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Trump to meet leaders of Ukraine and Syria at Turkey Nato summit
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Trump to meet leaders of Ukraine and Syria at Turkey Nato summit

US President Donald Trump plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the Nato summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump’s attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria’s role in the Middle East. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly c...

Trump to meet Ukraine’s Zelensky and Syria’s Sharaa during Nato summit in Turkey
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Trump to meet Ukraine’s Zelensky and Syria’s Sharaa during Nato summit in Turkey

US President Donald Trump plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the Nato summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump’s attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria’s role in the Middle East. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly c...

White supremacist group’s July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says
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White supremacist group’s July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says

Federal officials had no reason to stop a white ⁠supremacist group’s July ⁠4 rally in Washington because ⁠of free speech protections, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Sunday. Hundreds of masked Patriot Front members who marched through the nation’s capital on Independence Day on Saturday did nothing illegal, Burgum told CNN’s State of the Union. Although the organisation’s ‌white supremac...

White supremacists’ July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says
SCMP

White supremacists’ July 4 march counts as free speech, US interior secretary says

Federal officials had no reason to stop a white ⁠supremacist group’s July ⁠4 rally in Washington because ⁠of free speech protections, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Sunday. Hundreds of masked Patriot Front members who marched through the nation’s capital on Independence Day on Saturday did nothing illegal, Burgum told CNN’s State of the Union programme. Although the organisation’s ‌whit...

Egypt inaugurates the ‘Octagon’, a mega military HQ larger than the Pentagon

Egypt inaugurates the ‘Octagon’, a mega military HQ larger than the Pentagon

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Egypt has inaugurated a new armed forces headquarters, which observers say is the largest in the world, with an elaborate ceremony and a rare appearance from the president and former general Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in military uniform. The Octagon, as the complex is being called, consists of eight buildings each with an eight-sided floor plan in an area of around 90 sq km (34.7 square miles), the siz...

Egypt’s President el-Sisi inaugurates massive new military headquarters

Egypt’s President el-Sisi inaugurates massive new military headquarters

SCMP

Egypt has inaugurated a new armed forces headquarters, which observers say is the largest in the world, with an elaborate ceremony and a rare appearance from the president and former general Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in military uniform. The Octagon, as the complex is being called, consists of eight buildings each with an eight-sided floor plan in an area of around 90 sq km (34.7 square miles), the siz...

Prosecutors to lay out case against Charlie Kirk’s accused killer

Prosecutors to lay out case against Charlie Kirk’s accused killer

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Charlie Kirk’s widow and parents are expected this week in a Utah court where prosecutors seeking the death penalty will argue that the man charged with killing the conservative activist should stand trial for murder. The five-day preliminary hearing that starts on Monday will be the first time members of Kirk’s family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be li...

Prosecutors to lay out their case against the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk

Prosecutors to lay out their case against the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk

SCMP

Charlie Kirk’s widow and parents are expected this week in a Utah court where prosecutors seeking the death penalty will argue that the man charged with killing the conservative activist should stand trial for murder. The five-day preliminary hearing that starts on Monday will be the first time members of Kirk’s family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be li...

UK’s Nigel Farage faces new allegations over gifts

UK’s Nigel Farage faces new allegations over gifts

SCMP

Hard-right British politician Nigel Farage on Sunday faced fresh allegations over non-disclosure of gifts after a newspaper reported a convicted fraudster paid for his security and staff before he became an MP. An MP said he had asked parliament’s standards commissioner to investigate the new claims against the leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, which is currently leading in opinion p...

UK hard-right leader Farage faces new allegations over gifts

UK hard-right leader Farage faces new allegations over gifts

SCMP

Hard-right British politician Nigel Farage on Sunday faced fresh allegations over non-disclosure of gifts after a newspaper reported a convicted fraudster paid for his security and staff before he became an MP. An MP said he had asked parliament’s standards commissioner to investigate the new claims against the leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, which is currently leading in opinion p...

“Compleat Scholar” bridging tourism, academia and industry

“Compleat Scholar” bridging tourism, academia and industry

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[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] For two decades, Professor Robert Li’s rigorous, yet practice-grounded research has bridged academia and the hospitality and tourism industry, giving it a new lens for examining its conventional wisdom. Since joining the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School in January 2025, he has brought what he calls th...

