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At the December premiere of the Chinese-dubbed 1957 Billy Wilder classic Witness for the Prosecution in a Shanghai cinema, dubbing artist Qiao Zhen voiced a more immediate mystery: “Do you still enjoy Chinese-dubbed films?” When audience members, mainly nostalgia-seeking fans, responded with applause and shouts of “Yes!”, the 83-year-old veteran became emotional, offering a moving defence of his a...
At the December premiere of the Chinese-dubbed 1957 Billy Wilder classic Witness for the Prosecution in a Shanghai cinema, dubbing artist Qiao Zhen voiced a more immediate mystery: “Do you still enjoy Chinese-dubbed films?” When audience members, mainly nostalgia-seeking fans, responded with applause and shouts of “Yes!”, the 83-year-old veteran became emotional, offering a moving defence of his a...
Not a sudden, major crash but a series of mini-crises. That, according to some, is the prospect facing the global economy and financial system in the wake of conflict in the Middle East. But what if these mini-crises cascade into a collective collapse? And what if the Trump administration emerges as the only winner in the conflict by virtue of the fact that it has, in engineering the closure of th...
A celebrity cat in China which died following a medical blunder has prompted the hospital involved to offer compensation and provide free sterilisation for stray cats. The feline’s owner, Deng Feng, a Shenzhen-based cattery operator and pet influencer with 5 million social media followers, breeds rare-coloured British Longhair and Shorthair cats. Since 2017, his cattery, GoldenTales, has produced ...
Japan and South Korea are closing ranks as they prepare for high-level meetings aimed at steadying ties amid growing regional volatility, with analysts saying the diplomatic push reflects shared concern over China, North Korea and the reliability of US commitments under President Donald Trump. Both countries appear willing to put past differences aside, at least for now, as they confront an assert...
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that banning some pro-Palestinian marches could be justified, especially when they call for the intifada to spread. Labour leader Starmer is under pressure to act after a spate of antisemitic incidents, including this week, when two men were stabbed in the north London suburb of Golders Green, which is home to a large...
ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, is pushing deeper into artificial intelligence with Anew Labs, a drug-discovery unit that has begun presenting its AI-designed therapies at international conferences. The unit – also known as Anew Therapeutics or ByteDance AI Drug Discovery – operates from Shanghai, Singapore and San Jose, California. Its official website listed 36 core members, as well as b...
Hezbollah’s cheap fibre-optic drones are creating new challenges for Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, forcing the military to adapt its tactics against an increasingly lethal threat. The Israeli military – considered one of the most advanced in the world – has confirmed two soldiers and one civilian contractor killed in explosive drone attacks in under a week, with several others wounded despit...
More than 800 families displaced by the deadly Tai Po fire have expressed an interest in visiting their homes again after being allowed to return to the estate in recent weeks, a senior Hong Kong official has said. The government also expressed confidence that at least three-quarters of homeowners of Wang Chi House – the only one of Wang Fuk Court’s eight blocks left largely unscathed by last Nove...
The Hong Kong government is confident that at least three-quarters of homeowners of Wang Chi House – the only block unscathed in the Wang Fuk Court fire – will accept its buy-back package by the end of June. Speaking on Saturday, Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said few owners were likely to change their minds about the government’s offer for the 248 flats, which were initially exc...
Taiwanese opposition leader Cheng Li-wun is preparing to visit the United States in June, aiming to leverage the political momentum from last month’s meeting with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Cheng, who heads the main opposition party Kuomintang, will also test her message on the Taiwan Strait in Washington. In recent media interviews Cheng has outlined an agenda that goes beyond ...
A pact between India and Russia on reciprocal access to military facilities is expected to boost Moscow’s influence in the Indian Ocean and increase New Delhi’s presence in the Arctic. However, it does not mean the two countries’ bases will be opened to each other’s armed forces as they step up defence cooperation, according to analysts. India and Russia signed the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics...
Hong Kong authorities have issued four HK$3,000 (US$382) fines in the first two days of an expanded ban on alternative smoking products, while assuring the public that inspectors will not conduct arbitrary body searches to enforce the law. Manny Lam Man-chung, head of the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office, said authorities stepped up enforcement and public education efforts in commercial district...
Almost half of notices filed to deactivate fire-fighting systems over the past two years for maintenance involved renovation projects that lasted longer than the maximum two months allowed under new rules introduced after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire, official data has shown. A spokesman for the Fire Services Department told the South China Morning Post that the new rules would also apply to ong...
An old Thai proverb says, “If you love your cow, tie it up; if you love your child, beat them”. It is meant to convey that a loving and responsible guardian should discipline their child and that corporal punishment is an act of care as sensible as tethering one’s cattle so that it does not wander off. For many generations, this proverb and traditional practices have normalised corporal punishment...
