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This article was first published on June 28, 1977. Film festival off to impressive start by SCMP reporter Hongkong’s First International Film Festival got off to an impressive start last night (June 27, 1977). It was not quite the glittering social occasion as the Cannes Film Festival and there certainly was not the profusion of topless models and eager starlets that the Mediterranean occasion pro...
On a drizzly, windy morning in June, a family gathered before a tombstone at Wo Hop Shek Cemetery in northern Hong Kong to bid farewell to a loved one who died in the Wang Fuk Court fire. Beneath the muddy grave and scattered stones lies a man surnamed Hung, in his forties, among the 168 victims of the city’s deadliest fire in decades. Last November’s inferno also displaced nearly 5,000 residents....
A Filipino teenager has drowned after losing his balance while walking on a bridge and falling into the sea off an outlying island in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. According to a source, the 17-year-old boy, who holds a Hong Kong identity card, was chatting with two friends while sitting on the railings of Chau Tsai Bridge on Peng Chau on Friday evening. At around 7.18pm, he...
China has removed six senior PLA officers from the country’s top legislative body, a sign that President Xi Jinping’s military anti-corruption campaign is not slowing down. According to a late-night notice issued by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Friday, 13 members of the legislature had been removed and one had resigned. Away from the military, those removed included a forme...
Indonesian police have arrested dozens of protesters following a rally against President Prabowo Subianto’s policies in the country’s second-largest city, a rights group said on Saturday. Around 100 people gathered near a government building in Surabaya on Friday, journalists on the scene estimated, to protest a fuel price increase and Prabowo’s flagship free meals scheme. Some demonstrators hurle...
Hong Kong’s welfare minister has said a three-year care order granted for home-born baby Danny could be shortened, but only based on professional assessments and the boy’s best interests. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Saturday that the two-month-old had developed a fever and was in hospital, where he was expected to remain before being transferred back to a care home. ...
Hong Kong’s welfare minister has said a three-year guardianship order granted for home-born baby Danny could be shortened, but only based on professional assessments and the child’s best interests. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Saturday that the two-month-old had developed a fever and was admitted to hospital. He is expected to remain under observation for a period bef...
Three months of war with the United States and Israel may not have broken Iran’s resistance, but its economy has been brought to its knees. Forty days of American and Israeli bombing in March and early April – targeting energy grids, steel mills, petrochemical plants, ports and transport corridors – were followed by a two-month US naval blockade that sealed off much of what remained. The bill of d...
Hong Kong authorities plan to expand a scheme allowing mainland Chinese motorists to drive into the city for leisure to all 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong province by the first quarter of next year, after applications reached about three times the daily quota. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said on Saturday that about 15,000 motorists had applied through mainland authori...
Hong Kong authorities have planned to expand a scheme allowing mainland Chinese motorists to drive into the city for leisure to all 21 Guangdong cities by the first quarter of next year, after applications reached about three times the daily quota. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said on Saturday that about 15,000 motorists had applied through mainland authorities for next month’s...
Prediction markets occupy a grey area under Hong Kong’s gambling laws, with experts warning that the increasingly popular betting platforms could pose risks related to market manipulation and consumer protection. Lawyers and a legislator said that while a ban could restrict access to these largely unregulated betting platforms, authorities would face challenges in gathering evidence and prosecutin...
For Dr Thein Swee Lay, the only Malaysian scientist to have won the Breakthrough Prize, cracking a code in gene therapy was easier than hunting down an authentic version of her hometown popiah – or spring rolls – in the US, where she has been based for years. “I have not come across a Malaysian restaurant that sells good popiah. I miss it,” Thein told This Week in Asia in an exclusive interview wh...
As the class of 2026 join the race to find jobs, unemployed college graduates in Singapore are taking a last-ditch shot at getting ahead via temporary government-funded gigs that earn them half the median first pay cheque. The government’s Graduate Industry Traineeships, known as GRIT, offer a stopgap for graduates to gain industry-relevant experience with government agencies or private businesses...
This article was first published on June 28, 1996. Rennie’s Mill residents win battle for damages by Cliff Buddle and Ng Kang-chung Rennie’s Mill residents won their marathon battle with the Government yesterday (June 27, 1996) when a judge ruled they had been treated unfairly and must be paid damages. Mr Justice Raymond Sears said the Government abused its powers by breaching a 35-year-old promis...
As Asean foreign ministers prepare to meet in Manila from July 21-22, a quiet but significant shift is under way in the bloc’s approach to Myanmar. Although the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remains formally committed to the “five-point consensus”, several member states appear to be reconsidering the collective pressure strategy adopted since the 2021 coup. Rather than abandoning the cons...
