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Snow in Malaysia? Viral highway fun dampened by soapy truth
SCMP •

Snow in Malaysia? Viral highway fun dampened by soapy truth

A “wintry wonderland” on a highway in tropical Malaysia left motorists awestruck – until a police revelation melted away the viral moment and turned it into a road safety warning. Social media videos showed thick white foam carpeting several lanes of the Shah Alam Expressway as vehicles drove through the “snowy” route. The spectacle was extremely unusual in Malaysia, where there is no traditional ...

White House video games depict migrant captures, building border wall
SCMP •

White House video games depict migrant captures, building border wall

US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run -...

White House video games simulate migrant captures, building border wall
SCMP •

White House video games simulate migrant captures, building border wall

US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run -...

White House launches video games depicting migrant arrests and border walls
SCMP •

White House launches video games depicting migrant arrests and border walls

US President Donald Trump’s White House on Thursday unveiled a website featuring classic arcade games - but with a “Maga” twist, in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall. Rights groups swiftly criticised the release of the online games, which comes as the Trump administration steps up its mass arrest and deportation programme for undocumented migrants. One game called Rio Run -...

Body of war criminal Mladic returns to Serbia with military honours

Body of war criminal Mladic returns to Serbia with military honours

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Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic’s body arrived in Serbia Thursday, where it was received with military honours. The casket, draped in the Serbian flag, was carried from the plane by six soldiers after arriving from The Hague, accompanied by Mladic’s son Darko and Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic. The body was then driven from the airport under police escort, reportedly to a Belgrade mi...

2 trapped workers rescued alive from Nepal tunnel 9 days after floods

2 trapped workers rescued alive from Nepal tunnel 9 days after floods

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Two people were ⁠pulled out alive on Friday from a tunnel linked to a hydropower station on the Trishuli River, nine days after an ice, rock ‌and mud slide swept through a valley in Nepal, killing more than 1,200 people and displacing tens of thousands. The two workers pulled from the tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Station are Sanjay ⁠Sah, a mechanical foreman, and Kabir Maharjan, a me...

Trade chief Greer ‘optimistic’ the US and China can stabilise ties

Trade chief Greer ‘optimistic’ the US and China can stabilise ties

SCMP •

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said both Washington and Beijing were seeking stability in their relationship and that he remained optimistic about ties ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the United States later this month. “I am optimistic. The Chinese very much want to have a stable relationship. That’s the word they use: stability. We’re in favour of that as well,”...

China’s Xi eyes Apec trilateral; no outrunning deadly Nepal floods: SCMP’s 7 highlights

China’s Xi eyes Apec trilateral; no outrunning deadly Nepal floods: SCMP’s 7 highlights

SCMP •

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. Xi, Trump and Putin may hold trilateral meeting at next Apec forum, Kremlin says A senior Russian aide suggested on Tuesday that Chine...

Milei escalates Argentina’s Falklands dispute with UK as Trump hints at US policy shift

Milei escalates Argentina’s Falklands dispute with UK as Trump hints at US policy shift

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Argentine President Javier Milei escalated his country’s dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands on Thursday, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago and praising US President Donald Trump for saying Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty. Milei cast Trump’s comments as proof that his close relationship with the ...

Cathay Pacific extends Dubai and Riyadh flight suspension through November

Cathay Pacific extends Dubai and Riyadh flight suspension through November

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Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has delayed the resumption of passenger flights to Dubai and Riyadh until December at the earliest, extending the suspension of its Middle East services to nine months. The airline attributed the extended postponement to “the latest developments in the Middle East”, with services to both cities now cancelled through November 30. “Affected travellers wi...

China’s solar, wind innovations amid rapid green power buildout

China’s solar, wind innovations amid rapid green power buildout

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Even as China installs new solar and wind power capacity faster than the rest of the world combined, it is setting new benchmarks for the technologies through innovation. This year alone, Chinese companies and researchers have generated the first electricity from high-altitude winds 4,000 metres above Earth, cleared the last hurdle to commercialising a cheaper and more efficient alternative to sil...

