Hundreds of protesters rallied in New York to support the millions of people who marched through the streets to demand a full withdrawal of the extradition bill. Frances Hui, a student from Hong Kong who’s now studying in the US, told the Post why Hongkongers overseas feel the urge to unite in support of their home city.

Major US agriculture states including Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois are bracing for one of the wettest planting seasons in more than a hundred years. For Lake Benton, a small town of 683 people in southern Minnesota, the stress is compounded by a plunge in prices and an escalating US-China trade war that has grounded the soybean trade to a virtual halt. The double blow of flooding and tariffs has hit farmers like Jon and Bob Worth, but they say they are willing to endure the short-term pain to support President Donald Trump.

Demonstrators around the globe rallied in support of a huge Hong Kong protest against a proposed change to the city’s extradition law.

San Francisco became the first US city to ban local police use of facial recognition technology. The ban does not apply to personal, business or federal government use. It’s part of broader oversight legislation that orders local agencies to spell out details of any surveillance currently in use. Supporters say facial recognition technology is a serious threat to civil rights. Opponents say it helps fight crimes.

Zumret and Humar Isaac lost contact with their parents in November 2018. Since then, the two Uygur sisters from Xinjiang, China, have been on a quest to find out what happened. A phone call from someone claiming to work for the community affairs centre led the sisters to believe that their parents were sent to one of Xinjiang’s “re-education” facilities, where according to the UN, an estimated one million Uygurs are being held. The sisters launched a social media campaign calling for their release. In late March, their parents resurfaced and resumed contact, but the sisters were left with more questions than answers.

A Chinese student’s family allegedly paid consultant William ‘Rick’ Singer US$6.5 million to get her into Stanford University. Zhang Yusi is one of several Chinese students caught up in a US college admission scandal. A video of Zhao from 2017, before she started school, has resurfaced on Chinese social media. “I tested into Stanford through my own hard work,” she says in the footage. US prosecutors say Singer fabricated Zhao’s athletic accomplishments and donated US$500,000 to the Stanford sailing team after her acceptance. Zhao’s mother said in a statement she was “misled” into donating to Singer’s charity which he presented to her as a legitimate non-profit foundation funding student scholarships at Stanford.

In this tiny village deep in the mountains of western Japan, the streets are often void of people. Yet, Nagoro appears busy with life-sized dolls, which outnumber living humans 10 to one. Ayano Tsukimi, a 69-year-old villager, has been making them to counter the emptiness and loneliness in Nagoro. Like many other Japanese villages, Nagoro has been decimated by depopulation. Japan has been struggling to manage its shrinking population, low birth rate and long life expectancy.

The University of Minnesota has suspended ties with Chinese tech giant Huawei in February, shortly after ending a nearly 10-year relationship with the Confucius Institute, a Chinese government programme promoting its language and culture overseas. As China-US relations hit a new low, Washington accuses Beijing of using organisations like Huawei and the Confucius Institute to undermine American interests. For the University of Minnesota, it’s a choice between rejecting these organisations or losing federal government funding. SCMP visited Minnesota to find out how the decision impacts the faculty and students.

A gunman rampaged through two mosques during afternoon prayers, killing 49 worshippers and wounding dozens more in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15. The attack shocked the Muslim population in New Zealand and the rest of world. Many countries have condemned the grotesque attack and some reacted with protests.

Overdoses linked to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, killed nearly 30,000 people in the United States in 2017. Authorities say most fentanyl sold in the state of Pennsylvania can be traced back to China. We went to Kensington, an area considered a “ground zero” of America’s opioid crisis, in the Pennsylvanian city of Philadelphia, to find out how a drug funneled through from China is fueling a health crisis half a world away.

China’s petitioners try to solve their problems by directly contacting major authority figures – but they have little chance of success. Instead, some, like 54-year-old Bai Jiemen of Shanghai, go to great lengths to catch the attention of Chinese officials visiting the US. But Bai’s attempt to reach the motorcade of Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, who was in Washington for trade talks in January, led to a US Secret Service officer being injured. Bai may now face more than seven years of jail time for allegedly assaulting the officer.

Millions of Chinese families tuned in to watch the Spring Festival Gala on the eve of Lunar New Year. The five-hour-long variety show features music, dance and skits produced by state broadcaster CCTV. It’s been ranked the most viewed entertainment show in the world, garnering more than one billion viewers in 2018. Watching the gala has been a new year ritual since the 1980s for many Chinese, including those overseas. But this year, many complained that the performances were outdated and too political.

US businessman Chris Alonzo grows 19 million pounds of mushrooms a year on his family farm called Pietro Mushrooms in Chester County, Pennsylvania. At the invitation of China’s Funan county, Alonzo is building a mushroom farm even bigger than his own in eastern China’s Anhui province. He wants to teach Chinese farmers how to grow mushrooms with higher food safety and productivity standards. Alonzo talks to the SCMP about his thoughts on foreign companies’ fear of forced technology transfers in China and why he wants to eventually build a US$200 million US-China joint venture despite rising trade tensions between the two countries.

Overdoses linked to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, killed nearly 30,000 people in the United States in 2017. Authorities say most fentanyl sold in the state of Pennsylvania can be traced back to China. We spoke to Anja Lesniak, a 21-year-old woman living in an area considered a “ground zero” of America’s opioid crisis – Kensington, in the Pennsylvanian city of Philadelphia – about her fight against fentanyl addiction.

