News - South China Morning Post

Eight more companies from countries belonging to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative have applied to list in Hong Kong, the city’s trade promotion chief has revealed. Frederick Ma Si-hang, chairman of the Trade Development Council, also said on Monday the city’s economy would benefit from improving China-US ties. Speaking on the sidelines of the Global Youth Powerhouse Summit, Ma said interest in H...

Chinese doctors have performed an unprecedented surgery to save an unborn child who developed a fast-growing tumour. A medical team from Shenzhen and Hong Kong recently completed a challenging, precise reduction of a foetal chest tumour while the baby was still in the womb, offering new hope to families facing similarly dire prognoses. Jointly performed by doctors from Shenzhen Baoan Women’s and C...

Taipei’s top diplomat is in Arizona this week to open a de facto consulate and tour the state’s semiconductor corridor, even as US President Donald Trump has just wrapped up the pageantry of a state visit for President Xi Jinping. Lin Chia-lung, Taiwan’s foreign minister, arrived in Phoenix late on Saturday for a three-day visit that highlights the deepening economic ties between Washington and Ta...

Malaysia was aflush with Formula One fever this weekend, rekindling talk of permanently bringing the race back to the Southeast Asian nation after a long hiatus – despite days of traffic chaos that left thousands of fans stranded for hours. More than 260,000 people flocked to Sepang International Circuit in Selangor state for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was originally meant to be held in April b...

The mother of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has accused her former in-laws of living off her family’s wealth without contributing anything to her grandchildren. Cheung Yin-fa testified in the High Court on Monday about the relationship between her daughter, ex-son-in-law Alex Kwong Kong-chi, and his family in the years leading up to the influencer’s slaying in February 2023. Kwong,...

Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Hospital launched its first phase of operations, treating nearly 300 patients at its family medicine centre on Monday morning, with the daily number projected to reach 1,800 by the end of the year. While some patients expressed satisfaction about the service, lawmakers called for more frequent connecting transport services and better publicity on transit options. Positioned to...

A former South Korean lawmaker has called for the abolition of the military exemption system granted to outstanding national athletes, arguing that military service should not be used as an incentive for achievements in sports or the arts. Yoo Seong-min’s remarks came amid controversy over comments made by members of South Korea’s men’s football team, who recently won its fourth consecutive Asian...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘No brainer’: growing trend of Chinese tourists booking business-class flights 2. US to deploy NMESIS anti-ship system on Japanese island closest to Taiwan 3. Chinese art takes long march home from U...

DFI Retail, the food and beverage unit of Hong Kong-headquartered conglomerate Jardine Matheson, is looking to sell its mall at The Peak, one of the city’s wealthiest neighbourhoods. The entire commercial portion of the Dairy Farm Guildford Road Shopping Centre will be sold via a public tender closing at noon on November 19, according to sole agent CBRE. The property is near The Peak campus of the...

Hong Kong has unveiled a four-step artificial intelligence (AI) “talent ladder” strategy to counter entry-level job shock and foster industry leaders, viewing the technology as a “catalyst, not a threat”. Permanent Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Kevin Choi Kit-ming warned on Monday that the “entry-level shock” was real because AI performed well in many routine tasks that once ma...

Chinese scientists have built a small, stable co-production plant that uses one system to extract hydrogen and fresh water from seawater, while also recovering uranium and bromine and improving electricity use efficiency by about 15 per cent. The team, led by Deng Dehui and Liu Yanting from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, improved on an existing technology th...

India is taking a more direct role in efforts to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, engaging both sides on issues including shipping and reducing hostilities, Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar has said. Speaking at a security conference over the weekend, Jaishankar said India in recent months has become “a little bit more involved beyond advocacy”. The comments point to a more a...

Hong Kong’s largest public hospital, built on the former airport site in Kai Tak, will begin its first phase of operation on Monday after more than a decade of planning and preparation. The South China Morning Post looks at the new hospital’s key features and what its opening means for the city’s healthcare development. 1. What makes Kai Tak Hospital special? With a gross floor area of about 500,0...

