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As the birthplace of China’s ruling Communist Party, the city of Shanghai is home to many sites that are important for its history. As the party prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding on July 23, 1921, the city has started a huge public relations push that includes special tours and exhibitions.
China’s swimming superstar, Sun Yang, will still miss the Tokyo Olympic Games in July and August, 2021, despite a shortened doping ban. Sun was banned from the sport after an incident in 2018 where he and members of his entourage were found to have deliberately broken vials of Sun’s blood samples taken by doping ins…
An Indian aviation firm has carried out initial tests of long-range drones for use in delivering medicines including Covid-19 vaccines to hard-to-reach areas. Throttle Aerospace Systems conducted the test flights on June 21, 2021, in India's southwestern state of Karnataka. The company has secured government permits…
A court hearing for two executives of Hong Kong’s tabloid Apple Daily charged under the city's national security law drew crowded outside West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on June 19, 2021. On June 17, police raided the homes of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Ryan Law Wai-kwong, and four others, including publisher…
Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial on June 14, 2021, as the first witnesses took the stand to testify in cases against her, including on charges of illegal possession of walkie-talkie radios and for breaking coronavirus protocols. Min Min Soe, a member of Suu Kyi's legal team, said she appeared s…
China officially passed an anti-sanctions law on June 10, 2021, at a closing session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. While the details of the law are yet to be revealed, the new legislation is expected to provide a legal basis for Beijing to counter foreign sanctions. The US has already slapped…
China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee is expected to pass an anti-sanctions law on June 10, 2021, which will provide a legal framework for retaliation against foreign sanctions and allow Chinese firms to seek compensation. The law would allow Beijing to “safeguard national sovereignty, dignity and co…
Australian scientists have announced the discovery of one of the largest dinosaur species ever, formally named Australotitan cooperensis. Paleontologists believe that the new species was as long as a basketball court and as tall as a two-storey building. The bones were first uncovered more than a decade ago, althoug…
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Katsunobu Kato, said on May 25, 2021 that he believes there is no change in US support for holding the Tokyo Olympics. He spoke a day after the US State Department issued a “do not travel” advisory for Japan, warning American citizens against visiting the country. Other government of…
Armed fighters opposed to Myanmar’s military clashed with troops in the states of Shan and Kayah on May 23, 2021, as attacks against the junta intensified in the country’s east. Local estimates show at least 10,000 people have fled their homes in Kayah state after the latest round of violence. Myanmar’s deposed lead…
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Hong Kong’s incoming Catholic bishop, Stephen Chow, said on May 18, 2021, that he will pray for victims of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown but will also follow the city’s laws. Chow has, in the past, participated in public events to commemorate the June 4 incident. Last year, the annual Tiananmen vigil was banned…
An online petition calling for the cancellation of the Tokyo Olympics because of coronavirus concerns has been submitted to city officials on May 14, 2021. The petition, containing over 350,000 signatures, comes as Japan battles a fourth wave of infections including new variants, and as Tokyo and five other prefectu…
Tensions over a plan to evict Palestinian families from land claimed by Israeli settlers boiled over in violence on May 8-9, 2021, at one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites. Nearly 200 Palestinians were injured by Monday morning in ongoing clashes with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque, near Jerusalem’s walled Old City…
An indigenous community in Taiwan hopes a ruling by the island’s constitutional court will help protect and preserve their hunting traditions. The top court, also known as the Council of Grand Justices, was set to hear a case on May 7, 2021, on whether current hunting limitations placed on the island’s indigenous tr…
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party has suffered a significant setback in a key state election in West Bengal on May 2, 2021. Aggressive campaigning by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the poll was blamed for accelerating the country’s ferocious second wave of coronavirus infections. On the d…
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Trade is only one aspect of the current dispute between China and Australia, according to Bryan Mercurio, a professor of law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who is a specialist in international economic law. Mercurio, who has legal expertise related to the World Trade Organization (WTO), tells the SCMP's poli…
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Bao Choy Yuk-ling, a producer for Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK, was convicted of providing false statements and fined HK$6,000 (US$773) over her use of a government database to make an award-winning documentary critical of how police handled a mob attack at a railway station during the 2019 protests. The ruli…
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Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty of all charges — two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter — in the death of George Floyd. The jury reached a verdict on April 20, 2021, after a trial that lasted three weeks. Floyd was killed during an arrest by Chauvin and three other of…
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After a decade of experimentation, three farmers in Malaysia say they have cracked the code for growing luxury Japanese muskmelons in the country. One of the world’s most expensive fruits, muskmelons thrive in temperate conditions, such as those in Japan. To overcome the challenges of growing them in Malaysia’s trop…
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Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and veteran barrister Martin Lee along with seven other former legislators were given jail sentences at West Kowloon Court on April 16, 2021, over their role in the 2019 anti-government demonstrations. They were charged with organising and taking part in unauthorised assemb…
A joint research team from China and the US created the world's first embryo that was part human, part monkey as a source for organ transplants that some critics say could "open Pandora's Box". A paper published in the scientific journal Cell on April 15, detailed how the researchers grew the mixed embryos – or chim…
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 13, 2021, ordered officials to explore petitioning an international court over Japan’s Fukushima water waste decision. The move came a day after Tokyo unveiled plans to release treated radioactive water from its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, prompting objec…
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat has stepped aside as the designated next leader who would take over when current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong retires. Heng made the unexpected announcement in a letter published in local media on April 8, 2021, prompting a major shake-up of the succession plans of …
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