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In Malaysia’s Johor, Chinese voters prize affordability over politics
SCMP

In Malaysia’s Johor, Chinese voters prize affordability over politics

Koo can see Johor changing around him, even if the promised wealth has not reached his bank account. The 30-year-old service worker has lived for 25 years in Skudai, a busy Johor Bahru suburb anchored by universities, older housing estates and the kind of Chinese shoplot economy that helped make the Democratic Action Party (DAP) a force in Malaysia’s southern state. He sees cranes, rail works and ...

Northern Metropolis’ science and education focus key to Hong Kong’s future
SCMP

Northern Metropolis’ science and education focus key to Hong Kong’s future

China’s new development narrative places science and education at the centre of long-term competitiveness. This is a systemic project powered by technology, grounded in education and driven by talent as the country’s foremost resource. Hong Kong’s traditional identity as an international financial centre is no longer sufficient to sustain the city’s competitiveness. To remain relevant, Hong Kong m...

Chinese clinic extracts 12 teeth from man after he complains of ache in one tooth
SCMP

Chinese clinic extracts 12 teeth from man after he complains of ache in one tooth

A Chinese clinic has been punished by authorities after it extracted the 12 remaining teeth from a 63-year-old man with high blood pressure and heart disease, and withdrew all the money from his accounts. The man, surnamed Li, from Baoji, northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, went to the Datuanyuan Dental Clinic to have an aching tooth checked last September. Li recently told Chinese media outlet...

Low prices fail to deter thieves from stealing Malaysia’s premium durians
SCMP

Low prices fail to deter thieves from stealing Malaysia’s premium durians

Falling durian prices have done little to deter thieves in Malaysia, with a Penang trader losing baskets of prized Black Thorn variety in two break-ins just days apart. Wenny Ooi, 27, said thieves targeted her family’s stall twice on June 25 and June 29, marking the first break-ins since they started the business six years ago. In the first incident, two baskets of Black Thorn, also known as Or Ch...

Uniqlo defies sluggish China market with double-digit profit growth

Uniqlo defies sluggish China market with double-digit profit growth

SCMP

Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo posted higher revenue and double-digit profit growth in mainland China over the three-month period ending in May, defying sluggish domestic consumption and lingering bilateral tensions. Same-store sales rose, driven by enhanced marketing and “buoyant demand” for summer products in May, when temperatures started to rise. Easy pants, UV-protection items, T-shirts and...

The radar system that Taiwan says tracked the PLA’s ballistic missile launch

The radar system that Taiwan says tracked the PLA’s ballistic missile launch

SCMP

Taiwan gained critical information about Beijing’s ballistic missile launch this week thanks to the island’s long-range early-warning radar system and intelligence sharing with Washington. The island’s AN/FPS-115 Pave Paws long-range early-warning radar detected the missile soon after it was launched from a nuclear-powered submarine in the South China Sea, the Liberty Times reported on Wednesday, ...

Why did only 2 Hong Kong developers put up their hands for Northern Metropolis project?

Why did only 2 Hong Kong developers put up their hands for Northern Metropolis project?

SCMP

Stretches of green farmland and shimmering ponds, winding village roads and sprawling brownfield logistics yards all lend Hung Shui Kiu in the New Territories a patchwork look of rustic Hong Kong standing in stark contrast to its glistening skyscrapers. This rural landscape is slated for radical transformation under the government’s ambitious Northern Metropolis blueprint and is primed to be reinv...

Philippines looks to space for bird’s-eye view of South China Sea threats

Philippines looks to space for bird’s-eye view of South China Sea threats

SCMP

The Philippines is preparing to create a military space centre by 2028, a move that could help Manila strengthen surveillance, communications and command across its archipelago and in contested areas of the South China Sea. But analysts said the ambition would be constrained by the technical, financial and manpower hurdles of turning space assets into military capability. Armed Forces of the Phili...

How the RMB Business Facility will help consolidate Hong Kong’s financial role

How the RMB Business Facility will help consolidate Hong Kong’s financial role

SCMP

Hong Kong’s updated yuan financing tool for banks, featuring a quota 150 per cent larger than before, was launched on Friday, giving a significant boost to the use of the Chinese currency in daily global business. What is the RMB Business Facility? The RMB Business Facility is a funding window run by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) that allows participating banks to borrow yuan at the rela...

