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Sri Lanka’s High Court has convicted 14 of the 24 men accused of being directly involved in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 279 people. The three-judge bench read out its decision after a five-year trial and said sentencing would take place later. The charges included murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism. Nine others were acquitted, while one defendant was found guilty of only s...
Sri Lanka is set to conclude on Tuesday the trial of 24 men accused of plotting the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, the deadliest attack against civilians in the island’s history. Suicide bombers struck three luxury hotels and three churches on April 21, 2019, killing 279 people, including 45 foreigners. Investigators blame the attack on a home-grown Islamist extremist group. One of 25 men indicted o...
The United States, Japan and South Korea agreed to resist “economic coercion” and emphasised the need for stability in the Taiwan Strait, taking an implicit shot at China just days before President Xi Jinping’s White House summit. The three countries plan new talks on economic security and enhancements to a trilateral supply chain early warning system, according to a statement issued after a meeti...
Senior police official Kelvin Kong Hok-lai has been named head of the force’s National Security Department, succeeding Andrew Kan Kai-yan, who began pre-retirement leave on Tuesday. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu appointed Kong as deputy police commissioner (national security) under Article 16(2) of the national security law. The appointment took effect immediately after Kong took the oath of of...
Hong Kong deserves credit for its first five-year plan, accompanied by a detailed policy address. The plan establishes a useful framework beyond the annual policy cycle. Precisely because this is an important first effort, it is worth asking what could make the framework even stronger. One striking omission is that the five-year plan never explicitly mentions climate change. This does not mean Hon...
The third son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has said he wants to return home for urgent brain surgery. Chakriwat “Than Aong” Vivacharawongse posted a video on social media on Monday saying he had two large brain tumours requiring surgery. The 43-year-old doctor said he wanted to receive treatment in Thailand. “I want to return to Thailand for treatment because Thai doctors are highly capa...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Germany to help steer the European Union away from protectionist measures against China, saying that Beijing and Brussels should not engage in trade wars just days before President Xi Jinping’s high-stakes US visit. “China and the EU are comprehensive strategic partners, and a trade war should not be fought between them,” Wang told his German counterpart ...
Indonesia’s bid for another term on the United Nations’ premier security body stands a good chance of success given Jakarta’s growing global engagement, analysts say, but its balancing act between competing powers could complicate efforts to speak for the Global South. Jakarta’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it would launch its campaign this week for a fifth term as a non-permanent member...
China is attempting to breathe new life into its nearly 20-year-old Han Xin code by promoting a miniaturised version to use on semiconductors, marking the latest chapter in Beijing’s long-running attempt to secure a foothold for its home-grown standards in global industrial supply chains. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said on Monday that the “Micro Han Xin” code – a scaled-...
Residents of a wide swathe of eastern Japan were picking up the pieces on Tuesday after Typhoon Dujuan tore through the area the previous day, causing extensive flooding, landslides, power outages, flight cancellations and at least four deaths. Nearly 2 million people were instructed to evacuate their homes in low-lying coastal areas, or be prepared to move at short notice, after the Japan Meteoro...
A Hong Kong man with a mental disability has been sentenced to an indefinite period in a psychiatric hospital for stabbing two women to death in a frenzied knife attack at a shopping centre three years ago. The High Court on Tuesday ordered former warehouse worker Szeto Sing-kwong to receive mandatory psychiatric treatment and supervision at Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre in Tuen Mun, noting that he c...
Inside a brightly lit cleanroom at Chungbuk Semiconductor High School in South Korea, a group of teenagers in head-to-toe protective suits carefully handled silicon wafers, learning the same production processes used in commercial chip plants. About half of the school’s graduates head straight to large companies such as Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix without ever setting foot in a university clas...
Cambodia is set to present the outcome of its crackdown on scams to global governments and security agencies gathering in Phnom Penh this week. Yet questions remain over where the missing billions have gone – as well as the role of the country’s elite, who for many years denied the problem existed at all on Cambodian soil. Scam compounds took over declining mega-casinos during the pandemic. As bor...
At least four Hong Kong kindergartens will hold Mid-Autumn Festival open days and parties on reunion night, sparking criticism that teachers are being forced to work overtime as schools compete for pupils amid falling enrolment. In response to the South China Morning Post, a spokesman for the Education Bureau said on Monday that preschools should maintain good communication with stakeholders, incl...