Japan and Vietnam are set to agree to boost their partnership in economic security in leaders’ talks on Saturday, as Japan seeks to strengthen supply chains for critical resources amid its diplomatic spat with China and the Middle East crisis. As Tokyo looks to deepen ties with Southeast Asian nations with an eye to China’s increasing economic engagement with the region, Prime Minister Sanae Takai...
Southeast Asian growers can now ship durians to China faster than before using a new cold-storage rail service linking Thailand, Laos and southwest China’s Yunnan province, slashing prices for the pungent fruit. The first goods train laden with durians from Thailand – China’s biggest source of the fruit – began winding its way north through Laos to China over the weekend, state broadcaster CCTV re...
Eight technology companies, including Google, Nvidia and SpaceX, have struck deals with the Pentagon to help the US military gain an edge on the battlefield. “These agreements accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare,” the Dep...
With his broad smile, Tatsumi Hokuto helps an elderly woman in a Japanese care home almost effortlessly to her feet and makes sure she is steady. At first glance, Hokuto cuts an unlikely figure for a carer role: a powerfully built 27-year-old in tight leggings and a black singlet, with the physique of a dedicated bodybuilder. But for Nagoya-based Visionary, a company that operates nursing and care...
“You could do with some international exposure. China, maybe,” a law firm partner said as we stood over the water cooler. His offhand comment was so blasé. I wasn’t sure what unsettled me more – the comment or my reaction to it. Was it xenophobia or the inertia of assumption? He was perfectly pleasant, encouraging even, but beneath the civility was an implication I couldn’t ignore. I had never set...
Residents of Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court are wrestling with a fresh sense of loss after returning to their former homes damaged in last November’s fire, as they are forced to choose what to pack and what to leave behind within a limited time frame and under practical constraints. Cecilia* is one such Hongkonger. She considers herself fortunate to have discovered that her upper-floor flat was largel...
A growing trend in China allows young people dealing with break-ups to create digital replicas of their ex-partners using artificial intelligence. These AI-powered “exes” can mimic their former partner’s tone, catchphrases and even subtle linguistic nuances, reviving long-lost relationships in a virtual format. While this presents a novel approach to emotional healing, it has also sparked a broade...
When Malaysia’s government announced a ban on two books in mid-April, the move raised eyebrows, with some questioning the intent of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration and his reformist credentials. The home affairs ministry on April 16 declared that the books – one of which was a memoir of the grandmother to an ally of Anwar – were a danger to national security for containing communist ...
The United States will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany in the next six to 12 months, the Pentagon said Friday, fulfilling President Donald Trump’s threat as he clashes with the German leader over the US war with Iran. Trump had threatened to withdraw some troops from the Nato ally earlier this week after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadershi...
Fujian province, the closest mainland Chinese province to Taiwan, is an important site for Beijing’s messaging towards the island. In the first of a two-part series, Xinlu Liang examines how Beijing is framing the executions of Communist Party spies in Taiwan within a reunification narrative. A courtyard house in an old quarter of Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, has...
Fujian province, the closest mainland Chinese province to Taiwan, is an important site for Beijing’s messaging towards the island. In the first of a two-part series, Xinlu Liang examines how Beijing is framing the executions of Communist Party spies in Taiwan within a reunification narrative. A courtyard house in an old quarter of Fuzhou, capital of the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, has...
Hong Kong is increasingly being urged to develop a comprehensive population policy. Academics, policymakers and business leaders warn that rapid ageing, low fertility and a shrinking labour force threaten the city’s competitiveness, and call for more decisive government intervention. Most such calls converge around two familiar strategies: encouraging Hong Kong women to have more children and attr...
China’s top UN diplomat slammed the US on Friday over its coercive behaviour, sanctioning of Chinese vessels and firms and for starting the Iran war along with Israel as Beijing assumed the rotating one-month presidency of the UN Security Council. The verbal blast came as Washington heaped more pressure on China on Friday by sanctioning a China-based petroleum terminal operator, the latest in a st...
US President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order expanding sanctions on Cuba, authorising penalties not only against Cuban officials but also on foreign companies and financial institutions that do business with the island. The order significantly broadens Washington’s ability to exert economic pressure, allowing US authorities to target third-country actors deemed to support the Cuba...
The United States on Friday sanctioned multiple entities and individuals it said were involved in trading Iranian petroleum and petroleum products, including a China-based oil terminal operator and a Chinese national. The State Department said the operator, Qingdao Haiye Oil Terminal Co., Ltd, “imported tens of millions of barrels of sanctioned Iranian crude oil”. Also on the sanctions list is Li ...
