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Coming up roses? How Trump planted a new seed for Chinese gift diplomacy
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Coming up roses? How Trump planted a new seed for Chinese gift diplomacy

Donald Trump was apparently captivated by the “beautiful” roses in the garden of the Communist Party’s leadership compound when he visited Beijing in May. It was a relaxed moment between the US and Chinese leaders – otherwise locked in disputes ranging from trade to technology and Taiwan – that led to a new opportunity for gift diplomacy between the rival powers. Strolling around the former imperi...

AI used for first time to analyse lawmakers’ 5-year plan, policy address debate
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AI used for first time to analyse lawmakers’ 5-year plan, policy address debate

Hong Kong’s legislature has for the first time used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse lawmakers’ remarks during a three-day debate on the city’s first five-year plan and the latest annual policy address, with talent and the Northern Metropolis emerging as the most-discussed topics. Legislative Council president Starry Lee Wai-king said on Saturday that an overview of the six-session debate h...

Bangladesh tourist resort fire kills 10
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Bangladesh tourist resort fire kills 10

At least 10 tourists have been killed in a fire at a seaside resort in the southeastern Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar, the country’s largest travel destination, officials said on Saturday. Dolon Acharya, an officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence department, said the fire broke out in the morning at Tuptup Resto and Resort at Patuartek beach. The flames gutted the entire facility. The ...

UK deports Romanian convicted of arson at ex-PM Starmer’s homes
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UK deports Romanian convicted of arson at ex-PM Starmer’s homes

Britain has deported a Romanian man jailed for two years in June for arson attacks on two properties linked to then British prime minister Keir Starmer, the interior ministry said Saturday. Ukraine-born Stanislav Carpiuc was found guilty of the attacks alongside Ukrainian citizen Roman Lavrynovych, who was jailed for seven years over the May 2025 attacks on two London houses and a vehicle. “This i...

Corrupt officials have nowhere to hide, China’s anti-graft watchdog warns

Corrupt officials have nowhere to hide, China’s anti-graft watchdog warns

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There is “no way out” for corrupt officials no matter how senior they are, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog has warned following the downfall of a former big-city mayor who survived numerous previous scandals. This week, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced both the probe into Huang Qifan, the former mayor of Chongqing, and the expulsion of a senior figure in Sichu...

Pope Leo leaves hospital 4 days after lung cancer surgery

Pope Leo leaves hospital 4 days after lung cancer surgery

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Pope Leo left hospital in Rome on Saturday afternoon to ‌return to the Vatican following surgery for lung cancer four days ago. The 71-year-old walked unaided to his waiting car, stopping to speak to well-wishers outside Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. His doctors had earlier said he was well ⁠enough to return home after they carried out the latest blood ‌tests and chest imaging. The pope, who had an ope...

Pope Leo to leave hospital on Saturday, 4 days after lung cancer surgery

Pope Leo to leave hospital on Saturday, 4 days after lung cancer surgery

SCMP •

Pope Leo is expected to leave hospital on Saturday afternoon following surgery for lung cancer, the Vatican said, after blood tests and ‌chest imaging found him fit to return home four days after his operation. The 71-year-old pontiff, who has not been seen in public since a procedure on Tuesday to remove the lower lobe of his right lung, will also hold his first public engagement since surgery on...

Pope Leo to leave hospital on Saturday after lung cancer surgery

Pope Leo to leave hospital on Saturday after lung cancer surgery

SCMP •

Pope Leo is expected to leave hospital on Saturday afternoon following surgery for lung cancer, the Vatican said, after blood ‌tests and chest imaging found him fit to return home. He will lead prayers from his flat at the Vatican to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, his first ⁠public engagement since he went into hospital. The 71-year-old has ‌been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, the ...

Mass protests in France spiral into worst riots in years

Mass protests in France spiral into worst riots in years

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Rioting erupted in cities across France on ⁠Saturday as demonstrations against rising living costs and declining public services spiralled out of control in some of the worst violence the country has witnessed for decades. While hundreds of thousands protested peacefully in street marches in scores of cities, violent fringe groups targeted public buildings, looted luxury boutiques and supermarkets...

Police and protesters clash in some of France’s worst unrest in years

Police and protesters clash in some of France’s worst unrest in years

SCMP •

Violent clashes erupted between ⁠police and protesters across France on Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of people protested against rising costs and declining public services in some of the country’s most destructive unrest in years. The Interior Ministry said at least 272 people had been arrested after violent incidents involving hooded individuals, including in Paris, Marseille in the south, ...

