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Public anger has surged on mainland social media after authorities declined to classify the death of a programmer in his company’s toilet as work-related. According to Jiupai News, Xing Zhi, a 39-year-old programmer from Shenzhen and father of two, died in his company’s toilet in April. After clocking in that morning, Xing went directly to a second-floor toilet instead of his 11th-floor desk and n...
Ping An Insurance (Group), China’s largest insurer in terms of market capitalisation, is eyeing investments in Hong Kong-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to boost returns following Beijing’s green light for cross-border allocations, according to senior executives. “Allowing mainland insurance funds to invest in Hong Kong listed ETFs is set to tighten the ties between Hong Kong and the mainland ...
On August 11, a tiny line buried in a lengthy press release from French company Mistral AI spoke volumes about the strategic and technological dilemmas facing the European Union, as the bloc prepares to navigate an autumn period full of geopolitical and trade upheaval. In a bid to roll out “European infrastructure for sovereign AI”, Mistral – Europe’s great hope in the global artificial intelligen...
Even when fully mobilised, China’s industrial system would only be able to meet 60 per cent of the country’s military demand for drones in a conflict, according to a rare study looking into the expected effects of a sudden war. The estimates were produced by an artificial intelligence model that covered a multilevel supply chain linking drone assembly plants with subsystem and component suppliers....
Humanoid robots, 3D printers and artificial intelligence (AI) hubs are among the latest technologies showcased at Hong Kong’s annual electronics and technology exhibition, as the city’s finance chief encourages residents to learn how to use them. At the opening of the four-day event on Friday, hundreds of visitors crowded the 22nd Hong Kong Computer Communication Festival at the Convention and Exh...
The British headquarters and Hong Kong distributor of beauty product company Opatra London have suspended local operations after allegations of aggressive sales tactics triggered the arrest of local senior staff and a raid on a corporate secretarial office in Sheung Wan. In a statement issued on Friday, Opatra London continued to distance itself from the local distributor, which it said owned and ...
Transboundary haze has again disrupted daily life on Malaysian Borneo, forcing nearly 600 schools in Sarawak to shut on Friday as air pollution in parts of the state reached “very unhealthy” levels. The closures affecting almost 200,000 pupils were the latest disruptions caused by Southeast Asia’s persistent haze problem, which flares during dry spells when forest and peatland fires – often linked...
Japan is preparing to spend more than ever on defence as analysts say Tokyo is being forced to respond to a convergence of regional threats, fast-changing military technology and growing uncertainty over the reliability of the US security umbrella. The defence ministry is preparing to request a record budget of 8.9 trillion yen (US$56.1 billion) for the 2027 financial year, with major outlays plan...
Note: SCMP Plus subscribers can attend an exclusive event with Zhou Bo, a retired People’s Liberation Army senior colonel, in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Zhou will discuss China’s military modernisation as the PLA works towards its 2027 centenary goal. SCMP Editor-in-Chief Chow Chung-yan will host the fireside chat. Zhou is now a senior fellow at Tsinghua University. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi so...
Nissin Foods, the company that invented instant noodles, appears to have created an entirely new category with a hit product: cup noodles made with cold water. Initial supplies of the handy meal – available in Spicy Kimchi and Chicken Salt Lemon flavours – sold out a week after hitting store shelves on July 20, according to Nissin. While the Tokyo-based company did not disclose sales figures, it h...
The official death toll from Typhoon Maysak’s devastating floods in southern China jumped from 39 to 159 on Friday, as authorities updated the figures for the first time in six weeks. According to media briefings held in Nanning and Guigang in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, 10 people remained missing and the disaster affected more than 1.65 million people, state news agency Xinhua reported. The...
Carolus Winfridus was asleep when an earthquake struck off Indonesia’s island of Flores, as he was awoken by intense rumbling and saw his wardrobe doors flying open. He and his family quickly scrambled for a way out of their house in the town of Maumere, Sikka Regency, one of nine regencies hit by Saturday’s devastating 7.7-magnitude quake that killed almost 80 people and displaced nearly 100,000....
A Chinese historian has presented fresh research on China-based Korean independence leader Sin Kyu-sik at a symposium in Seoul co-hosted by Gwangbokhoe, the official association for those who fought against Japan’s occupation. The academic exchange, which was backed by South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, underscored how a shared legacy of anti-Japanese resistance continues to ...
A senior manager at MTR Corporation has been conned out of HK$74 million (US$9.4 million) in a two year-long scam by a fraudster posing as an employee of HSBC UK, who lured the victim into investing in green bonds. Police said they had received a report from a 59-year-old man who alleged that he had been scammed. The case has been classified as obtaining property by deception, and no arrests have ...
