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Hong Kong police have arrested two women on suspicion of animal cruelty after a sick three-month-old Golden Retriever was found dumped in a rubbish bin in Mong Kok, covered in sewage, and later euthanised. Inspector Yip Ho-lam said on Tuesday that police opened an investigation Saturday morning after a street cleaner discovered the puppy inside a bin in the alley behind 104 Hak Po Street. Officers...
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reaffirmed its “firm support” for Hong Kong’s judicial authorities when asked whether Beijing would consider releasing jailed former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying ahead of US President Donald Trump’s three-day state visit starting Wednesday. “[Jimmy] Lai Chee-ying is the principal mastermind and perpetrator behind the riots that shook Hong Kong,” ministry s...
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reaffirmed its “firm support” for Hong Kong’s judicial authorities when asked whether Beijing would consider releasing jailed former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying ahead of US President Donald Trump’s three-day state visit starting Wednesday. “[Jimmy] Lai Chee-ying is the principal mastermind and perpetrator behind the riots that shook Hong Kong,” ministry...
In a conference centre in The Hague last October, a roomful of Asia-watching European officials and experts were gathered for a symposium on relations with China when news broke that Beijing was expanding export controls on rare earths and other minerals. Crucially, there was now an extraterritorial element: China could deny exports not only to direct buyers, but also restrict products made in thi...
As US President Donald Trump prepares to visit China, Taiwan is again one of the most sensitive issues in US-China relations. For Washington, this is not only a question about the Taiwan Strait. It is a strategic choice that bears on whether the United States can avoid a comprehensive conflict with China, stabilise markets and secure Chinese cooperation on trade, artificial intelligence (AI), Iran...
A clip of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa running through the Senate halls to evade an International Criminal Court arrest warrant has become one of the most startling images in recent Philippine politics. By Tuesday, the former national police chief was still inside the Senate under protective custody, turning the chamber into the centre of a legal and political stand-off over whether one of form...
A Spanish passenger evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus, Spain’s health ministry announced on Tuesday as the World Health Organization said it has now confirmed 11 cases, including three people from the cruise who died. The passenger with the new confirmed case of hantavirus was in quarantine in a military hospital in Madrid, wher...
Brett Ratner, director of the documentary Melania and the Rush Hour franchise, is travelling to China as part of US President Donald Trump’s delegation, sources familiar with the filmmaker’s plans have told the South China Morning Post. During the three-day trip, which begins on Wednesday, Ratner intends to advance preparations for the action-comedy franchise’s latest sequel, Rush Hour 4, includin...
German companies in China have grown more optimistic about the country’s economic outlook, even as the Iran war and persistent trade tensions continue to weigh on their operations, according to the German Chamber of Commerce in China. In a survey released on Tuesday, the chamber found that 37 per cent of respondents expected China’s economy to improve over the next six months. That was up 22 perce...
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defied calls to resign on Tuesday, telling ministers he would “get on with governing” despite a “destabilising” 48 hours of growing calls to set out a timetable for his departure after a drubbing in local elections. At a meeting of his cabinet, Starmer, in the top job for less than two years, repeated that, while he took responsibility for one of his Labour Par...
Two national agencies fighting corruption in Ukraine have named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former chief of staff as an official suspect in a major corruption investigation. Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office announced late on Monday that Andriy Yermak is suspected of an alleged 460-million-hryvnia (US$10.5 million) money-...
Indonesia’s latest wave of police raids has exposed signs that online gambling and scam syndicates, squeezed out of traditional hubs such as Cambodia and Myanmar, are trying to turn Southeast Asia’s biggest economy into a new base. Analysts warned that Indonesia’s porous visa regime, weak law enforcement and welcoming attitude towards foreigners had made it an attractive destination for syndicates...
Hong Kong experienced its hottest day of the year so far on Tuesday, with the city’s forecaster reporting temperatures of 31.6 degrees Celsius (88.8 Fahrenheit) at its headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui in the afternoon. Data from the Hong Kong Observatory showed much of the city on Tuesday saw temperatures rising above 31 degrees, with some parts of the New Territories exceeding 33 degrees. “An anticy...
Forty years. That is how long Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been in power. The 81-year-old was sworn in on Tuesday to extend his presidency over a further five-year term that may well be his last – although not necessarily the last for the Museveni family. The president’s son and presumptive heir, army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, oversaw days-long rehearsals of the military parade t...
US business leaders accompanying President Donald Trump on his state visit to Beijing will be given the opportunity to mingle with their Chinese counterparts at an exclusive international business club, according to sources. On Monday, the White House released a list naming dozens of business chiefs accompanying Trump, including high-profile figures such as Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and Appl...
US business leaders accompanying President Donald Trump on his visit to Beijing will be given the opportunity to mingle with their Chinese counterparts at an exclusive international business club, according to sources. On Monday, the White House released a list naming dozens of business chiefs accompanying Trump, including high-profile figures such as Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and Apple’s Ti...