French police clash with protesters as thousands rally over cost of living

French police clash with protesters as thousands rally over cost of living

SCMP •

lashes ⁠broke out between police and protesters in cities across France on Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in some of the country’s most violent protests in years over rising costs and declining public services. Some 272 people had been arrested by mid-afternoon after violent incidents involving hooded individuals, including in Paris, Marseille in the south, Rennes in t...

Tear gas, clashes hit French cities in cost-of-living protests

Tear gas, clashes hit French cities in cost-of-living protests

SCMP •

Police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters in several French cities on Saturday as some of the most violent protests in years over living costs and public services drew thousands onto the streets. French authorities said 140 protests involving 32,800 people had been recorded outside Paris by midday and blamed the unrest on what ‌they described as the “ultra-left”. The protests began last mo...

French protesters take to streets over rising prices, social strain

French protesters take to streets over rising prices, social strain

SCMP •

Protests ⁠began across France on Saturday in ⁠what was expected to become a major nationwide protest ⁠against high prices and the fraying of a model intended to provide a basic level of opportunity and social security. The protests began last month at high schools in Paris’ poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and shabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement aga...

Strangers and railway staff help Chinese couple bring quintuplets home by train

Strangers and railway staff help Chinese couple bring quintuplets home by train

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When a couple from Xinjiang took their quintuplets home on a 36-hour train journey, the babies became favourites of both the train crew and fellow passengers, who took turns caring for them. The five babies were born on February 26 at a major hospital in Wuhan, in central China’s Hubei province. Their father, known as Abu, and their mother, Dili, are both from Hotan in northwestern China’s Xinjian...

Is China’s Shenzhen ready to host Xi, Trump and Putin during Apec summit?

Is China’s Shenzhen ready to host Xi, Trump and Putin during Apec summit?

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In Shenzhen, drones are banned, shiny new hotels have opened their doors and taxi drivers are carrying devices that can translate nearly 150 languages. Since President Xi Jinping announced last year that China’s southern tech hub would host Apec meetings in November, the city has done all it can to get ready under the watchful eyes of the local, provincial and national authorities. While every Ape...

Man arrested for alleged HK$450,000 theft of wife’s Chanel and Hermes bags, Rolex

Man arrested for alleged HK$450,000 theft of wife’s Chanel and Hermes bags, Rolex

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Hong Kong police have arrested the husband of a 34-year-old woman for allegedly stealing luxury goods worth HK$450,000 (US$57,700) from her at home. The woman, surnamed Chan, reported the case to police at around 8.30am on Saturday morning at their home in the Ocean One residential development in Yau Tong. According to police, Chan suspected that her 40-year-old husband, surnamed Lam, had stolen v...

Shisha smoking will cause 1 million new lung cancer cases globally by 2050: WHO study

Shisha smoking will cause 1 million new lung cancer cases globally by 2050: WHO study

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Water pipe smoking will contribute to about 1 million new lung cancer cases globally by 2050, with the Western Pacific region bearing the brunt, according to a study led by a World Health Organization (WHO) research agency that was recently presented in Hong Kong. The study, which is yet to be published, was headed by Dr Mahdi Sheikh, a scientist of the early detection, prevention and infections b...

Language matters in Hong Kong’s birth rate debate, not just money

Language matters in Hong Kong’s birth rate debate, not just money

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When Hong Kong debates how to raise its birth rate, the conversation usually revolves around money: bigger baby bonuses, tax concessions, housing support, cheaper childcare and so on. These economic measures are necessary. Lowering the cost of raising a child removes some real and immediate barriers. However, there is another, lesser-known factor that works more subtly and implicitly. It comes not...

Reporter’s notebook: Kimi’s AI credit card turns spending into computing quotas – with limits

Reporter’s notebook: Kimi’s AI credit card turns spending into computing quotas – with limits

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China’s artificial intelligence companies have spent years persuading consumers to pay for their technology. Now, Moonshot AI, the start-up behind Kimi, is taking a different approach: offering AI computing benefits through a credit card. The company has teamed up with the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and American Express for what it calls “the world’s first AI native credit card”. After getti...

Landmark China trial gets 84% efficacy in treating cancer with cue from waste water tech

Landmark China trial gets 84% efficacy in treating cancer with cue from waste water tech

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For patients with advanced, metastatic cancer that has progressed despite systemic therapy – options remain critically limited. Now, Chinese scientists are pointing to an unconventional therapeutic agent – the element iron. This idea originated in industrial waste water treatment: iron can react with hydrogen peroxide to generate hydroxyl radicals, which degrade various organic and toxic molecules...

