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Hong Kong must abandon superiority complex over mainland China
SCMP

Hong Kong must abandon superiority complex over mainland China

After many years in Hong Kong, with some sadness, I left the city for greener pastures, though my link with it remains an emotional one. When I moved my two dogs across the border to Shenzhen, I was told by agents, officials, even artificial intelligence, that the mainland bureaucracy would be rigid and unhelpful. My experience was the opposite. The young customs officers at Shenzhen Bay answered ...

Iran condemns US plans to announce new sanctions
SCMP

Iran condemns US plans to announce new sanctions

Iran on Saturday denounced US plans to announce ⁠new sanctions that could put further strain on the Islamic Republic’s economy and have an impact on its most important trading partners including China. Iran on Saturday warned countries against taking part in the United States’ “economic war” against the Islamic Republic, saying they would be considered enemies. “We declare to all countries … do no...

Israel targets ‘terrorist’ in southern Syria; Damascus condemns attack
SCMP

Israel targets ‘terrorist’ in southern Syria; Damascus condemns attack

Israel said it targeted a “terrorist” ⁠in southern Syria ⁠on Saturday in ⁠what Syria’s foreign ministry said was a drone strike on a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Damascus in a “blatant” violation of its ‌territory. The Syrian foreign ministry said the drone had hit a vehicle on a road near Beit Jinn village in the countryside west of the capital, which caused injuries among civilians. Syri...

7 dead in UK after vehicle travelling in wrong direction hits police car
SCMP

7 dead in UK after vehicle travelling in wrong direction hits police car

Seven people, including two police officers, died in a car crash in northeast England on Saturday after a car heading the wrong ‌way down a major road hit a marked police armed response car, the local police force said. Cleveland Police said the incident took place in the early hours of Saturday near the South Bank area east of Middlesbrough and that all occupants of the two cars ⁠died at the scen...

Ukrainian drones kill at least 10, hit warehouse of Russian online retailer Ozon

Ukrainian drones kill at least 10, hit warehouse of Russian online retailer Ozon

SCMP

Ukrainian drones killed at least 10 people in attacks against targets across Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including a warehouse owned by online retailer Ozon and an industrial facility, Russian officials said on Saturday. Russia and Ukraine are both ramping up drone campaigns ‌aiming to cripple each other’s economic infrastructure, often striking targets far beyond the war’s front...

Canada’s PM hits back with new US tariffs after trade talks fail

Canada’s PM hits back with new US tariffs after trade talks fail

SCMP

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday he would slap retaliatory tariffs on the United States after walking away from a “bad deal” on trade, deepening the rift between the long-time allies. Negotiations between the neighbouring countries broke down on Friday in Washington, allowing new 50 per cent US tariffs impacting some US$20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5 per cent of Canadian exp...

Sword attack that killed 1 at Sweden high school prompts social media probe

Sword attack that killed 1 at Sweden high school prompts social media probe

SCMP

Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man who attacked students at a high school with a sword on Friday, killing one, was involved in online communities promoting school violence, a police source said. The attacker struck at a school in the central ‌Swedish town of Fagersta, also severely injuring two teenage boys before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl...

Sword attack in Sweden that killed 1 prompts probe into social media

Sword attack in Sweden that killed 1 prompts probe into social media

SCMP

Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man who attacked students at a high school with a sword on Friday, killing one, was involved in online communities promoting school violence, a police source said. The attacker struck at a school in the central ‌Swedish town of Fagersta, also severely injuring two teenage boys before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl...

Sword attack in Sweden that killed one prompts probe into social media

Sword attack in Sweden that killed one prompts probe into social media

SCMP

Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man who attacked students at a high school with a sword on Friday, killing one, was involved in online communities promoting school violence, a police source said. The attacker struck at a school in the central ‌Swedish town of Fagersta, also severely injuring two teenage boys before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl...

Elderly woman allegedly pressured into spending HK$100,000 on beauty products

Elderly woman allegedly pressured into spending HK$100,000 on beauty products

SCMP

Hong Kong customs is investigating whether an 88-year-old was pressured into spending HK$100,000 (US$12,750) on beauty products at an outlet linked to a company already accused of aggressive sales tactics. In a social media post on Saturday, a woman surnamed Ng wrote that her mother was targeted during a three-hour ordeal in April at the Avinichi booth in the Wing On department store in Sheung Wan...

