Japans sharp reduction in funding for a leading international body fighting infectious diseases risks damaging Tokyos credibility and long-held peace diplomacy, in a move analysts say could give China an opening to expand its influence across developing nations. The Switzerland-based Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, established in 2002, ...

A cluster of tremors off Japans northeastern coast has raised alarms among seismologists, as a new government study warns that up to 199,000 people could be killed if a magnitude-9 earthquake strikes. The most recent quake, a magnitude 4.9 offshore tremor recorded on Sunday evening near Miyako in Iwate prefecture, was small and caused no reported damage. ...

Beijing has imposed sanctions on Shigeru Iwasaki, former chief of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defence Forces, for colluding with the separatist forces in Taiwan, the foreign ministry said on Monday. Beijing lodged a protest with Tokyo in March over the appointment of Iwasaki as an honorary adviser to the Executive Yuan, the Taiwanese governments ...

Chinas economic indicators logged a further slowdown in November, with consumption and investment showing renewed signs of strain, while the property downturn continued to weigh on overall momentum. Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer spending, grew in November by 1.3 per cent, year on year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics ...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMPs journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. Three Hong Kong judges who presided over former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-yings high-profile national security trial for more than 1 years are set to ...

Chinas artificial intelligence still needs to improve in six aspects, from ecosystem to funding, but the emergence of DeepSeek has significantly boosted the sectors confidence in overcoming US restrictions, according to a mainland venture capital firm. China and the US were the two top players in global AI development, with the former leading in humanoid ...

The dust has settled and Hong Kongs eighth Legislative Council is getting ready, with new lawmakers finding their way. There were quite a few surprises, looking at the results. With many new candidates and political groups vying for seats, the contest for the directly elected geographical constituencies was highly competitive. Some candidates were fielded ...

A woman in China, who spent eight million yuan (US$1 million) on cosmetic surgery to make her look like the actress Fan Bingbing, has been forced to change her life after the stars reputation collapsed. The woman even married a man who had surgery so he could resemble Fans then boyfriend, Li Chen. He Chengxi, 31, is from a wealthy family in Shenzhen, ...

The world has not slid into a simple USChina bipolar order but has become two superpowers and many strong powers, veteran Peking University scholar Wang Jisi has warned, pointing to a relationship plagued by structural confrontation, deep misunderstandings and rising risks of conflict. In a wide-ranging virtual conversation on Friday at the University of ...

A bystander who rushed towards and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach attackers has won praise from leaders around the world. Extraordinary footage of the civilians actions began circulating on social media on Sunday, shortly after two men, later identified as a father and son, started shooting into a crowd gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah. The ...

Geely Auto, mainland Chinas second-largest carmaker by sales, has doubled down on its push to improve vehicle reliability by launching a 2 billion yuan (US$283.5 million) facility for safety tests, bucking the trend of price competition in the worlds largest automotive market. The centre, the worlds largest of its kind, reflected Geelys determination to ...

Christmas celebrations will be muted in Hong Kong following the citys deadliest fire in seven decades, business leaders say, as they try to balance the need to generate revenue with public mourning for the 160 victims. After the inferno that tore through Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on November 26, many parties, gatherings, concerts and ceremonies were either ...

Chilean voters elected the most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy on Sunday, with official results showing arch-conservative Jose Antonio Kast with a thumping victory and his rival quickly conceding defeat. With about 80 per cent of the votes counted, Kast had 58 per cent of the vote, an unassailable lead over Jeannette Jara, a Communist Party ...

As the holiday season approaches in the United States, the rush for Christmas gifts is straining manufacturers thousands of kilometres away in Southeast Asia, where supply chain shocks triggered by US tariffs are hitting exports of everything from mittens and headphones to toys. Manufacturers have spent much of the past year trying to adapt to the tariffs, ...

Taiwanese brand Nap Tea drew long lines when it opened its first Hong Kong store in Mong Kok in February. The chain has since expanded aggressively, opening its ninth outlet in the city this month. What truly surprised us was our breakthrough in quickly building a loyal base of repeat customers, said co-founder Dan Lin. Rent is indeed a major challenge in ...

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said there is no plan for a ceasefire as the country reported the first civilian death from a Cambodian rocket attack after eight days of intense fighting. There was no plan nor agreement by the Thai government for a ceasefire with our enemy as of 10 p.m. last night, Anutin wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday, after ...

There has been no contact with Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi since her arrest in Iran at the end of last week, her supporters said on Sunday, urging the Islamic republic to release the campaigner and dozens of others arrested alongside her. Mohammadi, who won the 2023 Nobel Prize, was detained on Friday after addressing a memorial ...

Liu Cixin is the most influential contemporary science fiction writer in China. He is best known for his trilogy that starts with The Three-Body Problem, for which he won a Hugo Award for best novel in 2015. The trilogy earned international acclaim and has been adapted for television in both Chinese and English. Born in 1963 and raised in Shanxi, Liu ...

World leaders voiced horror and revulsion at Sundays mass shooting in which 15 people were killed and dozens injured at Sydneys Bondi Beach. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the shocking and distressing attack, which Australian police are calling a terrorist incident, was beyond comprehension, after assailants fired on a gathering celebrating ...

Farmers sprayed manure on government offices and kept up roadblocks in southern France on Sunday in protest against a mass cull of cows as officials urged Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to urgently intervene. Many farmers in southern and southwest France have been incensed by the use of police force and the governments mass slaughter policy to contain the ...

Following the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Australia of not taking decisive action to tackle antisemitism. Netanyahu said in a statement that he had warned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a letter four months ago, stating that the Australian governments ...

Egypt on Sunday revealed the revamp of two colossal statues of a prominent pharaoh in the southern city of Luxor, the latest in the governments archaeological events that aim at drawing more tourists to the country. The giant alabaster statues, known as the Colossi of Memnon, were reassembled in a renovation project that lasted about two decades. They ...

Days after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and sparking the devastating war in Gaza, an inverted red triangle was spray-painted on the front of a Jewish bakery in Sydney. It was the first of a string of antisemitic incidents in Australia. Sixteen months and thousands of arson, firebombing, graffiti and hate-speech incidents ...

President Volodymyr Zelensky has signalled that Ukraine could accept security guarantees from the US and Europe as a way to prevent future Russian aggression, and substitute for its long-term goal of joining Nato. Kyiv, which for years has seen membership in the alliance as a way to ensure its future security, has altered its rhetoric amid continued ...

The odds seemed impossible: a shoestring Chinese start-up founded in 2023 with just 1 million yuan (US$142,000) taking on Elon Musk tech legend, disrupter in space and CEO of Tesla who is valued at half a trillion dollars. But in less than two years, EngineAI Robotics, led by CEO Zhao Tongyang, created the T800 a robot that delivers Bruce Lee-style ...