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Netanyahu says some Lebanese villages ‘asked to be annexed to Israel’
SCMP

Netanyahu says some Lebanese villages ‘asked to be annexed to Israel’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had “asked to be annexed to Israel” so that they could be protected from Hezbollah militants. Lebanon was drawn into the wider war in the Middle East on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel responde...

Some Lebanese Christian villages ‘asked to be annexed’ by Israel, Netanyahu says
SCMP

Some Lebanese Christian villages ‘asked to be annexed’ by Israel, Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had asked to be annexed by Israel so that they could be protected from Hezbollah militants. Lebanon was drawn into the wider war in the Middle East on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Israel responded ...

Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis university town tender to launch in 2 months
SCMP

Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis university town tender to launch in 2 months

As Hong Kong marks the 29th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule on July 1, the South China Morning Post talks to the city’s senior officials about the administration’s achievements so far and what may lie ahead. The first tender for the university town in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis will be launched in two months, with successful bidders to be announced after the site formation of the pl...

Wu Xinbo on why Trump’s ‘America first’ foreign policy may be driving China’s rise
SCMP

Wu Xinbo on why Trump’s ‘America first’ foreign policy may be driving China’s rise

Wu Xinbo is the dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai and a leading Chinese researcher on the US. In this interview, he analyses how shifts in US foreign policy are changing the relationship between the two countries. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. As the United States celebrates it...

Venezuela leader vows ‘no social unrest’ as quakes death toll passes 3,300

Venezuela leader vows ‘no social unrest’ as quakes death toll passes 3,300

SCMP

Venezuela’s interim president said on Sunday the country would not descend into social unrest after the twin earthquakes which killed more than 3,300 people and left thousands more missing. One of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters, the June 24 shocks collapsed scores of buildings, leaving thousands homeless, especially in the coastal La Guaira area north of the capital Caracas. “There wil...

Venezuela leader vows ‘no social unrest here’ as earthquakes death toll passes 3,000

Venezuela leader vows ‘no social unrest here’ as earthquakes death toll passes 3,000

SCMP

Venezuela’s interim president said on Sunday the country would not descend into social unrest after the twin earthquakes which killed more than 3,000 people and left thousands more missing. One of Latin America’s worst earthquake disasters, the June 24 shocks collapsed scores of buildings, leaving thousands homeless, especially in the coastal La Guaira area north of the capital Caracas. “There wil...

Anti-drug video fiasco not a vote of confidence in Hong Kong’s AI goals

Anti-drug video fiasco not a vote of confidence in Hong Kong’s AI goals

SCMP

It’s unfortunate for Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu that his speech on July 1 marking the 29th anniversary of the handover and highlighting his government’s achievements may have been overshadowed by the outcry over an anti-drug video – or at least what was intended as one. The Correctional Services Department released the video, generated by artificial intelligence (AI), on June 26 be...

Millions in Lalique jewellery stolen in daring French museum raid

Millions in Lalique jewellery stolen in daring French museum raid

SCMP

Burglars stole millions of euros’ worth of jewellery from the museum of French luxury glassmaker Lalique in a daring early-morning raid on Sunday, just months after a stunning gem robbery at the Louvre in Paris. A gang of masked thieves broke into the museum in Wingen-sur-Moder in northeastern France at around 5.30am local time, forcing a door before heading for the jewellery room and smashing ope...

Jewellery worth millions of euros stolen in French museum burglary

Jewellery worth millions of euros stolen in French museum burglary

SCMP

Burglars stole millions of euros’ worth of jewellery from the museum of French luxury glassmaker Lalique in a daring early-morning raid on Sunday, just months after a stunning gem robbery at the Louvre in Paris. A gang of masked thieves broke in to the museum in Wingen-sur-Moder in northeastern France at around 5.30am local time, forcing a door before heading for the jewellery room and smashing op...

Trump to meet leaders of Ukraine and Syria at Turkey Nato summit

Trump to meet leaders of Ukraine and Syria at Turkey Nato summit

SCMP

US President Donald Trump plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the Nato summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump’s attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria’s role in the Middle East. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly c...