When a friend checked in on a Meituan employee late last month to see if he had survived the latest round of corporate culling at the food delivery giant, he responded drily: “I don’t know whether it will be me next.” Anxieties were running high at the company then, after chat screenshots circulated on Chinese social media claiming Meituan planned to slash up to half of its product roles by the en...
The US government has allowed Anthropic to release its powerful Claude Mythos 5 artificial intelligence model to some “trusted” US organisations, partially reversing an order two weeks ago to suspend access over national security risks. More than 100 companies and institutions will now have access to Mythos 5, including many Fortune 500 companies, according to a source familiar with the new direct...
You hear “The Hulk” before you see him: Chadchart Sittipunt’s voice carries as he canvasses for a second term as Bangkok governor in the tight, twisting alleys of a working-class canalside community. The nickname, affectionately bestowed upon him by Thai internet users for his muscular frame and passion for running, suits the 60-year-old well. He has been out hustling for votes daily ahead of Sund...
“What did your family talk about at the dinner table?” Snug under the Tuscan sun, at a writing retreat on a permaculture farm outside Florence, I was ready to mine my fondest food memories. For a moment, scenes from films and television flashed across my mind: a montage of vivid dinner conversations and emotional check-ins, stitched together from various coming-of-age stories. The only problem was...
In the second of a two-part series on the economy as Hong Kong marks 29 years since its return to Chinese rule, Lo Hoi Ying and Leopold Chen look at the city’s efforts at closer integration with the nation and the opportunities and obstacles it presents. Part one can be found here. A question from his niece about how face masks should be recycled prompted materials scientist Eddie Yu to rethink su...
As China’s relationship with African countries deepens, the country’s influence is spreading into more areas. In our series Jevans Nyabiage looks at how Beijing’s blanket import clearance for three African food products will affect ties between them, and the potential effects for other governments around the world. Beijing is rewriting its trade playbook by bypassing years of protracted bilateral ...
A 75-year-old grandfather became a beauty influencer to raise money for his grandson with a rare disease, saying he did so out of love for his only daughter. Zhu Yunchang, from eastern China’s Jiangsu province, looks after his nine-year-old grandson Cao Jingyan during the day and live‑streams at night. Zhu usually live‑streams until midnight, and his wife stays up to keep him company. Zhu is doing...
President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a rendering of a new limited-edition US passport to mark the country’s 250th anniversary of independence, featuring his stern-faced likeness. “The U.S.A.’s New Passport, which says, ‘Welcome, but be good!’” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform featuring the passport mock-up. The image features a glowering Trump leaning on his desk and his sign...
Hong Kong is pressing ahead with an overhaul of listing rules and the launch of new product initiatives, the city’s deputy finance chief said on Friday as the bourse operator marked 26 years as a publicly traded company. Speaking at the anniversary ceremony of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun outlined reforms under review, including optimisin...
Jane Lyu flew to Malaysia on Tuesday to visit a city that she had never heard of until recently. The 32-year-old engineer from Guangxi, southern China, first spotted it on Weibo. Now, standing outside the pink-domed Putra Mosque in Putrajaya, she explains through a translation app how the country’s administrative capital, a planned city barely three decades old, ended up as the first stop on her M...
The Texas Board of Education on Friday approved mandated reading lists for public school children that include passages from the Bible – the latest effort by leaders there to infuse the education system with conservative and religious ideals. The Republican-dominated board, in a 9-5 vote with one member absent and not voting, approved the reading lists for over 5 million public school students...
My four-year-old son has become fascinated with his new friend, who has endless patience and an answer for everything. She is an artificial intelligence assistant on Doubao, one of China’s most popular AI applications. My son, obsessed with space, black holes and galaxies, keeps asking Doubao for related videos. When the video is of low quality or inaccurate, I would stop it and explain it may not...
A high-profile visit to Washington by Taiwanese Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu reflects a broader US effort to strengthen ties with the island’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), according to analysts. Han’s trip follows visits to the United States by Taichung mayor and KMT member Lu Shiow-yen in March and KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun earlier this month. The succession of arrivals suggested Washing...
Burkina Faso’s ruling junta on Friday severed diplomatic ties with former colonial ruler France, accusing Paris of persistently acting against its interests. The military regime led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, in power since a coup in September 2022, is pursuing a policy repressive towards critical voices and hostile to Westerners, particularly France. “The government of Burkina Faso hereby informs...
Billionaire investor Leon Black said on Friday that Jeffrey Epstein deceived him during a years-long relationship in which he paid the disgraced financier US$158 million, but insisted he committed no criminal wrongdoing as he appeared before the House Oversight Committee. Black is the 16th person to appear before the committee as part of their broader investigation into the web of wealth and influ...
