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EU’s top court ruled on Tuesday that anti-LGBTQ legislation Hungary enacted in 2021 breached the bloc’s rules, including an article which sets out the fundamental values on which the EU is founded. The European Commission, 16 of 27 member states and the European Parliament took Hungary to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the law, in what has been billed as the largest human rights case in ...
Northeast Japan escaped relatively unscathed from the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck off its coast on Monday, but residents have been advised to stay alert as it is too early to tell whether the tremor was the main shock or a precursor to a far larger one. Hours after the quake, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a special advisory warning of a slightly elevated risk of a temblor w...
A Malaysian NGO is demanding more accountability in project approvals in Cameron Highlands after a two-hour downpour on Monday resulted in a “river of mud” gushing through the main road of a town in the popular hill resort. A 15-second clip shows waist-high muddy waters, which social media users likened to teh tarik, surging through Ringlet, swallowing the main road and pushing against cars. Camer...
China in its latest Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) report has called on the United States to show “sincerity” in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue while warning about Japan’s discussions on possessing nuclear weapons. The national report on the implementation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was made public online by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday. The documen...
China called on the United States to show “sincerity” in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue while sounding a warning about Japan’s discussion of possessing nuclear weapons in a recent official report. The assessments appeared in China’s latest National Report on the Implementation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released on Mo...
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering on Tuesday to a shrine honouring the country’s war dead that has long angered neighbouring countries but did not visit in person, media reports and an unidentified source close to the matter said. The Yasukuni shrine in central Tokyo is dedicated to 2.5 million war dead, mostly Japanese, who perished in conflicts since the late 19th cen...
Hong Kong police are investigating two separate traffic accidents on Tuesday that led to the deaths of two women. In the first case, police were alerted at about 8.51am to a light goods vehicle driven by a 36-year-old man travelling along Cha Kwo Ling Road towards Yau Tong. The vehicle was approaching Yau Tong MTR station when it reportedly knocked down a woman crossing the road. The woman, a 30-y...
The two main ferry operators running daily services between Hong Kong and Macau will raise fares by up to 11 per cent amid surging fuel prices, while a union said bus drivers were reporting lost income as companies cut services. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that the government would continue to monitor oil prices as it pressed ahead with measures set out earlier by the interdep...
China’s recent diplomatic efforts in the Middle East have led to speculation over whether its global strategy has shifted. There is consensus that China is stepping into a leadership role and trying to play peacemaker. Meanwhile, a few sceptics point out that the US-Israel war on Iran is not about China and has only exposed how thin Beijing’s influence is in the region. We’ve been here before. In ...
When the Duchess of York gave birth to a baby girl exactly 100 years ago, nobody expected that the young princess would one day sit on the throne. Queen Elizabeth II would eventually become Britain’s longest serving monarch, reigning for over 70 years. 100 years on, the South China Morning Post looks back at how it covered the queen during her life, beginning with the announcement of her birth in ...
We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Singapore balances national interest with rising anti-US sentiment In a rare public protest in Singapore, hundreds gathered in Hong Lim Park over the weekend to denounce t...
China has announced that it now has the capacity to build up to 50 nuclear reactors simultaneously, as it doubles down on a push to rapidly expand its nuclear power generation and become a global leader in the sector. The figure came from a report released by the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA) on Friday, which highlights the country’s ability to run dozens of nuclear projects concurrently...
The year-long celebrations to mark Hong Kong Disneyland Resort’s 20th anniversary will run until June, still giving visitors from around the world plenty of opportunity to experience the thrills and excitement of what is billed as “The Most Magical Party of All”. The milestone event has already been a resounding success on many levels, showcasing not just the enduring appeal of the Disney brand an...
Indonesia appears to have ceded its position as Asean’s natural leader to Singapore in a new survey of regional opinion leaders, with analysts pinning the shift on President Prabowo Subianto’s preference for pursuing Jakarta’s ambitions outside the regional bloc. More than 2,000 policymakers, researchers and business figures from across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were polled by the...
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong posed for a widely shared selfie in New Delhi on Monday, drawing attention to the optics of “selfie diplomacy” at a Korea-India summit. The photo was taken during a state lunch using Samsung’s latest foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Z Flip7. The image quickly went viral online on ...
Hong Kong’s top-ranking civil servants will be held accountable if they fail to provide adequate support in policy formulation, the city’s leader has said, despite a new investigation mechanism that primarily targets department heads. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that the proposed “Heads of Department Accountability System” was intended to promote self-improvement within depart...
