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Hong Kong’s anti-corruption watchdog has charged three former HSBC relationship managers with allegedly accepting bribes to help customers jump the queue when opening bank accounts. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Thursday that Chan Fu-kwan, 32, Mike Chan Wai-pak, 29, and Bernie Yau Kai-lung, 33, face a total of six bribery charges. All three worked at the bank’s Cause...
Hong Kong’s corruption watchdog has charged three former HSBC relationship managers with allegedly accepting bribes to help customers jump the queue when opening bank accounts. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Thursday that Chan Fu-kwan, 32, along with Mike Chan Wai-pak, 29, and Bernie Yau Kai-lung, 33, all worked at one of the bank’s Causeway Bay branches at the time o...
A boss from central China sparked online controversy after disclosing that he once fired an employee for excluding his mother from his wedding. Cui Peijun, founder and chairman of Henan Kuangshan Crane Co., Ltd. in Xinxiang, Henan province, has gained a reputation online as “China’s most generous boss.” At the annual company gala in February, Cui distributed 60 million yuan (US$8.8 million) in cas...
India’s invitation to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend a Brics summit in New Delhi in September is being seen as a chance to repair ties after one of the most turbulent periods in relations between the neighbours in years. If Rahman accepts, he will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly for the first time since becoming Bangladesh’s leader after elections in February...
Beijing accused Manila of “flagrantly infringing” on Chinese sovereignty and undermining regional peace after the Philippines formally presented its bid to the United Nations this week for extended seabed rights in the South China Sea. The rebuttal, issued by China’s mission to the UN on Thursday, followed Manila’s presentation before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on...
Beijing accused Manila of “flagrantly infringing” on Chinese sovereignty and undermining regional peace after the Philippines formally presented its bid to the United Nations this week for extended seabed rights in the South China Sea. The rebuttal, issued by China’s mission to the UN on Thursday, followed Manila’s presentation before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on...
David Cifaldi and his two hiking companions were crossing Montana’s ominous Froze-to-Death Plateau and approaching the top of the state’s highest peak when their adventure took a bizarre and dangerous turn: Cifaldi slipped and impaled himself on his trekking pole as he fell. The 44-inch (112-centimetre) steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath Cifaldi’s left arm, missing any vital organs...
A former consultant doctor at a Hong Kong public hospital has been spared jail for prescribing excessive medication to his patients and misappropriating the drugs for personal use. The District Court on Thursday sentenced Lee Chi-leung, an ear, nose and throat specialist, to 160 hours of community service and ordered him to compensate the Hospital Authority HK$20,000 (US$2,550) for two counts of m...
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has seized on the release of a long-delayed inquiry into the country’s Islamic pilgrimage fund to revive his anti-corruption message just days before the state of Negeri Sembilan holds an election. The move is seen as a calculated bid by Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to turn a governance issue against state rival Umno, although observers are divided ...
Japan’s Aeon Mall Kumamoto was rebuilt to withstand earthquakes after it was damaged in strong quakes in April 2016. Its June reopening was meant to be a fresh start, the gleaming building a symbol of rebirth for the mall and residents of Kashima town. Then Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook this new-found confidence. “When this quake hit, I immediately knew the epicentre was close,” 30-year...
Malaysia’s claim that Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya has raised hopes of easing pressure on the country’s strained refugee system but also drawn alarm from activists over the risks of returning members of the persecuted minority to a place still engulfed by conflict. Rights groups say any movement of refugees into Myanmar – where the military is fighting multiple conflicts and most...
As US tech giants face growing market scrutiny over their swelling artificial intelligence budgets, China’s top technology firms are confronting a similar reckoning: proving that billions of dollars spent on AI infrastructure will yield sustainable profits. Here is a run down on how Chinese tech giants are navigating the AI monetisation challenge. Why are global investors nervous about ‘big tech’ ...
For Singaporeans who grew up stirring Marmite into hot water, spreading it on toast or eating it in local dishes, the famously divisive yeast extract is easy to love, but now it is much harder to buy. Unilever International, the Singapore distributor of Marmite, has stopped supplying the spread locally, according to CNA, sending prices of the thick, dark yeast extract soaring to more than seven ti...
Zhou Bo is a retired senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army, a senior fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy, and the author of the book Should the World Fear China? SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is approaching its 2027 centenary, a major benchmark set by Beijing to ach...
Electric vehicle giant BYD plans to unveil its first humanoid robots within the next few weeks, as China’s electric car makers accelerate their push into the embodied artificial intelligence market. The Shenzhen-based company told the South China Morning Post in a statement that its long-anticipated first humanoid robots would debut in August at the firm’s Di Space experience centres. The robots w...