A Venezuelan national shot and wounded by a US immigration agent in Texas was jailed with the bullet still inside his body, his lawyer said Monday. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, told reporters he was delivering an order for DoorDash on Sunday when his vehicle was rammed by an ICE agent and he was shot. “I’m in a lot of pain because the shot fractured my clavicle and at the hospital where they to...
China has broken ground on the world’s first utility-scale combined supercritical carbon dioxide power generation and molten salt energy storage project, which could help reduce energy waste and improve grid stability. On September 16, construction began on the Ruitan demonstration project at China Huaneng’s Bajiao power station in Yantai. The project in Shandong province, eastern China, is expect...
Believing that a lorry driver in the same neighbourhood had punctured his tyres, a private-hire driver twice left urine and faeces outside his neighbour’s flat in Singapore. Martin Chua Kim Soon, a 67-year-old Singaporean, was fined S$5,000 (US$3,920) by a court on Tuesday. He paid the fine in full after pleading guilty to two counts of insulting behaviour under the Protection from Harassment Act....
Hong Kong authorities have expanded their search radius to capture stray dogs and installed new surveillance cameras in the area where a suspected fatal canine attack took place, in a bid to “completely remove” safety risks in the neighbourhood. The heightened measures came three days after a 27-year-old woman was found dead on a cycling path in Yuen Long after being chased by three dogs. She suff...
A woman in China, who dedicated over two decades to her career as a doctor, made a surprising choice three years ago to leave her profession and open a steamed stuffed bun store. As time passed, her store not only survived but flourished in the competitive food industry, prompting her to launch a second outlet in July. “When I was a doctor, the thought of quitting often crossed my mind. Now, runni...
We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. South Korean killer’s drone escape from Philippine prison foiled by test footage A South Korean crime lord convicted of murder in the Philippines reportedly planned to es...
When state television aired footage in July of a Type 052D destroyer launching a YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship missile it signalled a significant expansion of the Chinese navy’s long-range strike power. The missile had previously been associated with China’s larger Type 055 destroyers. Showing it fired from a Type 052D – a class the People’s Liberation Army has built in far greater numbers – suggests...
The US and China continue to wrangle over extending the 2025 Busan trade agreement just hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for a state visit, even as they report progress on implementing a narrow tariff-reduced trade mechanism. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Monday blamed China for creating “uncertainty” over the pact’s extension, saying Beijing was still ho...
Malaysia’s Sabah state has ordered a full investigation into the Semporna resort where a female tourist from China was allegedly molested and assaulted inside her room by an intruder early last Saturday. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Jafry Ariffin said he instructed tourism authorities and enforcement agencies to investigate the security lapses that led to the incident and the re...
A man accused of killing 16 people in a remote part of Brazil avoided capture by hiding in the woods, the police investigator responsible for his arrest said on Monday. Douglas Garcia, the investigator who led the two-day pursuit for 33-year-old Jorlan Lopes da Silva that ended on September 13, told Associated Press that the suspect used to hide in the thick bush in his own makeshift camps. The ki...
When Tung Chee-hwa died, the obituaries predictably described a Hong Kong shipping mogul who became the city’s first postcolonial chief executive. How his government navigated the Asian financial crisis and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic and its retreat from Article 23 were highlighted. There was less attention paid to the political hybrid he embodied. Tung sat as vice-chairman ...
When Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets US President Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, the leader casting the longest shadow over the meeting will not even be in the building. Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington on Thursday – two days after Takaichi meets the US leader on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. It will be Xi’s first state visit to ...
Animal welfare groups in Hong Kong have called for closing a legal loophole in pet ownership laws to better protect public safety, as authorities pledged to review stray dog policies following Sunday’s suspected fatal mauling of a woman. The groups suggested that, based on their experience, the 27-year-old victim was likely attacked by former warehouse guard dogs rather than strays. But existing l...
Purpose-built student accommodation is drawing mainland Chinese university students away from Hong Kong’s traditional rental market, as professionally managed residences gain favour despite charging higher rents than many private flats. Some students said dedicated student housing offered greater convenience, stronger security, more predictable costs and a better living environment, helping offset...
More than 200 Japanese companies still operating in Russia face growing uncertainty following Moscow’s seizure of three Western firms’ assets, amid deteriorating diplomatic relations. The Kremlin announced on Friday that the assets of Swiss food giant Nestlé, French retailer Auchan and home improvement chain Lemana Pro had been transferred to Russian entity LEV Management under a decree signed a d...
