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Congressional reaction to US President Donald Trump’s visit to China highlighted how sharply Washington’s political consensus on Beijing has shifted in recent years, with lawmakers from both parties warning against any perceived softening of US support for Taiwan or broader strategic competition with China. While Democrats criticised Trump for appearing too accommodating towards Beijing, many Repu...
A British court sentenced a Polish truck driver to more than 13 years in prison for smuggling £7 million (US$9.4 million) worth of cocaine in a shipment of underwear and clothing from Skims, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, authorities said on Monday. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, was driving a vehicle carrying 28 pallets of Skims clothing from the Netherlands when he...
A British court sentenced a Polish lorry driver to more than 13 years in prison for smuggling £7 million (US$9.4 million) worth of cocaine in a shipment of underwear and clothing from Skims, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, authorities said on Monday. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, was driving a vehicle carrying 28 pallets of Skims clothing from the Netherlands when he...
US prosecutors asked a judge on Monday to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who had been accused of duping investors in a major solar project in India. Adani, one of the world’s richest people, was accused in 2024 of paying massive bribes to ensure the project’s success. He was charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges in ...
US prosecutors asked a judge on Monday to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautaum Adani, who had been accused of duping investors in a major solar project in India. Adani, one of the world’s richest people, was accused in 2024 of paying massive bribes to ensure the project’s success. He was charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges in...
Belarus said on Monday its armed forces had begun training exercises involving Russian nuclear weapons, in a move that drew strong condemnation from Ukraine. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed in 2023 – a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – to host Russian tactical nuclear missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that Moscow retains control of their use. “Duri...
Belarus said on Monday its armed forces had begun training exercises involving Russian nuclear weapons, in a move that drew strong condemnation from Ukraine. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed in 2023 – a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – to host Russian tactical nuclear missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that Moscow retains control of their use. “Duri...
Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority will begin using standard prefixes for telephone numbers to make it easier for people to recognise its calls rather than avoiding them due to scammers and advertisers. Starting next Tuesday, all phone calls made by the authority, which oversees public medical facilities, will display a unified caller ID number beginning with 18285 or 18286. Each authority unit will b...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] As Hong Kong pushes towards carbon neutrality by 2050, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) is using its Sustainable Construction Award to drive faster progress in the construction industry. Applications for the 2026 edition close on June 18. Key new elements include a dedicated Low Carbon Citation, mandatory joint subm...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Ronald Lu & Partners (RLP Asia) has won first prize of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) Urban Renewal Design Ideas Competition in the District Study for Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok (YMDS). The competition invited cross-disciplinary professional teams to apply the new planning tool...
US President Donald Trump might now “more clearly” understand that the US “cannot defeat China” but that it must instead engage a stronger Beijing, according to a prominent Chinese political scientist. Zheng Yongnian, an adviser to the Chinese government, also noted that Beijing had taken a “central position” in trilateral ties between China, the United States and Russia. Beijing and Moscow both c...
Pope Leo and the co-founder of artificial intelligence company Anthropic will launch the pontiff’s first encyclical on May 25, a document on the care of human dignity in the era of AI, the Vatican said on Monday. An encyclical is an official letter from the pope to Roman Catholic bishops, usually to make a statement on official teachings. The presence of Anthropic’s Christopher Olah at the Vatican...
A licensing scheme allowing dogs into Hong Kong restaurants has attracted strong initial interest, with 70 per cent of the 1,000-place quota filled on the first day, according to food hygiene authorities. In response to inquiries from the South China Morning Post, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said on Monday it had received about 700 applications by 6pm. The application window clos...
A licensing scheme allowing dogs into Hong Kong restaurants has attracted strong initial interest, with 70 per cent of the 1,000-place quota filled on the first day, according to food hygiene authorities. In response to inquiries from the South China Morning Post, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said on Monday it had received about 700 applications by 6pm. The application window clos...
The World Health Organization opened a meeting of global health ministers on Monday amid concern over deadly hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks and uncertainty over announced US and Argentinian withdrawals. While the rare hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship that has gripped global attention is not officially on the agenda, it is expected to feature prominently in discussions, alongside the latest Ebo...
Owners at Wang Chi House, the only block spared in Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court, have until October 15 to finalise the sale of homes under a government buyback scheme – provided more than 75 per cent of them indicate their intention to sell by the end of next month. However, the tight timeline has sparked widespread frustration among residents, who complain they are being pressured to m...
