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A Hong Kong news commentator accused of violating the national security law has denied exposing police intelligence operations, telling a court that details of his meeting with officers were already public knowledge before he posted them online. Wong Kwok-ngon, 72, who ran a YouTube commentary channel under the pen name Wong On-yin, stood trial at the District Court on Friday. He is the first pers...
The EU removed Panama from its tax havens blacklist on Friday after the country made progress on sharing tax information and reformed a “harmful” regime of exemptions for foreign-source income. Vietnam was also removed after undertaking a series of reforms. The updated list now contains eight “non-cooperative” jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Guam, Palau, Russia, Turks and Caicos Islands, ...
The Philippines is developing a national road map to combat child labour as part of a broader push across Southeast Asia, where poverty and insecure livelihoods continue to drive children into work despite government efforts to stamp out the practice. But analysts warn that policy commitments alone will not be enough without stronger support for vulnerable families, better access to education and ...
Saudi Arabia said on Friday that three people were killed including a pilot, in attacks on Riyadh’s international airport, after Yemen’s Houthis claimed a series of attacks targeting the facility. The conflict between the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has widened, with the Iran-backed fighters repeatedly attacking Saudi targets since they began a lightning offensive just across the b...
Hong Kong’s securities watchdog is renewing its push to boost market liquidity, setting out further reforms as emerging markets grapple with capital outflow pressure amid a rally in US equities and a strengthening dollar. Speaking at a conference organised by the Asian Securities & Financial Markets Association (Asifma) on Friday, Julia Leung, CEO of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), ou...
Hotel room rates across mainland China fell short of expectations during the National Day “golden week” holiday despite a tourism boom, as company officials and analysts called for stronger asset and revenue management to ease pricing pressure. Hotel tariffs remained largely unchanged from the previous month between October 1 and 7, even as bookings jumped, according to executives at hotel operato...
Former UN human rights chief Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The South Africa-born Pillay, 85 years old, was recognised for her efforts to promote peace and international law. The announcement was made by Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on Friday. “At a time when the number of wars and conflicts is rising, and when judges and institutions of international law are ...
Navanethem “Navi” Pillay has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The South Africa-born Pillay, 85 years old, was recognised for her efforts to promote peace and international law The announcement was made by Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on Friday. In 2025, the prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. She dedicated her award to US President Donald Trump and later ...
China’s central bank rejected claims that the yuan is undervalued, rebutting a key European argument amid crunch negotiations ahead of a possible trade war. “China has no need or intent to gain competitive advantages through currency devaluation, nor has it ever resorted to competitive devaluation,” the People’s Bank of China said in a policy paper on Thursday, printed in both Chinese and English ...
Hong Kong-headquartered DFI Retail Group, which owns and operates the city’s largest supermarket network, says it will continue to invest in new stores even though consumers remain cautious. Darren Chan, the group’s managing director for food in Hong Kong and Macau, said DFI – whose supermarket chains include Wellcome and Market Place in Hong Kong – was also “looking for opportunities to strengthe...
While Russian authorities have denied the death of a woman who worked in a laboratory at an anti-plague institute in Siberia was connected with the pathogen, the incident has sparked global concern – including in China – over a potential spread of the disease and a lack of transparency. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to speak with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a...
Thousands of Polish police officers visited schools nationwide on Friday in an effort to reassure pupils after two teenage stabbing sprees in as many days sparked rumours of a “Bloody Friday” of attacks. Social media in Poland has been filled with talk of a supposed online challenge that could be behind the attacks and which would end with a bloodbath at schools on Friday, but police said their i...
Polish police have arrested a string of young people, mainly for making threats related to school attacks, they said on Friday, as authorities sought to calm fears spurred by rumours online of a “Bloody Friday” after two stabbing sprees in as many days. Social media in Poland has been filled with talk of a supposed online challenge that could be behind the attacks, but police on Friday said their...
Chinese state funds are ramping up support for the country’s second-largest contract chipmaker, pouring billions of yuan into the parent of Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor and a new manufacturing facility to fuel Beijing’s drive for self-reliance in mature-node chips. The capital blitz, spanning Hua Hong’s Shanghai-based parent company and a fabrication plant in Wuxi, highlights how government-coordi...
As Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the final stage of the massive Tsentr-2026 military exercise in the Urals recently, Chinese troops were training alongside forces from Russia, Belarus and other countries. More than 47,000 military personnel joined the exercise, which incorporated lessons from the war in Ukraine. The symbolism extends beyond Chelyabinsk. From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine...
