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The South China Morning Post has signed an agreement with a leading university in Kazakhstan to foster the exchange of knowledge between East and Central Asia while extending Hong Kong’s media presence in the region. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on Monday in Astana, just ahead of the SCMP’s China Conference: Central Asia 2026, a flagship event making its debut in the region. Ac...
Hong Kong is poised to play a bigger role in financing Chinese green-technology companies’ expansion into emerging markets, as geopolitical fragmentation and high funding costs reshape how capital is deployed in the global energy transition, according to senior banking executives. The city’s deep sustainable-finance market and offshore yuan liquidity could help channel capital into green and clima...
Nepal is seeking financial aid following the catastrophic flood that killed hundreds of people and caused billions of dollars in economic losses, tapping a global financial mechanism established to address the impacts of climate change in developing countries. Kathmandu has formally requested the UN-backed Fund for responding to Loss and Damage to “respond rapidly, directly and effectively” amid t...
Philippine prosecutors filed a criminal charge on Monday against a lawmaker and cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr over his alleged involvement in a massive corruption scandal involving bogus flood-control projects. The case came more than a year after Marcos put the so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects, believed to have cost Filipino taxpayers billions of dollars, centre stage in a pub...
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s promise to unveil more projects in eight months’ time at the launch of the country’s second modern destroyer hints at another major strategic military asset, according to experts. “The nuclearisation of our navy is being realised, making it increasingly suited, diversified and practical for the use of our deterrent,” Kim said while commissioning the Kang Kon in th...
China’s artificial intelligence developers are competing for paying users on a new consumer front: Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall, where AI subscription plans are now being sold alongside smartphones, skincare and luxury fashion brands. Moonshot AI, developer of the Kimi K3 model, and MiniMax were in talks to open official flagship stores on the e-commerce platform, people familiar with the matter ...
Malaysia called off a haze emergency in Sarawak state on Borneo island on Monday but said very unhealthy levels of air pollution remained as a result of forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia. Sarawak has been heavily affected by fires in Indonesia’s Kalimantan, with the haze forcing school closures in some parts of the state. Kuala Lumpur on Friday activated the emergency after obtaining royal co...
US President Donald Trump’s vision of new warships bristling with huge-calibre guns – widely mocked as a billionaire’s vanity project and a throwback to the battleship era of the second world war – has received an unexpected nod from military scientists in China. In a paper published last month by the Chinese peer-reviewed journal Command Control & Simulation, the authors suggested that large-cali...
Hong Kong authorities should make raising home ownership a goal in the city’s first five-year plan, Legislative Council president Starry Lee Wai-king has said, following a visit to a public housing estate with the housing minister. Lee said on Monday that it can be achieved by reviving a scheme that allows public housing tenants to buy their units and reserving subsidised homes for youth and middl...
Hong Kong is committed to being a “trusted partner” in driving Central Asia’s emergence as a global growth engine, according to the city’s leader, who hailed the substantial outcomes achieved since his landmark mission to the region. In a virtual appearance at the South China Morning Post’s China Conference: Central Asia 2026 held in Astana on Monday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that a b...
An increasing number of Chinese pet owners are turning to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to address chronic diseases and provide hospice care for their senior pets. On one social media platform, the hashtag #petTCM has amassed over five million views, reflecting a growing willingness among people to share their experiences with TCM treatments for their pets. A pet owner from Beijing took his d...
Thirteen-year-old Mohammad Reza Barfar remembers the free kick more clearly than almost anything else on February 28 when the US-led attack on Iran began. The football-loving schoolboy went to a local field after classes for a match between his village and another team. He scored from a free kick and his brother captured the goal on video. Hours later, Mohammad Reza was lying wounded amid smoke an...
Hong Kong’s tourism watchdog has revoked the licences of two travel agencies and a guide after finding they failed to protect members of mainland Chinese tour groups from being subjected to “coerced shopping”. The Travel Industry Authority said on Monday that the licences of Go Go Ming Travel Services, Grandee Travel Company and guide Sun Kwun-ying had been revoked with immediate effect. “The auth...
Heavy rainfall hit eastern Japan and elsewhere on Monday, with the weather agency urging maximum vigilance against landslides on Niijima and Oshima islands, south of Tokyo, and a woman dying in Iwaki in the northeast after her car became submerged. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special landslide warning for Niijima after more than 480mm (19 inches) of rain fell there over 24 hours, the ...
