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US ambassador calls violent Israeli settlers ‘terrorists’ after weeks of West Bank unrest
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US ambassador calls violent Israeli settlers ‘terrorists’ after weeks of West Bank unrest

The United States ambassador to Israel condemned Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank again on Saturday, calling the behaviour an “act of terror” as he visited Palestinian American residents shaken by months of attacks. Mike Huckabee referred to such settlers as “terrorists”, a word that US officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants. “If there are squatters that come in and ...

US strikes 3 Iranian oil tankers after warships targeted, military says
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US strikes 3 Iranian oil tankers after warships targeted, military says

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, including one off the coast of Kharg Island adjoining Iran’s major oil export hub. CENTCOM said the strikes were conducted after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ballistic missiles at a pair of US Navy ships. “Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose...

US ‘disables’ or ‘destroys’ 3 Iran oil tankers after warships targeted
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US ‘disables’ or ‘destroys’ 3 Iran oil tankers after warships targeted

The US military says it has struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy warships were targeted with missiles. The military’s statement on Saturday said an aircraft carrier and a destroyer evaded “multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks” and no US personnel were hurt. It said two Iranian oil carriers were “permanently disabled” and the third, unladen one, was destroyed. The US statement said the tanker...

Hong Kong’s first astronaut Lai Ka-ying to give live lecture from space
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Hong Kong’s first astronaut Lai Ka-ying to give live lecture from space

Hong Kong’s first astronaut Lai Ka-ying and her two fellow Shenzhou-23 crew members will deliver a live lecture from space for students and teachers in the city and neighbouring Macau. Hong Kong authorities revealed on Saturday plans for live broadcasts of “Tiangong Class” to take place soon, without specifying the date and time. The activity, jointly organised by the Hong Kong and Macau governmen...

How Asian shipyards in Japan, Korea and Philippines keep US warships battle ready

How Asian shipyards in Japan, Korea and Philippines keep US warships battle ready

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After being stranded in the South China Sea following a power failure in July, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Benfold was towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines for emergency repairs. The facility is among the repair and maintenance hubs the US Navy has been developing in the region, strategically pushing for allies to perform major maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work on US naval ves...

UK government condemns masked anti-immigrant protesters blocking Dover port

UK government condemns masked anti-immigrant protesters blocking Dover port

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Dozens of masked anti-immigration protesters blocked roads leading to Britain’s busiest ferry port on Saturday, clogging traffic and disrupting travellers and cargo vehicles heading for France. The government condemned the action, saying it went beyond peaceful protest. The Port of Dover said Saturday morning that all traffic in and out was “stopped due to an ongoing public order incident” and pol...

China launches plan for 3D satellite network to monitor sun and cosmic explosions

China launches plan for 3D satellite network to monitor sun and cosmic explosions

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China has started an international project to build a three-dimensional satellite network between Earth and the moon that will track solar activity and study some of the universe’s most powerful explosions. The project plans to send 30 backpack-sized CubeSats into highly elliptical orbits around Earth in the next four years or so, according to the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, which will lead...

How can future doctors blend clinical rigour with AI fluency and empathy?

How can future doctors blend clinical rigour with AI fluency and empathy?

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Medical experts have stressed that Hong Kong’s next generation of healthcare professionals must combine clinical rigour with emotional resilience, an open-minded approach to artificial intelligence (AI) and the drive to transform the sector. The remarks came during a panel on the first day of the Global Education Summit, co-organised by the South China Morning Post and HSBC Premier. “We always tal...

Taiwan remains Asia’s ‘most dangerous’ issue, former Singaporean diplomat warns

Taiwan remains Asia’s ‘most dangerous’ issue, former Singaporean diplomat warns

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Asia remains shackled by “mental colonisation” despite accounting for over half the global population, a former UN Security Council president has said, while warning that Taiwan remains the region’s most dangerous flashpoint. “The big mistake that Asians made after the end of colonial rule [is assuming] that the end of physical colonisation would automatically mean the end of mental colonisation,”...

Chinese-German team builds ultra-sensitive ‘floating compass’ to hunt dark matter

Chinese-German team builds ultra-sensitive ‘floating compass’ to hunt dark matter

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Chinese researchers have developed a table-top magnetic sensor that operates at room temperature and can spot magnetic signals a billion times fainter than the Earth’s own field. The Levitated Magnet Magnetometer (LeMaMa) functions like a compass with a needle that floats in mid-air with virtually no friction. By tracking the needle’s tiny deflections, the team can measure magnetic fields down to ...