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical, China’s largest drug company by market capitalisation, has signed a global collaboration and licensing agreement with US pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) worth up to US$15.2 billion. Hengrui’s Hong Kong-traded shares climbed 5.3 per cent to HK$69.55 on Tuesday, while its Shenzhen stock rose 4.84 per cent to 56.11 yuan. The deal adds credibility to Chi...
A 15-year-old Chinese girl who has been suffering from a severe blood disorder most of her life is slowly recovering after receiving a transplant from her newborn brother. Xiaoyan from southern China’s Guangdong province is now only 140cm tall, and weighs just 25kg. She was diagnosed with thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder, at three months old. Her father, a construction worker, and her jobl...
An American climber has died in an avalanche on Mount Makalu, officials said on Tuesday, as fatalities mount early in Nepal’s busy spring climbing season. Shelley Johannesen, 53, was killed on Monday while descending from the summit of the world’s fifth-highest peak, expedition organisers said, marking the season’s latest death. David Roubinek, a 38-year-old Czech climber, and three Nepali guides ...
Uber Hong Kong has warned that a proposed cap of up to 15,000 ride-hailing permits could trigger a 70 per cent increase in fares and result in 40 per cent of peak-hour bookings being unsuccessful. In a paper submitted to the legislature ahead of a transport panel special meeting on Tuesday, the ride-hailing giant revealed it currently had more than 30,000 active drivers in the city. The proposed q...
A planned virtual meeting between Southeast Asian foreign ministers and Myanmar’s junta-appointed representative has analysts predicting a potential normalisation of ties five years after the coup that first caused them to rupture. Asean Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn confirmed on Thursday on the sidelines of the 11-member regional bloc’s summit in the Philippines that a meeting was expected “in ...
US President Donald Trump said a month-long ceasefire with Iran was on “massive life support” as he rejected Tehran’s response to a peace proposal. The Iranian reply was a “piece of garbage”, Trump told reporters in the White House on Monday. “I didn’t even finish reading it.” The comments helped to push the price of Brent crude oil above US$106 a barrel on Tuesday. Trump is expected to discuss th...
China has more than doubled the production efficiency of stealth fighter components in a “dark factory”, where autonomous vehicles and AI-driven machinery operate nearly 24 hours a day. The process once required employees to monitor its round-the-clock operations, but the plant can now produce the “skeleton” of an aircraft in near darkness, according to the official Science and Technology Daily. D...
Asia-Pacific’s commercial property investments surged in the first quarter, according to data tracked by analysts, as early signs of recovery in office and retail segments across Hong Kong and mainland China boosted deal volumes. Total investment in offices, retail spaces, industrial units, data centres, hotels, apartments, senior housing and other asset classes climbed 22 per cent to US$51.1 bill...
Bridging the gap between science fiction and reality, a Chinese robotics firm on Tuesday unveiled a manned “mecha” capable of transitioning between bipedal walking and four-legged mode. Developed by Unitree Robotics, the GD01 – resembling an Autobot from a Transformers movie – is a high-strength alloy machine designed for civilian transport. It weighs 500kg with a pilot on board – roughly the weig...
A Hong Kong sushi restaurant has apologised after a customer spotted a threadlike parasite crawling out of a piece of sashimi, triggering widespread food safety concerns across social media. Popular Japanese chain Gatten Sushi, which debuted in the city in September 2024, issued an apology on social media on Tuesday after footage of the incident at its Causeway Bay branch went viral. The video, sh...
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s position is under serious threat after dozens of his own lawmakers called for him to set out a timetable for his departure, or resign, in the wake of heavy losses in local elections. Here’s what could happen next: Has a leadership contest been triggered? Not yet. On Monday, several ministerial aides stepped down and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly c...
Investors can finance part of the production cost of a stage play produced by film star Louis Koo Tin-lok and featuring award-winning actress Fish Liew Chi-yu, after a Hong Kong fintech firm converts it into tradeable digital units. Esperanza Fintech Group CEO Dan Ronald Leung Wai-tsun said on Monday that the firm would launch its fifth project this year using investment tokens, which convert an e...
A man sent a woman an AI-generated photo of her face on a nude body and set up cameras under her work desk for a live “upskirt” feed. The woman was alarmed by his actions and became fearful whenever she was approached by men as a result. Desmond Han Jiancong, a 31-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count each of installing equipment to enable voyeurism and insulting the modesty ...
A Hong Kong merchant has pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his wife and three daughters by burning charcoal in their public rental flat two years ago, saying he was “out of options” after struggling to repay debts totalling nearly HK$900,000 (US$115,000). The High Court heard on Tuesday that Wong Pak-ting, 45, spiked the dinner he prepared for his family with sleeping pills before attempti...
