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A tanker reported being struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, Britain’s maritime security agency said, after the US and Iran each launched strikes in the worst escalation since they signed an interim peace deal. The warring sides each accused the other of violating the agreement reached two weeks ago to end the four-month-old conflict. Washington said it hit Iranian targets o...
Iran said it struck targets linked to US forces on Saturday in response to US air strikes on its southern coast, as each side continued to accuse the other of violating last week’s agreement meant to end the four-month-old war. Iran’s foreign ministry did not identify the locations of its “defensive” attacks, which it said were a response to “the barbaric air strikes” by the US on its coastal surv...
Hong Kong’s prison service has withdrawn an anti-drug video featuring a group of beautiful AI-generated virtual K-pop girls from social media and revised it after internet users said it resembled a promotion campaign for illegal substances. The Correctional Services Department uploaded the controversial video, titled “Obsession: The Sugar-Coated Trap”, to its social media platforms on Friday. In t...
Scientists have uncovered a new species of raptor in Argentina that sports the same telltale curved claw as the velociraptors found in China, some 19,000km (11,800 miles) away. Though they were found on opposite ends of the world, these two dinosaurs were close kin – tracing back to a common ancestor from an era when the continents were knitted together to form one big land mass. This discovery, p...
As France sweltered under one of the worst heatwaves ever recorded this week, city dwellers scrambled for any escape they could find, with many checking into hotels to benefit from air conditioning and access to pools. Temperatures in Paris hit a June record of 40.9 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, a day after France recorded its hottest day since records began nearly 80 years ago. But few privat...
The global higher education landscape has shifted markedly over the past five years, with universities across Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and mainland China, climbing international rankings while more than 70 per cent of US institutions slipped, a South China Morning Post analysis has found. UK-based education data firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) said the trend signalled that excellence in high...
The global higher education landscape has shifted markedly over the past five years, with universities across Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and mainland China, climbing international rankings while more than 70 per cent of US institutions slipped, a South China Morning Post analysis has found. UK-based education data firm Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) said the trend signalled that excellence in high...
Two of the 19 people reportedly arrested this week as part of a major crackdown on an illegal bookmaking ring in Hong Kong have been identified as prominent football coaches in the city. Lo Kwan-yee, head coach of local first division champions Supreme, and Poon Man-chun, coach of the under-18 and under-22 teams at local Premier League champions Kitchee and father of Hong Kong international Max Po...
Thousands of spectators and paddlers have descended on Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui promenade to cheer and compete as the 50th anniversary of the city’s annual International Dragon Boat Races gets under way. More than 220 teams from 16 jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, Australia and Qatar, are competing in the two-day event starting on Saturday, drawing tourists and locals alike to cheer on their f...
The pilot of a light sport aircraft that hit Beijing’s tallest skyscraper on Friday died. In a statement on Saturday, the Chaoyang district government said that only the pilot was in the two-seater plane when it hit Citic Tower. In addition, 13 people were injured in the incident. The statement, issued after hours of silence, said the circumstances surrounding the crash were still under investigat...
Nowadays, prime ministers and even presidents cower before the mighty bond markets. These have the ability – in democracies, at least – to have leaders ejected from office via the ballot box, as even US President Donald Trump appears to acknowledge. However, it is not enough to simply offer dismissive gestures towards the bond markets, as some political leaders have discovered to their cost. It is...
The situation has grown more desperate by the hour in Venezuela as people dig through the rubble of collapsed homes and flat blocks three days after the devastating one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes, knowing time is running out to find survivors. Authorities announced on Friday night that they would block access to La Guaira, the epicentre of the destruction, as chaos and traffic ...
The late arrival of India’s monsoon season and below-average rainfall have caused problems ranging from planting delays for farmers to water restrictions for construction sites in its largest business hub, Mumbai. Water shortages have been reported around the country due to the late start of the rainy season, which typically begins in June but has grown erratic in recent years. Climate experts sai...
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has apologised to actor and singer Wu Chun after the star, who was featured in its recent promotional campaign, vented his frustration online at the airline’s failure to find his missing luggage despite his “countless” phone calls over three days. The incident sparked a public outcry against the airline, reportedly prompting the company to apologise an...
A single mother in eastern China has won widespread admiration online for her remarkable dedication, braving a job suspended hundreds of metres in the air to support her family. In Hefei, Anhui province, Xu Junyun works on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings, secured by two safety ropes. Known online as “Spider-Woman,” this 36-year-old cleans, repairs, and waterproofs structures to fund her ...
