Clear filters Clear Filters
Taxi trade fears 10% could lose cabs as drivers gear up for ride-hailing
SCMP

Taxi trade fears 10% could lose cabs as drivers gear up for ride-hailing

Hong Kong’s taxi trade has warned that 10 per cent of the cab owners in the city could soon default on vehicle mortgages as licence values plunge, with many drivers switching to the new ride-hailing regime where 10,000 permits will be issued. The market value of a taxi licence has plunged over the past two decades, from a historic high of HK$7.66 million (US$970,163) in 2009 to HK$2.62 million for...

Recent analysis shows Neanderthals may have been first dentists in recorded history
SCMP

Recent analysis shows Neanderthals may have been first dentists in recorded history

One of the most dreaded terms in dentistry is “root canal,” but at least we get to enjoy the perks of modern medicine. Now, imagine enduring that painful process nearly 60,000 years ago. An international team of scientists believes they have found evidence that Neanderthals, the closest relatives of modern humans, deliberately drilled a hole in a lower molar tooth to remove infected tissue. The di...

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth on China challenges, allies’ role – as it happened
SCMP

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth on China challenges, allies’ role – as it happened

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Get real-time updates and exclusive reporting. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. Defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts have gathered in Singapore this weekend for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where regional security challenges will be discussed and a flurry...

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth speaks about Trump on Iran peace talks, Taiwan arms sale
SCMP

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth speaks about Trump on Iran peace talks, Taiwan arms sale

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Get real-time updates and exclusive reporting. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. Defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts have gathered in Singapore this weekend for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where regional security challenges will be discussed and a flurry...

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth addresses China-US relations post-Trump visit to Beijing

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth addresses China-US relations post-Trump visit to Beijing

SCMP

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Get real-time updates and exclusive reporting. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. Defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts have gathered in Singapore this weekend for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where regional security challenges will be discussed and a flurry...

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth wraps up 25-minute speech with no mention of Taiwan

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth wraps up 25-minute speech with no mention of Taiwan

SCMP

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Get real-time updates and exclusive reporting. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. Defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts have gathered in Singapore this weekend for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where regional security challenges will be discussed and a flurry...

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth sounds alarm but US to refrain from unnecessary confrontation

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth sounds alarm but US to refrain from unnecessary confrontation

SCMP

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Get real-time updates and exclusive reporting. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. Defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts have gathered in Singapore this weekend for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where regional security challenges will be discussed and a flurry...

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth sounds ‘rightful alarm’ on China’s historic military build-up

Shangri-La Dialogue: Hegseth sounds ‘rightful alarm’ on China’s historic military build-up

SCMP

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Get real-time updates and exclusive reporting. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. Defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts have gathered in Singapore this weekend for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where regional security challenges will be discussed and a flurry...

Shangri-La Dialogue live: US defence chief Pete Hegseth to address regional security forum

Shangri-La Dialogue live: US defence chief Pete Hegseth to address regional security forum

SCMP

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Get real-time updates and exclusive reporting. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. Defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts have gathered in Singapore this weekend for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, where regional security challenges will be discussed and a flurry...

Trump ordered to address fraud claims in IRS case that led to ‘slush fund’ for allies

Trump ordered to address fraud claims in IRS case that led to ‘slush fund’ for allies

SCMP

A federal judge ordered US President Donald Trump to respond to “grievous allegations” that his deal with the government to create a US$1.8 billion fund to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service was the result of a “fraud” on the court. In an order on Friday, US District Judge Kathleen Williams gave the president’s personal lawyers until June 12 to respond to a request by a group...

Tariffs, war and broken trust: Southeast Asia’s Trump problem

Tariffs, war and broken trust: Southeast Asia’s Trump problem

SCMP

The goodbye emails started arriving on a Monday. By Friday, Sheila’s inbox told the story of an organisation coming apart at the seams, one farewell at a time. Sheila* had spent nearly a decade helping run US-funded development projects in the Philippines. She had watched them grow, hire staff and take root in local communities. When Washington ordered a freeze on foreign aid in January 2025, she ...

