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10 Mexican government, justice officials indicted in US, will surrender
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10 Mexican government, justice officials indicted in US, will surrender

The former Secretary of Public Security for Mexico’s Sinaloa state appeared in a US court on Friday, days after his arrest in Arizona on charges he and other officials took bribes to help the Sinaloa Cartel smuggle vast quantities of drugs into the US. Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, 66, was not required to enter a plea during his initial appearance in federal court in Manhattan. He was ordered jailed but...

Ten Mexican government, justice officials indicted in US, will surrender
SCMP

Ten Mexican government, justice officials indicted in US, will surrender

The former Secretary of Public Security for Mexico’s Sinaloa state appeared in a US court on Friday, days after his arrest in Arizona on charges he and other officials took bribes to help the Sinaloa Cartel smuggle vast quantities of drugs into the US. Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, 66, was not required to enter a plea during his initial appearance in federal court in Manhattan. He was ordered jailed but...

Scalpers list Swatch-Audemars Piguet watches hours after launch in Hong Kong
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Scalpers list Swatch-Audemars Piguet watches hours after launch in Hong Kong

Many shoppers who queued for days ahead of the launch of a new watch from two Swiss brands have listed the timepieces for sale within hours of buying them, with resale prices nearly seven times their original retail value. A South China Morning Post reporter observed at least 70 people in raincoats and carrying umbrellas queuing in Causeway Bay on Saturday morning, with the line stretching from th...

Man infected with rat hepatitis E, Hong Kong’s first case this year
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Man infected with rat hepatitis E, Hong Kong’s first case this year

Health authorities are investigating a human case of rat hepatitis E - the first recorded in Hong Kong this year - and have urged the public to observe good hygiene practices and use effective rodent control measures. A spokesman for the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Saturday that the case involved a 42-year-old man with chronic liver disease, whose blood sample tested positive for th...

How Taiwan’s Apec attendance could test Beijing’s cross-strait pragmatism

How Taiwan’s Apec attendance could test Beijing’s cross-strait pragmatism

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Taiwan will send its top trade negotiator to next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) ministerial meeting in mainland China – a rare occurrence since the two sides cut off official communication in 2016. Analysts said the move suggested both sides were still trying to preserve a workable status quo within the regional forum despite worsening cross-strait tensions. The Apec trade minist...

After China-US reset, Putin heads to Beijing for Sino-Russian strategic refresh

After China-US reset, Putin heads to Beijing for Sino-Russian strategic refresh

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Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to the Chinese capital next week to reinforce the Sino-Russian “comprehensive strategic partnership”, just days after a tentative US-China reset. Beijing and Moscow announced on Saturday that Putin would visit from May 19 to 20, confirming an earlier report by the South China Morning Post. “At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vl...

Rival pro-Palestine, far-right protests in London as 4,000 police deployed

Rival pro-Palestine, far-right protests in London as 4,000 police deployed

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Two major protests are taking place on Saturday in London, with the Metropolitan Police warning it may be one of its busiest days in recent years. Tens of thousands of people are expected to march for Unite the Kingdom, an event arranged by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, and the annual pro-Palestine Nakba Day march. London’s Metropolitan Police is draftin...

What do travellers need to know when Hong Kong airport’s Terminal 2 opens?

What do travellers need to know when Hong Kong airport’s Terminal 2 opens?

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The Hong Kong airport’s long-awaited reopening of Terminal 2 will begin later this month, with several airlines set to relocate their check-in operations from Terminal 1 as part of expansion plans linked to the three-runway system. The phased move, starting on May 27, will mainly involve regional and low-cost carriers, including HK Express and AirAsia group airlines. Terminal 2 was reconfigured un...

Buyers flock to SHKP project in New Territories as confidence grows in home market outlook

Buyers flock to SHKP project in New Territories as confidence grows in home market outlook

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Hundreds of prospective buyers gravitated to a Sun Hung Kai Properties’ (SHKP’s) project in the New Territories on Saturday, keen to view the 121 flats on offer in a fresh sign that Hong Kong’s home market is on a sustained upwards cycle despite risk caution. As of 2pm, more than 80 per cent of the homes at Lime Spark in Tsuen Wan had found buyers, while some bullish investors offered to buy more ...

China school slammed for invading privacy with pupil survey asking if parents’ work is ‘smelly’ or ‘noisy’

China school slammed for invading privacy with pupil survey asking if parents’ work is ‘smelly’ or ‘noisy’

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A primary school in China sparked controversy for letting its pupils fill in a detailed questionnaire about their parents’ work. The survey, titled Observation List of Parents’ Occupation, was distributed to pupils at the beginning of May at Huatai Primary School in Tianmen, central Hubei province, Zonglan News reported. The questions regarding their parents’ work coincided with the May Day holida...