Hong Kong and Shenzhen test crossings at revamped Huanggang Port ahead of opening

Hong Kong and Shenzhen test crossings at revamped Huanggang Port ahead of opening

SCMP

Hong Kong has conducted its first test involving Shenzhen authorities of clearance procedures and private car access at the revamped Huanggang border crossing, ahead of a massive exercise next week involving 20,000 people to fully assess the facility’s capacity. No 2 official Eric Chan Kwok-ki said Saturday’s drill went smoothly and passenger flows were orderly, with speedy pickup by public transp...

Why China may have little to lose as ‘weakened’ Trump seeks North Korea talks

Why China may have little to lose as ‘weakened’ Trump seeks North Korea talks

SCMP

China may have “little to lose” from talks between the United States and North Korea which, analysts say, may lead to Washington watering down its security commitments. US President Donald Trump has already ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the scale of the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea, criticising the exercise for both its cost and for sending “totally inappr...

1,500 Indonesian soldiers deployed to fight Borneo wildfires

1,500 Indonesian soldiers deployed to fight Borneo wildfires

SCMP

Indonesia is deploying an additional 1,500 soldiers to Borneo, an official said on Saturday, to help tackle wildfires that have burned through swathes of the island and created thick smog choking some areas. Fires between January and July burned over 200,000 hectares of land – an area three times the size of the capital Jakarta, the government said this week, as dry conditions driven by a powerful...

20 sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates near Yemen on US-sanctioned ship

20 sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates near Yemen on US-sanctioned ship

SCMP

Somali pirates hijacked an oil products tanker off Yemen, a Somali maritime security official said, the latest in a resurgence of piracy that has seen six commercial vessels seized since April across the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean. Six armed pirates hijacked the Eritrean-flagged M.T. Sibu 1 on Thursday about 136 nautical miles (252 kilometres) east of al-Mukalla, Yemen, and took it towa...

Chinese J-16 fighters arrive in Egypt ahead of Eagles of Civilisation 2026 joint drill

Chinese J-16 fighters arrive in Egypt ahead of Eagles of Civilisation 2026 joint drill

SCMP

A fleet of Chinese J-16 fighters has arrived in Egypt ahead of a joint exercise that will be the aircraft’s first-ever deployment to Africa. The planes and aviators taking part in the Eagles of Civilisation 2026 exercise arrived at an Egyptian airbase on Friday morning after a 6,000km (3,700-mile) journey that took nine hours and required the planes to refuel in mid-air, according to the People’s ...

Hong Kong-built greenhouse gas tracker device ‘functioning well’ on space station

Hong Kong-built greenhouse gas tracker device ‘functioning well’ on space station

SCMP

A greenhouse gas monitoring instrument developed by a university in Hong Kong is operating successfully aboard Tiangong space station and is expected to contribute to sustainable development, the city’s technology minister has said. Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industries Sun Dong also revealed more details on Saturday about the life of the city’s first astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, who he s...

Man arrested for driving under influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

Man arrested for driving under influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

SCMP

Hong Kong police have arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs following a three-vehicle crash that left two people injured. Police said they received a report at 1.48pm on Saturday of a traffic accident along Pok Fu Lam Road involving a large truck and two light goods vehicles. The force said the 38-year-old driver of one of the light goods vehicles failed a...

Man, 38, arrested for driving under the influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

Man, 38, arrested for driving under the influence of drugs after 3-vehicle crash

SCMP

Hong Kong police have arrested a 38-year-old man for driving under the influence of drugs following a three-vehicle crash that led to two people being hospitalised. Police said they received a report at 1.48pm on Saturday of a traffic accident along Pok Fu Lam Road involving a large truck and two light goods vehicles. The force said the 38-year-old driver of one of the light goods vehicles failed ...

Myanmar air strike kills 14 praying at monastery, rebel witnesses say

Myanmar air strike kills 14 praying at monastery, rebel witnesses say

SCMP

A Myanmar military air strike on a monastery where civilians were gathered for a meditation retreat marking Buddhist Lent killed 14 people, two rebel fighters who witnessed the aftermath said. Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military staged a 2021 coup ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Over the past five years, more th...

Man hospitalised after bamboo scaffolding collapses in Sham Shui Po

Man hospitalised after bamboo scaffolding collapses in Sham Shui Po

SCMP

A Hong Kong man has been hospitalised after being trapped under a collapsed bamboo scaffolding on a building in Sham Shui Po. Emergency services were called to 105-107 Nam Cheong Street at around 3.49pm on Saturday following reports of the incident. A section of scaffolding attached to the building’s exterior wall, measuring around 15 metres (49 feet) by 33 metres, had partially collapsed, trappin...

