The number of suspected scams involving unusually high and belated compensation claims for minor or non-existent traffic accidents in Hong Kong has doubled to more than 70 in less than a week, according to the security minister. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung told a radio programme on Sunday that the increase was recorded after publicity ...

China did not slip into outright deflation last year and that in itself matters. When weak global demand, geopolitical frictions and a prolonged property correction weighed heavily on sentiment, consumer prices stayed marginally positive. The latest data suggests an economy not in free fall but navigating a transition towards more balanced and sustainable ...

A Hong Kong-bound Cathay Pacific flight had to return to Kaohsiung after take-off on Sunday morning due to a technical problem, with around 200 passengers affected. A spokesman for Cathay Pacific confirmed flight CX449 returned to the Taiwanese city shortly after departure due to an unspecified technical issue. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience ...

It started out as a family reunion story but soon took a darker turn. A 45-year-old woman identified only by her surname Bu, had lost contact with her family for more than a decade and was found in late 2024 in a rural area in Heshun county in the central Chinese province of Shanxi, more than 100km (62 miles) from her home. Bu had an advanced university ...

A man in China has used more than 2,600 metres of aluminium thread to weave a horse ornament as a gesture to welcome the Year of the Horse. The golden figurine is named Mythical Horse Embracing Auspiciousness according to its creator, Yang Guang. Its front two legs are lifted high, two back legs stand on the ground and its head is turned back. The animals ...

Almost a decade after launching the Vision 2030 programme to diversify its oil-dependent economy, Saudi Arabia is redirecting its spending away from attention-grabbing futuristic urban projects into sectors that hold more promise to deliver results. Since last year, the programme has undergone a review following a US$8 billion writedown at the end of 2024. ...

Marius Borg Hoiby, the son of Norways future queen from a previous relationship, was initially welcomed into the royal family, but now, facing trial accused of four rapes, he has become a liability. The 29-year-old, who was born before his mother Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby married Norways Crown Prince Haakon, goes on trial in Oslos district court on Tuesday ...

Come Thursday, barring a last-minute change, the final treaty in the world that restricted nuclear weapon deployment will be over. New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow after decades of agreements dating to the Cold War, is set to expire, and with it restrictions on the two top nuclear powers. The expiration comes as President ...

The English version of a book about the popular poker-like Chinese card game Guandan has been accepted by libraries at top universities in the United States. The acceptance marks a milestone in efforts to spread knowledge about the game to the world. The Essence of Guandan, or Guandan Xin Fa in Chinese, was written by Yu Mingyang, an economics professor ...

In a new memoir No Borders: Journeys Across Islands And Continents, renowned historian Wang Gungwu traces his life across Malaya, London, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, sharing both personal anecdotes and perspectives on the changes in China and the modern world. In the excerpt below, Wang reflects on his impressions of Singapore after arriving from ...

Elon Musk wants to bring the production of its Optimus robot to the US amid electric carmaker Teslas plan to pivot towards manufacturing humanoids, smart machines that could one day serve as part of the workforce at American factories. That ambitious initiative, however, was expected to remain dependent on Chinas vast and fast-developing robotics supply ...

Indias government dismissed a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Israel made by Jeffrey Epstein in an email in 2017. The US Justice Department released 3 million pages of material related to the late financier, a convicted sex offender, on Friday. In an email addressed to a Y. Jabor in July 2017, Epstein referred to Modis trip to Israel, ...

Hong Kongs security minister has said the city currently faces four primary risks to its national security, with soft resistance being one of the most significant threats. Speaking on a radio programme on Saturday, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung also said the police national security hotline had drawn 1.1 million reports since its inception in ...

As Southeast Asia accelerates into electric vehicle manufacturing, industry leaders in the Philippines say their country risks falling behind neighbours that have moved quickly to support the sector, with policy uncertainty raising doubts about Manilas commitment to long-term growth. Those concerns sharpened last month when President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr ...

Art logistics and storage companies are expanding in Hong Kong with an eye on the Greater Bay Area market, following the governments pledge to make the city a world leader in the art trading sector. Croziers storage space across three locations in the city increased from about 60,000 square feet (5,600 square metres) to 95,000 square feet last year, Ken Ng, ...

Chinese scientists have unveiled a cooling technology that can plunge a liquid cooling medium from room temperature to sub-zero levels in less than half a minute. This leap in thermal engineering offered a promising heat management solution for energy-hungry data centres that were mushrooming across China and the United States, they said. By harnessing the ...

From the principled and the populist to the outright eccentric, Thailand goes to the polls on February 8 with its main prime ministerial candidates wielding lofty promises to turn the countrys flagging fortunes around. Here are the main contenders and some of their policies. Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut Peoples Party Better known as Teng, the former tech ...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday that disgraced former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should testify in the US Congress over what he knows about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epsteins crimes. Asked on the final day of a visit this week to China and Japan whether King Charles brother should answer US lawmakers questions about his ...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMPs journalism by subscribing. Temperatures in Hong Kong fell to 12 degrees Celsius (54 Fahrenheit) on Sunday morning but the coming days are expected to be warmer, with the mercury projected to rise to 24 degrees on Friday, according to the citys ...

The number of Chinese visitors to Japan dropped sharply last month amid a diplomatic row over Taiwan. With Beijing again warning against travel to Japan during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, analysts have been closely watching to see how much damage the slowdown might inflict on the Japanese economy. Though Chinese tourism has plunged, overall visitor ...

More foreign companies have rolled out instant delivery services exclusively for China or upgraded to more comprehensive offerings in the country, as they vie to stand out in the highly digitalised market and cater to consumers strong demand for instant services. Multinationals offering instant delivery now include Swedish furniture retailer Ikea, German ...

Singapores southern holiday island of Sentosa has halted all water activities after a crocodile sighting on Saturday night. The islands main coastal recreational stretches Siloso, Palawan and Tanjong Beach remain open but the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) has banned all water activities, including swimming and kayaking, as wildlife officials ...

Xia Xian, a virologist who was formerly a project scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has left the United States to take up a position studying highly pathogenic viruses which have a strong ability to cause severe disease or illness in infected hosts at his alma mater, Wuhan University, in central China. According to the universitys ...

When Hong Kongs Housing Authority launched the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) in 1998, it embodied the citys aspiration of home ownership for all. Then the chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, envisioned public housing tenants buying their flats at a discount, transforming renters into homeowners. That year, the first batch of 25,000 flats was rolled out. In ...

A woman from central China has made waves by selling courses that teach women the techniques of seductive gazes and flirtation to rejuvenate their marriages. Now in her late 40s, Zhou Yuan, from Changsha, Hunan province, left her career in banking to start a beauty salon before founding the Black and White Sexual Intelligence School. Zhou has become known ...