Chinese man, Nepali woman found alive 10 days after flood

Chinese man, Nepali woman found alive 10 days after flood

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Rescuers pulled out a 64-year-old Nepali woman alive on Saturday from her home, buried under thick mud and debris when the region was struck by massive flooding 10 days ago, killing over 1,300 people and leaving at least 5,500 missing. Emergency personnel said earlier they had rescued a Chinese man, named only as Luhaitao, found alive inside a 225-metre tunnel of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Pr...

Canada and China thaw continues as militaries hold first talks in 8 years amid US pressure

Canada and China thaw continues as militaries hold first talks in 8 years amid US pressure

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China and Canada’s armed forces held their first round of talks in eight years on Friday in the face of growing tensions with the United States. The Chinese defence ministry said there had been a candid and in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern. “[Both sides] expressed willingness to strengthen practical exchanges and cooperation between the two militari...

Safety or hostility? Dog owners split over Hong Kong’s crackdown on leash rules

Safety or hostility? Dog owners split over Hong Kong’s crackdown on leash rules

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Hong Kong authorities’ intensified enforcement against dog owners who fail to control their pets has drawn mixed reactions, with supporters welcoming improved safety and critics warning it is stoking panic and hostility. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department carried out inspections and enforcement operations across the city on Saturday following a spate of dog attacks in recent we...

Singapore investigates racism related to China-Nepal disaster, Air India investment

Singapore investigates racism related to China-Nepal disaster, Air India investment

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Police are investigating “shameful” racist and xenophobic online comments about the China-Nepal disaster and Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) investment in Air India, Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Saturday. Mr Shanmugam told reporters that the Ministry of Digital Development and Information will also ask social media platforms to remove comments that breach guidelines. “The media tells me that they...

Asia-Pacific media outlets forge new partnerships ahead of Shenzhen Apec summit

Asia-Pacific media outlets forge new partnerships ahead of Shenzhen Apec summit

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Media outlets across the Asia-Pacific region have gathered in Shenzhen to deepen collaboration on content, talent and technology ahead of the coming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the southern Chinese city. Hundreds of media representatives witnessed the launch of several partnerships at the Asia-Pacific Media Forum, which opened in Shenzhen on Saturday after two days of sub-fo...

Hong Kong mega bridge’s popularity takes toll on helicopter, ferry services: lawmaker

Hong Kong mega bridge’s popularity takes toll on helicopter, ferry services: lawmaker

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The number of vehicles using a mega bridge linking Hong Kong with Zhuhai and Macau hit a record high last year, the South China Morning Post has learned, with a lawmaker saying the boom has taken a heavy toll on ferry services and a long-running helicopter service. Transport Department figures obtained by the SCMP showed that vehicle flow via the popular Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge reached a rec...

China’s billion-dollar pet funeral industry stays largely unregulated without public oversight

China’s billion-dollar pet funeral industry stays largely unregulated without public oversight

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In May, at a pet funeral home in Dalian, northeastern Liaoning province, a grieving couple wept as they tenderly combed the fur of their deceased pet cat, a Silver British Shorthair, bidding farewell to their beloved “fur kid.” The feline, cherished by the couple for eight years, succumbed to heart disease. “Pidan (the cat’s nickname), you will no longer feel pain in that world. Please visit us in...

War on Earth could spill over to the moon, Chinese space scientists warn

War on Earth could spill over to the moon, Chinese space scientists warn

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In a rare study, Chinese aerospace researchers have explored how a war could one day spill into the vast space between the Earth and the moon, with rival spacecraft chasing and evading each other, trying to slip past defences and even blocking strategic routes. Spacecraft could hide in the complex gravitational environment around the moon, where their trajectories are difficult to predict, before ...

14 fall ill after dining at Eaton HK hotel restaurant

14 fall ill after dining at Eaton HK hotel restaurant

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Hong Kong health authorities have detected seven additional suspected food poisoning cases linked to a hotel restaurant in Yau Ma Tei, raising the total number of affected diners to 14. The Centre for Health Protection said on Saturday it had identified three additional food poisoning clusters involving The Astor restaurant at Eaton HK, after initially announcing two clusters on September 3. “The ...