Japanese space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

Japanese space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

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A Japanese space probe performed a fly-by of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday, in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks. The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 was due to fly within 800 metres (0.5 miles) of asteroid Torifune, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scientists said earlier, a trial run to see whether such a probe could deflect a potentially dangero...

Japan space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

Japan space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test

SCMP

A Japanese space probe performed a fly-by of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday, in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks. The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 was due to fly within 800 metres (0.5 miles) of asteroid Torifune, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scientists said earlier, a trial run to see whether such a probe could deflect a potentially dangero...

Hong Kong police seize HK$120m of cocaine hidden in 3-tonne metal containers

Hong Kong police seize HK$120m of cocaine hidden in 3-tonne metal containers

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Police have seized about HK$120 million (US$15.4 million) worth of suspected cocaine hidden inside three heavy-metal containers at a warehouse in northern Hong Kong, arresting three men. Officers raided a 3,000 sq ft tin‑sheet warehouse on Kung Um Road in Yuen Long on Friday night and found three men using tools to cut open two of the containers, Senior Inspector Lam Pak‑kiu of the narcotics burea...

2 dead, 4 injured as northern China truck collision triggers huge chemical blast

2 dead, 4 injured as northern China truck collision triggers huge chemical blast

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Two people were killed and four others injured when a truck carrying ammonium nitrate collided with another vehicle and exploded on a national highway in northern China at around noon on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported. Authorities in Inner Mongolia autonomous region said the blast occurred at 11.27am on a section of National Highway 331 in Xilingol League, according to the report. Offic...

Why the Indo-Pacific might be on the back burner at the Nato summit

Why the Indo-Pacific might be on the back burner at the Nato summit

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Nato’s 32 member states will convene in the Turkish capital this week for an annual summit expected to be dominated by efforts to secure a fragile peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, with Indo-Pacific issues taking a back seat. Analysts said the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, as well as Washington’s push for European allies to raise defence spending, could diminish discussion about the security ...

‘Catastrophic’ Super Typhoon Bavi hits US island of Rota

‘Catastrophic’ Super Typhoon Bavi hits US island of Rota

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A “super typhoon” with equivalent force to a category-5 hurricane made landfall on the US island of Rota in the Pacific on Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, warning of “catastrophic damage and [a] life-threatening situation”. “The western eyewall of Super Typhoon Bavi is currently moving over the island of Rota. The latest forecast intensity is at 180mph (290km/h) as it passes over ...

US Pacific islands prepare for Super Typhoon Bavi

US Pacific islands prepare for Super Typhoon Bavi

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People in Guam and the Northern Marianas moved to emergency evacuation centres and made last-minute preparations on Sunday, hours before a “super typhoon” was projected to bulldoze through the US Pacific territories. Super Typhoon Bavi was forecast to roar westwards over the area at around 10.00am (0000 GMT) on Monday with winds of 260 kilometres (160 miles) per hour – equivalent to a category 5 h...

Hong Kong-developed ‘Eye for Space’ now operating aboard Tiangong space station

Hong Kong-developed ‘Eye for Space’ now operating aboard Tiangong space station

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A state-of-the-art greenhouse gas monitoring instrument spearheaded by a Hong Kong university has officially commenced operations aboard China’s Tiangong space station, following its successful installation by the city’s first home-grown astronaut, Lai Ka-ying. The Multi-Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory (Musico) – often dubbed the “Eye for Space” – will remain in orbit for at least two years, a...

German govt may withhold classified info from states if far-right start winning

German govt may withhold classified info from states if far-right start winning

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German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Sunday that the federal government is considering withholding information from ministers in state administrations if they are formed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD is regularly criticised for close ties to Moscow. Polls indicate that the AfD could win an absolute majority in a state election in September in Saxony-Anhalt, meanin...

