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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...
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...
One of Japan’s best-loved snack brands is switching to monochrome packaging for a number of its products due to a shortage of naphtha – a crude-oil derivative used in petrochemicals and printing inks – caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Calbee said it would “temporarily revise packaging specifications for certain products in response to supply instabil...
On his last morning in charge of Malaysia’s anti-corruption watchdog, Azam Baki did what he had always done – talked tough and walked away on his own terms. But the man who spent the past six years making the country’s powerful sweat left behind a question he never satisfactorily answered: what do you do when the anti-corruption chief becomes the story? Analysts say Azam’s exit puts Prime Minister...
Israeli lawmakers approved a bill on Monday setting up a special tribunal that would try and have the authority to sentence to death Palestinians convicted of taking part in the 2023 Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza. The measure passed 93-0 in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament, reflecting widespread support for punishing those found responsible for what was the deadliest attack in...
A global data leak involving learning platform Canvas has exposed the personal information of more than 72,000 students and staff across Hong Kong educational institutions, with two local police reports already filed in connection with the breach. Chief Superintendent Raymond Lam Cheuk-ho of the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau said one of the reports was from a local education in...
A global data leak involving learning platform Canvas has exposed the personal information of more than 72,000 students and staff across Hong Kong educational institutions, with authorities warning of further threats targeting those affected. As of Tuesday, seven local educational institutions had reported data breaches to the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, including major universities su...
A special education institute in eastern China that targets “problematic” teenagers has sparked controversy for allowing its students to carry toy dolls throughout the school day as part of gratitude lessons. Yuanzhong Special Education School, located in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, accepts adolescent students who exhibit rebellious behaviour, lack motivation for studying, are addicted to online gam...
A woman and a man have been sentenced to community service by a Hong Kong court for committing sexual acts in the open at an outlying island pier last year. Saleswoman Ma Lai-hing, 62, and sailor Ng Tau-ming, 63, pleaded guilty last month to outraging public decency at Cheung Chau Public Pier on October 29, 2025. Eastern Court on Tuesday accepted a probation officer’s recommendation to sentence th...
Malaysian rescuers were searching on Tuesday for 14 Indonesians missing after a boat believed to be carrying undocumented migrants sank off Pangkor Island, the latest emergency along a dangerous sea route used by workers trying to enter Malaysia by boat. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said 23 people, comprising 16 men and seven women, had been rescued after the boat went down in waters ...
European governments have rejected a suggestion by Russian President Vladimir Putin that former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could represent them in possible future talks with Moscow on the continent’s security. Putin said on Saturday he believed the war in Ukraine was coming to an end and that he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, with Schroeder as his pre...
We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘Foreigner won’: Filipinos divided over pageant winner’s US roots The Philippines has crowned its newest Miss Universe candidate, Bea Millan-Windorski, as the country – kn...
South Korea is treading carefully in attributing blame for the strike on one of its cargo ships earlier this month, even as preliminary signs point to Iranian drones being the culprit. Seoul has surveillance footage of the incident in the early hours of May 4 – when two airborne objects struck the HMM Namu while it lay at anchor off the United Arab Emirates – but so far has said little. Observers ...
Beijing is on stronger footing over Taiwan compared with Donald Trump’s first presidential term, according to a leading mainland analyst. Wu Yongping, dean of the Institute for Taiwan Studies at Tsinghua University, said the issue would “definitely” be discussed when Trump meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this week. He said in an interview that Beijing would welcome any statements op...
A Hong Kong couple have been spared a criminal conviction for storm chasing with their children during Super Typhoon Ragasa last year after prosecutors agreed to settle the case with a bind-over order. The couple were bound over at Eastern Court on Tuesday for three years on a joint charge of ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of a child or young person. Under the order, they will be fine...
A Hong Kong couple have been spared a criminal conviction for storm chasing with their children during Super Typhoon Ragasa last year after prosecutors agreed to settle the case with a bind-over order. The couple were bound over at Eastern Court on Tuesday for three years in the sum of HK$2,000 (US$255) on a joint charge of ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of a child or young person. Th...
A Hong Kong couple have been spared a criminal conviction for storm chasing with their children during Super Typhoon Ragasa last year after prosecutors agreed to settle the case with a bind-over order. The couple were bound over at Eastern Court on Tuesday for three years in the sum of HK$2,000 (US$255) on a joint charge of ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of a child or young person. Th...
