Live headlines from trusted global sources. Click any story to open it on the original website.
A handful of leading firms from emerging industries are expected to receive preferential policy packages and set up operations in Hong Kong within the “next couple of months”, the city’s finance chief has said, as part of efforts to attract investment. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po provided an update on the city’s drive to draw int...
China has unveiled an overhaul of its university system, urging institutions to develop distinct roles as demographic change, a tighter job market and industrial upgrading alter the country’s skills needs. The general offices of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee as well as the State Council, China’s cabinet, jointly issued guidelines for higher education reform, state news agency Xinh...
An elderly resident in southern China sparked online outrage after cutting a high-altitude worker’s safety rope to use it as a washing line. The incident occurred when Liu, a worker from Foshan, Guangdong province, was repairing the exterior wall of a high-rise building on September 17. After descending from the 30th floor to a platform on the second floor, he discovered that one of his safety rop...
A proposal to upgrade meals for foreigners awaiting deportation at Incheon International Airport has divided immigration officials, with frontline officers raising safety concerns and some questioning whether better food is appropriate for those ordered to leave South Korea for violating the law. According to immigration authorities on Sunday, the Incheon Airport Immigration Office under the Minis...
This year’s haze crisis has added to the heat woes squeezing livestock farmers in Malaysia and Indonesia, as they struggle to keep their animals cool, fed and productive. While it is difficult to separately assess the effects of haze-related smoke from heat, water shortages, feed and disease, farmers and industry groups say the cumulative strain is severely affecting animal health, productivity an...
When Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, announced his housing plan in 1997, the ambition was extraordinary. The government would produce at least 85,000 flats a year across the public and private sectors, and raise the home ownership rate to 70 per cent. The idea was simple. Build more homes, make housing more affordable and allow more families to own a piece of Hong Kong. Then hist...
Around 100,000 ornamental koi carp ready for sale were swept away after heavy rain caused by a typhoon breached some levees at a lake in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, it has been revealed as authorities assess the widespread damage to local farming and fisheries. Typhoon Dujuan, which approached the region about a week ago, inundated rice paddy fields and other farmland while flooding facilities wh...
Around 100,000 Nishikigoi ornamental carp ready for sale were swept away after heavy rain caused by a typhoon breached some levees at a lake in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, it has been revealed as authorities assess the widespread damage to local farming and fisheries. Typhoon Dujuan, which approached the region about a week ago, inundated rice paddy fields and other farmland while flooding facili...
Competition between China and the US will persist, but increased dialogue between the two economic superpowers will provide greater global certainty and ease geopolitical concerns, with Hong Kong positioned to play a unique role, the city’s financial secretary has told the South China Morning Post. In a wide-ranging interview, Paul Chan Mo-po said more communication and dialogue between the two na...
Italy is becoming a magnet for wealthy property investors thanks to its high quality of life and flat tax regime, and interest is also on the rise among mainland Chinese and Hong Kong buyers, according to property agents. Rome introduced a flat tax regime nine years ago to attract high-net-worth individuals, with foreign residents allowed to make a flat annual tax payment of €300,000 (US$342,000) ...
Indonesia is considering lifting a statutory cap on government spending that has been in place for more than two decades, as President Prabowo Subianto pushes for faster economic growth. Supporters argue that greater room to borrow and spend would let Southeast Asia’s largest economy invest its way towards Prabowo’s target of 8 per cent annual growth by 2029. Economists counter that weakening the ...
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado took to the country’s streets on Sunday to demand her safe return and presidential elections that could lead to a democratic transition in Venezuela. The government has been widely accused of stealing elections, jailing dissidents and stifling freedom of speech. In Caracas, hundreds of activists in sky blue shirts – the colour of Mach...
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado took to the country’s streets on Sunday to demand her safe return and presidential elections that could lead to a democratic transition in Venezuela. The government has been widely accused of stealing elections, jailing dissidents and stifling freedom of speech. In Caracas, hundreds of activists in sky blue shirts – the colour of Mach...
France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies secured a record 14 seats in the right-wing dominated Senate in polls Sunday, effectively quadrupling its number in the 348-seat chamber just months before a presidential election. RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen hailed a “historic victory” after the results were announced. Local elected officials vote for new senators for half th...
