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A Hong Kong woman who has accused her former school teacher of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly five years has told the court she initially feared reporting the case because it would cause him serious repercussions. The defendant, Cheng Hon-sze, 32, appeared in court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to nine counts of indecent assault involving his former student. The alleged ...
A Hong Kong woman who has accused her former school teacher of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly five years has told the court she initially feared reporting the case because it would be “too cruel” to the defendant and cause him serious repercussions. The defendant, Cheng Hon-sze, 32, appeared in court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to nine counts of indecent assault involv...
A Hong Kong woman who has accused her former school teacher of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly five years has told the court she initially feared reporting the case because it would be “too cruel” to the defendant and cause him serious repercussions. The defendant, Cheng Hon-sze, 32, appeared in court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to nine counts of indecent assault involv...
About 50,000 regular users of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will soon be able to pass through new immigration e-channels without stopping or displaying their identity cards, as facial recognition will be used for clearance. Or Chung-yuk, assistant director of information systems at the Immigration Department, said on Thursday that Hong Kong permanent residents aged 11 or above who were regular...
This is part of a series on the global impact of SpaceX’s historic IPO, tracing how mainland Chinese investors’ strategies, the Hong Kong market and wider capital flows are being reshaped by Elon Musk’s trillion‑dollar rocket gamble. The landmark listing of US aerospace giant SpaceX is expected to accelerate and reshape the initial public offering (IPO) plans of China’s emerging commercial space c...
One out of every seven plug-in hybrid vehicles registered in Germany in May came from BYD, as the Chinese carmaker’s registrations surged 232 per cent in Europe’s largest auto market from a year earlier. With 6,169 vehicles registered there in May, BYD held a 2.6 per cent share of Germany’s new-car registrations, according to data from the country’s Federal Motor Transport Authority. Of those, 4,2...
The Philippine Senate’s political crisis has spilled into cyberspace after its official website went offline on Thursday following its defacement with a warning accusing lawmakers of betraying the public trust. “The people deserve truth. The people deserve accountability. The people deserve better. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect Us,” the message said, using a closing phrase long assoc...
As protests in Tirana extend into a second week, they have escalated from opposition to two €5 billion (US$5.7 billion) planned resorts in ecologically sensitive areas linked to Jared Kushner into demands for the entire Albanian political establishment to step aside. Anger erupted on the coast on May 30 when bulldozers moved into one of the sites, spreading to the capital two days later. Every eve...
China holds an edge over the US when it comes to getting artificial intelligence applications into the hands of everyday users, according to tech executives and investors, though they warn that Chinese AI firms are looking increasingly overvalued. China still lagged in computing power but was only “100 days behind” the US in frontier AI model capabilities, according to Chi Zhang, general manager o...
Sixteen people have been arrested in Hong Kong for allegedly using falsified medical certificates claiming loss of working ability or terminal illness to fraudulently withdraw HK$4.3 million (US$548,680) in Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) savings. Police said on Thursday that the suspects comprised nine men and seven women, aged 29 to 63, who reported their occupations as chefs, drivers and waiters...
China launched a new communication test satellite on Thursday, marking a pivotal step in validating technologies essential for next-generation orbital connectivity speeds and reliability. The Communication Technology Test Satellite No 25 was placed into orbit by the Long March 5 rocket that set off from the Wenchang spaceport in the southern island province of Hainan on Thursday at 3.30pm. “The sa...
The People’s Bank of China, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Bank Indonesia signed an agreement on Thursday to create a framework for bilateral transactions between Indonesia and Hong Kong. The parties aimed to implement a currency transaction framework for the direct exchange and settlement of Indonesian rupiah and Chinese yuan in cross-border trade and investment activities among companie...
Blockbuster initial public offerings from tech champions such as Anthropic and SpaceX are about to fundamentally reshape global capital markets. This wave will redirect capital flows and alter valuations across the tech sector. As competition intensifies, investors worldwide will be forced to completely rethink where future returns will come from. For China, the rise of these companies will intens...
Hong Kong’s new legislation allowing certain criminal cases to be handled under national security procedures is expected to be used only rarely, with the city leader typically issuing such certification before trial, security and justice officials have said. A Legislative Council subcommittee completed its scrutiny of the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation during a meet...
China has sanctioned Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. Beijing said on Thursday that Teodoro had repeatedly made erroneous remarks against China, undermined China’s legitimate interests and damaged bilateral relations. “To safeguard China’s national sovereignty, security, and development interests, the Chinese side has decided to ban Teod...