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warned against a recent spate of racist comments being made online, saying prejudice should not be allowed to become normalised in the multiracial city state. Wong said in a social media post on Sunday that an “uglier side” had emerged in recent online discussions, including remarks about Singaporeans caught in deadly floods in Nepal and debate over Singapore...
The toll from days of fighting between government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in southwest Yemen climbed past 300 on Sunday, as hundreds of families fled their homes to escape the violence. Two military officials with the Saudi-backed government forces said that 84 of their troops were killed between midday Saturday and early Sunday morning, mostly in missile attacks. Four Houthi military...
We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China will never allow any country in this world to achieve AI dominance: Victor Gao 2. Curiosity beats perfect statements, UK elite universities tell Hong Kong students 3. China’s youth job crisis...
Australians could be given the option of opting out of powerful social media algorithms under new legislation cracking down on big tech, a minister said on Monday. The draft law requiring a “digital duty of care” is expected to be introduced to Australia’s parliament this week. It would require firms like Meta Platforms to give users the option of turning off algorithms that tailor recommendations...
Mainland Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing will apply to test autonomous vehicles in a Hong Kong urban area this year, a government adviser has revealed, with the trial runs potentially being expanded later on to cover more new development areas. The announcement followed a visit to Didi’s Beijing headquarters last Wednesday by Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan and a group of ...
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing will apply to test autonomous vehicles in a Hong Kong urban area this year, a government adviser has revealed, saying trials should eventually expand to cover more new development areas. The announcement followed a visit to Didi’s Beijing headquarters last Wednesday by Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan and a group of lawmakers. Gary Zhang Xiny...
The rapport between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was evident when the two met during the 11th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok last week. “My profound apologies for missing this important event due to urgent matters I needed to attend to back home but I’m now here to repay my debt,” Prabowo told Putin on Wednesday, referring to a mis...
Cost appears to be a deciding factor for most African countries when it comes to energy as they observe the factors that influence US and Chinese policy decisions. In a sign of the contrasting energy strategies pursued by Washington and Beijing, US President Donald Trump says “drill, baby, drill” while China drives a leap towards renewable energy. With China’s advances in solar generation and batt...
Philanthropic giving in nine Asian jurisdictions is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion over the next decade, while corporate giving plays a larger role in Hong Kong than in many regional peers, according to a new report released at a Jockey Club forum. The Commission on Asian Philanthropy released its interim report on Monday, while the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust revealed in a separate re...
An armed assailant charged towards the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, Amy Acton, on Sunday during a campaign stop at the Canfield Fair, injuring several people before he was stopped by troopers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. The Ohio State Highway Patrol said in a statement that a man it identified as Patrick Havas, 38, forced his way through a crowd, knocking over multiple members ...
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un commissioned his second naval destroyer and called for building a more reliable nuclear deterrent, state media reported on Monday, as the US, South Korea and Japan began a trilateral military exercise he views as a security threat. The development comes as North Korea dials up pressure on the US after rebuffing President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back a major...
When Nio CEO William Li outlined earnings prospects for the Shanghai-based carmaker in March, he could not help but liken the automotive business to the development of robots. “I think robotics will represent a natural extension of our carmaking capabilities and business acumen,” Li told reporters at a media briefing after Nio posted its first-ever quarterly profits for the three months ending Dec...
The vast majority of Hong Kong’s students are back in school now. With traffic expected to be horrendous last week, it was good that the government sounded the warning early, urging residents to allow more time for their morning commute. The government did more than that, actually. The Emergency Transport Co-ordination Centre was working at its highest operational tier at 6.30am on September 1 to ...
Even as rescuers search for the thousands still missing in Nepal after catastrophic flooding that killed 1,250 people, the nation’s leaders face a second immense challenge – how to pay for recovery and rebuilding. The tab is expected to come to at least US$5 billion, an enormous sum for one of Asia’s poorest countries, and the fund it is hoping to tap is new, underfunded and untested. Nepal is see...
Behind many sexual difficulties lie questions that extend far beyond the confines of the bedroom. After years of assisting clients in navigating issues of intimacy and relationships, one of China’s pioneering sex therapists has observed how gaps in education and communication shape individuals’ most private struggles. Originally from Taiwan, Tong Songzhen began her career as a nurse before attaini...
Hong Kong’s top financial regulators have urged local banks to make greater use of the city’s growing pool of offshore yuan liquidity, while also flagging the need to prepare for a coming wave of autonomous AI systems used in the financial sector. Speaking at the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) Distinguished Speaker Luncheon, Eddie Yue Wai-man, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Autho...
