World News Hub

6 stabbed in hours after Arsenal Premier League victory parade

SCMP • 5 months ago

Six people were stabbed in the hours after the Arsenal victory parade, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed, with a total of 24 arrests during the event. Thousands of Arsenal fans lined the streets around the Emirates Stadium in London on Sunday as the team embarked on their Premier League trophy parade. The Met deployed more than 500 officers to police the event, which saw 10 suspects arrested ...

UK publishes new Mandelson files, raising heat on PM Starmer

SCMP • 5 months ago

The UK government released a vast trove of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, in a move that threatens to cause fresh damage to Keir Starmer’s faltering premiership. More than 1,500 pages of documentation were published on the British government’s website just after 2pm. They include emails, text messages and other exchanges between government ministers, aides an...

Defunct Hong Kong bakery chain fined HK$251,800 over unpaid wages

SCMP • 5 months ago

A Hong Kong court has fined a now-defunct bakery chain a total of HK$251,800 (US$32,127) over unpaid wages and other entitlements exceeding HK$1.3 million. A liquidator for Taipan Bread & Cakes, Taipan Restaurant and their parent company, Vast Luck, pleaded guilty at Kowloon City Court on Monday to 96 charges under the Employment Ordinance, after the group failed to pay 47 employees following the ...

Uber investigating after woman says driver went off route and locked doors

SCMP • 5 months ago

Uber is investigating a complaint involving three female passengers who said they felt threatened during an early morning ride home in Hong Kong, after the driver allegedly told vulgar jokes, deviated from the original route and locked the vehicle doors when asked to drop them off. The ride-hailing company said on Monday that it was aware of the allegations one of the passengers made online and ha...

Gu Songfen, pioneering designer of Chinese supersonic fighter jets, dies at 96

SCMP • 5 months ago

Aerodynamics expert Gu Songfen has died at 96. He was the chief designer of China’s J-8 fighter jet family – the first home-grown supersonic fighter jet to counter US high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Gu was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering as well as a researcher at the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). He died in Beijing o...

Vietnam detains Australian man who trashed Da Nang cafe in late-night rampage

SCMP • 5 months ago

An Australian man has been detained in Vietnam’s coastal city of Da Nang after allegedly going on a shirtless late-night rampage through a cafe, causing extensive damage and forcing frightened customers to flee. The incident unfolded at Ge Cafe on Le Hong Phong Street in central Da Nang shortly before midnight on Friday, according to a detailed account posted by the cafe on its social media accoun...

Chinese EV makers recover in May but competition remains fierce amid overcapacity woes

SCMP • 5 months ago

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in China recovered on solid footing in May, as new models fitted with higher-performance batteries and more advanced driver assistance systems drew consumers amid intensified competition. Zeekr, a premium EV brand owned by Geely Auto, the country’s second-largest carmaker, and Stellantis-backed Leapmotor rewrote their monthly delivery records, the latest sign that ...

Trump has buried liberal world order but what comes next could be better

SCMP • 5 months ago

The two terms of US President Donald Trump have shaken the old style of US liberal internationalist leadership. Yet, as some doors close, others open. The summit between President Xi Jinping and Trump in Beijing last month suggests that the United States and China might now have an opportunity to move beyond ideological confrontation and towards a more realistic framework of coexistence, strategic...

Snap polls in Malaysia’s Johor test Umno comeback bid and Anwar’s ruling alliance

SCMP • 5 months ago

Malaysia’s southern state of Johor dissolved its legislature on Monday, setting up an election within 60 days that analysts said would test whether the once-dominant Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition can turn its state stronghold into a launch pad for a wider political comeback. The vote will also put Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) reformist alliance in an awkward conte...

Snap polls in Malaysia’s Johor tests Umno comeback bid and Anwar’s ruling alliance

SCMP • 5 months ago

Malaysia’s southern state of Johor dissolved its legislature on Monday, setting up an election within 60 days that analysts said would test whether the once-dominant Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition can turn its state stronghold into a launch pad for a wider political comeback. The vote will also put Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) reformist alliance in an awkward conte...

China’s investment-driven role in global growth is underestimated, study says

SCMP • 5 months ago

China’s contribution to global growth is underestimated while the yuan is positioned to emerge as a fundamentally strong global currency, according to a new study from a prominent Beijing-based think tank. Researchers from the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40) – comprising senior regulators and financial experts – said the country’s investment scale could be as much as 3.4 times that of the United Sta...

‘Seasoned China hand’ set to lead National Committee on US-China Relations: sources

SCMP • 5 months ago

Sarah Beran, a former deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Beijing, is set to succeed Stephen Orlins as president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations (NCUSCR), the South China Morning Post has learned. Speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly, the sources said Orlins, 76, president of the NCUSCR since 2005, would retire ...

Rescuers dig for bodies after Myanmar explosives blast kills at least 38

SCMP • 5 months ago

More than a dozen rescue and charity groups used excavation machinery on Monday to recover bodies following a massive blast from stored mining explosives in northeastern Myanmar. The explosion occurred on Sunday at noon in Kaungtup village, Namhkam township in Shan State near the Chinese border. Initial reports had suggested there were at least 45 deaths, but local rescue volunteers now put the nu...

