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Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China next week, days after US counterpart Donald Trump concluded a visit that was heavy on ceremony and light on substance. Putin’s one-day trip will take place on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post said, citing unidentified sources. It is unlikely there will be any elaborate parades or welcome ceremony for the routine visit, according to the r...
Finland warned the public of drones possibly entering its airspace, for the first time near the capital city Helsinki, in the early hours of Friday. Flights were disrupted at the country’s biggest airport, Helsinki-Vantaa, and about 1.8 million residents of southern Finland were told to remain indoors after overnight Ukrainian strikes on Russia near Finland prompted concern that unmanned aircraft ...
The Philippine Senate has witnessed political coups, scandals and the occasional shouting match. It had never, until this week, seen a sitting senator sprint down its corridors in a muddy olive shirt, knocking aside female investigators like bowling pins, to avoid an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity. That was Monday. By Wednesday night, gunshots were ringing out in the buil...
President Xi Jinping’s new formula for China-US relations is “aspirational”, but the “real test” will be ensuring the two powers can work together despite their deepening rivalry, a leading Chinese political observer has cautioned. During his much-anticipated summit with US President Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday, Xi said that the two leaders had “agreed on a new vision of building a constru...
Most readers of foreign news pages this weekend will be assuming that US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing has been dominating everyone’s attention. But across Asia, Trump, with his massive business entourage, was not the only act in town this week. At least two other major sets of meetings should not be overlooked. First, in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minis...
Stephen Lin Er Chow, a physicist who designed a groundbreaking copper-free superconducting oxide capable of high-temperature superconductivity, has joined Zhejiang University from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Last year, at 27, Chow published the findings in the journal Nature, marking the first top-tier publication for the NUS lab since its establishment two decades ago. Confirming ...
A new giant dinosaur weighing about 27 tonnes has been unearthed by researchers in Thailand, making it the largest ever found in Southeast Asia. According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, the 27 metre (88 foot) long plant-eating beast is believed to have meandered through what is now Thailand between 100 and 120 million years ago. It likely weighed at least 10 to...
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling alliance will try to show a united front this weekend, but two former ministers from his own party are threatening to pull attention back to the fractures inside the reformist camp. Pakatan Harapan (PH), the reformist coalition led by Anwar, holds its first convention in four years in the southern state of Johor on Sunday. That same day, former econo...
Australia’s trade minister will visit China in an effort to shore up fuel supplies that have run short this year because of bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz during the US–Israeli war in Iran. Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell told a press conference that he would travel to China to meet Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, after a stop in Japan on Monday. “Very much the topic of the d...
The local media should contribute to “telling the ‘good stories of Hong Kong’” amid global turbulence as the city formulates its first five-year blueprint to align with national development, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said. Speaking at an annual award ceremony organised by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong on Friday, Lee said the local media was not only a witness and a recorder of even...
A man who previously represented residents of fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po has been arrested, along with his wife, on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, the South China Morning Post has learned. Sources familiar with the matter said Jason Kong Cheung-fat, a director of Ace Interior Design & Engineering Company Ltd, and his wife, who is also a director of the company,...
US President Donald Trump wrapped up his visit to China on Friday, the first by a US leader in nine years. The three-day trip, originally scheduled for March, had been postponed as due to the Iran war. Following Trump’s departure, Russian leader Vladimir Putin will pay a one-day visit on Wednesday, SCMP reported exclusively. His trip will mark the first time Beijing has hosted the leaders of the t...
Hong Kong must move beyond its traditional role as a “superconnector” and reposition itself as a “super value-adder”, a leading think tank has said, urging the city to strengthen its role in global supply chains and align with national development amid geopolitical and technological shifts. In a 216-page report released on Friday, the 2022 Foundation – founded by Fung Group chairman Victor Fung Kw...
South and Southeast Asian nations may emerge as unexpected clean energy beneficiaries after the Green Party of England and Wales made record-breaking gains in recent UK local council elections, according to analysts. The Greens expanded their footprint in the May 7 council elections, capitalising on widespread voter disillusionment with Britain’s two major parties, Labour and Conservative. It was ...
Before he even entered the race, Andy Burnham was the favourite to unseat Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister. The mayor of Greater Manchester led opinion polls and was the front runner among bookmakers and Polymarket. Late Thursday, the biggest obstacle fell away: Labour MP Josh Simons quit the House of Commons, clearing the way for Burnham to win a seat in parliament, a requirement for the ...
Beijing joins Mars club after ‘nine minutes of terror’ By William Zheng This article was first published on May 16, 2021 After seven months of space travel, three months in orbit and “nine minutes of terror”, China has become the third country in the world to safely land a rover on Mars. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said its rover Zhu Rong – named after the Chinese god of f...
