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The West was never the whole world. It’s time to move on
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The West was never the whole world. It’s time to move on

Western social science has made three metaphysical mistakes. The first was to assume that its laws and lessons were, like the physical sciences, universally applicable to all societies. Harvard Professor Theodore Levitt captured the prevailing zeitgeist well when he wrote in 1983: “The world’s needs and desires have been irrevocably homogenised.” That may have been true 40 years ago. It is no long...

Can AI-assisted unmanned vessels be Beijing’s answer to South China Sea patrols?
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Can AI-assisted unmanned vessels be Beijing’s answer to South China Sea patrols?

Wave-powered unmanned surface vessels (USV) could be used for maritime rights and law enforcement, researchers said, as Beijing faces heightened tensions in contested waters including the South China Sea. Writing in the latest issue of Naval and Merchant Ships, owned by China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Chen Xin and Chen Ruimiao said the self-powered vessels could be “of great value” to the su...

Hong Kong market regulator takes on ‘collection agent’ role for wronged investors
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Hong Kong market regulator takes on ‘collection agent’ role for wronged investors

On a warm Saturday in early May, the kind of day most would choose to spend on a hike or at the beach, hundreds of Hongkongers instead stood for hours in a queue at Edinburgh Tower in Central. But despite the loss of a pleasant weekend afternoon, none would be likely to consider it time wasted. They were there claim their fair share of HK$1.5 billion (US$191 million) owed to independent shareholde...

Japan’s restaurant sector left hungry for talent after visa suspension
SCMP

Japan’s restaurant sector left hungry for talent after visa suspension

Restaurant operators in Japan have been forced to review their approach to hiring foreign workers since the government suspended the issuance of special visas needed to work in the sector, as the number of holders nears its preset quota. The sudden suspension by Japan’s immigration authorities has raised the spectre of fierce competition for foreign talent. Long known for its strict immigration po...

How to prevent Hong Kong from becoming just another Asian city

How to prevent Hong Kong from becoming just another Asian city

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Hong Kong’s tourism sectors have entered 2026 with renewed momentum. The broader economy has strengthened, expanding by 5.9 per cent in the first quarter, its fastest pace in nearly five years. Visitor arrivals also reached 14.3 million in the first quarter, up 17 per cent year on year. The recent Labour Day “golden week” holiday offered a further boost, with the city receiving more than 1 million...

Google’s YouTube, Snap settle first-of-its-kind school social media suit ahead of trial

Google’s YouTube, Snap settle first-of-its-kind school social media suit ahead of trial

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Google’s YouTube and Snap reached agreements to settle the first lawsuit headed to trial over claims that addiction to top social media platforms has disrupted learning and pushed public schools to spend massive sums fighting a mental health crisis, according to court filings. TikTok and Meta Platforms were also sued by the rural Kentucky school district that brought the case, which is set to go t...

Hong Kong to test first flying cars carrying heavy cargo within 6 months

Hong Kong to test first flying cars carrying heavy cargo within 6 months

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Trial flights for Hong Kong’s first two-tonne electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft could take place within the next six months, initially to transport heavy construction materials to remote sites in the New Territories. Infrastructure consultancy AECOM said once aviation safety for cargo logistics was proved, the potential next step was ecotourism, providing an alternative susta...

China couple make wedding memorable by hosting wrestling match, with loser facing housework

China couple make wedding memorable by hosting wrestling match, with loser facing housework

SCMP

A couple in southwestern China turned their wedding into a professional wrestling showdown, with the loser agreeing to do the housework for life. Unlike conventional competitive sports, professional wrestling is a choreographed combat performance. The groom, He Yinsheng, a professional wrestler from Zunyi in Guizhou province, staged the unusual celebration with his wife at a local hotel in early M...

Iran war fallout triggers massive biofuel shift across Asia

Iran war fallout triggers massive biofuel shift across Asia

SCMP

Taxi driver Ravi Ranjan, who lives with his wife and child in New Delhi, said shipping disruptions caused by the Iran war had forced him to pay higher prices for cooking fuel at a time when India’s prime minister was also urging residents to reduce driving and travel. It was all hitting his bottom line, Ranjan said, as he was paying three times as much for liquid petroleum gas after facing delays ...