Trump to meet Ukraine’s Zelensky and Syria’s Sharaa during Nato summit in Turkey

Trump to meet Ukraine’s Zelensky and Syria’s Sharaa during Nato summit in Turkey

SCMP

US President Donald Trump plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the Nato summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump’s attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria’s role in the Middle East. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly c...

White supremacist group’s July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says

White supremacist group’s July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says

SCMP

Federal officials had no reason to stop a white ⁠supremacist group’s July ⁠4 rally in Washington because ⁠of free speech protections, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Sunday. Hundreds of masked Patriot Front members who marched through the nation’s capital on Independence Day on Saturday did nothing illegal, Burgum told CNN’s State of the Union. Although the organisation’s ‌white supremac...

White supremacists’ July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says

White supremacists’ July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says

SCMP

Federal officials had no reason to stop a white ⁠supremacist group’s July ⁠4 rally in Washington because ⁠of free speech protections, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Sunday. Hundreds of masked Patriot Front members who marched through the nation’s capital on Independence Day on Saturday did nothing illegal, Burgum told CNN’s State of the Union programme. Although the organisation’s ‌whit...

Egypt inaugurates the ‘Octagon’, a mega military HQ larger than the Pentagon

Egypt inaugurates the ‘Octagon’, a mega military HQ larger than the Pentagon

SCMP

Egypt has inaugurated a new armed forces headquarters, which observers say is the largest in the world, with an elaborate ceremony and a rare appearance from the president and former general Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in military uniform. The Octagon, as the complex is being called, consists of eight buildings each with an eight-sided floor plan in an area of around 90 sq km (34.7 square miles), the siz...

Egypt’s President el-Sisi inaugurates massive new military headquarters

Egypt’s President el-Sisi inaugurates massive new military headquarters

SCMP

Egypt has inaugurated a new armed forces headquarters, which observers say is the largest in the world, with an elaborate ceremony and a rare appearance from the president and former general Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in military uniform. The Octagon, as the complex is being called, consists of eight buildings each with an eight-sided floor plan in an area of around 90 sq km (34.7 square miles), the siz...

Prosecutors to lay out case against Charlie Kirk’s accused killer

Prosecutors to lay out case against Charlie Kirk’s accused killer

SCMP

Charlie Kirk’s widow and parents are expected this week in a Utah court where prosecutors seeking the death penalty will argue that the man charged with killing the conservative activist should stand trial for murder. The five-day preliminary hearing that starts on Monday will be the first time members of Kirk’s family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be li...

Prosecutors to lay out their case against the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk

Prosecutors to lay out their case against the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk

SCMP

Charlie Kirk’s widow and parents are expected this week in a Utah court where prosecutors seeking the death penalty will argue that the man charged with killing the conservative activist should stand trial for murder. The five-day preliminary hearing that starts on Monday will be the first time members of Kirk’s family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be li...

UK’s Nigel Farage faces new allegations over gifts

UK’s Nigel Farage faces new allegations over gifts

SCMP

Hard-right British politician Nigel Farage on Sunday faced fresh allegations over non-disclosure of gifts after a newspaper reported a convicted fraudster paid for his security and staff before he became an MP. An MP said he had asked parliament’s standards commissioner to investigate the new claims against the leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, which is currently leading in opinion p...

UK hard-right leader Farage faces new allegations over gifts

UK hard-right leader Farage faces new allegations over gifts

SCMP

Hard-right British politician Nigel Farage on Sunday faced fresh allegations over non-disclosure of gifts after a newspaper reported a convicted fraudster paid for his security and staff before he became an MP. An MP said he had asked parliament’s standards commissioner to investigate the new claims against the leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, which is currently leading in opinion p...

“Compleat Scholar” bridging tourism, academia and industry

“Compleat Scholar” bridging tourism, academia and industry

SCMP

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] For two decades, Professor Robert Li’s rigorous, yet practice-grounded research has bridged academia and the hospitality and tourism industry, giving it a new lens for examining its conventional wisdom. Since joining the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School in January 2025, he has brought what he calls th...