Grace often hears other Singapore mothers debating how much private tuition their children need. Some rush to enrol their offspring in multiple classes before they turn five, while others try to resist the pressure to add lessons outside school. She enrolled her two children, now aged four and seven, in Chinese tuition when they were three to give them greater exposure to their ancestral tongue. “...
China and the Philippines have traded accusations over a medical evacuation near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, with Manila also reporting a near-doubling of Chinese military and coastguard vessels around contested South China Sea features in September. The latest exchange centred on the evacuation on Thursday of an injured Philippine serviceman from the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine naval ves...
China and the Philippines have traded accusations over a medical evacuation near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, as Manila reports a near-doubling of Chinese military and coastguard vessels around contested South China Sea features in September. The latest exchange centred on the evacuation on Thursday of an injured Filipino serviceman from the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine naval vessel grounde...
China and the Philippines have traded accusations over a medical evacuation near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, as Manila reports a near-doubling of Chinese military and coastguard vessels around contested South China Sea features in September. The latest exchange centred on the evacuation on Thursday of an injured Filipino serviceman from the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine naval vessel grounde...
Malaysia’s government will boost spending on social welfare while maintaining subsidies to rein in the cost of living under its 2027 Budget unveiled on Friday, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seeks to shore up public support while under pressure to call for an early general election. Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) has suffered bruising defeats in a series of state elections since December, as voters...
Malaysia’s government will boost spending on social welfare while maintaining subsidies to rein in the cost of living under its 2027 Budget unveiled on Friday, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seeks to shore up public support while under pressure to call for an early general election. Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) has suffered bruising defeats in a series of state elections since December, as voters...
Malaysia’s government will boost spending on social welfare while maintaining subsidies to rein in the cost of living under its 2027 Budget unveiled on Friday, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seeks to shore up public support while under pressure to call for an early general election. Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) has suffered bruising defeats in a series of state elections since December, as voters...
A Hong Kong court has sentenced a former university student to seven years in prison for raping and sexually targeting five women. The 31-year-old defendant was sentenced on Friday at the High Court after the jury found him guilty of one count of rape, another of voyeurism and three of indecent assault. The five convictions concerned offences committed between January and August 2023. The defendan...
A Hong Kong court has sentenced a university student to seven years in prison for raping and sexually assaulting five women, with most of the offences taking place during orientation camps. The 31-year-old defendant was sentenced on Friday at the High Court after the jury found him guilty of one count of rape, another of voyeurism and three indecent assault charges. The five convictions concerned ...
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may skip a meeting of Apec finance ministers in Hong Kong later this month to focus on preparing for President Donald Trump’s historic visit to Shenzhen in November, sources told the South China Morning Post. Bessent is expected to meet Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Shenzhen ahead of Trump’s visit – when Trump will again hold talks with President Xi Jinping ...
The murder trial of Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has been delayed again while the court addresses legal issues raised by lawyers in the high-profile case. Deputy High Court Judge Brian Keith told the nine-member jury on Friday that the hearing would resume on Monday, once the legal arguments had concluded. Choi’s mother, Cheung Yin-fa, had been expected to face cross-examination by couns...
Hong Kong’s competition watchdog has raided 11 offices and homes over alleged bid-rigging for contracts to supply virtual reality (VR) systems to schools and non-profit organisations, with the deals valued at HK$10 million. The Competition Commission revealed on Friday that it had secured warrants and searched the 11 premises, including those of several IT service and equipment providers, other fi...
When Professor Lam Hon-ming returned to Hong Kong after completing postdoctoral work in the United States in 1997, he was fixated on one question: how can science help feed the country and the world? He found that soybeans offered part of the answer. In addition to its nutritional value, the crop can fix nitrogen levels in the soil, reducing reliance on chemical fertiliser, and some varieties can ...
Lawmakers and engineering sector leaders have called for a review of Hong Kong’s building inspection mechanism and a blacklist to bar errant contractors from government tenders, after Hong Kong’s first privately built “starter homes” project hit a snag over shoddy steel work. The government should review the inspection regime and increase its supervisory manpower, lawmakers and engineers said on F...
A senior Japanese government spokesperson said it was regrettable that the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office had requested that Dutch authorities extradite International Criminal Court president Tomoko Akane and eight other officials. “Time and again we have conveyed to the Russian side that measures targeting individuals connected to the ICC are unfair and unacceptable. We find it regrettable t...
