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Two decades into an insurgency that has killed thousands in southern Thailand, a leader of the main Malay–Muslim separatist group has vowed to keep fighting until it achieves its goals. “This struggle will continue until the end of time,” Nikmatullah Seri, the spokesman for the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) peace negotiation delegation, said in a rare interview. “As long as our objectives remain...
A Hong Kong IT analyst has been remanded in custody after being charged with killing his wife in a flat at a private residential estate two days ago. Wong Chi-kwong, 51, was brought to Eastern Court for the first time on Friday to face a count of murder. Police arrested him on Wednesday after his wife, 53-year-old Wong Yuk-ting, was found dead in a flat in block 2 of Heng Fa Chuen estate in Chai W...
Saudi Arabia faces a “humiliating dilemma” after the United States refused to militarily intervene to prevent the Iran-aligned Houthi militia from tightening its blockade of the kingdom’s key backup maritime trade route with Asia, according to analysts. US President Donald Trump on September 12 dismissed the Houthi seizure of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast as a problem that “only affects one country...
Saudi Arabia faces a “humiliating dilemma” after the United States refused to militarily intervene to prevent the Iran-aligned Houthi militia from tightening its blockade of the kingdom’s key backup maritime trade route with Asia, according to analysts. US President Donald Trump on September 12 dismissed the Houthi seizure of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast as a problem that “only affects one country...
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond 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. China launches Pinglu Canal, slashing transit time to Southeast Asia China officially opened its landmark Pinglu Canal to navigation o...
Malaysia’s Pardons Board on Friday agreed to allow disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak to serve out the remainder of his jail term under house arrest. King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar granted Najib a “conditional pardon”, where the former leader is required to settle his 50 million ringgit (US$12.3 million) fine before he can be transferred to his home to complete his sentence, due to end on A...
Malaysia’s Pardons Board on Friday agreed to allow disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak to serve out the remainder of his jail term under house arrest. King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar granted Najib a “conditional pardon”, where the former leader is required to settle his 50 million ringgit (US$12.3 million) fine before he can be transferred to his home to complete his sentence, due to end on A...
Malaysia’s Pardons Board on Friday agreed to allow disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak to serve out the remainder of his jail term under house arrest. King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar granted Najib a “conditional pardon”, where the former leader is required to settle his 50 million ringgit (US$12.3 million) fine before he can be transferred to his home to complete his sentence. “He must abide...
Some residents have started paying tribute to Hong Kong’s first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa on Friday morning, bringing flowers and writing heartfelt messages in condolence books placed at three community halls across the city. The condolence signing is arranged for the public a day ahead of Tung’s vigil on Saturday, followed by a state funeral on Sunday. “Chief Executive Tung, you devoted yours...
The Trump administration has approved visas for top Iranian officials, including the president and foreign minister, to attend next week’s UN General Assembly high-level meeting in New York even as the two countries are locked in a stalemated war. The State Department said Thursday that it had approved visas for Iran’s “core delegation”, along with essential staffers to participate in the UN meeti...
Malaysia could struggle to preserve some domestic air links if low-cost carrier AirAsia is forced to scale back operations, analysts have warned, as rival airlines would have little commercial incentive to take over unprofitable routes. That reality could leave the government facing a stark choice: allow domestic flight services to shrink or step in with subsidies for essential routes, rather than...
This article was first published on September 18, 2006. Breezy launch is on the cards By Dennis Eng The Ngong Ping 360 cable car will open today in one of the windiest months of the year, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. Windy conditions with gusts reaching 90km/h occur on 5.5 days for a total of 52 hours in September on average, according to measurements taken at Ngong Ping between 2002 an...
China is seeing a fresh fundraising boom for AI drug developers, with start-ups including a ByteDance spin-off raising hundreds of millions of dollars this week as investors rush to back domestic challengers to Anthropic and Isomorphic Labs. Anew Labs, a Shanghai-based AI drug discovery firm that was formerly a unit of Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has raised US$290 million at a valuation of US$1....
The opening of China’s first new river-to-sea canal since 1949 – which will boost trade links with Southeast Asia – could transform the economy of the country’s landlocked southwestern interior in ways comparable to the Yangtze’s role in Shanghai’s rise, according to its operator. The 134.2km (83.4 mile) Pinglu Canal, which opened on Wednesday, links a major tributary of the Pearl River in the sou...