Over the past decade, Beijing has regressed on market reform and trade practices in a way that is “very disturbing”, according to Charlene Barshefsky, the former US trade representative who helped China join the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In a wide-ranging interview with SCMP about China’s economic growth and relations with Washington, Barshefsky points to Beijing’s deviation from market principles and inaction by previous US administrations for contributing to the current impasse.

A mysterious bird has become one of New York’s most unlikely attractions. The beautiful male Mandarin duck caught the attention of bird watchers in Central Park in October. Soon after, one of the surprised visitors – David Barrett, who runs the Twitter account Manhattan Bird Alert – posted a video of the fowl online, and it immediately went viral. Now the duck is drawing flocks of fans from all over the US, attracted by his feisty personality and the mystery of how a bird native to East Asia made it to middle of Manhattan.

China’s largest online music entertainment platform, Tencent Music Entertainment, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, 2018. Betty Liu, the NYSE executive vice chairman, told South China Morning Post that US investors are still bullish on Chinese tech IPOs despite trade tensions. She also said that many Chinese technology start-ups are pivoting to Southeast Asia and away from the United States in their expansion plans, in a clear shift to avoid getting in the middle of the trade war.

A second Canadian has been detained in China on accusations of “endangering national security”. China confirmed on December 13 that Michael Spavor, a businessman who runs tours from China to North Korea, is being held for investigation. Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig, another Canadian and former diplomat, on December 10, following rising tensions over the high-profile arrest of Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of China’s tech giant Huawei.

Chinese police have detained a prominent pastor and more than 100 worshippers in a crackdown on “illegal” religious assemblies. Coordinated raids were carried out in Chengdu the evening of December 9 as the Early Rain Covenant Church gathered for service. Among those held was prominent church leader Wang Yi, who had met US president George W. Bush at the White House in 2006. Tens of millions of Chinese Christians worship at independent, unregistered churches like Early Rain.

A Chinese researcher claims that he has helped make the world's first genetically modified babies, Lulu and Nana. The researcher, He Jiankui, says the twin girls’ DNA was altered with the CRISPR gene-editing tool to switch off an HIV-related gene so they would be born with an immunity to HIV viruses. Chinese health regulators have said they were “in the dark”  about the experiment until it was announced and have launched an investigation. He’s announcement also triggered a flood of condemnation from scientists at home and abroad.

Tens of thousands of supporters across Taiwan gathered to cheer for the candidates they support on Friday ahead of voting day. Key races include mayoral offices in the capital, Taipei, and southern port of Kaohsiung, where the Nationalists and ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were fighting for votes alongside independent candidates and those from smaller parties. President Tsai Ing-wen appealed to supporters for help to safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy by casting their votes. A total of 19 million voters on the island of more than 23 million are expected to cast their ballots for more than 11,000 local officials.

As people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving, a Chinese restaurant in New York City is trying to entice their customers with what they call ‘Peking turkeys’. Joe Ng, the head chef of RedFarm, came up with the idea of roasting turkeys ‘peking duck’ style. He roasts young, fresh turkeys stuffed with Chinese herbs to give them more flavour. Pancakes can be used to wrap up the meat with four different sauces. RedFarm sells up to 90 turkeys a year.

California's deadliest wildfires have caused 59 deaths across the state. Most of those unaccounted for are from the Butte County town of Paradise, in northern California, which was virtually erased from the map. A search team of hundreds of people poured into northern California communities on November 14, searching for human remains as the authorities tried to track down 130 people who are still missing after the blaze.

Large groups of Central American migrants, part of the caravan hoping to reach the US border, got rides on various vehicles on Sunday in central Mexico. US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation last week that will bar migrants who cross the US-Mexico border illegally from receiving asylum in the United States, but migrants are still heading north to take their chances.

A gunman, identified as the 28-year-old Ian David Long, killed 12 people, including a sheriff’s sergeant, in a bar in Southern California on the evening of November 7. Long was found dead at the scene. The shooting happened at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles from Los Angeles. It was crowded with more than 100 people, many of whom were college students. The authorities said the motive for the shooting remains unknown.

A dramatic election night on November 6 concluded with Democrats winning back the House after eight years in the minority and Republicans keeping the Senate. US President Donald Trump has lauded the results as a major victory for the Republicans, but Democrats are hopeful a majority in the House will bring checks and balances to the current administration. Democratic Party supporters also celebrated a record number of women from diverse background who are now serving in the House.

China was grilled over its mass detention of Uygur minorities in Xinjiang during a UN human rights review in Geneva on November 6. Delegates from Britain, France, Germany and the United States voiced deep concern about China's so-called "vocational training centres", which they said aim to strip the Uygurs of their religion and ethnic identity. But Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng touted China's progress on rights issues at the meeting, calling the accusations “politically driven” and “far from facts”.

The stars from the box-office hit ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ gathered in Beverly Hills on November 4th for the Hollywood Film Awards to tease a sequel. Originally there was concern the portrayal of decadent super-rich lives would have a hard time passing China’s government censors, but ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is set to release in China on November 30, much later than the rest of the world. Actors are hopeful they can film the sequel in China, where the story takes place.

Hong Kong legendary movie producer Raymond Chow Man-wai passed away at the age of 91 on Friday. He was famous for launching martial arts and kung-fu superstars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan onto the international stage. Chow co-founded Golden Harvest, which produced hundreds of movie classics and spearheaded the golden era of Hong Kong’s film industry.