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HK Electric customers are set to fork out more for their energy bills next month after the Hong Kong firm announced a 20.4 per cent rise in its fuel surcharge as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East contributed to volatile oil prices. The energy provider, which mainly serves Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island, also warned that the fuel surcharge was expected to continue going up “in the coming m...
On the face of it, US President Donald Trump’s China visit can be characterised by five Bs: beef, beans, Boeings, a board of investment and a board of trade. No wonder Trump rated his visit a “12 on a scale of one to 10”. Just the 200 Boeing aircraft China has agreed to buy is worth the presidential visit. China has achieved no less. Compared with beef, beans and Boeings, the boards of investment ...
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that the government will invest an additional €1 billion (US$1.16 billion) in its quantum strategy and €550 million to support the microelectronics sector, as global powers race to be first to leverage emerging technology. “I’ll say it out loud. We have the means to be the winners of this race,” Macron said while announcing the funding. On Thursda...
On Great Nicobar, a remote island located closer to Indonesia than mainland India, New Delhi is embarking on one of its biggest developments in decades. The US$9 billion project is intended to transform the country’s southernmost tip into a major transport hub comprising a transhipment port, an international airport and associated logistical facilities. Spread across 166 sq km (64 square miles), t...
All three of China’s aircraft carriers could soon be able to operate the country’s J-35 stealth fighter, which Chinese experts say would “significantly” bolster the navy’s combat abilities. Currently, only China’s most advanced carrier, the Fujian, can host the J-35 as it has an electromagnetic catapult to assist the fifth-generation fighter into the air. The Liaoning and Shandong carriers launch ...
Standard Chartered global CEO Bill Winters on Friday said he was “sorry” for comments describing “lower-value” workers, made while announcing job-cut plans earlier this week. Winters apologised in a LinkedIn post as he tried to cool debate among upset employees after he announced on Tuesday a 15 per cent cut of back-office staff at the lender by 2030. Winters said that AI adoption would replace so...
Two Indian climbers have died on Mount Everest during a record-breaking period of ascents via Nepal’s southern route, as experts warn of overcrowding on the world’s highest peak. “They fell ill while descending at high altitude. We are working out how to retrieve the bodies,” Nivesh Karki, director at Pioneer Adventures, said. He named them as Sandeep Are, who he said summited on Wednesday, and Ar...
An alleged Myanmar crime boss and members of his syndicate were put on trial this week in the latest stage of Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on cross-border scam networks. Wei Huairen, also known as Wai San, faces charges including fraud, murder, extortion and organising illegal border crossings, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday. Prosecutors allege that from 2019 onwards, the syndic...
Thousands of protesters in Bangladesh clashed with police in a bid to seize a suspect accused of raping a four-year-old girl, officials said on Friday. In recent months, the South Asian country has seen a spike in reported cases of violence against women and children, fuelling widespread anger. Police said the suspect, Monir Hossain, was detained by locals in Bangladesh’s second-largest city of Ch...
China’s top economic planner denied pressuring domestic tech companies to turn down foreign investment amid rising concerns sparked by its recent blocking of Facebook owner Meta Platforms’ proposed buyout of Chinese-founded AI start-up Manus. “We have never required Chinese tech firms not to accept foreign investment,” Li Chao, spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), s...
K-pop boy band BTS will perform at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium for three days in March next year as part of their comeback tour, with tickets priced at up to HK$3,299 (US$420) each. Event organiser Live Nation HK announced on Friday the dates of the boy band’s performances in the city, which was part of the group’s “Arirang” world tour marking their return to the global stage after all seven membe...
After three agonising days with no word from his son, Warsono finally saw the face he had been waiting for. The 60-year-old Indonesian from Bandar Lampung in Sumatra spoke by video call on Thursday evening to his son, Andre Prasetyo Nugroho, following the 27-year-old journalist’s release from Israeli detention in Gaza. “To my great relief, I could see he was in one piece, albeit somewhat worse for...
For decades, publishing a paper in Nature was regarded as the ultimate academic achievement in China – a fast track to promotions, research grants, hospital appointments and elite national talent programmes. But a growing wave of academic fraud allegations could be turning that prestige into a liability. Over the past two months, Chinese social media platforms have been flooded with accusations ta...
A Chinese woman who has planted trees in the deserts of Inner Mongolia for decades has contacted an American man who donated US$5,000 to her and invited him to visit a forest that came into being because of his funding. Yin Yuzhen, 60, was awarded as a National Model Worker by China’s State Council in 2000 for her long-term anti-desertification efforts. Hailing from a poor family in northwestern S...
Beijing reaffirmed its opposition to arms sales to Taiwan after the acting secretary of the US Navy said Washington was pausing a US$14 billion weapons purchase by the self-governed island. “China’s firm opposition to US arms sales to China’s Taiwan region is consistent, clear and unwavering,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Friday. On Thursday, acting US Navy head Hung Cao told a co...