At high-end Hong Kong hotels, rates check in above pre-pandemic highs, outpace market

At high-end Hong Kong hotels, rates check in above pre-pandemic highs, outpace market

SCMP

Hong Kong’s luxury hotels have outpaced the city’s broader hospitality market since last year, with their room rates exceeding 2018 levels as demand recovers, according to a report by global property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Citing official tourism figures, JLL said high-end properties were the only segment that returned to 2018’s average daily rates (ADRs) in 2025, hitting HK$2,169 (...

2 men sentenced for roles in trafficking fentanyl analogues from China to the US

2 men sentenced for roles in trafficking fentanyl analogues from China to the US

SCMP

Two men from the US state of New Jersey have been sentenced this week for their roles in a drug trafficking organisation that imported fentanyl analogues from China, the US Department of Justice said on Thursday. The fentanyl crisis in the United States has killed tens of thousands of people annually in recent years. Washington previously characterised China as the primary source of precursor chem...

Iran mourners defiant as Khamenei buried: ‘only revenge can soothe the pain’

Iran mourners defiant as Khamenei buried: ‘only revenge can soothe the pain’

SCMP

Calling for revenge and rejecting any compromise with the West, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic massed on Thursday late into the night for the burial of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad, as the country traded more attacks with the US. Khamenei was buried Friday, state television reported, following a ceremony at which his son and successor was not seen. The “body of th...

Iran mourners defiant at Khamenei burial: ‘only revenge can soothe the pain’

Iran mourners defiant at Khamenei burial: ‘only revenge can soothe the pain’

SCMP

Calling for revenge and rejecting any compromise with the West, Iranians loyal to the Islamic republic massed on Thursday late into the night for the burial of supreme leader Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad. An Israeli strike killed Khamenei in late February on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran, bringing an end to his more than three and a half decades in power. Beating thei...

Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing expressed regret after shooting, roommate says

Suspect in Charlie Kirk killing expressed regret after shooting, roommate says

SCMP

The former roommate of Tyler Robinson, who is accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk, told prosecutors that Robinson expressed regret a day after the killing and planned to hand himself over to police, according to a video interview played in court on Thursday. The recorded interview with Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner, Lance Twiggs, was presented as prosecuto...

Asia’s top climate scientist warns of ‘humanitarian disasters’ as Earth teeters

Asia’s top climate scientist warns of ‘humanitarian disasters’ as Earth teeters

SCMP

As Super Typhoon Bavi churns towards Taiwan and eastern mainland China, they offer a chilling timely reminder that the world needs to brace for impending disasters as the climate system nears a tipping point. For Benjamin Horton, the newly minted recipient of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society Axford Medal – the most prestigious honour in Asian climate and earth science – the world has entered a...

Trump’s climate jibes at China and EU just make him look out of date

Trump’s climate jibes at China and EU just make him look out of date

SCMP

US President Donald Trump’s negative portrayal of China’s achievements in renewable energy began at a White House meeting with oil executives on January 9 and was amplified at the World Economic Forum later that month. The story he told was shaped more by domestic politics than fact – a narrative that has lingered through subsequent debates over China’s alleged clean-energy “overcapacity”. While s...

USDA lowers reported beef export sales by 90% amid growing doubts over data

USDA lowers reported beef export sales by 90% amid growing doubts over data

SCMP

The US Department of Agriculture dramatically lowered its reported beef export sales for late June on Thursday, sparking fresh concerns about the quality of the agency’s data after staffing losses as part of the Trump administration’s reshaping of the federal government. USDA said exporters in late June sold a net 12,064 tonnes of US beef to foreign buyers, 90 per cent lower than the volume it ori...

Meet Biomni: the free powerful biomed AI agent turning data into hypotheses

Meet Biomni: the free powerful biomed AI agent turning data into hypotheses

SCMP

A Stanford University-led team including two Chinese researchers said they built the first general-purpose biomedical AI agent capable of working alongside human scientists, taking on complex tasks that once required groups of specialists. Jure Leskovec, a Stanford computer science professor who supervised the work, said the agent had been released as an open-source system with a web interface so ...

Ebola outbreak is ‘fastest growing ever’ as 600 die in DR Congo

Ebola outbreak is ‘fastest growing ever’ as 600 die in DR Congo

SCMP

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo is the “fastest growing” ever, African health authorities said on Thursday, as the World Health Organization said it had killed 600 people. Updated numbers issued by the UN health agency showed there have been 1,759 confirmed cases in DR Congo since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, including 600 confirmed deaths. “This is the fastest growing ...

