demands. “We are low-keying it,” Trump said, according to the news outlet Axios, which said it spoke to him in a brief phone call. Only a week ago Trump made the latest of his series of threats to hit Iran hard, only to back off, as he presses for a deal to end the war he started along with Israel on...