Live headlines from trusted global sources. Click any story to open it on the original website.
Some residents at a private housing estate in Hong Kong have stepped up pest prevention measures, as authorities investigate the city’s first human case of rat hepatitis E recorded this year. Janitors were seen deep-cleaning public areas at the 25-block Laguna Verde estate in Hung Hom on Sunday, with sanitation efforts also encompassing the area’s waterfront promenade park, planters and the nearby...
Calls by hardline Indian political figures to resume backchannel talks with Pakistan, a year after their latest conflict, reflect the realisation that both countries cannot afford another war for the time being, analysts say. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) secretary general Dattatreya Hosabale’s push earlier this week for so-called Track 2 diplomatic engagement with Pakistan has raised hopes fo...
Visitors to the Forbidden City in China’s capital city might find it hard to ignore its magnificent red door, but there is more to the entrance than its beauty. The golden door nails not only neatly line up, they were exclusive to the royal family and cannot be seen everywhere in China. In the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, door nails were a symbol of hierarchy, and are bound by ...
The Singapore Police Force has obtained footage of the AI-generated Zoom video conference that was part of a scam involving the impersonation of senior government officials, including Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, it said on Saturday. In one case, a victim lost at least S$4.9 million (US$3.8 million) in what was claimed to be funding help related to the Strait of Hormuz, police said earlier. Victi...
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 80 as authorities warned there was no vaccine for the strain in a crisis that the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency on Sunday. A total of 88 deaths and 336 suspected cases of the highly contagious haemorrhagic fever have been reported, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention ...
Paul Chan Mo-po will seek to explain Hong Kong’s efforts to combat terrorism financing and work to attract more funds and business to the city during a five-day Europe trip, noting that stabilising geopolitics will strengthen foreign ties and the economic environment. The finance chief’s coming trip was announced on Sunday, and follows the easing of tensions after United States President Donald Tr...
China’s industrial sectors are racing to integrate artificial intelligence to boost efficiency, bolstered by state support, but experts warn that critical vertical markets – such as healthcare and aerospace – may be too “high risk” for the shift towards autonomous agents. Hailed as the driver of a “fourth industrial revolution”, AI is shifting away from chatbots to agentic AI – systems capable of ...
More than 310 enterprises from mainland China and abroad have established or expanded operations in Hong Kong so far in 2026, bringing in more than HK$26 billion (US$3.3 billion) in capital in their first year of operation, according to the government agency tasked with attracting foreign investment. Casting a positive light on stabilising Sino-US relations following the Xi-Trump summit, InvestHK ...
More than 310 enterprises from mainland China or abroad have established or expanded operations in Hong Kong by early May, bringing in more than HK$26 billion (US$3.3 billion) in capital in the first year of operation, according to the government agency tasked with attracting foreign investment. Casting a positive light on stabilising Sino-US relations following the Xi-Trump summit, InvestHK direc...
More than 310 enterprises from mainland China or abroad have established or expanded operations in Hong Kong by early May, bringing in more than HK$26 billion (US$3.3 billion) in capital in the first year of operation, according to the government agency tasked with attracting foreign investment. Casting a positive light on stabilising Sino-US relations following the Xi-Trump summit, InvestHK direc...
A surge in arrests of suspected foreign scammers in Sri Lanka has authorities concerned that the island is fast becoming a hub for online crime, following sweeping crackdowns in hotspots Cambodia and Myanmar. Officials say some scam networks forced out of countries in Southeast Asia have simply shifted to new bases, increasingly moving operations to Sri Lanka – an attractive destination due to a r...
Wu Yongping is one of the Chinese mainland’s leading specialists on Taiwan affairs and dean of the Institute for Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Here he shares his views on signals from the Xi-Trump summit, and discusses peaceful reunification between the mainland and Taiwan and how it could be achieved. SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series....
Tung vows to make library a world-class cultural centre By Shirley Lau This article was first published on May 17, 2001 After years of controversy and months of delay, the $690 million Central Library opened yesterday (May 16, 2001) with a commitment from Tung Chee-hwa to make it a world-class cultural centre. The 12-storey building in Moreton Terrace, Causeway Bay, contains 1.2 million items and ...
A Chinese company is turning the emissions from a coal-fired power plant into fertiliser, expanding the application of a technology that could make both carbon capture and food cheaper. A report published on Monday by China Electric Power News cited a person involved in the project as saying that “flue gas enters from one end of the pipe, and fertiliser comes out from the other end”. China Electri...
The face of beauty in Asia is changing, says Dr Dissapong Panithaporn. He should know, as he sees it every day in Thailand. The younger generation, women and men in their mid-twenties, are edging away from plastic surgery and fillers towards something more natural, the leading Thai dermatologist said. ‘’The whole trend has shifted from anti-ageing to longevity of skin, prevention and preservation ...
