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Canada and China thaw continues as militaries hold first talks in 8 years amid US pressure
SCMP

Canada and China thaw continues as militaries hold first talks in 8 years amid US pressure

China and Canada’s armed forces held their first round of talks in eight years on Friday in the face of growing tensions with the United States. The Chinese defence ministry said there had been a candid and in-depth exchange of views on international and regional issues of common concern. “[Both sides] expressed willingness to strengthen practical exchanges and cooperation between the two militari...

Safety or hostility? Dog owners split over Hong Kong’s crackdown on leash rules
SCMP

Safety or hostility? Dog owners split over Hong Kong’s crackdown on leash rules

Hong Kong authorities’ intensified enforcement against dog owners who fail to control their pets has drawn mixed reactions, with supporters welcoming improved safety and critics warning it is stoking panic and hostility. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department carried out inspections and enforcement operations across the city on Saturday following a spate of dog attacks in recent we...

Singapore investigates racism related to China-Nepal disaster, Air India investment
SCMP

Singapore investigates racism related to China-Nepal disaster, Air India investment

Police are investigating “shameful” racist and xenophobic online comments about the China-Nepal disaster and Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) investment in Air India, Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Saturday. Mr Shanmugam told reporters that the Ministry of Digital Development and Information will also ask social media platforms to remove comments that breach guidelines. “The media tells me that they...

Asia-Pacific media outlets forge new partnerships ahead of Shenzhen Apec summit
SCMP

Asia-Pacific media outlets forge new partnerships ahead of Shenzhen Apec summit

Media outlets across the Asia-Pacific region have gathered in Shenzhen to deepen collaboration on content, talent and technology ahead of the coming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the southern Chinese city. Hundreds of media representatives witnessed the launch of several partnerships at the Asia-Pacific Media Forum, which opened in Shenzhen on Saturday after two days of sub-fo...

Hong Kong mega bridge’s popularity takes toll on helicopter, ferry services: lawmaker

Hong Kong mega bridge’s popularity takes toll on helicopter, ferry services: lawmaker

SCMP

The number of vehicles using a mega bridge linking Hong Kong with Zhuhai and Macau hit a record high last year, the South China Morning Post has learned, with a lawmaker saying the boom has taken a heavy toll on ferry services and a long-running helicopter service. Transport Department figures obtained by the SCMP showed that vehicle flow via the popular Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge reached a rec...

China’s billion-dollar pet funeral industry stays largely unregulated without public oversight

China’s billion-dollar pet funeral industry stays largely unregulated without public oversight

SCMP

In May, at a pet funeral home in Dalian, northeastern Liaoning province, a grieving couple wept as they tenderly combed the fur of their deceased pet cat, a Silver British Shorthair, bidding farewell to their beloved “fur kid.” The feline, cherished by the couple for eight years, succumbed to heart disease. “Pidan (the cat’s nickname), you will no longer feel pain in that world. Please visit us in...

War on Earth could spill over to the moon, Chinese space scientists warn

War on Earth could spill over to the moon, Chinese space scientists warn

SCMP

In a rare study, Chinese aerospace researchers have explored how a war could one day spill into the vast space between the Earth and the moon, with rival spacecraft chasing and evading each other, trying to slip past defences and even blocking strategic routes. Spacecraft could hide in the complex gravitational environment around the moon, where their trajectories are difficult to predict, before ...

14 fall ill after dining at Eaton HK hotel restaurant

14 fall ill after dining at Eaton HK hotel restaurant

SCMP

Hong Kong health authorities have detected seven additional suspected food poisoning cases linked to a hotel restaurant in Yau Ma Tei, raising the total number of affected diners to 14. The Centre for Health Protection said on Saturday it had identified three additional food poisoning clusters involving The Astor restaurant at Eaton HK, after initially announcing two clusters on September 3. “The ...

Ukraine war: how escalating attacks are upending lives in Kyiv

Ukraine war: how escalating attacks are upending lives in Kyiv

SCMP

Commuters stranded; ⁠children rushed underground in the middle of the school day; festivals cancelled; walks punctuated by booming air defences. Near-constant drone attacks are the stark new reality in Kyiv, and daily life is likely to get harder. Kyiv has survived many traumas since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Despite the initial shock of war and the advent of attack drones and...