Beyond bamboo: Vietnam’s To Lam mounts a diplomacy offensive

Beyond bamboo: Vietnam’s To Lam mounts a diplomacy offensive

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Vietnam’s To Lam is a man in a hurry. Since claiming the nation’s top job, its most powerful leader in decades has been in near-constant motion, pressing flesh and signing deals in Beijing, Washington, Pyongyang and Moscow. His itinerary, which also included stops in New Delhi, Helsinki, Paris, London and several Southeast Asian capitals, reads less like a diplomatic calendar than a world tour – a...

Trump leaves China after much pomp and pageantry, but little to show for it

Trump leaves China after much pomp and pageantry, but little to show for it

SCMP

As US President Donald Trump landed back in Washington on Friday after his two-day summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a quick US assessment on one of the most consequential diplomatic visits of Trump’s presidency was: impressive optics, trademark flawless Chinese hosting, but disappointing concrete achievements, according to analysts, industry trade groups and former US officials...

Trump and his CEOs want China’s business – but has Asia moved on?

Trump and his CEOs want China’s business – but has Asia moved on?

SCMP

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the latest instalment of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we explore the massive upswing in capital expenditures acr...

Travolta gets surprise Cannes prize: ‘beyond the Oscar’

Travolta gets surprise Cannes prize: ‘beyond the Oscar’

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Hollywood star John Travolta was given a surprise lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival Friday as he premiered the first movie he has ever directed. The man who became an icon overnight with Saturday Night Fever was visibly moved as he accepted the honorary Palme d’Or before the screening of Propeller One-Way Night Coach, which is based on a book about his first experience in an a...

How to deal with this ‘very Chinese time’ in Western lives

How to deal with this ‘very Chinese time’ in Western lives

SCMP

What comes to mind when you think of China, Japan and South Korea? This was a question posed in a second-year sociology seminar during my time at Bristol, and it has stayed with me ever since. We were split into three groups and given 10 minutes to create posters capturing our immediate associations. Japan came first. Sketches of anime, sushi platters and temples appeared. My classmates spoke with...

Canada takes key step towards new oil pipeline to serve Asia markets

Canada takes key step towards new oil pipeline to serve Asia markets

SCMP

Prime Minister Mark Carney and the leader of Canada’s oil-rich Alberta province took a major step on Friday towards building an oil pipeline that could substantially increase crude exports to Asia. Expanding overseas energy exports has emerged as a key part of Carney’s strategy to reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the US, but plans for a new pipeline are facing stiff resistance over environment...

Taiwan casts long shadow over Trump’s summit with Xi

Taiwan casts long shadow over Trump’s summit with Xi

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Taiwan has emerged as the first test of Beijing and Washington’s new “strategic stability” formula, according to analysts. In the aftermath of the high-profile summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in Beijing, subtle differences have emerged in how the two sides have characterised Taiwan, which Beijing defines as the most important issue in the bilateral relatio...

AI supremacy, ‘secret police station’, Taiwan propaganda: 7 US-China relations reads

AI supremacy, ‘secret police station’, Taiwan propaganda: 7 US-China relations reads

SCMP

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. The Xi-Trump summit is over. What comes next in the US-China rivalry? Xi described Trump’s visit as “historical” and “a landmark”, adding that “important consensus was made on issues both side...

Xi-Trump summit: all you need to know from the final day of the meeting in Beijing

Xi-Trump summit: all you need to know from the final day of the meeting in Beijing

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We have put together stories from our coverage on the second day of Xi and Trump’s meeting in Beijing. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘We’ll be back’: the latest takeaways from the Xi-Trump talks Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump chat as they stroll through the grounds of Zhongnanhai, with Trump again dangling the idea...

Lebanon and Israel extend ceasefire despite new strikes

Lebanon and Israel extend ceasefire despite new strikes

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Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire and hold new talks on a political settlement, the US announced on Friday, even as Israel carried out new strikes that it insists are not subject to the truce. Israel has been pounding Lebanon and invaded its south in response to fire from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shia movement that is not part of the ceasefire diplomacy. Envoys from Israel and L...

Lebanon and Israel extend ceasefire for 45 days

Lebanon and Israel extend ceasefire for 45 days

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Lebanon and Israel on Friday extended a ceasefire for 45 days, despite a new flare-up in violence, the US State Department said after mediating talks. “The April 16 cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. He said that the State Department would hold negotiations aimed at reaching a permanent political agreement...