Why the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation isn’t Nato for Iran

Why the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation isn’t Nato for Iran

SCMP

Central Asia is tilting more decisively towards China as geopolitical uncertainty deepens, with Beijing’s expanding influence recasting the former Soviet states’ strategic orientation. In the final instalment of a three-part series, Cao Jiaxuan examines how Central Asian members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation have shaped the bloc’s response to the US-Iran conflict. Read the first part he...

Why the Philippines walks a delicate balance as Asean chair

Why the Philippines walks a delicate balance as Asean chair

SCMP

When Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr accepted the Asean gavel from Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur last October, the script was already written: a packed agenda, South China Sea diplomacy in the spotlight and a regional digital economy deal to clinch. Then the world changed. On February 28, US and Israeli forces struck Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, an artery of global s...

Ex-California mayor Eileen Wang pleads guilty to acting as China agent

Ex-California mayor Eileen Wang pleads guilty to acting as China agent

SCMP

A former Southern California mayor pleaded guilty on Friday to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government. Eileen Wang, who stepped down as the mayor of Arcadia earlier this month, was charged in April with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She pleaded guilty to doing the bidding of Chinese officials by sharing articles favourable to Beijing, with...

US judge orders Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Centre

US judge orders Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Centre

SCMP

⁠A judge on Friday ordered the removal of US President Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Centre for the ‌Performing Arts, ruling that the iconic Washington venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress. US District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington directed the ⁠Trump administration to take down all physical signage ‌bearing Trump’s name and to eliminate any references to a “Trump Ken...

Canada might double exports to China, Chinese FM Wang Yi says during rare visit

Canada might double exports to China, Chinese FM Wang Yi says during rare visit

SCMP

China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said ‌on Friday that Canada could surpass its goal of increasing exports to China by 50 per cent by 2030 during a meeting with Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand. Wang said he thought Canada’s exports to China could increase by 100 per cent, building on momentum between the countries. “Canada is focused on growing our economy and diversifying our trad...

Bondi refused to answer questions about Trump and Epstein files, Democrats say

Bondi refused to answer questions about Trump and Epstein files, Democrats say

SCMP

Former US attorney general Pam Bondi rebuffed questions about President Donald Trump’s involvement in handling records of the Justice Department’s investigation of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, Democratic lawmakers said. “She refused to answer any questions about President Trump,” congressman Robert Garcia, the top-ranking Democrat on the House panel investigating Epstein, told reporters...

Canadian poison seller Kenneth Law pleads guilty to aiding suicides

Canadian poison seller Kenneth Law pleads guilty to aiding suicides

SCMP

The Canadian man who helped scores of people worldwide kill themselves by selling them poison pleaded guilty on Friday to 14 counts of aiding suicide, as prosecutors said they will withdraw murder charges. Since Kenneth Law’s arrest in 2023, details of the online forums where he advised distressed people on how to end their lives have caused public outrage and triggered investigations in several c...

Brussels fires starting gun on tougher China trade policy, as Beijing vows retaliation

Brussels fires starting gun on tougher China trade policy, as Beijing vows retaliation

SCMP

The European Commission agreed on a tough new approach to trade relations with China, at a rare Beijing-focused debate among Brussels’ leadership on Friday. In a presentation, trade chief Maros Sefcovic laid out why the bloc needed to take stronger steps to defend itself from what is described as a new “China shock” to its industries, according to people briefed on the event. This may require deve...

Ex-chief of Hong Kong journalist union serving 5-day jail term after losing appeal

Ex-chief of Hong Kong journalist union serving 5-day jail term after losing appeal

SCMP

A former chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association has failed in his bid to overturn a conviction and five-day jail sentence for obstructing a police officer. Ronson Chan Ron-sing, 45, had refused to present his identity card to police during a stop-and-search procedure nearly four years ago. Deputy Judge Lily Wong Sze-lai dismissed his appeal at the High Court on Friday and ordered him in...