Hong Kong police will prosecute the seventh suspect and are seeking another over the murder of a newspaper vendor in 1999, a day after the former was handed over by Shenzhen authorities. The force said on Sunday that it would charge a 57-year-old man surnamed Lin with murder for his alleged role in the killing of Ho Wai-ha in Sham Shui Po more than 25 years ago. Lin is suspected of recruiting the ...
US President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr succeeded in their efforts to defeat Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana’s Republican primary, a signal of the enduring strength of the president’s hold on his party despite an unpopular war and soaring fuel prices. Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators in 2021 who voted to convict Trump on the charge of inciting an insurrec...
Australia’s Qantas was forced to divert a flight bound for the United States over a disruptive passenger, with local media reporting the man bit a flight attendant. The flight from Melbourne was headed to Dallas on Friday when it was forced to make a stop-off in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, due to the disruptive passenger. The man was restrained by fellow passengers, with local media ...
Australia’s Qantas was forced to divert a flight bound for the United States over a disruptive passenger, with local media reporting the man bit a flight attendant. The flight from Melbourne was headed to Dallas on Friday when it was forced to make a stop-off in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, due to the disruptive passenger. The man was restrained by fellow passengers, with local media ...
China has launched a new offensive on desertification in western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, deploying the same technology used on the moon to help safeguard food security. Last month, several projects involving sand control, desertification prevention, and wind erosion and salinity management were launched at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG...
Hong Kong’s food hygiene authorities are training 90 officers to assist and inspect restaurants applying for a new dog licence, while a cafe owner expects the framework to reduce legal grey areas when it goes into effect. Applications for the licence will open on Monday, with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department expecting the scheme to launch in July with a maximum quota of 1,000 restaura...
Hong Kong’s food hygiene authorities are training 90 officers to assist and inspect restaurants applying for a new dog licence, while a cafe owner expects the framework to reduce legal grey areas when it goes into effect. Applications for the licence will open on Monday, with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) expecting the scheme to launch in July with a maximum quota of 1,000 r...
Hong Kong’s food hygiene authorities are training 90 officers to assist and inspect restaurants applying for a new dog licence, while a cafe owner expects the framework to reduce legal grey areas when it goes into effect. Applications for the licence will open on Monday, with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) expecting the scheme to launch in July with a maximum quota of 1,000 r...
Southeast Asia stands at the threshold of a nuclear renaissance. Vietnam and Russia signed an agreement in March for the Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant. The Philippines and Indonesia aim to have operational reactors by the early 2030s. Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore are studying small modular reactors. Given heightened energy insecurity, climate commitments and the imperative to meet surging e...
A 38-year-old motorcyclist has died after his vehicle crashed into a fallen tree branch by a road in Hong Kong’s New Territories. Police said on Sunday that they received a report at 10.32pm the day before that an accident involving a motorcycle had taken place in Tai Po. The force said the rider was travelling along Yuen Shin Road in the direction of Sha Tin when the incident happened. “When appr...
A 38-year-old motorcyclist has died after his vehicle crashed into a fallen tree by a road in Hong Kong’s New Territories. Police said on Sunday that they received a report at 10.32pm the day before that an accident involving a motorcycle had taken place in Tai Po. The force said the rider was travelling along Yuen Shin Road in the direction of Sha Tin when the incident happened. “When approaching...
ClearVue Technologies, an Australian solar technology company, will set up a joint venture with a Chinese partner in Hong Kong to produce power-generating glass for building facades, a concept seen as timely given rising energy prices amid geopolitical tensions. The Australian Securities Exchange-listed firm aims to take advantage of the manufacturing prowess of mainland China to provide “affordab...
Acrimony set aside at Tower festivities By Goeffrey Crothall This article was first published on May 18, 1990 Leaders of politics, finance and commerce from Hongkong and China converged on No 1 Garden Road last night to celebrate the official opening of the territory’s tallest building, the Bank of China Tower. The acrimony and terse exchanges of recent weeks were seemingly forgotten as smiles and...
The young woman in the stands simply sighed, turned her head and sat there, looking impossibly composed, while 15 million strangers fell briefly in love with someone who had never existed. She was, according to the caption accompanying one of many posts, “the average Korean woman”. Her admirers quickly crowned her a “baseball goddess”, analysing her every feature with the forensic enthusiasm reser...
The launch of limited edition Swatch watches descended into chaos on Saturday in several European cities and New York, with French police firing tear gas to restore order at one store near Paris. Hundreds of people waited through the night – and in some cases for several days – hoping to get their hands on the “Royal Pop” timepieces, made in collaboration with luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet. In...