Donald Trump’s comment that he is “not looking to have somebody go independent” has sparked debate in Taiwan over whether it undermines the ruling party’s pro-independence platform. Trump made the remark after last week’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, where Taiwan emerged as one of the most sensitive issues in Sino-US relations. “I’m not looking to have somebody go independent,...
A Spanish court acquitted Shakira in a tax fraud case, ordering the government to return more than 55 million euros (US$64 million) in wrongly imposed fines, according to a court document. The decision follows years of tax troubles in Spain for the Colombian superstar. The ruling relates to a dispute over the 2011 tax year in which Spanish authorities failed to prove that the singer was a resident...
The Philippine Senate convened on Monday as an impeachment court for Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, even as a fresh battle for control of the chamber threatens to shape the direction of her trial and the fallout from the crimes-against-humanity case against her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, in The Hague. Duterte-Carpio was impeached by the House of Representatives last week on all...
China is stepping up economic engagement with Russia by hosting the 10th edition of a major bilateral expo ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expected trip to Beijing this week – just days after his American counterpart, Donald Trump, visited there last week. The back-to-back visits to the Chinese capital by two of the world’s most influential leaders highlight an uptick in diplomatic act...
Birthright citizenship has long been considered a settled issue in the United States. It became the law of the land in 1868 with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that guaranteed citizenship, due process and equal protection to anyone born in the US. Originally designed to ensure citizenship for slaves brought from Africa, its application was extended to Chinese and other groups in the afterm...
A Hong Kong police chief inspector has admitted accepting more than HK$1.1 million (US$140,463) in cash and gifts from a businessman in exchange for terminating a criminal investigation against him and divulging confidential information about two other cases. Tsuen Wan Court on Monday recorded a guilty plea from Ho Siu-tung, 40, on two counts each of accepting advantages as a public servant and mi...
Issuing “several thousand” licences to ride-hailing vehicles under a proposed regulatory framework will be insufficient to meet demand, a Hong Kong government transport advisory body has said, calling for a quota that will not compromise existing services. Speaking after meeting government officials on Monday, Professor Wong Sze-chun, chairman of the Transport Advisory Committee, said members did ...
An unemployed man has received a suspended jail sentence for reposting a social media post by a fugitive inciting the Hong Kong public to boycott the Legislative Council election last year. Before suspending the punishment for 24 months, West Kowloon Court on Monday handed down a two-month jail term to Lam Kin-sik, 67, after he admitted to violating the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordi...
A woman with a chronic illness has been found dead in a Hong Kong public housing flat where her uninjured adult daughter, who suffers from mental illness, had been staying with her for at least two days. Police received a report at about 1.50pm on Monday from a 42-year-old woman who said she could not reach her 66-year-old mother and 34-year-old younger sister, who lived in Fu Ying House, Fu Cheon...
The US Africa Command said on Monday it had carried out additional air strikes against Islamic State targets in northeastern Nigeria on Sunday, in coordination with the Nigerian government, as joint operations against militant groups intensify. Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters said the latest strikes were conducted in the Metele area of Borno State, following intelligence that fighters had conver...
Chinese memory chip stocks rallied on Monday after ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) disclosed sharply stronger first-quarter results and an upbeat first-half outlook in its updated listing prospectus, as the global memory shortage boosts China’s semiconductor supply chain. GigaDevice, a chip designer and CXMT shareholder, rose 6.57 per cent on Monday to close at 400 yuan per share, taking its g...
Chinese police have announced the arrests of 16 people suspected of hacking drone systems and vowed a nationwide crackdown on illegal drone use. China’s Ministry of Public Security released details on 10 cases on Monday to warn the public about illegal drone use. The suspects were arrested between January and March. It came as part of a nationwide “Clean Skies” campaign launched by the ministry in...
Protests erupted in Kenya’s capital Nairobi on Monday as a nationwide public transport strike kicked off in protest at rising fuel prices. Commuters were stranded in various suburbs and the city centre remained deserted as motorists with private vehicles opted to stay home as protesters burned tyres on major roads. The Kenya Association of Private Schools had advised its members to assess and dete...
The liquidators of China Evergrande Group are seeking 57 billion yuan (US$8.4 billion) from three PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) entities in one of the largest corporate lawsuit claims in Hong Kong, arguing the firm’s global coordinating arm assumed responsibility for audits linked to the collapsed developer’s accounting scandal. Evergrande’s liquidators, Tiffany Wong and Eddie Middleton of Alvarez ...