China stands to gain from US visa restrictions targeting African countries

China stands to gain from US visa restrictions targeting African countries

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The latest US visa restrictions on citizens of African countries are facing increasing criticism that they are not only punitive but also likely to backfire by driving those nations closer to China. Since August 1, visa services have been suspended in 25 African cities, forcing applicants to travel to other approved locations, sometimes in another country. Travellers from 30 African nations must a...

How China Works author on the data economy, robots and AI

How China Works author on the data economy, robots and AI

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Lan Xiaohuan is a professor of economics at China Europe International Business School. His book, How China Works: An Introduction to China’s State-led Economic Development, has sold millions of copies in China and has been translated into multiple languages. Here, he discusses the economic realities behind China’s record trade surplus, the case for a stronger social safety net, and how public dat...

US probes deadly strike on Iran wedding that experts link to US munition

US probes deadly strike on Iran wedding that experts link to US munition

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US Vice-President J.D. Vance said that the United States ⁠was investigating a deadly strike on an Iranian wedding earlier this week that an analysis published by Reuters showed likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition. An explosion that ripped through a wedding celebration in southern Iran on Tuesday likely resulted from a direct hit by a US munition and not a ricochet off another target...

Malaysia arrests 6 over drugs supplied to pilot caught with Ecstasy pills in Jakarta

Malaysia arrests 6 over drugs supplied to pilot caught with Ecstasy pills in Jakarta

SCMP •

Six Malaysian men have been detained in connection with a drug smuggling case involving a 39-year-old Malaysia Airlines pilot detained at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia. The six were arrested following information obtained during questioning of the pilot by a team of Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) officers sent to Jakarta from August 11 to 15. Bukit A...

France digs in on Pacific islands claim as Vanuatu turns to UN’s top court

France digs in on Pacific islands claim as Vanuatu turns to UN’s top court

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France is facing pressure to consent to the International Court of Justice taking up a decades-old territorial feud with Vanuatu, after Paris firmly reasserted its sovereignty over two strategically vital Pacific islands. Vanuatu filed an application with the UN’s top court earlier this week seeking recognition of its claim over the uninhabited Matthew and Hunter islands. However, the case cannot ...

France digs in on Pacific islands claim as Vanuatu turns to World Court

France digs in on Pacific islands claim as Vanuatu turns to World Court

SCMP •

France is facing pressure to consent to the International Court of Justice taking up a decades-old territorial feud with Vanuatu, after Paris firmly reasserted its sovereignty over two strategically vital Pacific islands. Vanuatu filed an application with the UN’s top court earlier this week seeking recognition of its claim over the uninhabited Matthew and Hunter islands. However, the case cannot ...

Boost for EVs: Chinese carmaker Chery to begin testing solid-state batteries next year

Boost for EVs: Chinese carmaker Chery to begin testing solid-state batteries next year

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Chery Automobile, China’s largest car exporter by deliveries, will begin testing its solid-state batteries next year, aiming to spearhead commercialisation of a technology likely to further spur the electrification of the global automotive industry. Yin Tongyue, the chairman of the state-owned carmaker, which is based in central China’s Anhui province, said on Thursday that it would invest 10 bill...

US wants foreign warships for its navy. Japan is hoping to be picked

US wants foreign warships for its navy. Japan is hoping to be picked

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Japan’s Mogami-class warship is turning out to be a hot item among global navies. Australia is buying 11, New Zealand is considering putting in an order – and now, even the United States is showing interest. According to a US Naval Institute report published on Tuesday, government and naval planners are looking at three possibilities: Japan’s Mogami-class frigates, South Korea’s Chungnam guided-mi...

3 easy wins to modernise Hong Kong’s education system

3 easy wins to modernise Hong Kong’s education system

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Much has been said about Hong Kong’s vitality as a higher education hub. Yet, a radical rethink of our primary and secondary school system is equally necessary. The need for a blueprint has never been clearer. Our world is increasingly defined by the powerful forces of automation enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitical tensions and flux, as well as conflicting values and perspectives...

