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At least 5 killed in Indonesia after magnitude 7.7 quake hits Flores region
SCMP

At least 5 killed in Indonesia after magnitude 7.7 quake hits Flores region

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Saturday, collapsing buildings and homes, killing at least five people and causing panic in a region prone to deadly quakes. The governor of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, told a press conference the five people died from collapsing rubble as they slept. Authorities issued a tsunami warning but l...

At least 2 killed in Indonesia after magnitude 7.7 quake hits Flores region
SCMP

At least 2 killed in Indonesia after magnitude 7.7 quake hits Flores region

A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Saturday, collapsing buildings and homes, killing at least two people and causing panic in a region prone to deadly quakes. Authorities issued a tsunami warning but later lifted it when Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said monitoring showed no significant sea-level changes that would pose a threa...

The US’ future policymakers are questioning the standard ‘China threat’ playbook
SCMP

The US’ future policymakers are questioning the standard ‘China threat’ playbook

For years, the conventional wisdom in Washington was that America’s China policy was moving in one direction: tougher. But walk into a classroom at Georgetown, Rice or another US university where the next generation of diplomats and foreign-policy professionals is being trained, and the picture looks less settled. A generation that has grown up with China’s rise is increasingly sceptical of the id...

How Southeast Asia’s monarchies stay relevant in a volatile region
SCMP

How Southeast Asia’s monarchies stay relevant in a volatile region

When Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah recently stripped his daughter-in-law of a royal title, the move drew attention for its unusually public glimpse into discipline inside one of the world’s few remaining absolute monarchies. But it also offered a small example of what analysts who study Southeast Asia’s royal families describe as a wider challenge for the region’s monarchies: how to preserve au...

Lions, tigers from notorious zoo in Argentina begin journey to wildlife sanctuaries

Lions, tigers from notorious zoo in Argentina begin journey to wildlife sanctuaries

SCMP

Thirty lions and tigers that were kept alive – barely – for years in cramped concrete cages at a closed Argentine zoo began entering jumbo-size transport crates on Friday as they embarked on ambitious journeys to wildlife sanctuaries halfway across the world in South Africa and the United States. The cats are being rescued from the former Lujan Zoo, about 70km (43 miles) northwest of Argentina’s c...

Hong Kong’s night economy must focus on after-dark vibes, not events

Hong Kong’s night economy must focus on after-dark vibes, not events

SCMP

More than 86,000 football fans passed through Kai Tak Stadium over two nights recently as Manchester City faced Inter Milan and Chelsea took on Juventus. Supporters filled nearby malls and restaurants, with some merchants reporting foot traffic three to four times higher than usual. For those few hours, Kai Tak offered a glimpse of what Hong Kong’s day-to-night economy could become: international ...

Japan PM avoids Yasukuni Shrine on WWII anniversary, 4 ministers visit

Japan PM avoids Yasukuni Shrine on WWII anniversary, 4 ministers visit

SCMP

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday skipped a visit to Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine and sent an offering instead, but Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and three other Cabinet members went there on the 81st anniversary of the end of World War II. Despite Takaichi, a conservative, staying away from the shrine that honours convicted war criminals along with the war dead, Chin...

Japan’s Takaichi sends offering to Yasukuni on WWII anniversary, Koizumi visits shrine

Japan’s Takaichi sends offering to Yasukuni on WWII anniversary, Koizumi visits shrine

SCMP

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Saturday sent a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, while the country’s defence chief Shinjiro Koizumi visited the site as Japan marks the 81st anniversary of the end of the second world war. Sources have said Takaichi, a conservative, is likely to refrain from visiting the war-linked shrine on the war anniversary. The shrine hon...

‘Enjoying two worlds at once’: work in Hong Kong, live and play in Greater Bay Area

‘Enjoying two worlds at once’: work in Hong Kong, live and play in Greater Bay Area

SCMP

Regional cooperation is a key priority in Hong Kong’s first five-year plan. In the fourth of a five-part series on the plan, we look at how life in the Greater Bay Area can get better, with the right policies. Read part one here, part two here and part three here. Eager to escape Hong Kong’s suffocating housing conditions, university administrative worker Polly Chan decided in 2023 to rent a weeke...

