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When Singaporean Joel Tan stood before fellow Harvard Medical School PhD graduates recently, he recalled how the chance to study biology had once seemed unrealistic because he was told his grades were not good enough. “I often think about how much of my life depended on someone, somewhere, deciding that my past performance did not have to define my future potential,” said Tan, who delivered the st...
The fatal shooting in eastern Poland of a Russian artist known for his caricatures of Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely politically motivated, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday. “All indications are that this is a political murder,” Tusk said of the killing of Semyon Skrepetsky, whose real name is Robert Kuzovkov. “If it was commissioned by Russia, then this is also a v...
In a possible sign that Washington’s stance on Hong Kong is shifting, a senior US State Department official will meet a delegation of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong (AmCham HK), the South China Morning Post has learned. Speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly, sources familiar with the matter said Michael DeSombre, US assistant secreta...
Chinese authorities introduced draft regulations on Wednesday to crack down on the misuse of subsidies by food-delivery platforms, as Beijing seeks to rein in the sector’s intense competition. The proposed rules, open for public comment until July 17, identify several practices that would be banned, including using subsidies to disrupt the market and selling goods at a loss, according to a stateme...
Hong Kong police have arrested a 36‑year‑old man on suspicion of sexually assaulting three intoxicated men and a teenager in guest houses or staircases after they passed out on the street, as well as recording the assaults. The force received a report from a 19‑year‑old man who said he had gone drinking in Central in the early hours of Saturday. After passing out on the street, he awoke around 3pm...
Hong Kong police have arrested a 36‑year‑old man on suspicion of forcing three men and a teenager to engage in sexual acts while recording the activity. The suspect is alleged to have committed non-consensual buggery against four victims, aged between 19 and 23, between May 2024 and this month. He has also been accused of offences including unlawful recording of intimate parts, drug possession and...
A leadership stand-off in the Philippine Senate ended Wednesday with the removal of an ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte as leader of the chamber, which will soon start the impeachment trial of his daughter, incumbent Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio. With 13 of 24 senators backing him, Sherwin Gatchalian, an ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, was elected Senate president. His rival,...
On Monday, thousands of Cabo Verdeans poured out onto the streets of their capital, Praia, to celebrate the national football team’s shock draw against Spain at the World Cup, beating drums, blowing horns and dancing. For Cabo Verde, an archipelago country of 500,000 people located off the coast of West Africa, a stalemate with former World Cup champions is as good as a win. President Jose Maria N...
The son of Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges, the anti-bribery commission said, the latest case to target the once all-powerful political clan. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 38, is accused of tapping state funds for overseas training during his career as a naval officer. The Bribery Commission said he was being investigated for having risen throug...
US President Donald Trump suspended a Senate hearing on Jay Clayton’s nomination for intelligence chief, saying on Wednesday he wanted to be sure Clayton’s current post as prosecutor would be filled by the man of his choosing. In a game of musical chairs, Trump picked Clayton, who headed the Securities and Exchange Commission during the president’s first term in office, as his director of national...
Hong Kong’s leader has vowed to expand its proposed university town near the border by tenfold to 1,000 hectares from its current size, after Beijing’s point man on local affairs endorsed the concept of linking education with industry, while recognising the city’s economic and innovation and technology (I&T) development. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also said on Wednesday that Xia Baolong, dir...
China has pitched itself as a champion of rule-making for new frontiers, including AI and outer space, calling for a “more just and equitable” world order as humanity navigates “dangerous waters”. In a policy document released on Wednesday, Beijing said it would continue to uphold the “central” role of the United Nations in the global governance of those emerging sectors. The document, a white pap...
China has pitched itself as a champion of rule-making for new frontiers, including AI and outer space, calling for a “more just and equitable” world order as humanity navigates “dangerous waters”. In a policy document released on Wednesday, Beijing said it would continue to uphold the “central” role of the United Nations in the global governance of those emerging sectors. The document, a white pap...
Fifa has extended an official invitation to a South Korean YouTuber to attend her country’s World Cup match against Mexico on Thursday after she was subjected to a racist gesture during a recent game. The football governing body said the match, which falls on the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, will be used to deliver a “message of inclusion and respect”. The UN established the obser...
A retired military dog handler in China has become an online pet-saving sensation by curing cats and dogs in a spartan clinic with little medical equipment. Qian Yong, who opened the clinic in rural Tangshan, northern Hebei province, has earned the nickname Hua Tuo in the Vets Field, the China News Service reported. Hua Tuo was a Chinese doctor who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty (25-220...