China has imposed sanctions against Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. More to follow...
The leader of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang met Trump ally Steve Daines and other US lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday. In those talks, KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun outlined the party’s position on defence and energy, saying her party did not oppose American arms sales to the island, according to Taiwan’s United Daily News. Her meetings on Wednesday also included talks with Republican repr...
Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng is doubling down on his vision to transform the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant into a “physical AI” powerhouse, taking the reins of the firm’s robotics arm just months before its humanoids are set for mass production. In an internal memo sent on Wednesday and seen by the South China Morning Post, He said he would personally serve as head of the robotics depa...
Britain’s defence and armed forces ministers quit on Thursday in a row over military spending, piling pressure on beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer who is facing calls to step down. Defence Secretary John Healey resigned warning that Starmer’s long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP) for funding over the next decade – which the leader has yet to publish – risked making Britain “less safe”....
British Defence Minister John Healey quit on Thursday in a dispute over military spending, accusing Prime Minister Keir Starmer of failing to commit the government resources that are needed to defend the country. Britain’s defence and finance ministries have been locked in talks for months over how to meet rising demands to expand military spending, delaying Britain’s Defence Investment Plan...
China’s biotech firms are pressing ahead with global expansion, a trend industry insiders describe as “irreversible”, even as Washington rolls out investment restrictions and national security measures aimed at slowing their advance. “The US has erected numerous regulatory and non-tariff barriers for Chinese companies seeking to enter the American market,” said Zhang Jun, co-head of the global hea...
This is part of a series on the global impact of SpaceX’s historic IPO, tracing how mainland Chinese investors’ strategies, the Hong Kong market and wider capital flows are being reshaped by Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar rocket gamble. In 2016, a SpaceX rocket carrying a satellite blew up during a test, destroying on-board equipment and surrounding facilities worth millions of US dollars. Fortunatel...
MTR services along Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O line have gradually resumed, about an hour after a signalling equipment failure caused travel delays of 10 to 15 minutes during the Thursday evening rush hour. “The signalling equipment fault near Po Lam station on the Tseung Kwan O line has been fixed. Normal train service is gradually resuming,” the MTR Corporation said on its mobile app. “The service...
A signalling equipment failure near a station along Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O MTR line has resulted in travel delays of 10 to 15 minutes during the Thursday evening rush hour, with some passengers saying they were asked to get off their train. “Due to a signalling equipment fault near Po Lam station, the total journey time between North Point station and Po Lam or Lohas Park stations could be exte...
Former US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson has urged Washington and Beijing to manage their escalating strategic competition to prevent it spiralling into broader conflict, warning that deepening distrust now poses a greater risk than trade imbalances. The US-China relationship was “the most consequential” in the world, requiring careful stewardship as rivalry sharpened across trade, technology an...
Malaysia’s search for alternative crude supplies is complicating Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s “friends with all” foreign policy, analysts have said, with the country potentially tapping Russian oil despite Western sanctions against Moscow. On Thursday, oil prices rose again after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, 103 days after the US-Israel war with Iran began on February 28. Washingto...
China might be downplaying nuclear weapons by not mentioning the issue after Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea but that does not mean it has accepted its neighbour’s growing arsenal, according to analysts. Neither Beijing nor Pyongyang mentioned nuclear weapons or denuclearisation in their statements on the Chinese president’s two-day state visit to Pyongyang this week. Since Xi’s summit with US P...
An upgraded border crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen is expected to open next month, allowing travellers to complete immigration in just five minutes, according to authorities. The redeveloped Huanggang Port Building will be the first link between the two cities to adopt the “collaborative inspection and joint clearance” model. The South China Morning Post looks at the details of the checkpo...
The rapid escalation in hostilities between Iran and the US-Israel alliance since Sunday is being driven by Tehran’s growing confidence that it can arise like a mythical phoenix from the ashes of war, strategically stronger than ever in the Middle East. To achieve this objective, Tehran has enacted a tactical shift in its “unity of the theatres” strategy involving its Axis of Resistance allies in ...
Chinese memory module maker Biwin has signed a two-year agreement worth US$1.86 billion to secure flash memory chips, a deal larger than its annual revenue, as demand from artificial intelligence servers and data centres squeezes supply. Under the locked-volume, locked-price arrangement, Biwin would buy enterprise-grade chips in batches from the third quarter of 2026 through the second quarter of ...
