https://www.scmp.com/rss/523637/feed The latest news and top stories on Associated Press. A leading entity in the media sector, New York City-based Associated Press (AP) specialises in providing comprehensive news reports including articles, photos, video and audio. It primarily serves its cooperative members, international subscribers and a growing direct-to-consumer audience via APNews.com, and is known for its independent fact-based journalism, operating in nearly 100 countries and winning 59 Pulitzer Prizes. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Associated Press Associated Press In areas of southern Lebanon it has occupied since agreeing last week to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been destroying homes it says were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group. But the demolitions were happening on such a wide scale that residents, Lebanese officials and UN peacekeepers were increasingly worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war would have nowhere to return if the fragile truce holds. From a hill overlooking Beit Lif - about... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3351107/lebanon-confront-israel-over-demolition-homes-occupied-areas-ceasefire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3351107/lebanon-confront-israel-over-demolition-homes-occupied-areas-ceasefire?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:21:56 +0000 Reuters Reuters A US judge in Washington ruled ⁠on Thursday that the Pentagon is ⁠hampering journalists in defiance of a court order that required it to restore access to credentialled reporters covering the seat of US military power. US District Judge Paul Friedman said the Defence Department must comply with his earlier order that sided with The New York Times newspaper and other news organisations ‌challenging restrictions imposed on them last year. “The Department cannot simply reinstate an unlawful policy... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3349574/us-judge-orders-pentagon-restore-press-access-credentialed-reporters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3349574/us-judge-orders-pentagon-restore-press-access-credentialed-reporters?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Apr 2026 22:40:07 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The Pentagon has flouted a court order blocking it from enforcing a policy limiting news reporters’ access to the Defence Department’s headquarters, a lawyer for The New York Times asserted on Monday in urging a federal judge to compel the government’s compliance with the 10-day-old order. US District Judge Paul Friedman did not immediately rule from the bench after hearing a second round of arguments from lawyers for the newspaper and the Trump administration. The New York Times claims Pentagon... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3348453/new-york-times-accuses-pentagon-flouting-judges-order-blocking-its-press-access-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3348453/new-york-times-accuses-pentagon-flouting-judges-order-blocking-its-press-access-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:59:51 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The role of Israel’s hijacking of Iran’s street cameras in the killing of the country’s supreme leader underscores how surveillance systems are increasingly being targeted by adversaries in wartime. Hundreds of millions of cameras have been installed above shops, in homes and on street corners across the world, many connected to the internet and poorly secured. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have enabled militaries and intelligence agencies to sift through vast amounts of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3347633/iran-built-camera-network-control-dissent-israel-made-it-targeting-tool?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3347633/iran-built-camera-network-control-dissent-israel-made-it-targeting-tool?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:34:02 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse 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 Times. US media and a host of international news outlets including Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Fox News declined to sign... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3347398/us-judge-rules-restrictive-pentagon-press-access-unconstitutional?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3347398/us-judge-rules-restrictive-pentagon-press-access-unconstitutional?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2026 23:09:02 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out a deadly missile strike on a junior school in Iran that killed over 165 people, many of them children, in the opening hours of the conflict, according to a US official and a second person briefed on findings of a preliminary US military investigation into the incident. The bombing of the school and its casualties involving children has become a focal point of the war, and if ultimately confirmed to be at the hands of the US,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3346300/outdated-intelligence-us-faces-mounting-evidence-deadly-strike-iran-school?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3346300/outdated-intelligence-us-faces-mounting-evidence-deadly-strike-iran-school?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Mar 2026 03:52:03 +0000 Raissa Robles Raissa Robles A visiting forces military deal to be signed between the Philippines and France has put the focus on “operational intimacy”, with observers noting that Paris has a presence in the Indo-Pacific and would serve Manila’s interests well in the contested waters of the South China Sea. The term was coined by French Ambassador to Manila Marie Fontanel, during a freewheeling discussion on Tuesday at her residence. In a bid to balance the implications of the alliance – a first for the Philippines with a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3340187/philippines-france-near-defence-pact-boost-operational-intimacy-contested-waters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3340187/philippines-france-near-defence-pact-boost-operational-intimacy-contested-waters?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:38:13 +0000 Reuters Reuters US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Iranians to keep protesting and remember the names of those abusing them, saying help is on the way, as Iran’s clerical establishment pressed its crackdown against ‍the biggest demonstrations in years. Iran in turn accused Trump of encouraging political destabilisation and inciting violence. “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! … HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, without saying what that help might... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3339787/trump-tells-iranians-help-its-way-protest-death-toll-hits-2000?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3339787/trump-tells-iranians-help-its-way-protest-death-toll-hits-2000?