Indonesia’s rupiah rallied from a historic low this week, its stock market surged and a closely watched sovereign wealth fund bond offering was oversubscribed, offering Southeast Asia’s largest economy a reprieve after months of asset pressure. But economists have warned that the relief may come at a cost as the same forces helping stabilise the rupiah, including higher interest rates and easing e...
A retired military dog handler in China has become an online pet-saving sensation by curing cats and dogs in a spartan clinic with little medical equipment. Qian Yong, who opened the clinic in rural Tangshan, northern Hebei province, has earned the nickname Hua Tuo in the Vets Field, the China News Service reported. Hua Tuo was a Chinese doctor who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty (25-220...
Over 1,100 foreign citizens received Russian visas last year for their declared commitment to “traditional values”, state media reported on Wednesday, a track opened as Moscow hardens its anti-liberal narrative amid the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has for years denounced anything that goes against what he calls “traditional family values” as unRussian – including everything fr...
Hong Kong police have arrested a van driver after his vehicle collided with a taxi on a highway, killing two passengers, including an off-duty firefighter. The Fire Services Department said on Wednesday it was “deeply saddened” by the deaths of the 38-year-old from Kwun Tong fire station and his 35-year-old wife. The department extended its “deepest condolences” to their families and said it would...
Hong Kong police have arrested a van driver after his vehicle collided with a taxi on a highway, killing two passengers, including an off-duty firefighter. The Fire Services Department said on Wednesday it was “deeply saddened” by the deaths of the 38-year-old from Kwun Tong fire station and his 35-year-old wife. The department extended its “deepest condolences” to their families and said it would...
The PLA’s top anti-graft officer concluded unprecedented training for senior military officials in Beijing on Tuesday by urging continuing efforts to boost loyalty to the Communist Party and “political rectification”. Zhang Shengmin, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) – China’s top military decision-making body – said the first-of-its-kind training course had sharpened particip...
The US Navy has launched its largest annual humanitarian mission in the Indo-Pacific with a renewed focus on Southeast Asia, in what analysts described as part of Washington’s effort to rebuild confidence and project soft power in a region central to its rivalry with China. Pacific Partnership 2026, the US Navy’s largest annual maritime humanitarian and civic assistance effort in the Indo-Pacific,...
Illegal cyber activities accounted for around a third of all crimes recorded in some Asian countries, with scams the most widespread and financially damaging, according to a new Interpol report. The global policing agency’s latest cyber threat assessment cited the increasing dominance of online crimes compared to traditional illicit activity, describing the activities as “persistent, large-scale c...
Illegal cyber activities accounted for around a third of all crimes recorded in some Asian countries, with scams the most widespread and financially damaging, according to a new Interpol report. The global policing agency’s latest cyber threat assessment cited the increasing dominance of online crimes compared to traditional illicit activity, describing the activities as “persistent, large-scale c...
China has vowed to strengthen legal protections against unilateral sanctions, according to Vice-Premier He Lifeng, as Beijing moves to build a robust legal shield for its financial system and companies facing rising geopolitical risks. Addressing the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai on Wednesday, He said China would incorporate blocking and countermeasure provisions into upcoming financial legislation a...
Riding on a buoyant stock market for artificial intelligence hardware components, Kingboard Holdings plans to raise HK$11.77 billion (US$1.5 billion) by selling a stake in its listed subsidiary, Kingboard Laminates Holdings, one of the world’s biggest makers of laminate materials used in circuit boards for AI servers. The company said the proceeds would be used to expand business and production ca...
The recent escalation in the Middle East has produced an unforeseen winner. The conflict has rekindled worries about logistics and energy security, prompting governments and businesses to reconsider their reliance on fossil fuels and fragile supply routes. This has sped up the move towards renewable energy. And the principal beneficiary of this shift is China. The strategic significance of the Str...
Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has undergone a successful lung transplant and is recovering from the procedure, the royal household said in a statement on Wednesday. The 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs and leads to reduced oxygen uptake. Oslo Univer...
For years, Washington described India as an indispensable partner, a democratic counterweight to China and a strategic anchor in the Indo-Pacific. Then the US Navy killed three Indian sailors and America’s top diplomat could not even bring himself to apologise. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar raised the deaths directly with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call last Fri...
To win the global war of words over Tibet, China’s western autonomous region that repeatedly makes international headlines, Beijing must stop fighting the West’s algorithms and start “dancing” with them. That was the blunt assessment of Zachary Lundquist, an American media professional with the state-run China International Communications Group (CICG), speaking in Lhasa, capital of China’s Tibetan...