Landmark China trial gets 84% efficacy in treating cancer with clue from waste water tech

Landmark China trial gets 84% efficacy in treating cancer with clue from waste water tech

SCMP •

For patients with advanced, metastatic cancer that has progressed despite systemic therapy – options remain critically limited. Now, Chinese scientists are pointing to an unconventional therapeutic agent – the element iron. This idea originated in industrial waste water treatment: iron can react with hydrogen peroxide to generate hydroxyl radicals, which degrade various organic and toxic molecules...

European delegates walk out on Russian finance minister at IMF summit

European delegates walk out on Russian finance minister at IMF summit

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Many delegates to ⁠the International Monetary Fund’s steering ⁠committee walked out of a meeting on ⁠Saturday when Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov addressed the group in Russian, three sources familiar with the matter said. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has roiled the International Monetary and Financial Committee, preventing it from reaching consensus statements in the yea...

Police urge Apple to fix security after 110 reports of fraud over iPhone Duo

Police urge Apple to fix security after 110 reports of fraud over iPhone Duo

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Hong Kong police have raised concerns over Apple’s refusal to activate an additional security protocol to prevent fraud despite repeated calls, as the force received more than 110 reports of unauthorised credit card transactions following the pre-order launch of the company’s latest model. The force said on Saturday that residents began reporting suspicious credit card purchases of the foldable iP...

Police receive over 100 reports about credit card charges for iPhone Duo pre-orders

Police receive over 100 reports about credit card charges for iPhone Duo pre-orders

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Hong Kong police have received more than 100 reports of unauthorised credit card transactions related to pre-orders of Apple’s latest iPhone model, the South China Morning Post has learned. Apple began its online pre-orders for its foldable iPhone Duo on Friday at 8pm, and complaints about suspicious transactions began to appear on social media overnight. Some credit card users claimed duplicate o...

Modi under pressure as India’s youth protests rise to highest level in a decade

Modi under pressure as India’s youth protests rise to highest level in a decade

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Despite ⁠tens of thousands of security personnel deployed to stop them, youth protesters in India scaled barricades last ⁠week, chanted anti-government slogans and scuffled with police officers trying to drag them away. “Long live the revolution,” shouted one young man before police bundled him into a bus. Street protests in India this year are likely to be higher than at any time in the past deca...

Security fears in Norway as Chinese smart cars record sensitive military data

Security fears in Norway as Chinese smart cars record sensitive military data

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Chinese-made cars filmed sensitive information during a Norwegian military exercise, including access codes at secure sites and officials’ comings and goings, raising concerns about the risks posed by connected vehicles. During a security exercise at Oslo airport on September 14 to 18, waiting soldiers tapping on their vehicle’s screen discovered videos recorded by the on-board cameras, the Dagens...

Abby Choi’s partner tells murder trial she hid ex-in-laws’ financial reliance on her

Abby Choi’s partner tells murder trial she hid ex-in-laws’ financial reliance on her

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Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung’s partner has told a court she initially misled him about her former in-laws’ wealth before describing them as horrible and ungrateful after a bitter family dispute. Chris Tam Fong-chun’s testimony also shed light on his complex relationship with Choi and his former classmate Alex Kwong Kong-chi. The three remained connected through their four children,...

Over 3,000 bears culled in Russia after wave of deadly attacks: ‘we’ve never had this’

Over 3,000 bears culled in Russia after wave of deadly attacks: ‘we’ve never had this’

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Seeing what looked like a brown blob in a tree while driving through Siberia’s Irkutsk region, 36-year-old Daria Tyurneva pulled over, curious to get a better look. She was not expecting to find a bear cub, perched on a branch, several metres up. “We stopped, without turning off the engine or taking off the gear, because we knew the mother could be somewhere nearby,” Tyurneva said, showing a phone...

Hong Kong’s revamped Huanggang Port quiet ahead of expected holiday rush

Hong Kong’s revamped Huanggang Port quiet ahead of expected holiday rush

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Hong Kong’s revamped Huanggang Port is expected to handle more than 100,000 passenger trips a day over the Chung Yeung Festival long weekend, although its departure hall remained quiet on Saturday morning. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said the border crossing had operated smoothly since opening on Monday, handling about 80,000 passenger trips a day, with the figure exceeding 92,000...