When a 52-year-old Indonesian woman approached her saying she was broke and needed a place to stay, Lim felt sorry for her. Out of sympathy, the 29-year-old Malaysian rented out her flat in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, to the Indonesian without signing any formal tenancy agreement in March last year. Now, she is full of regret. Lim said the tenant had used the flat address to secure loans and loan sharks...
With a fragile US-Iran ceasefire barely holding, the Strait of Hormuz still blockaded, and all eyes on the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting, investors are embracing a new market narrative: “Nacho”. The acronym – short for “Not a chance Hormuz opens” – reflects a growing bet on prolonged gridlock and high oil prices. This marks a sharp pivot from last year’s dominant trade tactic, “Taco” – “Trump always c...
With a fragile US-Iran ceasefire barely holding, the Strait of Hormuz still blockaded, and all eyes on the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting, investors are embracing a new market narrative: “Nacho”. The acronym – short for “Not a Chance Hormuz Opens” – reflects a growing bet on prolonged gridlock and high oil prices. This marks a sharp pivot from last year’s dominant trade tactic, “Taco” – “Trump Always C...
Hiroshi Suzuki, Japan’s ambassador to Britain, is becoming a social media sensation as followers embrace his unbridled enthusiasm for everything the country has to offer. Videos of him singing the Welsh national anthem, for example, and his valiant attempts to copy local dialects and expressions have generated an outpouring of love for him online. Many comments say Suzuki is reminding often pessim...
Chinese-language videos suspected to be AI deepfakes with different narrators berating Singapore for its treatment of China and sidling up to the United States have caused a stir online and sparked discussion on their source. The clips, each featuring an individual in a different setting and circulating on Chinese platforms such as Douyin and WeChat, were most likely generated by artificial intell...
Pakistan is poised to become the latest partner in a China-centred trading network, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, to sell “panda bonds”. Islamabad seeks to raise as much as US$250 million through its first-ever sale of the bonds – yuan-denominated debt instruments sold by foreign entities in mainland China’s onshore market – as early as this week. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb confi...
Ten people have been injured in a crash involving a truck and a bus outside a shopping centre in Hong Kong’s Kwun Tong. Police said they received a report of the crash in Sau Mau Ping at about 6.20am on Tuesday, where a truck collided with a KMB double-decker bus, leaving eight passengers and the two drivers with mild injuries. The collision occurred outside Po Tat Shopping Centre on Po Lam Road, ...
K-pop superstar G-Dragon’s decision to gift his long-serving staff members flats worth a combined total of hundreds of millions of won (around several hundred thousand USD) has sparked a frenzy among netizens, with some asking, “Are you still hiring?” Dubbed the “King of K-pop,” the 38-year-old singer Kwon Ji-yong, better known as G-Dragon in the entertainment industry, is one of the most popular ...
K-pop superstar G-Dragon’s decision to gift his long-serving staff members flats worth a combined total of hundreds of millions of won (around several hundred thousand USD) has sparked a frenzy among netizens, with some asking, “Are you still hiring?” Dubbed the “King of K-pop,” the 38-year-old singer Kwon Ji-yong, better known as G-Dragon in the entertainment industry, is one of the most popular ...
Renowned biologist Xu Xianzhong has returned to China, taking up a full-time position in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, months after four researchers in his laboratory at the University of Michigan were accused by the United States of “biological material smuggling”. Xu, a fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science – has joined the Shenzhen Medical Academy of...
Hong Kong taxi industry leaders and Uber have both voiced concerns over a looming quota for ride-hailing vehicles, even as transport authorities promised to consult stakeholders before settling on a figure. They were responding to the Transport and Logistics Bureau’s submission to lawmakers of regulatory details for the industry on Monday. It pledged to include the quota in the final gazetted docu...
Hong Kong taxi trade leaders and Uber have both expressed concerns over a looming quota for ride-hailing vehicles, despite transport authorities vowing to consult stakeholders before setting the final figure. They were responding to the Transport and Logistics Bureau’s submission to lawmakers of regulatory details for the industry on Monday. It pledged to include the quota in the final gazetted do...
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing through legislation to establish the country’s first centralised intelligence agency since the second world war, driven by concerns that its existing set-up is too fragmented to keep pace with espionage, cyberthreats and “grey zone” operations. The plan, recently endorsed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, would transform the Cabinet Intelli...