How bitter Persian Gulf rivals can make peace the Asean way

How bitter Persian Gulf rivals can make peace the Asean way

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“The Emiratis – by far the most hawkish, by far the most pro-Israel country in the [Gulf Cooperation Council] – they’re having conversations with the Iranians that have never happened before,” US Vice-President J.D. Vance told British media outlet UnHerd following the Iran-US negotiations in Switzerland. The Iranians “are certainly talking differently than they have in the past”, he added in a not...

Berkshire Hathaway’s multibillion-dollar buy of Taylor Morrison to boost US housing market

Berkshire Hathaway’s multibillion-dollar buy of Taylor Morrison to boost US housing market

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Berkshire Hathaway’s all-cash acquisition of home builder Taylor Morrison for US$6.8 billion is likely to trigger more investment in the US housing market, as institutional confidence in the segment encourages more home purchases in the world’s largest economy by local and overseas buyers, according to analysts. The US-based conglomerate made the investment in May, deepening its bet on the US resi...

Could China hawk Nancy Pelosi’s pick for US Congress influence Beijing ties?

Could China hawk Nancy Pelosi’s pick for US Congress influence Beijing ties?

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While local bread-and-butter issues will dominate the November election in the US, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement of Connie Chan to succeed her in Congress could lead to opportunities at the margins of US-China relations, analysts said. Pelosi, the first female speaker, now honoured as speaker emerita, is one of Washington’s fiercest China hawks. Chan, 47, a San Francisco supervis...

Fires ravage France, Spain, Portugal forests as Europe’s temperatures rise again

Fires ravage France, Spain, Portugal forests as Europe’s temperatures rise again

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Hundreds of firefighters battled forest infernos in France, Spain and Portugal on Sunday as temperatures rose again in heatwave-scarred Europe. The latest wildfires have already devastated more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of land – twice the size of Manhattan – across the three countries where temperatures in some places were predicted to touch 40°C on Sunday. Authorities registered thousa...

Helpers’ union calls for raising food allowance to HK$2,770, citing inflation

Helpers’ union calls for raising food allowance to HK$2,770, citing inflation

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A union representing foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong has urged authorities to more than double their monthly food allowance to HK$2,770 (US$350), saying the current stipend averaging HK$13.30 per meal is insufficient due to inflation. Representatives from the Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) met Labour Department officials on Sunday after staging a protest. Besides the foo...

‘Cheers should have limits’: Chinese province calls foul on fans of Japan World Cup team

‘Cheers should have limits’: Chinese province calls foul on fans of Japan World Cup team

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A provincial propaganda department has accused some Chinese football fans of using the Japanese team’s success at the World Cup to denigrate China’s squad, suggesting their behaviour had come close to crossing a line. In an online post on Friday, “Zhejiang Propaganda”, a social media account affiliated with the Zhejiang provincial publicity department, said that while Chinese fans could appreciate...

Can you get cancer? Hong Kong doctors say it takes more than 1 mistake

Can you get cancer? Hong Kong doctors say it takes more than 1 mistake

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In the final instalment of a six-part Health Matters wellness series on cancer in Hong Kong, Anthea Rowan explores how genetics, lifestyle and chance intersect in cancer risk and why early detection matters. Tom Hutchins did not find a lump. What he noticed instead – a tiny, almost imperceptible dot – was enough to change his life. The Hong Kong-based business director, who has lived in the city f...

Russian warships dock in Chinese port ahead of Joint Sea exercises

Russian warships dock in Chinese port ahead of Joint Sea exercises

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Russian naval vessels arrived in the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao on Sunday ahead of joint maritime drills. They include the Varyag, a Slava-class guided-missile “carrier-killer” cruiser, as well as the Ufa, a diesel-electric attack submarine, the naval arm of the People’s Liberation Army Northern Theatre Command wrote on social media on Sunday. A welcome ceremony was held at the dock to g...

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei holds ‘positive’ view of China, ambassador says

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei holds ‘positive’ view of China, ambassador says

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Iran’s new supreme leader shares his late father’s “positive” view of relations with China, Tehran’s ambassador told a security forum in Beijing at the weekend. Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli also suggested that while Tehran would charge “service fees” for vessels using the Strait of Hormuz, China may receive “special” treatment because it was a “friendly” nation. “[Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s] vie...