Samoa’s prime minister apologised on Monday after video surfaced showing him saying “Heil Hitler” and making a Nazi gesture. Prime Minister La’auli Leuatea Schmidt said the footage was from a family gathering almost 20 years old and was never meant to see the light of day. “The footage shows me using the words ‘Heil Hitler’ and participating in a gesture associated with Nazi Germany in a private f...

An elderly man in central China, who has spent the past 21 years making ends meet as a scavenger, experienced a remarkable stroke of luck when he discovered that his pension fund contained over 420,000 yuan (US$63,000). In late September, the 71-year-old man, surnamed Ru, received a bank card linked to his pension account, which revealed a balance of 424,204 yuan, as reported by Changde Daily. Com...

Housewife May and her three children were overjoyed last September when they moved into a 200 sq ft subdivided flat in Kwai Tsing, a Hong Kong district with one of the city’s lowest average monthly household incomes. For years, the 50-year-old single parent had lived in a squatter hut with her son and two daughters, where they had to climb hundreds of stairs daily. They later moved into a 100 sq f...

Malaysians delight in visiting family and friends, so much so that these visits made up 44 per cent of domestic travel. They enjoy seeing their loved ones even more than shopping (21.6 per cent) and holidaying (13 per cent), as shown in the latest numbers from the Statistics Department on domestic tourism in the second quarter of this year. The 44 per cent recorded is even higher than last year’s...

FBI Director Kash Patel is engaged to his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, the pair announced in a post to X on Sunday evening. Wilkins, 27, posted a black-and-white photo of herself standing with Patel, 46, flashing her hand in front of them to show off her ring with the caption: “Went and got the law involved”. The two have been dating since before Patel took over as head of the FBI in...

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is looking to secure more laboratory space in the Northern Metropolis university town to expand its research capacity and attract talent, its new vice-president for research has said. Professor Anderson Shum Ho-cheung, who took up the vice presidency in August, also called for more government funding, saying grant applications took time and returns on investment c...

A Laotian citizen deported by the United States to eSwatini under Donald Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was released from a maximum-security prison in the African nation on Sunday after being held there for more than a year, his lawyer said. Phone Chomsavanh was among five immigrants deported to eSwatini – where he has no ties – in July 2025, in the early days of the Trump administra...

Hong Kong refrained from setting overly rigid economic indicators in its first five-year plan to avoid fuelling concerns that it was moving towards a planned economy, according to the city’s constitutional affairs minister. The current priority should be hitting targets instead of dwelling on accountability mechanisms for potential shortcomings, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Ja...

Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim is expected to roll out a populist budget on Friday aimed at placating voter concerns over the cost of living and access to essential services, experts say, as the prime minister seeks to shore up support ahead of a general election that could be called as soon as next year. Anwar’s coalition government is under mounting pressure amid a deepening feud with Umno. The Malay...

A search continued on Sunday off the Massachusetts coast for an air ambulance carrying six people that disappeared during a flight from Bermuda to Boston as authorities planned to comb the seabed, the US Coast Guard said. The Federal Aviation Administration contacted the coastguard at 2am on Saturday saying it had lost contact with the Gulfstream G100 carrying four Canadians and two Bermudian nati...

Zheng Yongnian is a political scientist in China and a government adviser. His academic work is mainly about contemporary China, particularly politics, the country’s transformation and its external relations. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. Many have offered a lukewarm assessment of the Xi-Trump summit in Washington, citing...

The US Air Force has removed its bombers stationed at a US-run military airbase in England used to strike Iran following an investigation into a planned terror attack at the RAF Fairford base. The bombers were redeployed back to their home bases in the United States, according to a Pentagon official who was not authorised to discuss sensitive military movements and spoke on Sunday on condition of...