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The group leading the charge in the search for extraterrestrial life has given the all-clear: an interstellar comet looks to be completely natural and free of any alien tech. The SETI Institute said Wednesday that extensive radio scans by its telescope in Northern California found no signs of otherworldly technology from our solar system’s latest interstellar visitor. The object labelled 3I/ATLAS ...
A direct flight between Hong Kong and Uzbekistan will be launched this year, the South China Morning Post has learned, in another move to strengthen ties between Central Asia and the city. The new route follows closely on the heels of Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific’s plan to launch a service to Almaty in Kazakhstan in the first quarter of next year, one of the outcomes of Chief Executive Jo...
Hong Kong and Uzbekistan have begun talks on a reciprocal agreement that would allow visitors from both sides visa-free access for up to 30 days. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu arrived in Tashkent from Kazakhstan on Wednesday evening and met Uzbekistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, with the two witnessing officials from both sides confirm the establishment of the deal. “Following ...
Indonesia’s free meals programme has long been beset with governance problems, quality issues and mass food poisoning cases. Now, allegations of corruption and the arrests of top former officials overseeing Prabowo Subianto’s flagship scheme risk turning it into a political hot potato for the president. Prabowo sacked former National Nutrition Agency chief Dadan Hindayana and his two ex-deputies, ...
A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, is facing growing resistance from protesters in Albania. The government says the development on the Adriatic coast would be transformational for the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market and pushes for European Union membership. But the venture, spanning an...
Hong Kong should introduce new rules to ensure the health and safety of newborns delivered at home, lawmakers have said, after a couple were arrested for allegedly neglecting their baby’s welfare by not registering his birth. The father, Tsang Wai-bong, told the South China Morning Post that he had scheduled a meeting with government social workers on Saturday regarding the guardianship of his two...
Hong Kong authorities have confirmed that an unmarried couple arrested on suspicion of child neglect are the biological parents of undocumented infant Danny. A police source told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that Tsang Wai-bong and Kwan Pui-sin were the parents of the two-month-old, citing DNA test results. Danny was born at home in Hong Kong and was not registered with the Immigration...
Hong Kong authorities have confirmed that an unmarried couple arrested on suspicion of child neglect are the biological parents of an undocumented infant, Danny. A police source told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that Tsang Wai-bong and Kwan Pui-sin were the parents of the two-month-old, citing DNA test results. Danny was born to the unmarried couple at home in Hong Kong and was not reg...
Some people living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) have never been able to stand on their own. SMA is a genetic disorder that causes the nerves that connect the brain and muscles to deteriorate over time, making it challenging or even impossible for those affected to contract their muscles. Over time, their muscles shrink through lack of use. Depending on the severity, this condition can confin...
Hong Kong’s weather forecaster is monitoring a tropical depression that has formed within 800km (497 miles) of the city, but says it is unlikely to issue a typhoon warning signal. The Hong Kong Observatory said on Thursday that an area of low pressure over the northeastern part of the South China Sea had intensified into a tropical depression, which is centred about 530km south-southwest of Kaohsi...
More than 20 people were injured in a traffic accident involving two public buses and a truck in Hong Kong’s New Territories, temporarily closing an arterial road on Thursday morning. A minibus, a double-decker bus and a truck collided on Fanling Highway at around 8am, trapping the minibus driver, who was later rescued by firefighters. Photos from the scene show the front of the Route 44A minibus,...
A former student of a well-known Hong Kong basketball coach, seen in a video slapping a young player, has defended his disciplinary approach as acceptable despite legal experts warning the conduct could constitute common assault. Veteran coach Yung Kam-wah apologised on Tuesday over the incident, which took place two years ago, after the video recently went viral and sparked public concern. In the...
A former student of a well-known Hong Kong basketball coach, seen in a video slapping a young player, has defended his disciplinary approach as acceptable despite legal experts warning the conduct could constitute common assault. Veteran coach Yung Kam-wah apologised on Tuesday over the incident two years ago, after the video recently went viral and sparked public concern. In the clip, Yung first ...
Details of how a Cambodia-based scam syndicate allegedly targeted victims in Singapore through a three-level scheme emerged in court on Wednesday, as a woman went on trial over her alleged participation in the operation. De Villar Rizalyn Panganiban, 35, a Filipino, allegedly belonged to a criminal group that carried out government official impersonation scams, in which victims were tricked into b...