The opening of China’s first new river-to-sea canal since 1949 – which will boost trade links with Southeast Asia – could transform the economy of the country’s landlocked southwestern interior in ways comparable to the Yangtze’s role in Shanghai’s rise, according to its operator. The 134.2km (83.4 mile) Pinglu Canal, which opened on Wednesday, links a major tributary of the Pearl River in the sou...
A 13-year-old boy from eastern China has garnered significant attention online for his ability to leverage artificial intelligence and programming to solve everyday challenges. Yang Xizhe, a junior secondary school student from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, stands at an impressive 1.9 metres tall and has amassed a following of over 500,000 on mainland social media platforms. Growing up in a city ce...
Hong Kong’s redeveloped Huanggang Port could begin operations as early as October 12, allowing cross-border travellers to complete Hong Kong and mainland Chinese immigration procedures in a single inspection under a new joint clearance system. The South China Morning Post learned on Friday that authorities were targeting the date for the launch, although that would depend on the facility’s operati...
Waymo plans to launch its robotaxi service in Singapore in 2028, giving the US company its first foothold in Southeast Asia. Fully electric Jaguar I-Pace vehicles were due to arrive in the city state in the coming months, ahead of preparations for a commercial launch, the company said on Friday. From 2027, trained autonomous specialists will manually drive the vehicles to help Waymo adapt its tech...
Download the PDF This is the second part of a Factsheet series on Hong Kong’s debut five-year plan and the 2026 policy address. Click here for part one. The series was produced with support from the Hong Kong SAR government. To see the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the five-year plan, click here. This Factsheet will be available in the SCMP print edition on September 21. You can find it a...
Download the PDF This is the first part of a Factsheet series on Hong Kong’s debut five-year plan and the 2026 policy address. Click here for part two. The series was produced with support from the Hong Kong SAR government. To see the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the five-year plan, click here. This Factsheet will be available in the SCMP print edition on September 21. You can find it at...
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[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Hong Kong is preparing for many more electric vehicles on its roads. The city’s First Five-Year Plan, announced alongside the Policy Address, calls for the steady electrification of vehicles and safe, efficient charging networks, with around 10,000 fast chargers expected by 2035 to support about 500,000 EVs. That longer-te...
For fishermen like Joey Marabe in the Philippine province of Zambales, the geopolitical contest playing out in the South China Sea can be measured in dwindling catches and shrinking incomes, as the presence of Chinese vessels around a contested shoal increasingly limits where they can work. “It’s a huge drop. Before, a lot of us who could go out to Scarborough Shoal used to bring home around 15,00...
Australia’s major airlines have backed a proposal to close Sydney Airport’s control tower overnight to free up air traffic controllers, the latest step to address a persistent labour shortage that is disrupting flights and raising safety concerns. “It sounds like an opportunity we should absolutely explore,” said Stephen Beckett, chief executive officer of Airlines for Australia & New Zealand, the...
A recently issued official circular has put China’s long-running problem with hidden local government debt back in the spotlight. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) jointly outlined six typical cases spanning six provinces where local authorities had fallen short of targets to resolve unrecorded liabilities. “For hidden-deb...
At the heart of Hong Kong’s first five-year plan lies the Northern Metropolis – a massive tract of land spanning roughly a third of our entire city. Much ink has been spilled over what this project represents and why it matters, but if I had to summarise it in a single sentence, I would call it the “Shenzhen of Hong Kong”. To me, Shenzhen stands as the most miraculous growth story on Earth. Forty-...
A Singaporean climber died on Nepal’s Mount Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest peak, expedition organisers said. Lau Wee Seng, 50, felt unwell as he was descending from Camp II at around 6,000 metres after an acclimatisation rotation, according to The Himalayan Times newspaper. “He passed away this morning; arrangements have been made to airlift his body,” Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions said on T...
This is the second part of a Factsheet series on Hong Kong’s debut five-year plan and the 2026 policy address, click here for part one. The series was produced with support from the Hong Kong SAR government. To see the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the five-year plan, click here. This Factsheet will be available in the SCMP print edition on September 21. You can find it at newsstands and ...
Nestled between the Tianshan Mountains and the Gobi Desert, the Hami oasis in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is a land of little rain, battered by wind and sand year-round. It is also home to the region’s oldest known burial site, the Tianshanbeilu cemetery, located around 500km (310 miles) east of Urumqi, the regional capital. More than 700 Bronze Age tombs have been unearthed here, long assume...
This is the first part of a Factsheet series on Hong Kong’s debut five-year plan and the 2026 policy address, click here for part two. The series was produced with support from the Hong Kong SAR government. To see the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the five-year plan, click here. This Factsheet will be available in the SCMP print edition on September 21. You can find it at newsstands and c...