This report was translated from Chinese into English using Alibaba’s Qwen3, then checked and tweaked for accuracy by a South China Morning Post journalist. It is for reference only, and is not the official English version of the original Chinese document. Alibaba owns the SCMP.
The Javan and Sumatran rhinos are down to their last few dozen, just like the Cat Ba langur of Vietnam, while the soala living in Laos’ Annamite mountains may already be gone for good. Southeast Asia’s remarkable biodiversity is under severe threat from the encroachment of cities and farms, deforestation, warming seas and the trafficking of rare wildlife for food, traditional medicines and as pets...
The Javan and Sumatran rhinos are down to their last few dozen, just like the Cat Ba langur of Vietnam, while the soala living in Laos’ Annamite mountains may already be gone for good. Southeast Asia’s remarkable biodiversity is under threat due to the encroachment of cities and farms, deforestation, warming seas and the trafficking of rare wildlife for food, traditional medicines, and as pets. Th...
Funding for China’s artificial-intelligence-related start-ups jumped nearly threefold year on year in the first quarter, as investors poured capital into large language models (LLMs) and embodied AI amid growing optimism over the country’s technology ecosystem. AI-related start-ups secured more than 110 billion yuan (US$16.2 billion) in the first three months of the year, representing a 185 per ce...
China criticised the United States for filing criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro, as the Trump administration stepped up pressure on the Communist-ruled Caribbean island. “The United States needs to stop wielding the big stick of sanctions and judicial measures against Cuba, and stop threatening Cuba with force at every turn,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun ...
Hong Kong film producer and actor Raymond Wong Pak-ming has been found guilty of sharing insider information with his sister to trade shares of an entertainment company he chaired in 2017, netting her more than HK$1 million (US$127,650) in profit. Magistrate Ko Wai-hung at Eastern Court on Friday found Wong had made “absurd and illogical” explanations for his messages to younger sister Jenny Wong,...
Hong Kong film producer and actor Raymond Wong Pak-ming has been found guilty of sharing insider information with his sister to trade shares of an entertainment company he chaired in 2017, bringing her more than HK$1 million (US$127,650) in profit. Magistrate Ko Wai-hung of Eastern Court on Friday found Wong had made “absurd and illogical” explanations for his messages to younger sister Jenny Wong...
Perhaps the most fascinating and important aspects of US President Donald Trump’s jolt to the global economy have been its unintended consequences, especially the impact on relations between China and India. Two consistent aspects of Trump’s meandering narrative are to “make America great again” by bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US, and to hobble China as an economic and strategic threat....
Bowing to pressure from within its ranks, the Democratic National Committee released on Thursday its long-withheld “autopsy” of Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race – only to quickly disavow it. The report found that Democrats have ceded ground to Trump’s Republicans through underfunding of state parties and a “persistent inability or unwillingness to listen to all v...
Bowing to pressure from within its ranks, the Democratic National Committee released on Thursday its long-withheld “autopsy” of Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race – only to quickly disavow it. The report found that Democrats have ceded ground to Trump’s Republicans through underfunding of state parties and a “persistent inability or unwillingness to listen to all v...
Former Malaysian economy minister Rafizi Ramli’s breakaway gamble is unlikely to bring down Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on its own, analysts say, but could still wound the ruling coalition by peeling away reformist voters who helped Pakatan Harapan (PH) take power in 2022. Rafizi and former natural resources and environmental sustainability minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad announced on Sunday that th...
Scientists from China and the Netherlands have created a corn protein-based biopolymer with a process inspired by spider silk that could offer a sustainable alternative to plastics based on fossil fuel. “Plant-derived biopolymers may become sustainable alternatives to fossil-based polymers, yet their poor material performance has so far limited their adoption,” the team said in a paper published i...
The Brazilian head of a victims’ association for the 2009 crash of Flight 447 from Rio to Paris said that justice has yet to be served in France’s worst aviation crash after a Paris appeals court found Airbus and Air France guilty of manslaughter. Air France and Airbus, two of France’s most emblematic companies, said in separate statements that they would appeal Thursday’s ruling, potentially prol...
The Brazilian head of a victims’ association for the 2009 crash of Flight 447 from Rio to Paris said that justice has yet to be served in France’s worst aviation crash after a Paris appeals court found Airbus and Air France guilty of manslaughter. Air France and Airbus, two of France’s most emblematic companies, said in separate statements that they would appeal Thursday’s ruling, potentially prol...
On Cenang Beach, Mohamad Zaki Najmi sells fun and adventure activities that have powered Langkawi’s tourism economy for years – jet ski rides and boat tours on the Malaysian island’s turquoise waters. But costs are rising fast at the popular island resort, and the sea sports operator has been forced to pass it on to his customers, a last resort for tourism players in Malaysia as competition for in...