Thousands of residents have braved the scorching heat to watch helicopter demonstrations and try out military equipment at a PLA airbase near Hong Kong’s border. Military enthusiast Kin Man arrived at Shek Kong with his mother from Tai Po more than an hour before the 9am opening on Saturday. They were among the first ticket holders in line for the open day, part of celebrations marking the 29th an...
Malaysia’s southern Johor state was braced for a bruising 14-day election campaign on Saturday after 172 candidates were cleared to contest a poll pitting Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s federal allies against each other in one of the country’s most economically important battlegrounds. The state, which borders Singapore, goes to the polls on July 11, with 2.72 million voters eligible to choose rep...
This article was first published on June 28, 1977. Film festival off to impressive start by SCMP reporter Hongkong’s First International Film Festival got off to an impressive start last night (June 27, 1977). It was not quite the glittering social occasion as the Cannes Film Festival and there certainly was not the profusion of topless models and eager starlets that the Mediterranean occasion pro...
On a drizzly, windy morning in June, a family gathered before a tombstone at Wo Hop Shek Cemetery in northern Hong Kong to bid farewell to a loved one who died in the Wang Fuk Court fire. Beneath the muddy grave and scattered stones lies a man surnamed Hung, in his forties, among the 168 victims of the city’s deadliest fire in decades. Last November’s inferno also displaced nearly 5,000 residents....
A Filipino teenager has drowned after losing his balance while walking on a bridge and falling into the sea off an outlying island in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. According to a source, the 17-year-old boy, who holds a Hong Kong identity card, was chatting with two friends while sitting on the railings of Chau Tsai Bridge on Peng Chau on Friday evening. At around 7.18pm, he...
China has removed six senior PLA officers from the country’s top legislative body, a sign that President Xi Jinping’s military anti-corruption campaign is not slowing down. According to a late-night notice issued by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Friday, 13 members of the legislature had been removed and one had resigned. Away from the military, those removed included a forme...
Indonesian police have arrested dozens of protesters following a rally against President Prabowo Subianto’s policies in the country’s second-largest city, a rights group said on Saturday. Around 100 people gathered near a government building in Surabaya on Friday, journalists on the scene estimated, to protest a fuel price increase and Prabowo’s flagship free meals scheme. Some demonstrators hurle...
Hong Kong’s welfare minister has said a three-year care order granted for home-born baby Danny could be shortened, but only based on professional assessments and the boy’s best interests. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Saturday that the two-month-old had developed a fever and was in hospital, where he was expected to remain before being transferred back to a care home. ...
Hong Kong’s welfare minister has said a three-year guardianship order granted for home-born baby Danny could be shortened, but only based on professional assessments and the child’s best interests. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said on Saturday that the two-month-old had developed a fever and was admitted to hospital. He is expected to remain under observation for a period bef...
Three months of war with the United States and Israel may not have broken Iran’s resistance, but its economy has been brought to its knees. Forty days of American and Israeli bombing in March and early April – targeting energy grids, steel mills, petrochemical plants, ports and transport corridors – were followed by a two-month US naval blockade that sealed off much of what remained. The bill of d...
Hong Kong authorities plan to expand a scheme allowing mainland Chinese motorists to drive into the city for leisure to all 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong province by the first quarter of next year, after applications reached about three times the daily quota. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said on Saturday that about 15,000 motorists had applied through mainland authori...
Hong Kong authorities have planned to expand a scheme allowing mainland Chinese motorists to drive into the city for leisure to all 21 Guangdong cities by the first quarter of next year, after applications reached about three times the daily quota. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said on Saturday that about 15,000 motorists had applied through mainland authorities for next month’s...
Prediction markets occupy a grey area under Hong Kong’s gambling laws, with experts warning that the increasingly popular betting platforms could pose risks related to market manipulation and consumer protection. Lawyers and a legislator said that while a ban could restrict access to these largely unregulated betting platforms, authorities would face challenges in gathering evidence and prosecutin...
For Dr Thein Swee Lay, the only Malaysian scientist to have won the Breakthrough Prize, cracking a code in gene therapy was easier than hunting down an authentic version of her hometown popiah – or spring rolls – in the US, where she has been based for years. “I have not come across a Malaysian restaurant that sells good popiah. I miss it,” Thein told This Week in Asia in an exclusive interview wh...
As the class of 2026 join the race to find jobs, unemployed college graduates in Singapore are taking a last-ditch shot at getting ahead via temporary government-funded gigs that earn them half the median first pay cheque. The government’s Graduate Industry Traineeships, known as GRIT, offer a stopgap for graduates to gain industry-relevant experience with government agencies or private businesses...