Hong Kong police officer fires service pistol by mistake at Kai Tak headquarters

Hong Kong police officer fires service pistol by mistake at Kai Tak headquarters

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A Hong Kong police officer accidentally fired a single round from her service firearm on Saturday morning, with no injuries reported. The force said the incident occurred at the Kai Tak police headquarters at about 7.10am, when the officer was loading her semi-automatic pistol in a designated loading area on Concorde Road. The officer is attached to the tactical unit of the force’s Kowloon East re...

How Trump’s China visit may hint the ‘2 eyes of the world’ are learning to live together

How Trump’s China visit may hint the ‘2 eyes of the world’ are learning to live together

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It is hard not to be impressed by the sheer energy Donald Trump displayed during his whirlwind visit to Beijing. Within just 43 hours, the 79-year-old president held two meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, inspected troops, attended a state banquet and walked around the Temple of Heaven in sweltering heat – not to mention making his characteristic social media postings in the wee hours of ...

Singapore minister reveals why human touch still important in AI era

Singapore minister reveals why human touch still important in AI era

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Even as Singapore positions itself at the frontier of AI technology, human intelligence still remains critical, according to the city state’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan. “We should beware of just trying to throw every problem, and every step in a solution, at a large-language model (LLM),” he said on Saturday at the AI Engineer conference, referring to deep-learning technology behind gen...

Tech features at Hong Kong’s Terminal 2 to enable efficient departures: transport chief

Tech features at Hong Kong’s Terminal 2 to enable efficient departures: transport chief

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Hong Kong is counting down to the “milestone” launch of the reconfigured second terminal at the international airport on May 27, which will feature technology-led services to ease existing bottlenecks, the city’s transport minister has said. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said on Saturday that the new Terminal 2 was ready to serve travellers, highlighting new technologies from ha...

2 Hong Kong tourists killed, 2 injured in New Zealand car crash

2 Hong Kong tourists killed, 2 injured in New Zealand car crash

SCMP

Two Hong Kong tourists have been killed and two others injured in a car crash in New Zealand. The Chinese consulate in Christchurch revealed the fatal crash on Saturday, saying it occurred a day earlier. “According to a New Zealand police report, a serious traffic accident occurred on the afternoon of May 15 near the intersection of North Rakaia Road and State Highway 1 in the Selwyn District on t...

Bangladesh tests its India ties by seeking China’s aid for Teesta River

Bangladesh tests its India ties by seeking China’s aid for Teesta River

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Every dry season, the Teesta River shrinks a little more – and with it, the livelihoods of millions of Bangladeshis who depend on its waters to survive. Dhaka has been asking India to help for years. Now, it is asking Beijing instead. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who took office in February, formally asked China earlier this month to help with its Teesta River restoration project, B...

Hong Kong parents warned of injury and choking risks from catapult and tangram toys

Hong Kong parents warned of injury and choking risks from catapult and tangram toys

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A catapult toy and a tangram set could pose injury and choking risks to children, Hong Kong customs has warned, urging retailers to pull the products from shelves. The Customs and Excise Department said on Saturday that it had seized 700 units of the toys during an operation and issued a prohibition notice banning their sale. The action followed an earlier safety test on various toys bought at Chi...

Hong Kong parents warned of choking, injury risks from catapult and tangram toys

Hong Kong parents warned of choking, injury risks from catapult and tangram toys

SCMP

A catapult toy and a tangram set could pose injury and suffocation risks to children, Hong Kong customs has warned, urging retailers to pull the products from shelves. The Customs and Excise Department said on Saturday that it seized 700 units of the toys during an operation and issued a prohibition notice banning their sale. The action followed an earlier safety test on various toys bought at the...

Trump says Isis second in command Abu-Bilal ‘eliminated from battlefield’

Trump says Isis second in command Abu-Bilal ‘eliminated from battlefield’

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US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ‌Isis globally, had been eliminated in an operation conducted by US and Nigerian forces. “Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a ⁠meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the ‌most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield...

Malaysian police probe claims that Jho Low returned to Kuala Lumpur for secret 1MDB talks

Malaysian police probe claims that Jho Low returned to Kuala Lumpur for secret 1MDB talks

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Malaysian police will investigate claims that fugitive financier Jho Low returned to the country for secret meetings. Inspector-General of Police Mohd Khalid Ismail said the claims that Low, whose full name is Low Taek Jho, had come to Malaysia for meetings had not been verified. “We have not verified whether the claims are true or otherwise,” he told reporters on Saturday. “We will take appropria...

