Accelerating glacial retreat in the Himalayas over the past decades is threatening over 2 billion people in the region who depend on meltwater from the water tower of Asia for their daily needs, according to climate scientists. Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region have been losing ice at twice the rate since 2000, with smaller glaciers under 0.5 ...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said Tehran is ready to facilitate the passage of Japanese vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global energy shipments, and that negotiations with Japan on the issue are ongoing. We have not closed the strait. It is open, Araghchi said in a telephone interview with Kyodo News on Friday. He also ...

Hong Kong authorities will issue weekly announcements about the changes in international and local fuel costs from April, following growing concerns that businesses have prematurely raised prices in response to the United States-Israeli war on Iran. The announcement on Saturday also came after the conflicts impact on oil prices prompted Hong Kongs transport ...

Pancakes are a common breakfast in many parts of China today, but few people are aware that the popular meal has been around for 5,000 years. An ancient griddle unearthed from the Yangshao site in central Chinas Henan province reveals that the history of Chinese pancakes could date back to at least 50 centuries ago. As for their invention, legend has it ...

China has joined the global top-tier timekeeping club with a new optical clock that could help it play a leading role in redefining the second. A team, led by Pan Jianwei at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, has built a strontium optical clock that would lose or gain less than one second over about 30 billion years more than twice ...

As China undergoes a sweeping economic transition, its regions are also in the process of embracing change. The powerhouses of yesteryear must adapt or risk falling behind, as traditional industries become less reliable growth drivers and new sectors take prominence. In this series, we explore three representative areas of the country as they attempt to ...

Mario Orain used to earn his living on the road. Now, the 51-year-old driver spends most of his time parked up, waiting for bookings that rarely come. Its really bad, he told This Week in Asia. There are very few bookings. And fuel prices have gone up a lot. Its very expensive now. With diesel prices in the Philippines shattering record highs amid the war ...

Three weeks into the Iran war, tit-for-tat escalations on multiple fronts have dragged the Middle East to the brink of the region-wide conflict that its governments have repeatedly warned about and tried to avert since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. Israel has launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in recent days, after Hezbollah entered ...

When Uzma Naveed discovered she was a finalist for a global award in Paris, it should have been the proudest moment of her life. Instead, she met the news with what she described as mixed feelings. The 37-year-old refugee from Pakistan was chosen from a pool of 1,500 nominees from 97 different jurisdictions for the national impact category of the 2026 Women ...

Malaysias recent enforcements and cancellations linked to LGBTQ-related activities have ignited debate about whether the government is backsliding on reform. Rather than reading these moves purely as contradicting past administrations policies, these government actions may be better understood as an attempt to balance two political imperatives. For the ...

South Korea shut down the heart of Seoul on Saturday for a comeback concert by K-pop supergroup BTS, as authorities prepare for an estimated 260,000 fans to flood the citys streets and millions more to watch the show live on Netflix. The one-hour-long concert, set to be held in the capitals historic Gwanghwamun Square, marks the release of the seven-member ...

A 31-year-old Georgia woman has been charged with murder after she took abortion medication and gave birth to a premature infant who died within hours, according to court documents and arrest records. Alexia Moore was arrested, charged and jailed by local police earlier this month in coastal Camden County, Georgia, near the Florida border over the episode ...

South Korea built the Cheongung-II to stop North Korean missiles. Now the system is stopping Iranian ones and in doing so, has turned Seoul into one of the most sought-after defence suppliers on the planet. The medium-range surface-to-air missile system, also known as the KM-SAM Block II, has scored a reported interception rate of 96 per cent against ...

As diplomatic friction between China and Japan drags on, no Japanese business executives will attend a key forum in Beijing of multinational companies this week, according to an internal list seen by the South China Morning Post. Nearly 80 top executives from major foreign corporations, with those from the US making up the largest group, will attend the ...

Three Hong Kong police officers fired five shots at a man, suspected to be mentally ill, who charged at them with a serrated knife and a metal rod in the early hours of Saturday morning. Senior Superintendent Iu Wing-kan said that police received reports after midnight that a man was carrying weapons and behaving abnormally at Tsuen Wan MTR station and ...

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) last week proposed its biggest set of listing reforms since 2018 for Asias third-largest stock exchange. Delivered in a consultation paper, the reforms aim to further improve the competitiveness of the exchange that topped the world rankings for initial public offerings (IPOs) last year. The bourse operator will ...

Chinese youth are enthusiastically adopting Japans ita bag fashion accessory style to showcase their admiration for beloved anime and real-life idols, elevating the culture with their imaginative designs. On Chinas popular lifestyle-sharing platform, RedNote, the hashtag #tongbao, which means painful bag (the Chinese translation of ita bag), boasts 2.3 ...

The US Treasury on Friday temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded onto vessels, in Washingtons latest step to stem a supply crisis over the Middle East war. The authorisation allows for the delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil and other petroleum products loaded onto ships before March 20, and will last through April 19, the Treasury ...

Death is the family business for Viroj Suriyasenee, a second-generation Thai funeral director. His bespoke coffins range from plain wooden boxes to ornate creations trimmed in gold with plush red velvet interiors, priced anywhere from US$30 to US$30,000 each one representing a story of loss, grief and a life concluded. They also speak to the sheer scale of ...

Operators of illicit fuel stations can earn as much as HK$10,000 (US$1,280) a day by smuggling untaxed petrol into Hong Kong using vehicles equipped with enlarged tanks and selling it to car club members via coded messages, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said there had been more cases involving illicit fuel or ghost oil in the city since ...

A federal jury in California found on Friday that tech titan Elon Musk misled Twitter shareholders in an effort to drive down the companys share price as he was poised to buy it in a US$44 billion deal. The verdict in a class action securities lawsuit means the worlds richest person could be ordered to pay out as much as US$2.6 billion, according to damages ...

A US federal judge on Friday ruled as unconstitutional a Pentagon press access policy that withdrew accreditations from a host of prominent media organisations. Elements of the policy are unlawful because they violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution, a judge in Washington said in response to a lawsuit brought by The New York ...

The House Select Committee on China released a report on Friday asserting that China is manipulating its position at the United Nations to undermine Americas interests and advance its international ambitions. The 34-page report makes the case that China uses budget contributions, appointments to key UN executive positions and strategically deployed troops ...

During a press conference of the annual two sessions, National Peoples Congress spokesperson Lou Qinjian referenced the grass-roots football league Suchao or Su Super League, which drew millions of spectators in Chinese stadiums last year. At a time when boosting domestic demand tops Beijings economic agenda, discussing an amateur sports tournament at the ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected accusations on Friday that he had intended to offend Christians when he said the previous day that Jesus had no advantage over Genghis Khan. More fake news about my attitude towards Christians, who are protected and flourish in Israel. Let me be clear: I did not denigrate Jesus Christ at my news conference, ...