In the Grand Hall of London’s Central Criminal Court, ubiquitously known as the Old Bailey, lies a plaque commemorating the courage of the jury in the 1670 trial of William Penn. Penn – who would later found the US state of Pennsylvania – and his co-accused were Quakers, charged with contravening the Conventicle Act 1664, which banned religious gatherings other than those of the Church of England....
Becoming an astronaut and exploring space has been the dream of generations of young people and Hong Kong has welcomed this pioneering moment. Dr Lai Ka-Ying, who studied computer science at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has become the first astronaut from Hong Kong, and the fourth female astronaut from China, to journey into space. As a payload specialist, she will operate the observatory de...
Beijing could conduct military operations, bolster its electronic warfare strength and roll out trade sanctions in response to Tokyo and Manila’s deepening defence cooperation, according to Chinese experts. Last week, Manila and Tokyo announced they would launch negotiations on the maritime boundary of their exclusive economic zones and continental shelves around Taiwan, a move that Beijing called...
As artificial intelligence steps out of the digital realm and into the real world, the race to build the embodied “brains” powering next-generation robots has become the newest battleground in tech competition between China and the United States. Two days after US chip giant Nvidia launched its Cosmos 3 model – designed to help physical AI “think before it acts” – a Chinese start-up stole the spot...
Residents of a city in central China have come to the aid of a poor 19-year-old student who works more than 10 hours a day as a food delivery rider to earn money to cover his tuition fees. Tang Wei, from Xinhuang county in Hunan province, was admitted by a technical college in Changsha, the capital city of the province, the Changsha Evening News reported. He will kick off his college life in Septe...
Xenophobia and financial woes in the West have created tremendous opportunities for higher education institutions in Hong Kong and the broader Eurasian region, the head of a leading university in Kazakhstan has said. Professor Waqar Ahmad, the president of Nazarbayev University, also revealed on Wednesday that the institution would soon launch another joint undergraduate programme in computer scie...
Authorities are considering a pilot booking system for one of Hong Kong’s most popular hiking routes and creating a new marine park at Sharp Island in Sai Kung, following bigger-than-expected crowds during mainland Chinese holidays. The proposals were outlined in a paper submitted to a Legislative Council ecology and tourism subcommittee ahead of a meeting on Monday. The Agriculture, Fisheries and...
Just over a year after consolidating its status as Singapore’s main opposition, the Workers’ Party (WP) is grappling with internal fissures as chief Pritam Singh’s role is being questioned by his own members. Singh, who has led the WP since 2018, is facing a special conference later this month called by 25 cadre members pushing for him to step down as secretary general for breaching the party cons...
Hezbollah rejected a ceasefire plan agreed by the Lebanese and Israeli governments in US-mediated talks, as Israel kept up strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it would not be withdrawing from the south. Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks ...
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks in Washington on Wednesday. The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to t...
Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks in Washington. The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclu...
Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned. In a joint statement released after a fourth round of US-mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire “is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah...
Hong Kong is an international economic powerhouse brimming with talent and capital, but how much of that has trickled down to local communities? This was the question that weighed on Daniella Lopez’s mind when she acquired the licence for TEDxHongKong – which had been inactive since 2017 – in late 2025. There have been more focused TEDx events in Hong Kong, such as TEDxTinHauWomen, that had specif...
The need for Beijing and Washington to pursue “reconciliation and cooperation” and avoid war is the central message of her US trip, Taiwan’s main opposition leader Cheng Li-wun said in San Francisco. Cheng, leading a delegation from the Kuomintang (KMT), arrived in San Francisco on Monday evening, beginning a two-week US visit closely watched in Beijing, Taipei and Washington. In San Francisco’s C...
The Republican-led House voted on Wednesday to halt the war with Iran, breaking with US President Donald Trump on an unpopular foreign conflict that is taking an escalating economic toll on Americans. The 215-208 vote showed worries over the war spreading in the president’s own party five months before congressional elections. Last month, a Senate resolution to end the war also advanced past a pro...
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed on Wednesday that China is “very interested” in additional Boeing plane purchases, an issue the Trump administration plans to press when President Xi Jinping visits the United States in September. “They agreed to 200 aeroplanes during the visit. We will see if they commit to a larger number when Xi Jinping arrives in Washington,” Bessent said in his budg...