A Chinese-led team has analysed a 240 million-year-old fossil with the oldest known preserved stomach, liver and intestinal soft tissue in reptiles. The complete skeleton fossil has highly specialised body features that indicate it lived in the water, suggesting the marine colonisation of archosaurs was earlier and more extensive than previously believed. The fossil of the Austronaga minuta from t...
India’s West Bengal state will bring back eggs to free school meals after a backlash against a decision by its Hindu nationalist government to replace them with vegetarian alternatives, officials have said. The reversal follows criticism from teachers, nutritionists and parents who argued that removing eggs from school lunches could deprive children from poor families of a key source of protein. T...
India’s West Bengal state will bring back eggs to free school meals after a backlash against a decision by its Hindu nationalist government to replace them with vegetarian alternatives, officials have said. The reversal follows criticism from teachers, nutritionists and parents who argued that removing eggs from school lunches could deprive children from poor families of a key source of protein. T...
East Timor has become the unlikely venue for a war crimes case against Myanmar’s military leadership, as proceedings advance in Dili’s courts and test Asean’s uneasy approach to the junta. Brought by the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), the case is expected to shed light on whether a small nation with its own history of occupation and atrocity can use its courts to examine grave allegations ...
East Timor has become an unlikely venue for a case alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity by Myanmar’s military leadership, as it moves deeper into Dili’s courts and tests Asean’s uneasy approach to the country’s junta. Brought by the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), the case is expected to shed light on whether a small, newly admitted Asean member with its own history of occupation...
A Taiwanese man has been jailed for more than 12 years for trafficking cocaine into Hong Kong seven years ago in a case that marks an embattled judge’s final public appearance as a member of the bench. Judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun delivered the sentence at the High Court on Thursday, his last working day after he was told to retire early in light of concerns sparked by his repeated judicial plagiaris...
A Taiwanese man has been jailed for more than 12 years for trafficking cocaine into Hong Kong seven years ago – a case that marks an embattled judge’s final public appearance as a member of the bench. Judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun delivered the sentence at the High Court on Thursday, his last working day after he was told to retire early in light of public concern sparked by his repeated judicial plag...
China’s top leadership has made party governance the focus of a coming key conclave, signalling the significance of a clean record in the selection process ahead of next year’s national congress. The Politburo, China’s top decision-making body, announced on Thursday that the fifth plenary session of the Communist Party’s 20th Central Committee would be held in October, state news agency Xinhua rep...
China’s top leaders will gather in Beijing in October for their most important meeting ahead of next year’s Communist Party congress, when a major reshuffle is expected and Xi Jinping is due to begin a fourth term as leader. After a meeting of the Politburo on Thursday, the nation’s top decision-making body said the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee would be held in October, stat...
Hong Kong taxi and minibus drivers have called for a two-month liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy scheme to be extended amid uncertainty over the war in the Middle East, and warned monthly operating costs could rise by up to 33 per cent when the policy ends this week. A government task force rolled out the subsidy on May 31, which offers a 50 HK cent (6 US cent) per litre rebate on LPG at the p...
Hong Kong taxi and minibus drivers have called for a two-month liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy scheme to be extended amid uncertainty over war in the Middle East, and warned monthly operating costs could rise by up to 33 per cent when the policy ends. A government task force rolled out the subsidy on May 31, which offers a 50 HK cents per litre rebate on LPG at the pump for taxis, minibuses ...
Hong Kong taxi and light bus drivers have called for a two-month liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy to be extended amid uncertainty over wars in the Middle East, and warned monthly operating costs could rise by up to 33 per cent when the scheme ends. A government task force rolled out the subsidy on May 31, which offers a 50 HK cents per litre rebate on LPG at the pump for taxis and public and ...
A barbecue chef in northwest China has become an internet sensation after users noticed his striking resemblance to Elon Musk, prompting a wave of memes and jokes online. Ma Jianping, 48, from Tongchuan in Shaanxi province, co-owns and operates Yilan Restaurant, where he showcases his culinary skills. Originally from Gansu province, Ma spent years working as an electrician before transitioning to ...
China has lodged formal diplomatic representations with New Zealand over “negative remarks” made in its parliament, after Foreign Minister Winston Peters told a Chinese-born opposition lawmaker to “go back to your own country”. The official protest on Thursday, accompanied by a rare social media statement from Beijing’s ambassador in Wellington, escalated a fiery domestic exchange over race and go...
A parliamentary clash in Wellington has elicited a subtle rebuke from Beijing after New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters told a Chinese-born opposition lawmaker to “go back to your own country”. The comments on Wednesday prompted a rare social media response from Beijing’s envoy in Wellington, adding an international dimension to an already contentious domestic debate over governance and ...