Japanese space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

Japanese space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

SCMP

A Japanese space probe performed a fly-by of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday, in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks. The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 was due to fly within 800 metres (0.5 miles) of asteroid Torifune, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scientists said earlier, a trial run to see whether such a probe could deflect a potentially dangero...

Japan space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

Japan space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

SCMP

A Japanese space probe performed a fly-by of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday, in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks. The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 was due to fly within 800 metres (0.5 miles) of asteroid Torifune, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scientists said earlier, a trial run to see whether such a probe could deflect a potentially dangero...

Hong Kong police seize HK$120m of cocaine hidden in 3-tonne metal containers

Hong Kong police seize HK$120m of cocaine hidden in 3-tonne metal containers

SCMP

Police have seized about HK$120 million (US$15.4 million) worth of suspected cocaine hidden inside three heavy-metal containers at a warehouse in northern Hong Kong, arresting three men. Officers raided a 3,000 sq ft tin‑sheet warehouse on Kung Um Road in Yuen Long on Friday night and found three men using tools to cut open two of the containers, Senior Inspector Lam Pak‑kiu of the narcotics burea...

2 dead, 4 injured as northern China truck collision triggers huge chemical blast

2 dead, 4 injured as northern China truck collision triggers huge chemical blast

SCMP

Two people were killed and four others injured when a truck carrying ammonium nitrate collided with another vehicle and exploded on a national highway in northern China at around noon on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported. Authorities in Inner Mongolia autonomous region said the blast occurred at 11.27am on a section of National Highway 331 in Xilingol League, according to the report. Offic...

Why the Indo-Pacific might be on the back burner at the Nato summit

Why the Indo-Pacific might be on the back burner at the Nato summit

SCMP

Nato’s 32 member states will convene in the Turkish capital this week for an annual summit expected to be dominated by efforts to secure a fragile peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, with Indo-Pacific issues taking a back seat. Analysts said the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, as well as Washington’s push for European allies to raise defence spending, could diminish discussion about the security ...

‘Catastrophic’ Super Typhoon Bavi hits US island of Rota

‘Catastrophic’ Super Typhoon Bavi hits US island of Rota

SCMP

A “super typhoon” with equivalent force to a category-5 hurricane made landfall on the US island of Rota in the Pacific on Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, warning of “catastrophic damage and [a] life-threatening situation”. “The western eyewall of Super Typhoon Bavi is currently moving over the island of Rota. The latest forecast intensity is at 180mph (290km/h) as it passes over ...

US Pacific islands prepare for Super Typhoon Bavi

US Pacific islands prepare for Super Typhoon Bavi

SCMP

People in Guam and the Northern Marianas moved to emergency evacuation centres and made last-minute preparations on Sunday, hours before a “super typhoon” was projected to bulldoze through the US Pacific territories. Super Typhoon Bavi was forecast to roar westwards over the area at around 10.00am (0000 GMT) on Monday with winds of 260 kilometres (160 miles) per hour – equivalent to a category 5 h...

Hong Kong-developed ‘Eye for Space’ now operating aboard Tiangong space station

Hong Kong-developed ‘Eye for Space’ now operating aboard Tiangong space station

SCMP

A state-of-the-art greenhouse gas monitoring instrument spearheaded by a Hong Kong university has officially commenced operations aboard China’s Tiangong space station, following its successful installation by the city’s first home-grown astronaut, Lai Ka-ying. The Multi-Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory (Musico) – often dubbed the “Eye for Space” – will remain in orbit for at least two years, a...

German govt may withhold classified info from states if far-right start winning

German govt may withhold classified info from states if far-right start winning

SCMP

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Sunday that the federal government is considering withholding information from ministers in state administrations if they are formed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD is regularly criticised for close ties to Moscow. Polls indicate that the AfD could win an absolute majority in a state election in September in Saxony-Anhalt, meanin...