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Jan 2026 15:16:38 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Muhammad Ali once joked that he should be a postage stamp because “that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked”. Now, the three-time heavyweight champion’s quip is becoming a reality. Widely regarded as the most famous and influential boxer of all time, and a cultural force who fused athletic brilliance with political conviction and showmanship, Ali is being honoured for the first time with a commemorative US postage stamp. “As sort of the guardian of his legacy, I’m thrilled. I’m excited. I’m... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3339636/muhammad-alis-legacy-lives-new-us-postage-stamp-nearly-decade-after-his-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3339636/muhammad-alis-legacy-lives-new-us-postage-stamp-nearly-decade-after-his-death?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Jan 2026 16:00:18 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press In the wake of last weekend’s US military action in Venezuela, the US news media got something it has seldom heard from the Trump administration: a “thank you”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited news organisations that had learned in advance about last Saturday’s strike that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with not putting the mission in jeopardy by publicly reporting on it before it happened. Rubio’s acknowledgement was particularly noteworthy because US Defence... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338899/trump-team-praises-us-media-keeping-its-venezuela-raid-plan-secret?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3338899/trump-team-praises-us-media-keeping-its-venezuela-raid-plan-secret?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Jan 2026 07:38:28 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed this year worldwide, with 29 Palestinian reporters slain by its forces in Gaza. In its annual report, the Paris-based media freedom group said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year, slightly up from the 66 killed in 2024. Israeli forces accounted for 43 per cent of the total, making them “the worst enemy of journalists”, RSF said in its report, which... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3335740/rsf-says-israel-killed-highest-number-journalists-again-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3335740/rsf-says-israel-killed-highest-number-journalists-again-year?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Dec 2025 08:27:20 +0000 Ng Kang-chung,William Zheng Ng Kang-chung,William Zheng Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong has met representatives from foreign media outlets in the city and warned them against crossing “red lines”, following reports it said smeared the government’s fire relief efforts and attacked the Legislative Council election. According to sources, foreign media outlets that were requested to attend the meeting included Agence France-Presse, the Financial Times, The New York Times and Associated Press. Bloomberg News reported it also attended. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3335466/beijing-warns-foreign-media-hong-kong-over-crossing-red-lines-during-meeting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3335466/beijing-warns-foreign-media-hong-kong-over-crossing-red-lines-during-meeting?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Dec 2025 12:50:31 +0000 Reuters Reuters The New York Times sued the US Department of Defence and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Thursday in an effort to force the Pentagon to abandon its restrictive new press policy, the latest attempt by a US news organisation to reclaim access to government spaces. The press policy, enacted last month, requires journalists to acknowledge that they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some types... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3335246/new-york-times-sues-pentagon-hegseth-over-press-access-policy-free-speech-rights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3335246/new-york-times-sues-pentagon-hegseth-over-press-access-policy-free-speech-rights?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Dec 2025 14:51:52 +0000 dpa dpa The mystery surrounding a photo of a dapperly dressed young man, presumed to be a detective, taken in front of the Louvre in Paris just after thieves ran off with millions in jewels, has been solved. He is a 15-year-old from a Parisian suburb who had nothing to do with the investigation and was just trying to visit the world-famous museum with his mother that day, according to recent reports by German news magazine Der Spiegel and Associated Press, the news agency that took the photo. The man,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3332132/louvres-mystery-detective-suburban-teen-not-paris-sleuth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3332132/louvres-mystery-detective-suburban-teen-not-paris-sleuth?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Nov 2025 01:49:16 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Satellite images analysed on Wednesday appear to show mass burials being conducted in El-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized it, further raising concerns about the scale of the violence that descended on the city. The images of El-Fasher come as the two-year war grinds on in Sudan despite growing international outrage, with local media and the United Nations reporting a drone strike targeting a funeral in another city called El-Obeid, killing at... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3331722/sudan-satellite-images-point-horrors-seized-city-el-fasher?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3331722/sudan-satellite-images-point-horrors-seized-city-el-fasher?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Nov 2025 04:53:57 +0000 Reuters Reuters A new White House rule issued on Friday restricts the ability of credentialed journalists to freely access the offices of press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other top communications officials in the West Wing, near the Oval Office. The new memorandum from the National Security Council bans journalists from accessing Room 140, also known as “Upper Press”, without a prior appointment, citing the need to protect potentially sensitive material. It said the change would take effect immediately. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3331144/no-appointment-no-entry-white-house-press-officials-rooms-latest-trump-edict?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3331144/no-appointment-no-entry-white-house-press-officials-rooms-latest-trump-edict?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Nov 2025 01:20:00 +0000 Reuters Reuters At least 30 news organisations declined to sign a new Pentagon access policy for journalists, warning of the potential for less comprehensive coverage of the world’s most powerful military ahead of a Tuesday deadline to accept new restrictions. The policy requires journalists to acknowledge new rules on press access, including that they could be branded security risks and have their Pentagon press badges revoked if they ask department employees to disclose classified and some types of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3329041/major-us-news-outlets-reject-new-pentagon-press-access-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3329041/major-us-news-outlets-reject-new-pentagon-press-access-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Oct 2025 02:00:16 +0000