Live headlines from trusted global sources. Click any story to open it on the original website.
When Kwun Tong Maryknoll College in Hong Kong announced that it would tighten its mobile phone rules on campus, some pupils reacted so strongly that the Catholic boys’ school was forced to put the changes on hold. The secondary school, which currently only bans pupils from using their mobile phones on campus, had planned to require devices to be stored in designated lockers on each floor. Gaming n...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong’s weather forecaster will keep the No 1 typhoon signal in force until at least Friday noon and may later issue the No 3 warning as a tropical depression moves closer to the city. The Observatory said the tropical depression was about 630km (391 miles)...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong’s weather forecaster will keep the No 1 typhoon signal in force throughout Thursday and may raise it to No 3 the next day as a tropical depression moves closer to the city. The Observatory said the centre of the tropical depression was about 800km (49...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong’s weather forecaster will keep the No 1 typhoon signal in force and may raise it to No 3 on Friday as a tropical depression moves closer to the city. The centre of the tropical depression was about 800km (497 miles) from Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Obser...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The Hong Kong Observatory issued the No 1 typhoon signal at 7.40am on Thursday as an approaching tropical cyclone moved south of the city. The centre of the tropical cyclone was about 800 kilometres (497 miles) from Hong Kong, according to the weather forecaste...
Ukraine’s unresolved decision regarding two North Korean prisoners of war who have said they want to go to South Korea has given Kyiv leverage as it presses Seoul to sell weapons for its war against Russia, observers say. The soldiers, captured in early 2025 after being deployed to Kursk to support Russia’s war effort, are considered South Korean nationals under Seoul’s constitution, which defines...
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that indirect talks with Iran in Qatar were making progress, offering a tentative sign that diplomacy was holding after recent exchanges of fire threatened efforts to end the Middle East war. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, who led Tehran’s delegation, later said the talks had concluded and that the sides had agreed to establish a commu...
Alibaba Group will pay US$600 million to settle a US Department of Justice investigation into allegations that its e-commerce platforms enabled the sale of thousands of illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, and other prohibited products into the United States, marking one of the largest criminal resolutions involving a Chinese technology company. The settlement, announced on Wednesday, r...
Martial arts icon Bruce Lee, who was born in San Francisco, will become the first Chinese-American in California history with an annual namesake day. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Tuesday afternoon officially designating May 17 as Bruce Lee Day, according to the office of state Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco. An 18-year-old Lee returned to San Francisco on May 17, ...
Martial arts icon Bruce Lee, who was born in San Francisco, will become the first Chinese-American in California history with an annual namesake day. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Tuesday afternoon officially designating May 17 as Bruce Lee Day, according to the office of state Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco. An 18-year-old Lee returned to San Francisco on May 17, ...
Hong Kong’s educational institutions are forecast to ramp up their investment and leasing in the commercial property segment, with leading universities and international schools among those paying top dollar to acquire or lease office and retail spaces, according to Colliers. In the first five months of the year, property acquisitions by educational institutions accounted for nearly 40 per cent of...
In comments directed at Asean, a top Communist Party official reiterated that Beijing did not want to become a regional hegemon, while vowing to strengthen its energy cooperation with the Southeast Asian bloc. “For a country like China, which has ‘harmonious coexistence’ embedded in its DNA, it is extremely difficult to undergo a ‘genetic mutation’ and become a militaristic hegemony that bullies t...
The United States confirmed on Wednesday it would not renew its North American trade pact, its trade chief blaming Canada’s pursuit of Chinese investment. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the three governments met virtually and that Washington would not endorse the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in its current form. “The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in i...
The United States confirmed on Wednesday it would not renew its North American trade pact, its trade chief blaming Canada’s pursuit of Chinese investment. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the three governments met virtually and that Washington would not endorse the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in its current form. “The United States did not agree to renew the USMCA in i...
When people speak of the Great Game, they usually mean the 19th-century rivalry between the British and Russian empires for influence over Central Asia. It conjures up images of spies crossing deserts, mountain fortresses and imperial intrigue – an era vividly brought to life in Peter Hopkirk’s books, which first awakened my fascination with the region. A century and a half after the Great Game, a...