Malaysia will not oppose a bid by a fugitive businessman involved in the massive 1MDB corruption scandal to seek a pardon from US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Friday. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Seremban district, south of Kuala Lumpur, Anwar described the plea by Low Taek Jho as a “non-issue”. The businessman, better known as Jho Low, is formally seekin...
A Chinese blogger drove 1,300km to take a fellow university student to her hometown to see her dead mother for the last time before her funeral. Both students are in grade four at North Minzu University in Yinchuan of Ningxia Hui Autonomous in northern China. On the evening of May 7, the female student was told that her mother had died suddenly. The reason for the mother’s death was not released, ...
Japan’s quest for rare earth self-sufficiency and its drive to decouple from Chinese supply chains have prompted the government to consider building a dedicated deep-sea mining vessel to recover minerals from the Pacific Ocean floor. Local media reported that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s special committee on ocean development will soon present a draft proposal to the Takaichi administrati...
A 29-year-old Hong Kong man died of misadventure linked to a rare complication following a gastroscopy at a public hospital two years ago, a death inquest has found. The Coroner’s Court on Friday ruled that Lui Pak-to died of cerebral oedema, or brain swelling, triggered by the procedure at Queen Mary Hospital on February 29, 2024. Coroner Raymund Chow Chi-wei cited expert evidence indicating it w...
US President Donald Trump concluded a “landmark and historical” visit to China on Friday afternoon after Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted him at Zhongnanhai in the heart of Beijing and held small-group talks in the morning. Trees and roses The ancient trees and roses at Zhongnanhai drew Trump’s eye and sparked some light-hearted banter between the two leaders. As they strolled through the Chinese ...
Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the visiting US leader Donald Trump at Zhongnanhai in the heart of Beijing on Friday, the final day of Trump’s trip. Trees and roses The ancient trees and roses at Zhongnanhai drew Trump’s eye and sparked some light-hearted banter between the two leaders. As they strolled through the Chinese leaders’ compound, Xi pointed out ancient trees, some of them a few hun...
The Hong Kong has government maintained its full-year growth forecast at between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent after the city’s economy expanded by a stronger-than-expected 5.9 per cent in the first quarter. But rising oil prices linked to the war in the Middle East could push inflation higher in the coming months, the government economist warned as the Census and Statistics Department released growth data...
Hong Kong authorities have maintained their full-year economic growth forecast at between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent after the city’s economy expanded by a stronger-than-expected 5.9 per cent in the first quarter, while warning that rising oil prices linked to the war in the Middle East could push inflation higher in the coming months. The latest figures released by the Census and Statistics Department ...
The number of tourist arrivals in Hong Kong grew 10 per cent year on year in April, bolstered by the city’s annual Sevens rugby tournament. The Tourism Board revealed on Friday that the city welcomed 4.21 million visitors in April, taking the total in the first four months to 18.52 million – a 15 per cent jump from the same period last year. Even though the majority of visitors in April were from ...
Tensions were already high on Wednesday night in the Philippine Senate, days after lawmakers abruptly ousted its leader and an ex-police chief wanted by the International Criminal Court showed up after six months in hiding. But few could guess at how suddenly terrifying things were going to get. Hours after wanted Senator Ronald dela Rosa had serenaded a group of reporters with the alma mater song...
While US President Donald Trump concluded his three-day state visit to Beijing by hailing “fantastic trade deals”, an immediate lack of specifics left some investors wondering if the high-stakes meeting delivered more theatre than substance. China’s benchmark CSI 300 Index dropped 1.1 per cent on Friday for a second straight day of declines, with investors taking profits from a record-setting rall...
US President Donald Trump said he has secured “fantastic trade deals” during his high-stakes state visit to Beijing, as he met with his counterpart, President Xi Jinping, for a second day in Beijing. “This has been an incredible visit. I think a lot of, a lot of good has come of it. We’ve made some fantastic trade deals, great for both countries,” Trump said on Friday at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese c...
Hong Kong residents can enjoy an 11-day-long holiday over the Easter and Ching Ming holidays in 2027 by applying for only four days of leave, according to the list of official public holidays released by authorities. The Hong Kong government on Friday gazetted the dates for public holidays in 2027, with residents enjoying at least seven long weekends next year. They can take advantage of the Chris...
Russian leader Vladimir Putin will pay a one-day visit to Beijing, just days after President Xi Jinping wraps up his closely watched summit with his American counterpart Donald Trump. Sources told the South China Morning Post that the visit is expected to take place later next week, on May 20. They also said the visit was part of Moscow’s routine dealings with Beijing, with little expectation that...