Ukraine war: how escalating attacks are upending lives in Kyiv

Ukraine war: how escalating attacks are upending lives in Kyiv

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Commuters stranded; ⁠children rushed underground in the middle of the school day; festivals cancelled; walks punctuated by booming air defences. Near-constant drone attacks are the stark new reality in Kyiv, and daily life is likely to get harder. Kyiv has survived many traumas since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Despite the initial shock of war and the advent of attack drones and...

Hong Kong to boost STEAM degrees as city targets two-way global education highway

Hong Kong to boost STEAM degrees as city targets two-way global education highway

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The Hong Kong government will expand science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education and allocate more land for higher education to transform the traditional study-abroad trend from a “one-way street into a two-way global highway”, the education chief has said. Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin delivered the remarks on Saturday at the inaugural Global Educatio...

Inaugural Global Education Summit explores AI, future talent and changing pathways

Inaugural Global Education Summit explores AI, future talent and changing pathways

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More than 2,000 policymakers, educators and parents from around the world gathered in Hong Kong on Saturday for the inaugural Global Education Summit, which focused on regional talent development, artificial intelligence integration and changing academic pathways. The two-day event, held at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong in Wan Chai and co-organised by the South China Morning Post and HSBC Premier, aim...

Why former East Germany became the stronghold of far-right AfD

Why former East Germany became the stronghold of far-right AfD

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More than three decades after Germany’s 1990 reunification, lasting east-west divisions may be thrown into stark relief at Sunday’s election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The anti-immigration and Moscow-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to win big and even hopes to take power at the state level, which would be a first for a far-right party in German post-war history. As m...

Police probe death of Tesla driver after collision on Hong Kong road

Police probe death of Tesla driver after collision on Hong Kong road

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Police are investigating the death of a 54-year-old driver of a Tesla whose vehicle collided with two other cars along Hong Kong’s Island Eastern Corridor. The police force said it received a report at 10.37am on Saturday that the man was driving west along the corridor when he was suspected to have lost control of the Tesla and collided with two other vehicles near the North Point Ferry Concourse...

Driver dies after Tesla collides with 2 cars on Hong Kong expressway

Driver dies after Tesla collides with 2 cars on Hong Kong expressway

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A driver has died after a Tesla collided with a seven-seater on Hong Kong’s Island Eastern Corridor. Police received a call at 10.37am on Saturday alerting them to a crash involving two private cars driving west along the corridor. The force said the driver of one private vehicle was sent to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai while unconscious. The driver was later certified dead at 12.08pm. It was no...

Rich Dad, Poor Dad author’s vast debts spark awe – and some bitterness – in China

Rich Dad, Poor Dad author’s vast debts spark awe – and some bitterness – in China

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The revelation that Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has amassed a staggering debt pile has sparked heated discussion in China, where property investors have suffered painful losses in recent years amid a deep market downturn. The 79-year-old Japanese-American author, who inspired generations of investors to take on leverage to scale up their investments, claimed in a series of podcast in...

Philippine Vice-President Duterte-Carpio posts bail over alleged Marcos death threat

Philippine Vice-President Duterte-Carpio posts bail over alleged Marcos death threat

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Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio posted bail at a Manila courthouse on Saturday, a day after an arrest warrant was issued over her alleged death threat against the country’s president. Duterte-Carpio was charged last month with “grave threats” stemming from a late-night news briefing in which she claimed to have hired a hitman to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, his wife and a con...

3 arrested for allegedly acting with seditious intent outside MTR station

3 arrested for allegedly acting with seditious intent outside MTR station

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Hong Kong national security police have arrested three people on suspicion of acting with seditious intent over a gathering outside Prince Edward MTR station to mark a 2019 protest flashpoint there. A police force spokesman said on Saturday that two men and a woman were arrested on Thursday, noting that some people were allegedly shouting seditious slogans and holding white flowers outside the sta...

3 arrested over allegedly seditious memorial outside Prince Edward MTR station

3 arrested over allegedly seditious memorial outside Prince Edward MTR station

SCMP •

Hong Kong national security police have arrested three people on suspicion of acting with seditious intent over a gathering outside Prince Edward MTR station to mark the 2019 protest flashpoint there. A police force spokesman said on Saturday that two men and a woman were arrested on Thursday for allegedly shouting seditious slogans and holding white flowers outside the station on August 31. “The ...