Hong Kong to boost STEAM degrees as city targets two-way global education highway

Hong Kong to boost STEAM degrees as city targets two-way global education highway

SCMP

The Hong Kong government will expand science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education and allocate more land for higher education to transform the traditional study-abroad trend from a “one-way street into a two-way global highway”, the education chief has said. Secretary for Education Christine Choi Yuk-lin delivered the remarks on Saturday at the inaugural Global Educatio...

Inaugural Global Education Summit explores AI, future talent and changing pathways

Inaugural Global Education Summit explores AI, future talent and changing pathways

SCMP

More than 2,000 policymakers, educators and parents from around the world gathered in Hong Kong on Saturday for the inaugural Global Education Summit, which focused on regional talent development, artificial intelligence integration and changing academic pathways. The two-day event, held at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong in Wan Chai and co-organised by the South China Morning Post and HSBC Premier, aim...

Why former East Germany became the stronghold of far-right AfD

Why former East Germany became the stronghold of far-right AfD

SCMP

More than three decades after Germany’s 1990 reunification, lasting east-west divisions may be thrown into stark relief at Sunday’s election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. The anti-immigration and Moscow-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to win big and even hopes to take power at the state level, which would be a first for a far-right party in German post-war history. As m...

Police probe death of Tesla driver after collision on Hong Kong road

Police probe death of Tesla driver after collision on Hong Kong road

SCMP

Police are investigating the death of a 54-year-old driver of a Tesla whose vehicle collided with two other cars along Hong Kong’s Island Eastern Corridor. The police force said it received a report at 10.37am on Saturday that the man was driving west along the corridor when he was suspected to have lost control of the Tesla and collided with two other vehicles near the North Point Ferry Concourse...

Driver dies after Tesla collides with 2 cars on Hong Kong expressway

Driver dies after Tesla collides with 2 cars on Hong Kong expressway

SCMP

A driver has died after a Tesla collided with a seven-seater on Hong Kong’s Island Eastern Corridor. Police received a call at 10.37am on Saturday alerting them to a crash involving two private cars driving west along the corridor. The force said the driver of one private vehicle was sent to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai while unconscious. The driver was later certified dead at 12.08pm. It was no...

Rich Dad, Poor Dad author’s vast debts spark awe – and some bitterness – in China

Rich Dad, Poor Dad author’s vast debts spark awe – and some bitterness – in China

SCMP

The revelation that Rich Dad, Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki has amassed a staggering debt pile has sparked heated discussion in China, where property investors have suffered painful losses in recent years amid a deep market downturn. The 79-year-old Japanese-American author, who inspired generations of investors to take on leverage to scale up their investments, claimed in a series of podcast in...

Philippine Vice-President Duterte-Carpio posts bail over alleged Marcos death threat

Philippine Vice-President Duterte-Carpio posts bail over alleged Marcos death threat

SCMP

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio posted bail at a Manila courthouse on Saturday, a day after an arrest warrant was issued over her alleged death threat against the country’s president. Duterte-Carpio was charged last month with “grave threats” stemming from a late-night news briefing in which she claimed to have hired a hitman to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, his wife and a con...

3 arrested for allegedly acting with seditious intent outside MTR station

3 arrested for allegedly acting with seditious intent outside MTR station

SCMP

Hong Kong national security police have arrested three people on suspicion of acting with seditious intent over a gathering outside Prince Edward MTR station to mark a 2019 protest flashpoint there. A police force spokesman said on Saturday that two men and a woman were arrested on Thursday, noting that some people were allegedly shouting seditious slogans and holding white flowers outside the sta...

3 arrested over allegedly seditious memorial outside Prince Edward MTR station

3 arrested over allegedly seditious memorial outside Prince Edward MTR station

SCMP

Hong Kong national security police have arrested three people on suspicion of acting with seditious intent over a gathering outside Prince Edward MTR station to mark the 2019 protest flashpoint there. A police force spokesman said on Saturday that two men and a woman were arrested on Thursday for allegedly shouting seditious slogans and holding white flowers outside the station on August 31. “The ...

Malaysia’s PAS eyes new pecking order as it rekindles ties with Umno

Malaysia’s PAS eyes new pecking order as it rekindles ties with Umno

SCMP

Malaysia’s biggest Islamist opposition party has used its annual convention to reopen the door to former rival Umno, while signalling that any reunion will come with a new pecking order as the party sets its sights on leading the federal government. The recalibration comes after a partnership involving Umno and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) jointly toppled Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s co...