Hong Kong environment authorities have said they will review the definition of fighting dogs and relevant regulations to strengthen public safety, a day after the owner of a pet training facility was attacked by a canine suspected of being a mixed-breed fighting dog and was later found dead. Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan made the announcement on Friday as the Agriculture, Fish...
A dog that attacked its handler who died soon after was a stray awaiting adoption at a Hong Kong pet training facility, the South China Morning Post has learned, with residents living nearby saying they were not worried as the animals at the centre were kept indoors. A check by the SCMP on Friday morning found the Pawsgate pet training centre at Ping Yeung Tsuen in Ta Kwu Ling closed a day after t...
A dog that fatally mauled its handler at a Hong Kong pet training facility was a stray awaiting adoption, the South China Morning Post has learned, with residents living nearby saying they were not worried as the animals at the centre were kept indoors. A check by the SCMP on Friday morning found the facility at Ping Yeung Tsuen in Ta Kwu Ling closed a day after the attack. But staff members retur...
The decision by Japanese retailer Aeon to sell its MaxValu minimart chain in Thailand is the latest example of the tight grip domestic conglomerates hold over Thai consumers, retail experts say. Yet the move also hints at the shifting economic fortunes of neighbouring Vietnam, where major Asian retailers including Aeon are competing aggressively for market share among a rapidly expanding middle cl...
A former Deloitte information technology manager has been jailed for 22 months for stealing 423 laptops worth HK$1.2 million (US$153,000) from the accounting firm’s Hong Kong office to fund his stock trading addiction. The District Court sentenced Ho Man-kit, 40, on Friday after he pleaded guilty earlier this month to a count of theft for misappropriating Lenovo computers and selling them to an el...
William and Harry were united in grief as children by the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana, but their relationship as adults has been ripped apart by anger and hurt. The pair – dubbed “the heir and the spare” from an early age – have failed to put aside their differences, despite their father King Charles’ cancer diagnosis. And as Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, prepares to return to...
International students accounted for more than half of the HIV infections identified among individuals entering China through the city of Wuhan over the past few years, although the number of cases remained low, according to customs data. Public health officials analysed HIV cases detected among inbound long-term visa holders and “others” at the city’s ports of entry from 2018 to 2025. In that per...
International students accounted for more than half of the HIV infections identified among individuals entering China through the city of Wuhan over the past few years, although the number of cases remained low, according to customs data. Public health officials analysed HIV cases detected among inbound long-term visa holders and “others” at the city’s ports of entry from 2018 to 2025. In that per...
Online scam syndicates that rely on trafficked workers, guarded compounds and vast call-centre-style operations could soon become more threatening by exploiting agentic AI to run some fraud operations autonomously, a cybercrime expert has warned. Unlike earlier uses of artificial intelligence to write scripts, translate messages or produce deepfakes, agentic AI systems can carry out multi-step tas...
A court in southern China’s Guangdong province formally accepted a bankruptcy liquidation petition against China Evergrande Group’s main onshore unit, closing the final chapter in the unravelling of what was once the country’s largest property developer. The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court said on Friday that Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank’s Huaxia branch met the legal criteria under the na...
Japanese influencer Gamix, who went viral for sobbing after Japan’s defeat at the 2026 Fifa World Cup, has sparked controversy after making a gesture widely considered racist towards East Asians while parodying Ateez member San’s viral “BAD” challenge. Gamix uploaded a video to his social media account on Thursday in which he recreated the choreography from Ateez’s “BAD”, a viral trend that has re...
China has approved its first private-sector commercial trial for satellite Internet of Things (IoT) services, granting a permit to a Geely-backed venture as part of broader efforts to open the country’s burgeoning satellite communications market to private capital. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) granted Zhejiang Geespace Technology, the commercial space subsidiary of el...
An asset-management arm of Guotai Haitong Securities, a leading Chinese brokerage, was ordered to pay 52.5 million yuan (US$7.8 million) in fines and penalties for activities undertaken by its offshore investment business as Beijing tightens its scrutiny of capital flows. Guotai Haitong Securities Asset Management was fined 25.9 million yuan and ordered to forfeit 26.7 million yuan in illegal gain...
Malaysia’s Islamist opposition leader Abdul Hadi Awang has sparked outrage and ridicule with unproven claims linking religion to dishonesty, suggesting that Muslims are less corrupt than non-Muslims. Hadi’s remarks, which drew demands for evidence, came amid a series of attacks by his Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) on the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a predominantly ethnic Chinese party in Pr...
The latest floods to hit Metro Manila and parts of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon have turned a familiar seasonal disaster into a renewed test of political accountability for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, as anger over allegedly corrupt flood-control projects returns to the centre of public debate. Analysts said the deluge had sharpened scrutiny of the slow-moving investigation into alleg...
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond 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. Chinese team aims to put ‘smart’ diabetes probiotic on US shelves within 2 years Chinese researchers have engineered a probiotic that ...