Japan’s ‘ibasho’ sense of belonging helps disaster survivors heal, study finds

Japan’s ‘ibasho’ sense of belonging helps disaster survivors heal, study finds

SCMP

As the ground shook beneath her feet and the powerful tsunami rolled in from the Pacific Ocean on March 11, 2011, Masako Saito feared for her coastal community. Saito’s entire family escaped from Soma City in Japan, where massive waves caused utter devastation, and she could not return to witness the chaos for herself until the following month. It was “beyond recognition”, according to Saito. The ...

Residents of historic Hong Kong village run out of options as eviction looms

Residents of historic Hong Kong village run out of options as eviction looms

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Tin Sam Tsuen in northern Hong Kong, marked by small houses built with bricks in a traditional colour and an ancestral hall with green and white walls, has been home to generations of residents for hundreds of years. From traditional rituals to celebrate newborns to flowing banquets during festive occasions, the village of about 50 households in far-flung Hung Shui Kiu holds many memories for its ...

Residents of historic Hong Kong village run out of options as evictions loom

Residents of historic Hong Kong village run out of options as evictions loom

SCMP

The picturesque old village of Tin Sam Tsuen in Hong Kong, marked by small houses built with bricks in a traditional colour and an ancestral hall with green and white walls, has been home to generations of residents for hundreds of years. From traditional rituals to celebrate newborns to flowing banquets during festive occasions, the historic village of about 50 households in far-flung Hung Shui K...

Have Chinese defence firms broken the sniper rifle range record – again?

Have Chinese defence firms broken the sniper rifle range record – again?

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Cryptic statements from two Chinese defence companies suggest that a long-distance shooting record may have been broken yet again. The first hint came on April 28, when Chongqing Changjiang Electric Appliances Industries Group, one of China’s biggest ammunition manufacturers, announced that an unspecified product had “successfully refreshed the world record for similar products” during a “speciali...

Elderly man dies after falling on board bus in Hong Kong

Elderly man dies after falling on board bus in Hong Kong

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An elderly man died after falling on board a bus in Hong Kong on Saturday. Police said they received a report at 8.50am that the man in his seventies had fallen while the bus was near 125 Chatham Road South in Tsim Sha Tsui. The KMB bus was operating on route 5 between Fu Shan Estate and Star Ferry. Emergency personnel arrived at the scene and took the passenger to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where ...

Man in his 70s dies after falling on board bus in Hong Kong

Man in his 70s dies after falling on board bus in Hong Kong

SCMP

An elderly man died after falling on board a bus in Hong Kong on Saturday. Police said they received a report at 8.50am that a man in his 70s had fallen while the bus was near 125 Chatham Road South in Tsim Sha Tsui. The bus was operating on KMB route 5 between Fu Shan Estate and Star Ferry. Emergency personnel arrived at the scene and took him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Park, where he ...

Czech police recover medieval saint’s 800-year-old skull encased in concrete

Czech police recover medieval saint’s 800-year-old skull encased in concrete

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Czech police have arrested a man suspected of stealing an almost 800-year-old religious relic from a Catholic church and encasing it in concrete. According to a police spokeswoman on Friday, the suspect admitted taking the skull, which is revered by believers as a relic of Saint Zdislava of Lemberk, from the Church of St Lawrence in the northern Czech town of Jablonne v Podjestedi on Tuesday. Inve...

AI helps South Korea stop 99% of suicide attempts on Han River bridges in Seoul

AI helps South Korea stop 99% of suicide attempts on Han River bridges in Seoul

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For most residents of South Korea’s capital, the Han River is a place for evening strolls, picnics and a brief respite from city life. But for Kim Jun-young, chief of the Hangang Bridge CCTV Integrated Control Centre in Seoul’s Gwangjin district, it is where his team pulls people back from the edge every day. Established in 2021, the centre uses AI for comprehensive emergency response, monitoring ...

Trump ‘not optimistic’ on Jimmy Lai’s release after raising case with Xi

Trump ‘not optimistic’ on Jimmy Lai’s release after raising case with Xi

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US President Donald Trump has said he is not optimistic about the release of former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who was sentenced to 20 years for violating the national security law, after raising the issue with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing. “[Xi] said Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him to do; he went through a lot, right or wrong, they went through a lot,...