New reality for China’s entertainment sector as AI drama goes prime time

New reality for China’s entertainment sector as AI drama goes prime time

SCMP

From low-quality “slop” such as soap operas starring humanlike cats and dating shows featuring anthropomorphic fruit, to increasingly slick productions realistic enough to pass for live action, artificial intelligence-generated video dramas have become almost inescapable on Chinese social media feeds. This week, the format graduated to prime time. A fully AI-generated adaptation of the classic Chi...

Middle East war drives 35% rise in Hongkongers’ overseas help requests

Middle East war drives 35% rise in Hongkongers’ overseas help requests

SCMP

Hongkongers’ requests for help from overseas jumped 35 per cent in the first eight months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, the city’s immigration chief has revealed, attributing the rise to the war in the Middle East. Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung told reporters on Saturday that his department had received around 3,160 requests for assistance from Hong Kong resident...

US envoys put forward ‘number of ideas’ on Ukraine to Putin, Kremlin says

US envoys put forward ‘number of ideas’ on Ukraine to Putin, Kremlin says

SCMP

US envoys proposed a “number of ideas” on how to end the Ukraine war in “frank” talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late on Saturday, Moscow said, ahead of their first trip to Kyiv. US President Donald Trump’s business partner Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Putin for more than three hours, the Kremlin said, as Washington tries to revive negotiations to end Europe’s wo...

Putin meets US envoys in Moscow for Ukraine war talks

Putin meets US envoys in Moscow for Ukraine war talks

SCMP

Russian President Vladimir Putin began talks with US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff on ending more than four years of war in Ukraine in the Kremlin on Saturday, ahead of their first visit to Kyiv expected on Sunday. Both Russia and Ukraine vowed not to strike each other’s capitals for three days during the negotiations, as Washington tries to revive US-led talks to end Europe’s worst confl...

Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner to Russia, Ukraine with new peace plan

Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner to Russia, Ukraine with new peace plan

SCMP

US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Moscow on Saturday to discuss a plan to end more than four years of war between Russia and Ukraine. The move marks Washington’s latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A senior Ukrainian official said the envoys were due in Kyiv...

Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with new Ukraine peace plan

Trump sends Witkoff, Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with new Ukraine peace plan

SCMP

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he was sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end more than four years of war in Ukraine. The move marks Washington’s latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A senior Ukrainian official said the en...

Visitors urge Hong Kong to ease restrictions as Sai Kung trail registration begins

Visitors urge Hong Kong to ease restrictions as Sai Kung trail registration begins

SCMP

Hundreds of Hong Kong residents and visitors braved the heat on Saturday morning to visit a popular Sai Kung trail overlooking hexagonal rock columns, as a trial reservation system requiring real-name registration came into force, with some calling for the restrictions to be eased. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department announced the arrangement last month, capping visitor numbers ...

China expands currency swap with Egypt as trade ties reach new heights

China expands currency swap with Egypt as trade ties reach new heights

SCMP

Egypt’s expanded currency swap with China may help bring the yuan into wider use in trade and investment, but experts say any reduced reliance on the US dollar will not happen in a hurry. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi this week backed greater use of their currencies, while linking closer financial ties to plans for new factories, energy projects and...

Overhead display left dangling at airport’s Terminal 2, investigation under way

Overhead display left dangling at airport’s Terminal 2, investigation under way

SCMP

An overhead electronic display was left dangling in the air at Hong Kong airport’s newly reopened Terminal 2, prompting authorities to pledge a detailed investigation. A spokesman said the incident occurred at about 8.30am on Saturday, when a suspended screen “experienced a technical fault”, triggering its fall-arrest safety system. “The Airport Authority takes the incident very seriously and will...

Japan, US to advance cooperation on US$550 billion trade deal

Japan, US to advance cooperation on US$550 billion trade deal

SCMP

Japan and the United States have confirmed they will advance cooperation on investing in strategic sectors and honour the other terms of a trade deal they reached last year, even though President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have changed significantly over time. “We reaffirmed that last year’s agreement remains unchanged,” Japan’s Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa told reporters in Wash...