Chinese teachers publicly shamed on stage for students’ low test scores, sparking outrage

Chinese teachers publicly shamed on stage for students’ low test scores, sparking outrage

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An impoverished county in southwestern China issued an apology for arranging its primary and junior secondary school teachers on stage to pose for photos alongside prominent characters depicting humiliation due to their students’ low test scores. The images, which went viral on social media, sparked widespread public condemnation. They were captured at an internal meeting organised by the Leibo Co...

Cats and mind-full mechanics: what happens when quantum physics meets the brain

Cats and mind-full mechanics: what happens when quantum physics meets the brain

SCMP •

Cats are wonderful gymnasts. Their ability to land on their feet – even when dropped upside-down – caught the attention of two of the nineteenth century’s greatest mathematical physicists, Sir George Gabriel Stokes and James Clerk Maxwell. The remarkable feats of cats inspired these theorists to perform, in the 1850s, legendary experiments in “cat-turning”, as Maxwell later described: “There is a ...

How China’s AI race is shrinking job market, forcing workers into low-paid, manual roles

How China’s AI race is shrinking job market, forcing workers into low-paid, manual roles

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For four years, Beijing-based Clare Zhang worked as a research analyst at a corporate advisory firm, helping companies assess technologies and competitors for projects they planned to list – until late last year, when she was told that artificial intelligence had reduced the number of analysts the company needed and could afford. Her job involved combing through company filings and public records ...

Faster and cheaper: why Hongkongers are heading north for medical care

Faster and cheaper: why Hongkongers are heading north for medical care

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Soon after becoming a mother, Hong Kong resident Sarah Tam enjoyed eight hours of sleep a night and yoga sessions at a post-partum care centre in neighbouring Shenzhen, where carers looked after her newborn around the clock. Tam, a 30-year-old social worker who gave birth in mid-July, spent a month at the facility in mainland China, recovering from delivery with total peace of mind. She said she f...

‘Point of grievance’: Philippines urged to rethink school safety approach

‘Point of grievance’: Philippines urged to rethink school safety approach

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As pressure mounts in the Philippines for authorities to act on strengthening school security after two fatal shootings in eight weeks, safety experts say any measure must look at mitigating violence much earlier, even before a child brings a weapon to the campus gate. A bill pushed by lawmaker Bam Aquino will require schools to establish a comprehensive safety framework, including localised safet...

Another Chinese national dies in US immigration custody, raising profiling fears

Another Chinese national dies in US immigration custody, raising profiling fears

SCMP •

The Chinese-American community expressed anger and concern on Thursday over the death in custody of a Chinese national by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] on US territory. Wei Lianyong, 51, reportedly died in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on August 23, although the scandal-plagued agency did not disclose the death until this week. “Asian-Americans, Chinese...

Chinese-American community alarmed after China national dies in ICE custody

Chinese-American community alarmed after China national dies in ICE custody

SCMP •

The Chinese-American community expressed anger and concern on Thursday over the death in custody of a Chinese national by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] on US territory. Lianyong Wei, 51, reportedly died in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on August 23, although the scandal-plagued agency did not disclose the death until this week. “Asian-Americans, Chinese...

Chinese-American community alarmed after Chinese national dies in ICE custody

Chinese-American community alarmed after Chinese national dies in ICE custody

SCMP •

The Chinese-American community expressed anger and concern on Thursday over the death in custody of a Chinese national by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] on US territory. Lianyong Wei, 51, reportedly died in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on August 23, although the scandal-plagued agency did not disclose the death until this week. “Asian-Americans, Chinese...

Hong Kong poised to top New York, London in finance-hub ranking: GFCI creator

Hong Kong poised to top New York, London in finance-hub ranking: GFCI creator

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An Asian city will eventually overtake London and New York as the world’s leading financial centre, with Hong Kong well placed to compete for the top spot given its legal predictability and low tax burden, according to the creator of a closely watched ranking of financial hubs. “It’s going to happen because it’s so tight,” said Michael Mainelli, chairman of London-based think tank Z/Yen Group, in ...