Hong Kong’s top-ranking civil servants will be held accountable if they fail to provide adequate support in policy formulation, the city’s leader has said, despite a new investigation mechanism that primarily targets department heads. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that the proposed “Heads of Department Accountability System” was intended to promote self-improvement within depart...
A Chinese influencer’s live-stream recounting how she was lured to Cambodia and forced into a cyber scam operation was abruptly cut off, shortly before her social media account was banned. The 20-year-old, known online as Umi, is a live-stream host from southeastern China’s Fujian province with 24,000 followers on mainland platforms. Earlier this year, she gained national attention after being fou...
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are working closely together to keep vessels moving safely through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Tuesday, stressing the three countries’ shared responsibility for keeping the waterways open and secure. “The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are used for international navigation, and therefore the rights of transit ...
Researchers in China have replicated the epic journey of one of the world’s most fascinating migratory fish within the confines of an artificial pool, potentially saving it from extinction. From hatching to maturity and spawning, eels undergo six stages of physical transformation over at least five years as they travel 6,000km (3,700 miles) from the ocean depths to freshwater rivers and lakes. Zha...
Hong Kong’s leader has defended the government’s decision to put the legalisation of basketball betting on hold, stressing the policy was never intended to encourage gambling and that all risks must be controlled before any further steps are taken. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu made the remarks on Tuesday after the government’s surprising U-turn last week to halt the authorisation of basketball...
Hong Kong authorities have arrested five men at registered pharmacies and seized thousands of unregistered anti-obesity medicines and boxes of slimming injections, vowing to launch more joint operations to clamp down on illegal sales across the city. The Department of Health said on Monday evening that an enforcement operation with the police last Friday at a registered pharmacy in Sha Tin distric...
Hong Kong authorities have arrested five men at registered pharmacies and seized thousands of unregistered anti-obesity medicines and dangerous drugs, vowing to launch more joint operations to clamp down on illegal sales across the city. The Department of Health said on Monday evening that an enforcement operation with the police last Friday at a registered pharmacy in Sha Tin district led to four...
Hong Kong authorities have arrested five men at registered pharmacies and seized thousands of unregistered anti-obesity medicines and dangerous drugs, vowing to launch more joint operations to clamp down on illegal sales across the city. The Department of Health said on Monday evening that an enforcement operation with the police last Friday at a registered pharmacy in Sha Tin district led to four...
Chinese stocks are likely to continue the resilience they have shown since the war in the Middle East began, thanks to haven demand for yuan-linked assets, the green shoots of the property market and the inclusion of tech start-ups in key equity gauges, according to fund managers and investment banks. Optimism about Chinese equities was building after official data showed that home prices in the b...
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has affected every Asean nation, with a crisis looming, according to Malaysia’s Sultan Nazrin Shah. The Perak ruler said the ongoing conflict in the Middle East would directly affect the economies of countries in the region. “The surging prices of energy, fertilisers and transport are driving up food prices, increasing production and distribution costs, and fuel...
Governments across Southeast Asia have been banking on work-from-home arrangements for civil servants to ease the sting of soaring energy costs triggered by the Iran war, but analysts say the maths is messier than it may first appear. Indonesia estimates its Friday work-from-home policy, introduced on April 1, will save around 6.2 trillion rupiah (US$361.5 million) in state fuel subsidies and near...
Residents have continued searching for memorabilia in their fire-ravaged homes on the second day of pick-up sessions at Wang Fuk Court, with some seeking help from a robotic device and others expressing gratitude to neighbours who saved their lives during the blaze. Wang Sun House residents on the middle floors began returning home on Tuesday, with opinions divided over whether three hours were en...
Residents have continued searching for memorabilia in their fire-ravaged homes on the second day of pick-up sessions at Wang Fuk Court, with some seeking help from a robotic device and others expressing gratitude to neighbours who saved their lives during the blaze. Wang Sun House residents on the middle floors began returning home on Tuesday, with opinions divided over whether three hours were en...
Residents have continued searching for memorabilia in their fire-ravaged homes on the second day of pick-up sessions at Wang Fuk Court, with some seeking help from a robotic device and others expressing gratitude to neighbours who saved their lives during the blaze. Wang Sun House residents on the middle floors began returning home on Tuesday, with opinions divided over whether three hours were en...