Harvey Weinstein’s third New York rape trial ends in mistrial

Harvey Weinstein’s third New York rape trial ends in mistrial

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Harvey Weinstein’s third trial in New York over allegations he used his Hollywood clout to prey upon and sexually abuse women ended ‌in a mistrial on Friday, after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a charge he raped the aspiring actress Jessica Mann. Weinstein, 74, was a top film producer until sexual misconduct allegations led to his downfall and fuelled a wider social movement that e...

Peru’s leftist Sanchez to face Fujimori in presidential run-off

Peru’s leftist Sanchez to face Fujimori in presidential run-off

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Peru’s leftist ⁠presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez will face ⁠Keiko Fujimori in the June run-off after narrowly securing second place in April’s first-round vote, official results showed Friday, with 100 per cent of votes tallied. The month-long count led to allegations of fraud in ‌the politically turbulent South American nation, notably from right-wing candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who narr...

The Xi-Trump summit is over. What comes next in the US-China rivalry?

The Xi-Trump summit is over. What comes next in the US-China rivalry?

SCMP

In the past, the last day of state visits to China has typically featured a deal-signing ceremony presided over by leaders from both sides. However, the last day of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing was marked by discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a more intimate setting and an assurance that both would continue to meet this year. The two men strolled the gardens of the se...

Health authorities order halt to use of medical devices tied to patient’s death

Health authorities order halt to use of medical devices tied to patient’s death

SCMP

Hong Kong health authorities have ordered hospitals to stop using a batch of blood pressure monitoring sets after an improperly sealed device was linked to the death of an elderly man undergoing a heart operation. The Department of Health also said on Friday that it had ordered the local supplier to halt sales of the affected batch and it was investigating the incident at Tuen Mun Hospital. The Ho...

Palestinians in Gaza mark anniversary of 1948 mass expulsion

Palestinians in Gaza mark anniversary of 1948 mass expulsion

SCMP

Blink and you might miss the few stone walls that are all that is left of the village that Yusuf Abu Hamam’s family was forced to flee when he was an infant in 1948. The village, al-Joura, was demolished by the Israeli military at the time. It has since vanished under neighbourhoods of the southern Israeli city of Ashqelon and the grounds of a national park. The neighbourhood where Abu Hamam’s fam...

Hong Kong police call to criminalise bid-rigging in wake of Tai Po estate blaze

Hong Kong police call to criminalise bid-rigging in wake of Tai Po estate blaze

SCMP

Hong Kong police have proposed introducing legislation enforced by a designated agency to criminalise bid-rigging, along with more attractive leniency and cooperation agreements for whistle-blowers, in the wake of the city’s deadliest fire in decades. In a submission to a judge-led independent committee investigating last November’s disaster at Wang Fuk Court released on Friday, Superintendent Lam...

‘May do it. May not do it’: Trump keeps up suspense over arms to Taiwan, says no to war

‘May do it. May not do it’: Trump keeps up suspense over arms to Taiwan, says no to war

SCMP

The United States will not fight a war over Taiwan, President Donald Trump has declared, while revealing that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping “talked a lot” about the island during his state visit to Beijing. However, Trump stopped short of approving arms sales to the island, leaving open the future of major arms packages. In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier in Beijing, Trump said: “I’m...

‘May do it. May not do it’: Trump keeps up suspense over Taiwan arms deal, says no to war

‘May do it. May not do it’: Trump keeps up suspense over Taiwan arms deal, says no to war

SCMP

The United States will not fight a war over Taiwan, President Donald Trump has declared, while revealing that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping “talked a lot” about the island during his state visit to Beijing. However, Trump stopped short of approving arms sales to the island, leaving open the future of major arms packages. In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier in Beijing, Trump said: “I’m...

Peugeot, Jeep take on Chinese rivals with new models using local EV technologies

Peugeot, Jeep take on Chinese rivals with new models using local EV technologies

SCMP

Peugeot and Jeep, owned by French-Italian automotive group Stellantis, have committed to fresh investments to build electric cars with its partner Dongfeng Motor, as more international marques join the fight against Chinese rivals in the world’s largest car market. Stellantis announced on Friday that four electric vehicles (EVs) under the two storied auto brands would roll off the production lines...