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US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers. Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the helipad on the South Lawn, where the president had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating h...
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers. Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the helipad on the South Lawn, where the president had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating h...
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers. Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the helipad on the South Lawn, where the president had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating h...
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Damascus on Monday for the first visit by a Western European head of state since Syria’s new authorities took power. President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been rebooting Syria’s international credentials and seeking to revive his struggling country after toppling long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. “I have come to reaffirm France’s commitment to th...
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Damascus on Monday for the first visit by a Western European head of state since Syria’s new authorities took power. President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been rebooting Syria’s international credentials and seeking to revive his struggling country after toppling long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. “I have come to reaffirm France’s commitment to th...
With the integrity of Fifa and the World Cup under attack from European football leaders, Fifa President Gianni Infantino acknowledged taking a call from US President Donald Trump before US forward Folarin Balogun was cleared to play against Belgium later on Monday. Balogun was issued a red card in the US match against Bosnia-Herzegovina last week, resulting in a suspension for the Belgium contest...
Nato cannot be “naive” about China’s military development, as the Indo-Pacific and European theatres are becoming “more intertwined”, evident in Beijing’s support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Nato’s Secretary General said. During a pre-summit press conference on Monday, a day before the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte responded to questions about a Chine...
Prince Harry arrived in Britain on Monday for a five-day visit expected to go ahead mostly without his wife and children after they were reportedly refused police protection. Harry’s visit has been hit by several snags as plans for his family to accompany him fell through, his accommodation at Buckingham Palace was in disarray and a judgment in his latest legal battle against British tabloids loom...
Prince Harry has been told he cannot stay at Buckingham Palace this week after he failed to accept an invitation in time, a royal source said on Monday, underlining the still fraught relationship between King Charles and his second son. Harry had been planning to take his two children for their first visit to Britain in four years but on Saturday his spokesperson said Archie, seven, and Lilibet, ...
Comcast’s Sky has agreed to buy the broadcast channels and streaming service of Britain’s ITV for £1.6 billion (US$2.13 billion), creating a British champion to compete with global players YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Disney. Sky CEO Dana Strong said the deal, announced on Monday and confirming a Reuters story, was a “defining moment” in British broadcasting. The combination of Britain’s biggest f...
In a public park a stone’s throw from the European Commission buildings in Brussels late last month, beer flowed, meat grilled and country music blared as revellers marked the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The fallout from the event, however, provided signs – if they were needed – that all is not well in America’s relations with its erstwhile European allies. Just three o...
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio did not attend the opening of her impeachment trial on Monday, leaving her lawyers to fight charges that, if upheld, could remove her from office, permanently bar her from politics and reshape the 2028 presidential race. Legal experts told This Week in Asia they expected Duterte-Carpio to be difficult, though not impossible, to convict despite the grav...
A 20-year-old Indonesian woman was stabbed to death in her flat in Hamamatsu, central Japan, police said on Monday as they investigate whether a man who was fatally hit by a train nearby was involved in the case. The woman, identified as Keiko Altaira Hanafi, was found stabbed and in a critical condition by a police officer at around 11.40am in the flat where she lived with her parents. She was la...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a red rainstorm warning for an hour on Monday night, while a suspected waterspout was spotted off Cheung Chau. The red signal – the middle level in a three-tier ...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a red rainstorm warning for an hour on Monday night, while a suspected waterspout was spotted off Cheung Chau. The red signal – the middle level in a three-tier ...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. The Hong Kong Observatory issued a red rainstorm warning on Monday night, following warnings about heavy rain and serious flooding in areas of Wan Chai. The red signal was issued at 9.45pm, afte...
Although the US is in decline, underestimating the country could still prove a “fatal mistake”, according to a prominent Chinese commentator. “The United States is still a hegemony in decline. Even with its relative decline, it remains a hegemony because no nation or force is currently capable of truly taking its place,” Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University...
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced on Monday the dissolution of the body that has governed the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, clearing the way for a technocratic committee to implement civilian rule. The move marks a significant political shift by Hamas, which has run Gaza since its fighters seized control from rival Palestinian movement Fatah in 2007 after winning legislative elect...
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced on Monday the dissolution of the body that has governed the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, clearing the way for a technocratic committee to implement civilian rule. The move marks a significant political shift by Hamas, which has run Gaza since its fighters seized control from rival Palestinian movement Fatah in 2007 after winning legislative elect...
China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has captured its first close-up image of a near-Earth asteroid, revealing that the target is even smaller than anticipated – a factor scientists say will make the sample-return task “far more difficult” than previous Japanese and American missions. The probe captured images about 20km (12.4 miles) from asteroid 2016 HO3 during its approach phase, the China National Spa...
Peru wants to move to the next phase of its economic relationship with China to reduce the risks from trade ties dominated by the export of raw minerals, according to the country’s ambassador Carlos Vasquez. He told Tsinghua University’s World Peace Forum in Beijing on Friday that Peru was now seeking investment in the country’s infrastructure as it sought to diversify its economy. He said a handf...
Huawei Technologies’ coming smartphone processor is on track for a performance boost, without the need for more advanced processing nodes or lithography technology, according to new production data unveiled by the firm. Using Huawei’s LogicFolding architecture, the Kirin 2026, a mobile processor set to power the firm’s coming flagship Mate handsets launching this autumn, has increased transistor d...
For much of the post-Cold-War era, the European Union understood economic interdependence as a source of mutual prosperity. Open markets, free trade and multilateral rules were regarded not merely as economic principles but as the foundations of European normative influence. That assumption is rapidly giving way to a different logic. In an era of intensifying geopolitical rivalry, Brussels increas...
A court in eastern China has handed down a rare death sentence to a former municipal official convicted of taking more than 2.2 billion yuan (US$323.8 million) in bribes, marking one of the harshest punishments for economic crimes in recent years. Yang Youlin, who once served as executive deputy director of the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone management committee, was found gui...
Hong Kong’s legislature may review and tighten its code for members in light of the resignation of a lawmaker arrested for alleged drink-driving and failing to report an accident, its president has said. “We routinely review the code for Legislative Council members, usually during the latter stage of the term,” Starry Lee Wai-king said on Monday. “This incident will definitely serve as an importan...
Beijing has unveiled new measures to keep its tight grip on lithium prices, in a move that may give it an edge over the US in the key material vital for electric vehicle and energy storage. Following mining endeavours worldwide to secure supplies, Chinese authorities announced they would allow offshore industrial players to trade lithium carbonate onshore to cement its pricing power. Effective Jul...
When a mainland Chinese research vessel spent three days last month conducting an oceanographic survey in the Philippine Sea east of Taiwan, state media portrayed the mission as another example of Beijing’s expanding civilian maritime governance. However, experts highlighted the dual-use nature of oceanographic data, pointing out that the information gathered by the Xiang Yang Hong 22 from June 16...
India and Japan have agreed to jointly develop technology that makes Indian warships harder to detect, in a move that analysts say takes their defence partnership to a new level and reflects growing unease in both capitals over how far they can rely on Washington. The project involves fitting Indian warships with Japan’s Unified Complex Radio Antenna (Unicorn) system, which lowers a vessel’s radar...
Hong Kong churches have been urged to broaden the implementation of anti-sexual harassment policies to better protect members after a survey found signs of spiritual leaders mishandling complaints, including downplaying incidents. A survey by the Hong Kong Christian Council’s Gender Justice Ministry also identified at least 69 victims who reportedly experienced varying degrees of sexual harassment...
In a departure from convention, Chinese leader Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the United States on Independence Day. “This year marks the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States. President Xi Jinping, on behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, has already sent a congratulatory message to US President Trump,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao ...