‘Living in two worlds at once’: work in Hong Kong, live and play in Greater Bay Area

‘Living in two worlds at once’: work in Hong Kong, live and play in Greater Bay Area

SCMP

Regional cooperation is a key priority in Hong Kong’s first five-year plan. In the fourth of a five-part series on the plan, we look at how life in the Greater Bay Area can get better, with the right policies. Read part one here, part two here and part three here. Eager to escape Hong Kong’s suffocating housing conditions, university administrative worker Polly Chan decided in 2023 to rent a weeke...

Chinese boy abducted at 3, who inspired child trafficking film, enters direct PhD programme

Chinese boy abducted at 3, who inspired child trafficking film, enters direct PhD programme

SCMP

A young Chinese man who has just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Technology from the prestigious Wuhan University is set to embark on a new life as a doctoral student at the same institution. Peng Wenle is not just another ordinary 21-year-old; he was abducted at the age of three in 2008 from outside his parents’ telephone service shop in southern China’s Shenzhen and wa...

How China’s young managers grappled with billion-yuan mandates as AI shocks hit portfolios

How China’s young managers grappled with billion-yuan mandates as AI shocks hit portfolios

SCMP

As Leopold Aschenbrenner’s US hedge fund saw assets wiped off by more than two-thirds in a single month, some of China’s new portfolio managers also felt the shock across the Pacific, learning bitter lessons early in their careers. The 50-day market turmoil, sparked by a global correction in artificial intelligence stocks in June, turned some of China’s rookie managers into an unwitting focal poin...

Wear now, pay later: the new rules of Southeast Asia’s indulgence economy

Wear now, pay later: the new rules of Southeast Asia’s indulgence economy

SCMP

With its padded leather and gold “CC” lock, Coco Chanel’s instantly recognisable bag is practically part of the uniform for any self-respecting Bangkok property agent – an apt accessory for a city that recently edged into the top 10 anywhere for luxury spending. But in chastened economic times liquidity and luxury are no longer in lockstep, challenging many of those with expensive tastes to find n...

China rattled by Trump White House chaos weeks ahead of Xi visit. It has happened before

China rattled by Trump White House chaos weeks ahead of Xi visit. It has happened before

SCMP

Just months ago, disorganised planning from Washington in the lead-up to President Donald Trump’s landmark China visit frustrated Chinese officials. Now, Beijing is watching the same story play out on the other side of the world. With less than six weeks until Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to Washington – his first state visit since 2015 – Beijing finds itself increasingly unsettled ...

Delcy Rodriguez’s Castro tribute tests Venezuela’s balancing act between US and China

Delcy Rodriguez’s Castro tribute tests Venezuela’s balancing act between US and China

SCMP

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s tribute to Fidel Castro has drawn a blistering rebuke from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, highlighting the political tensions surrounding Caracas’ rapprochement with Washington even as China seeks to preserve its economic interests in the South American country. Rodriguez marked the centenary of the late Cuban leader’s birth this week by praising ...

Trump says he’ll soon declare Strait of Hormuz to be US territory

Trump says he’ll soon declare Strait of Hormuz to be US territory

SCMP

President Donald Trump on Friday said he would “soon” declare the Strait of Hormuz waterway part of US territory after defeating Iran. “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated – pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” he said with a chuckle during a political rally at a police academy in Garden City, New York. “It’s true,” he ad...

Jason Arday, ex-Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism scandal, found dead

Jason Arday, ex-Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism scandal, found dead

SCMP

British academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead on Friday, UK media outlets reported. Arday, 41, died after being found unresponsive at an address in south London on Friday afternoon, Sky News and other media said, citing a statement from the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service....

Chinese drone maker DJI gets another shot at Pentagon blacklist removal

Chinese drone maker DJI gets another shot at Pentagon blacklist removal

SCMP

A US appeal court on Friday gave Chinese drone maker DJI another chance to challenge its inclusion on a Pentagon blacklist of companies allegedly linked to the Chinese military. DJI, a Shenzhen-based drone maker, has been engaged in a years-long legal battle with the US Department of Defence to be removed from the list. The latest ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Ci...