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will celebrate their wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the security plans. The festivities will kick off with a smaller rehearsal dinner planned for Thursday night, the official said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the events. Specula...
Beijing’s move this week to add 20 more Japanese entities to its export-control list is the latest chapter in a complex US-Japan-China geopolitical triangle. Over the past seven months, an angry China has punished Tokyo repeatedly. A miffed Japan is left feeling betrayed. And a war-distracted Washington has struggled to navigate between the two, adding further tension in a region already on tenter...
A ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz while using a route not approved by Iran, state television in Tehran reported on Wednesday. The vessel was identified as a foreign container ship, with no other details. The report appeared aimed at underlining Tehran’s claims to control the strait, which the world has long considered an international waterway. A fifth of all oil and natural gas passed th...
A ship ran aground in the Strait of Hormuz while using a route not approved by Iran, state television in Tehran reported on Wednesday. The vessel was identified as a foreign container ship, with no other details. The report appeared aimed at underlining Tehran’s claims to control the strait, which the world has long considered an international waterway. A fifth of all oil and natural gas passed th...
A Russian couple of daredevil artists climbed to the top of the Empire State Building’s towering spire in New York City on Wednesday to unfurl a large banner urging world peace in what appeared to be an elaborate marriage proposal that ended in their arrests. Dressed in sleeveless black outfits and documenting their time in the sky on social media, Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus hung onto the la...
A pair of Russian daredevil artists climbed to the top of the Empire State Building’s towering spire in New York on Wednesday to unfurl a large banner urging world peace in what appeared to be an elaborate marriage proposal that ended in their arrests. Dressed in sleeveless black outfits and documenting their time in the sky on social media, Angela Nikolau and Vanya Beerkus hung onto the landmark...
Two people got to the top of the Empire State Building’s antenna and unfurled a banner about “the power of love” at midday on Wednesday, before starting to descend, embracing, taking selfies and ultimately being arrested. Dressed in black and wearing masks – but not tethers, it appeared – the two balanced on a narrow ledge and appeared to kiss atop the New York skyscraper’s antenna, which rises 1,...
A Maltese tycoon went on trial on Wednesday accused of ordering the murder of a hard-hitting investigative journalist that rocked the island nation, brought down a government and drew global condemnation. Suspect Yorgen Fenech is charged with orchestrating the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, 53, a prominent public figure and vocal critic who was killed by a bomb placed in her car near her...
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi warned the US to approach Taiwan affairs with “utmost caution” in a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling for Washington to expand cooperation and manage risks with Beijing. According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the two top diplomats held a “positive and constructive” phone call on Tuesday. It is the first reported cabinet-level communication s...
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi warned the US to approach Taiwan affairs with “utmost caution” in a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling for Washington to expand cooperation and manage risks with Beijing. According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the two top diplomats held a “positive and constructive” phone call on Tuesday. It is the first reported cabinet-level communication s...
US President Donald Trump flew for the first time on Wednesday aboard a retrofitted Boeing 747 that he accepted as a gift from Qatar. The luxury aircraft, reported to be worth about US$400 million, officially joined the Air Force One fleet last month. It had to undergo extensive modifications at US taxpayers’ expense, including security upgrades, before being cleared for use. Trump used it to fly ...
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. With no team in World Cup, Chinese fans root for Ronaldo, Messi … and a referee Among the hundreds of thousands of fans who travelled to North America for the World Cup are countless Chinese sup...
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump thinks he is playing hardball. But China is playing Trump: analysts As the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump fades in the rear-view mirror, marked...
Chinese police have published a detailed technical report on tracking, seizing, and freezing cryptocurrency – revealing a sophisticated arsenal of forensic tools. Bitcoin, Ethereum and the like may be household names, but they are illegal in China. A 2021 government notice banned their use as currency, and new rules from earlier this year went even further, cracking down on stablecoins and the tok...
Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio’s plan to launch one of the country’s largest public share offerings in recent years is expected to shake up the domestic market and spur digital companies to raise funds amid a lull in the Iran war and global trade tensions. Earlier this month, the company filed its initial public offering plan with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise US$3.8 billi...