Turkish president’s ‘unusual’ gift to Nato leaders: 1 revolver, 6 bullets

Turkish president’s ‘unusual’ gift to Nato leaders: 1 revolver, 6 bullets

SCMP

What does a world leader do with a gun and six bullets? That was the conundrum Nato leaders faced after the Turkish president offered them each a revolver after the Ankara summit. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was the first on Wednesday to mention the highly unusual gift presented by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to his guests. On the flight back from Ankara – where Nato leaders had gathere...

Florida airport renamed for Trump in latest push to expand his brand

Florida airport renamed for Trump in latest push to expand his brand

SCMP

A Florida airport was renamed after Donald Trump on Thursday, accelerating a push by the US president and supporters to plaster his name and image on everything from national landmarks to banknotes. “This will soon be one of the Greatest and Most Spectacular Airports anywhere in the World!” Trump said in a Truth Social post late Thursday reacting to the change. The Republican leader’s son Eric cel...

Florida airport renamed ‘Trump’ in latest push to expand his brand

Florida airport renamed ‘Trump’ in latest push to expand his brand

SCMP

A Florida airport was renamed after Donald Trump on Thursday, accelerating a push by the US president and supporters to plaster his name and image on everything from national landmarks to banknotes. The Republican leader’s son Eric celebrated by landing in the private family Boeing 757 – the so-called “Trump Force One” – at what had been known as Palm Beach International Airport for nearly half a ...

A World of Opportunity Begins at Canadian International School of Hong Kong

A World of Opportunity Begins at Canadian International School of Hong Kong

SCMP

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Choosing the right school is about more than achieving outstanding examination results. It is about preparing young people with the confidence, resilience and global perspective to succeed wherever life takes them.    In an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing world, families are looking for more than academic exc...

Irish man gets 14 years’ jail for killing US tourist in Hungary in ‘intimate encounter’

Irish man gets 14 years’ jail for killing US tourist in Hungary in ‘intimate encounter’

SCMP

A court in Hungary on Thursday sentenced an Irish citizen to 14 years in prison for strangling an American tourist to death in the country’s capital in 2024. The victim, 31-year-old Mackenzie Michalski from Portland, Oregon, was in Hungary on holiday and reported missing on November 5, 2024, after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest. Police launched a missing person investigation ...

Irish man gets 14 years’ jail for killing US tourist in Hungary

Irish man gets 14 years’ jail for killing US tourist in Hungary

SCMP

A court in Hungary on Thursday sentenced an Irish citizen to 14 years in prison for strangling an American tourist to death in the country’s capital in 2024. The victim, 31-year-old Mackenzie Michalski from Portland, Oregon, was in Hungary on holiday and reported missing on November 5, 2024, after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest. Police launched a missing person investigation ...

Why China is finally letting AI firms buy the Nvidia H200

Why China is finally letting AI firms buy the Nvidia H200

SCMP

For months, the United States and China have been locked in an unusual stand-off over cutting-edge chips – the building blocks of the artificial intelligence industry. In early 2026, Washington took the rare step of approving Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing unit for export to China, but Beijing has deliberately restricted Chinese firms from purchasing them as it pursues a tech self-sufficiency d...

Game-changer? Why China is finally letting its AI firms buy the Nvidia H200

Game-changer? Why China is finally letting its AI firms buy the Nvidia H200

SCMP

For months, the United States and China have been locked in an unusual stand-off over cutting-edge chips – the building blocks of the artificial intelligence industry. In early 2026, Washington took the rare step of approving Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing unit for export to China, but Beijing has deliberately restricted Chinese firms from purchasing them as it pursues a tech self-sufficiency d...

China unveils high-power microwave weapon arsenal with up to 100 gigawatts of power

China unveils high-power microwave weapon arsenal with up to 100 gigawatts of power

SCMP

China’s high-power microwave (HPM) weapons can deliver an output of up to 100 gigawatts (GW), according to defence scientists – a milestone that could transform the future of warfare and stimulate advancements in civilian research and industry. In a paper published this month in the journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams, researchers from the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) d...

Up to 100 gigawatts: China unveils its high-power microwave weapon arsenal

Up to 100 gigawatts: China unveils its high-power microwave weapon arsenal

SCMP

China’s high-power microwave (HPM) weapons can deliver an output of up to 100 gigawatts (GW), according to defence scientists – a milestone that could transform the future of warfare and stimulate advancements in civilian research and industry. In a paper published this month in the journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams, researchers from the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) d...