Iran war: Trump dismisses concerns over conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier

Iran war: Trump dismisses concerns over conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier

SCMP

President Donald Trump dismissed concerns on Friday over living conditions and the mental health of service members on a US aircraft carrier deployed against Iran, while confirming the ship would soon rotate out. Asked by reporters whether family members were worried about the situation on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Trump said “no, they’re not”. Trump also rejected the idea that the ship – now in it...

Italian police recover stolen Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse artworks worth millions

Italian police recover stolen Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse artworks worth millions

SCMP

Italian authorities recovered three artworks by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth millions of euros that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern city of Parma, police said on Friday. A statement from the Italian Carabinieri’s art recovery squad said the artworks were discovered during searches ordered by prosecutors, but no details were given. The investigation is ong...

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case, admits he killed US insurance CEO

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case, admits he killed US insurance CEO

SCMP

Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday to fatally shooting US health insurance executive Brian Thompson and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the executive with the intent to kill him. “I shot Mr Thompson in Manhattan and ‌he died,” Mangione said. The guilty plea will avert a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, a brazen crime ...

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case, admits killing US insurance CEO

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case, admits killing US insurance CEO

SCMP

Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday to fatally shooting a US health insurance executive and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the executive with the intent to kill him. The guilty plea will avert ‌a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of ...

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case, admits killing insurance CEO

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case, admits killing insurance CEO

SCMP

Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Friday to killing a health insurance executive and pleaded guilty to federal charges of ‌stalking the executive with the intent to kill him. The guilty plea will avert a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a brazen crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frust...

URA posts HK$338 million operating surplus after three years of losses

URA posts HK$338 million operating surplus after three years of losses

SCMP

Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has recorded an operating surplus of HK$338 million (US$43.3 million) for the 2025-26 financial year, after reporting three straight years of losses. At a banquet on Friday to mark the statutory body’s 25th anniversary, chairman Chow Chung-kong announced that the URA had returned to profit in the 2025-26 financial year, recording an operating surplus to fu...

How a US crackdown is upending plans for Chinese ‘birth tourists’

How a US crackdown is upending plans for Chinese ‘birth tourists’

SCMP

Li, a woman in her late twenties from southwestern China, is anxious about her coming interview for a 10-year US visa. She has big plans for her travels – a weeks-long stay next year that would be her first visit to the country – followed by a planned return trip in two years while pregnant so her child can attain American citizenship. But those plans have been thrown into doubt. Last week, US Pre...

Pilot dies after helicopter crash in German forest

Pilot dies after helicopter crash in German forest

SCMP

A helicopter pilot has died after crashing in a forest in eastern Germany while carrying out liming work, the police directorate in the city of Chemnitz said on Friday. Workers managed to pull the man from the helicopter after the impact, police said. Despite immediate first aid administered at the scene, the man died from his injuries. The helicopter had no other people on board. Police did not p...

Bomb-disposal team, light public housing unit win chief executive’s award

Bomb-disposal team, light public housing unit win chief executive’s award

SCMP

A bomb-disposal team and a unit behind Hong Kong’s light public housing scheme have won this year’s chief executive’s award, praised for embodying civil servants’ professional spirit in “rising to challenges and pursuing excellence”. City leader John Lee Ka-chiu presented the Chief Executive’s Award for Exemplary Performance to the two interdepartmental teams at a ceremony on Friday. Lee praised t...

Multi-property owner loses HK$10 million after fraudster poses as possible tenant

Multi-property owner loses HK$10 million after fraudster poses as possible tenant

SCMP

A woman in Hong Kong who owned multiple properties has lost HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) after being scammed by a fraudster posing as a prospective tenant. The force revealed on Friday that the 64-year-old retiree, whose properties consisted of residential, commercial and parking spaces, was contacted via WhatsApp by a scammer in May in response to a rental listing she posted on Facebook. Police...

Toxic gas leak kills 8 at Bangladesh ship-breaking yard

Toxic gas leak kills 8 at Bangladesh ship-breaking yard

SCMP

At least eight workers have died following a toxic gas leak at a ship-breaking yard in the southeastern Bangladeshi district of Chattogram, officials said on Friday. The incident occurred at the Ferdaus Steel Shipbreaking Yard in Sitakund subdistrict, an area that hosts many ship-breaking yards where old vessels mostly imported from around the world are dismantled. Soon after the leak, many worker...