Oil prices rally on Hormuz talks but will Asia’s energy woes ease?

SCMP • 5 months ago

Oil prices have eased sharply on hopes that the US and Iran will agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but analysts say Asian economies are unlikely to quickly shake off the effects of the energy shock even if the key waterway returns to normal. Benchmark Brent crude oil fell 11.15 per cent to US$92.13 per barrel on Friday, from its level a week earlier, its steepest weekly drop since early April....

Helper injured, 2 cats die in Hong Kong flat fire linked to pet water dispenser

SCMP • 5 months ago

A domestic helper was injured and two cats were killed in a blaze believed to have been caused by a faulty pet water dispenser at a village home in Hong Kong on Monday morning. The fire broke out at about 11.20am in a third-floor flat in Wong Yi Au Tsuen, Tai Po. Firefighters arrived to battle the flames and rescued a 47-year-old Indonesian helper along with two cats. The fire was extinguished abo...

Young Kenyans protest Ebola quarantine centre for US citizens

SCMP • 5 months ago

Hundreds of youths in Kenya’s central town of Nanyuki on Monday showed against the establishment at the Laikipia Air Base of an Ebola quarantine centre for American citizens exposed to the virus. The protests come two days after Kenya’s High Court suspended the establishment of the facility and the arrival of any foreign patients pending the hearing of a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya and ...

Can Taiwanese opposition leader pull off balancing act during US trip?

SCMP • 5 months ago

Taiwan’s main opposition leader is due to arrive in the United States late on Monday for a politically sensitive two-week visit expected to attract close scrutiny in Beijing, Taipei and Washington. The Kuomintang delegation, led by the party’s chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, will land on Monday evening local time in San Francisco, where she will visit Taiwanese-American communities and think tanks. She w...

Akeso lung cancer drug shines in trials, boosting hopes in US$20b market

SCMP • 5 months ago

Akeso, whose drug ivonescimab was hailed as biotech’s “DeepSeek moment” amid US competition last year, announced better-than-expected clinical results showing it can treat a type of lung cancer commonly found in smokers, potentially expanding its approved uses. Analysts suggest it could become a backbone therapy in the US$20 billion global non-small cell lung cancer market and have revised their t...

Hong Kong tribunal judge questions power to postpone Wang Fuk Court owners’ meeting

SCMP • 5 months ago

A Lands Tribunal judge has questioned whether he has the power to postpone an extraordinary general meeting requested by at least 247 owners at Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court, while acknowledging the difficulties faced by a government-appointed administrator in contacting and verifying residents. The tribunal adjourned its decision until 3pm on Tuesday on an application by Hop On Manageme...

Trump ‘personally called for China’s help’ to end Ukraine war in summit with Xi

SCMP • 5 months ago

US leader Donald Trump personally urged President Xi Jinping to help end the Ukraine war, as he sought to lean on Beijing’s sway over Moscow to resolve a conflict that is now in its fifth year, multiple sources have said. According to people familiar with the discussions at last month’s leaders’ summit in Beijing, Trump told Xi that Russia-Ukraine negotiations were stalled and pressed him to bring...

Chinese PhD dropout turned whistle-blower exposes data fabrication by renowned scholars

SCMP • 5 months ago

A Chinese PhD dropout who has become a viral influencer exposing academic misconduct is building a growing army of followers eager to reveal ethical malpractice among scientific researchers. The former PhD candidate in bioscience at the prestigious Beihang University, Geng Hongwei, dropped out in 2025, and became a full-time whistle-blower with over two million followers on an online platform. Gen...

Netanyahu orders strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, clouding Iran mediation

SCMP • 5 months ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ⁠ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, signalling further escalation of a war that has complicated mediation towards resolving the US-Iran conflict. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Monday that Israeli attacks in Lebanon were among factors causing a delay to the diplomatic process to...

Cyclist, 60, dies after being hit by double-decker bus in Hong Kong

SCMP • 5 months ago

A cyclist was killed after being struck by a KMB double-decker bus in Hong Kong on Monday afternoon. The 60-year-old man was hit at around 2.50pm outside North Kwai Chung Public Library on Shek Yam Road. He was trapped beneath the front wheels of the bus on route 235M and had to be freed by firefighters and paramedics. He was rushed unconscious to Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan and died at about 6...

Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by double-decker bus in Hong Kong

SCMP • 5 months ago

A cyclist was seriously injured after being struck by a KMB double-decker bus in Hong Kong on Monday afternoon. The 60-year-old man was hit at around 2.50pm outside North Kwai Chung Public Library on Shek Yam Road. He was trapped beneath the front wheels of the bus and had to be freed by firefighters and paramedics. He was rushed unconscious to Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan. Images from the scene...

Philippine lawmaker charged with corruption to surrender, without right to bail

SCMP • 5 months ago

A Philippine senator said he will surrender to authorities after a special anti-corruption court ordered his arrest on Monday on a non-bailable charge of plunder after he allegedly pocketed a huge kickback in a flood-control project. It is the latest crisis to hit the country’s Senate, the upper chamber where a battle for control of the country’s political future is playing out. The special Sandig...