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally made significant gains in elections to the French Senate on Sunday, securing a parliamentary group in the upper house for the first time, French media reported on the basis of near-final election results. In a post on social media, Le Pen spoke of a “historic victory” and a “major milestone” even before the full results were available. “The results have exc...
Scott Kennedy is a senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. His areas of focus include China’s hi-tech drive, US-China relations and global economic governance. Open Questions first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. How would you characterise the outcomes of the Chin...
South Korea’s presidential office demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea and then falsely denying that the two sides had agreed to keep the move confidential. “The presidential office expresses strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement tha...
For all the solemnity of the B-2 flyover with four F‑22 Raptors and a silent South Lawn drill, the real business of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week was narrower than the choreography. The Chinese readout reiterated the concept that should frame the relationship’s next phase: constructive strategic stability – cooperation as the primary track, competi...
Russian drones set ablaze a market outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, killing two people, while three others died in strikes by Moscow’s forces in different regions and Kyiv itself also came under attack, local officials said. Ukrainian prosecutors said the drone attack hit a market in Sofiiska Borshchahivka on the western outskirts of Kyiv, killing two people and injuring about 10. Pi...
Russian drones set ablaze a market outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, killing two people, while three others died in strikes by Moscow’s forces in different regions and Kyiv itself also came under attack, local officials said. Ukrainian prosecutors said the drone attack hit a market in Sofiiska Borshchahivka on the western outskirts of Kyiv, killing two people and injuring about 10. Pi...
Scott Kennedy is a senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. His areas of focus include China’s hi-tech drive, US-China relations and global economic governance. SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series. How would you characterise the outcomes of the China-US summit compared to expect...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Sunday, a senior Israeli official told Reuters. There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office and the UAE’s foreign ministry. Israeli TV channels 12 and KAN, as well as newspapers Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post, also reported that Netanyahu undertook a one-day visi...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi and met UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on Sunday, a senior Israeli official told Reuters. There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office and the UAE’s foreign ministry. The unannounced visit comes after Israeli newspaper Haaretz this month reported that Sheikh Mohamed had warned Netanyahu a week and a half be...
Israel said on Sunday it was revoking the diplomatic status of Dutch diplomats who represent the Netherlands at the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, in response to Dutch sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel earlier this month ordered the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem, which is Britain’s representative with the Palestinian Authority...
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, despite his rejection of a truce proposal put forward by Tehran. Iranian officials brought with them to the UN General Assembly in New York a plan for a seven-day truce followed by the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel. Trump dismissed the plan and has mused on resuming full-scal...
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week, despite his rejection of a truce proposal put forward by Tehran. Iranian officials brought with them to the UN General Assembly in New York a plan for a seven-day truce followed by the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel. Trump dismissed the plan and has mused on resuming full-scal...
Three people were killed and four more were injured when an argument led to gunfire at an after-hours strip club Sunday morning in Detroit, officials said. Police responding to the 7.21am shooting on a largely residential street found three men who had been fatally shot, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison told reporters at a news conference. Four more people – two men and two women – were taken in...
Three people were killed and four others were injured when an argument led to gunfire at an after-hours strip club on Sunday morning in Detroit, officials said. Police responding to the 7.21am shooting on a largely residential street found three men who had been fatally shot, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison told reporters at a news conference. Four more people – two men and two women – were tak...
Britain’s ruling Labour Party on Sunday launched its first annual conference under Andy Burnham’s leadership, buoyed by his debut as prime minister as he pledged to take the tough decisions needed to tackle looming challenges. The former mayor of Manchester has injected new life into the centre-left party since MPs propelled him into Downing Street in July after ending Keir Starmer’s two-year prem...
Britain’s ruling Labour Party on Sunday launched its first annual conference under Andy Burnham’s leadership, buoyed by his debut as prime minister as he pledged to take the tough decisions needed to tackle looming challenges. The former mayor of Manchester has injected new life into the centre-left party since MPs propelled him into Downing Street in July after ending Keir Starmer’s two-year prem...