Education Bureau took action after teacher carried female student like bride

Education Bureau took action after teacher carried female student like bride

SCMP

The conduct of another Hong Kong educator has been thrust into the spotlight after photos showing him carrying a female student in his arms surfaced online, with education authorities revealing they dealt with the matter when they first learned of the images two years ago. The Education Bureau’s response to questions from the South China Morning Post about the photos on Friday came a day after the...

Shangri-La Dialogue: Vietnam’s To Lam warns of 3 crises converging in Asia-Pacific security

Shangri-La Dialogue: Vietnam’s To Lam warns of 3 crises converging in Asia-Pacific security

SCMP

Vietnam’s leader To Lam on Friday struck a sombre tone at a summit when he warned of three foundational crises converging to cause global instabilities – those of international order, development models and strategic trust. He was delivering the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s premier defence forum, in his first speech on Vietnam’s foreign policy to an international...

US judge freezes Trump ‘slush fund’ for allies

US judge freezes Trump ‘slush fund’ for allies

SCMP

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving ahead with a US$1.8 billion compensation package that critics have denounced as a “slush fund” for President Donald Trump’s political allies. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema barred the administration from taking any further action to create or operate the fund while she considers whether to impose a longer-lasting...

EU’s 6 biggest economies agree on capital markets supervision

EU’s 6 biggest economies agree on capital markets supervision

SCMP

Finance ministers ⁠from the EU’s six ⁠biggest economies (E6) have agreed a ⁠common position on a European Commission proposal for joint capital markets supervision, Germany’s finance ministry said on Friday. The push for financial market players to be supervised at a European Union rather than national level is part ‌of a bid to boost the bloc’s competitiveness as it struggles with weak growth and...

Kenya court blocks US Ebola quarantine centre set to open on Friday

Kenya court blocks US Ebola quarantine centre set to open on Friday

SCMP

A Kenyan court temporarily halted the opening of an Ebola quarantine centre for US nationals on Friday following a petition filed by a rights group. The facility was due to open in the east Africa nation on Friday according to US officials, to quarantine Americans arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is battling a major Ebola outbreak. Washington has defended its criticised de...

2 footballers, bookie jailed up to 17 months in Hong Kong match-fixing scandal

2 footballers, bookie jailed up to 17 months in Hong Kong match-fixing scandal

SCMP

A Hong Kong court has jailed two footballers and a betting agent for up to 17 months in the city’s largest match-fixing scandal in recent years, ruling that they deliberately undermined the integrity of the sport. Former Hong Kong Under-23 player Brian Fok, Brazilian player Luciano Silva da Silva and betting agent Waheed Mohammad returned to West Kowloon Court on Friday to be sentenced on five cha...

Hong Kong’s John Lee, lawmakers hold talks on city’s first five-year blueprint

Hong Kong’s John Lee, lawmakers hold talks on city’s first five-year blueprint

SCMP

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu met lawmakers on Friday to discuss a “highly targeted, substance-heavy” report they compiled outlining proposals on how the city’s first five-year plan should proactively align with national development. The closed-door meeting took place ahead of the government’s planned launch of a public consultation on Hong Kong’s five-year plan in early June as previously rep...

Students can play role in US-China ties, Xi says in letter to Hong Kong student

Students can play role in US-China ties, Xi says in letter to Hong Kong student

SCMP

Young people from China and the United States should continue to contribute to cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between the two countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said in a letter to a university student in Hong Kong. The Chinese University of Hong Kong said on Friday that fourth-year undergraduate Liu Runjie received the letter after he and other students shared their experien...

Is PLA’s response to Dutch warship in South China Sea ‘putting down a marker’ for future?

Is PLA’s response to Dutch warship in South China Sea ‘putting down a marker’ for future?

SCMP

China’s claim it had used “electronic interference” during a confrontation with a Dutch warship in the disputed waters of the South China Sea might signal growing confidence in its capabilities in this area, analysts said. The PLA’s Southern Theatre Command, which oversees the South China Sea, accused the frigate De Ruyter of “illegally entering” waters near the Paracel Islands on Wednesday and re...