Hong Kong police arrest 2 men allegedly linked to HK$500,000 phishing scam

Hong Kong police arrest 2 men allegedly linked to HK$500,000 phishing scam

SCMP

Hong Kong police have arrested two men suspected of using 110 SIM cards in a hotel room to send phishing messages, conning victims of more than HK$500,000 (US$63,766). The force said on Saturday that the men, aged 31 and 44, were arrested last Thursday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. They were allegedly linked to recent phishing scams in which fraudsters posed as delivery company staff, cla...

Israel-Turkey tensions rise after Netanyahu orders strikes on Syrian airbase

Israel-Turkey tensions rise after Netanyahu orders strikes on Syrian airbase

SCMP

Fears of a military confrontation between Israel and Turkey are growing after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to assert dominance over Syria by ordering air strikes on a military airfield near the Turkish border. The eight strikes on the Abu Al-Duhur airbase in northwest Idlib province on Tuesday were characterised by Netanyahu as a warning to Turkey against expanding its military...

Chinese man reunites with family after 25 years in total isolation to honour a promise

Chinese man reunites with family after 25 years in total isolation to honour a promise

SCMP

A Chinese man in his 60s has finally reunited with his family after spending 25 years in isolation to care for a house deep in the mountains, even after the owner had forgotten about it. Li Guoyou, 63, recently received his renewed hukou booklet, China’s official household registration, at a police station in Pingtan, a town in southwestern Sichuan province. This marked his official identity regis...

Why China’s EV boom is seen as an ‘unparalleled opportunity’ in Africa

Why China’s EV boom is seen as an ‘unparalleled opportunity’ in Africa

SCMP

While the US and some European governments view China’s vast production of electric vehicles and green-energy tech as overcapacity, African companies see it as an opportunity to secure EV technology and develop the industry. China is the global leader of the EV industry – it makes nearly 75 per cent of the world’s electric vehicles and dominates the supply chain. Its high production has driven dow...

Customs seizes endangered turtles and parrots in 2 cases, arrests woman

Customs seizes endangered turtles and parrots in 2 cases, arrests woman

SCMP

Hong Kong customs officers have seized endangered turtles and parrots alongside other animals in two separate smuggling cases, resulting in the arrest of one woman. The Customs and Excise Department said on Saturday that 17 live turtles were discovered in a package declared as containing a jacket arriving at Hong Kong International Airport from the United States. “Upon inspection, a batch of live ...

Albanese: Canberra to join Australia’s gun buy-back programme after Bondi attack

Albanese: Canberra to join Australia’s gun buy-back programme after Bondi attack

SCMP

Australia’s capital will join a gun buy-back ⁠as part of ⁠a response to a ⁠shooting spree that killed 15 at a Jewish festival in Sydney, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday. Albanese’s centre-left government enacted laws in January for the gun buy-back, tighter checks for gun ‌licences and a crackdown on hate in the wake of the December 14 gun attack at a Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebrat...

Albanese: Canberra to join Australia’s gun buy-back program after Bondi attack

Albanese: Canberra to join Australia’s gun buy-back program after Bondi attack

SCMP

Australia’s capital will join a gun buy-back ⁠as part of ⁠a response to a ⁠shooting spree that killed 15 at a Jewish festival in Sydney, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday. Albanese’s centre-left government enacted laws in January for the gun buy-back, tighter checks for gun ‌licences and a crackdown on hate in the wake of the December 14 gun attack at a Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebrat...

Mainland Chinese research ship spotted near Taiwan’s largest naval base

Mainland Chinese research ship spotted near Taiwan’s largest naval base

SCMP

A mainland Chinese research ship has sailed close to a key Taiwanese naval base, marking its second appearance near the island in recent months. The Tong Ji, a 2,000-tonne scientific research vessel operated by Tongji University in Shanghai, was spotted 28 nautical miles (52km) southwest of Liuchiu, an island also known as Lamay, on Friday morning, according to the Taiwanese authorities. The islan...

Government still weighing decision on restricting proxy voters, Hong Kong official says

Government still weighing decision on restricting proxy voters, Hong Kong official says

SCMP

Hong Kong authorities have yet to decide whether to restrict proxy voters at homeowners’ meetings to relatives or other flat owners of the same estate under proposed law amendments meant to combat bid-rigging, the home affairs director has said, arguing such a move could be overly strict. Director of Home Affairs Priscilla To Kit-lai said on Saturday that the proposed amendments to the Building Ma...