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1. US-based scientist Valery Fokin wins Vyzov Prize, beating fierce Chinese rivals

   A US-based chemist has been awarded one of Russia’s top science honours, prevailing over a competitive field of applicants from 40 nations, including some of the “strongest applications” from China, according to the prize chair. Valery Fokin, a professor at the University of Southern California (USC), was awarded the Vyzov Prize in the Discovery category for inventing a reaction that redefined...

2. Centrist Hong Kong lawmaker says win will spur more vocal candidates in future polls

   The sole lawmaker-elect of the centrist Roundtable party in Hong Kong has said his victory in the recent Legislative Council election could embolden more moderate and outspoken politicians to contest future polls. Mark Chong Ho-fung also called on the government to strengthen oversight to improve public trust, citing two cases: the bottled water scandal and the use of substandard scaffolding...

3. Japanese drone school develops AI system to track bears amid rise in encounters

   A drone school in northeastern Japan is developing a new system that uses drones and artificial intelligence to identify and automatically track bears amid a surge in bear-related incidents. The new system being developed by D-Academy Tohoku in Gojome, Akita prefecture, will be able to detect bears hidden from view in mountainous or urban areas and share their locations via smartphones. It is...

4. Death toll in Hong Kong fire rises to 161 after new DNA match

   One more person has been confirmed dead in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire, bringing the death toll to 161, the police chief has said, citing results of further forensic analysis. “Further forensic tests found the DNA of another person in one of the bodies, identified as belonging to a couple. This means the death toll has increased to 161,” Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday...

5. African teen who raised Macron’s ire with AI-generated French ‘coup’ video has no regrets

   A Burkinabe teenager who used artificial intelligence to post fake news of a French coup on social media got more than he bargained for. As well as millions of views and tens of thousands of “likes”, he also acquired a certain notoriety – and French President Emmanuel Macron, for one, was not amused. And what he had planned as a moneymaking scheme netted him only €7 (US$8), he said. But he has...

6. More Japanese favour having an empress as Princess Aiko’s public appeal rises

   Nearly 70 per cent of Japanese want the law to be changed to permit an empress, with observers suggesting that the recent emergence of Princess Aiko on the international stage is fanning a groundswell of support for her to become a future monarch. A poll by the conservative Yomiuri Shimbun published last Sunday showed that 69 per cent of respondents favoured revisions to the Imperial Household...

7. US singer marries sultan, Singaporean Chinese ‘least attractive’: 8 viral stories in 2025

   Catch up on some of SCMP’s trendiest stories this year. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. 79-year-old influencer lost 30kg and has bone density of a 20-year-old. How? Joan MacDonald is an unlikely influencer. At nearly 80 years of age, she has garnered 2 million followers on Instagram since she began posting on the platform almost a decade ago....

8. Will Taiwan’s decentralised military model raise more questions than it solves?

   Taiwan’s military has stepped up training in decentralised command and control, aiming to ensure frontline units can operate independently in the event of a sudden attack from Beijing. The shift comes as defence and intelligence officials warn lawmakers that mainland China has significantly expanded its ability to pivot from military exercises to actual combat. This expansion raised the risk...

9. Taiwan intervention may just spell the end of the West

   The horrors of war are so seared into the minds of people that the resultant images in their heads can bias them to picture future conflicts as being like previous ones. The more tragic and terrible the past conflicts, the stronger this bias tends to be. Hollywood films play a big part in such image-making, but some experts themselves may also be so biased, especially if they are of the older...

10. Despite political tensions, Japanese sushi chain Sushiro debuts to huge crowds in Shanghai

    Japan’s Sushiro, the world’s largest conveyor-belt sushi chain, debuted in Shanghai in early December 2025, to much fanfare. People have been queuing hours for a table, with some resorting to buying tickets from scalpers. The popularity of the Osaka-based restaurant chain appears to have not been affected by the recent diplomatic row between China and Japan. The latest spat has led to mass...