News - South China Morning Post

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Artificial intelligence has rapidly evolved from an emerging technology into a cornerstone of Hong Kong's economic transformation strategy. Under the Government's AI+ initiative, further reinforced by the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the HKSAR (2026-2030), the city is stepping up efforts to i...

A protest by French secondary school students over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and crumbling facilities deepened on Thursday, with fires set outside schools and blockades in several cities. More than 160 schools were shut down on Thursday, while university students joined the protests in Paris and Marseille. The movement in the lycees, which students aged 15 to 18 attend for their fi...

The number of people applying for US unemployment benefits dipped last week to the lowest level since mid-July as lay-offs remain low and most American workers enjoy job security. The Labor Department said on Thursday that initial jobless claims ticked down to 197,000 from a revised 198,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, dropped by 2,50...

A potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait could see crossfire exchanged between two mobile rocket systems: the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars), and its mainland Chinese counterpart, the PHL-16, also known as the PCL-191. Taiwan is set to receive all 29 Himars systems from its initial orders by the end of this year, with another 82 systems approved for purchase in a follow-on...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trade, Taiwan and ‘strategic stability’: key Xi-Trump takeaways overall Here are the key takeaways from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s whirlwind 43-hour trip to the United States, his first sta...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering Latin American relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China pledges to ‘firmly support’ Cuba as US escalates pressure on Havana China will stand by Cuba in defending its sovereignty and resisting outside interference, foreign ministry spokes...

As Beijing and Washington take tentative steps to keep a military crisis from erupting, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is reshaping the top ranks of the American military while facing questions about his own future at the Pentagon. Hegseth told junior officers and sergeants on Wednesday that the military had already cut its generals and admirals by 10 per cent and planned to cut another 10 per...

In April last year, Brussels launched an obscure “import surveillance task force” to track the impact of US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China on the EU economy. The bloc was concerned that Chinese shipments bound for the United States would be diverted to Europe at lower prices, imperilling local manufacturers. Eighteen months on, the European Union is on the cusp of its own trade war...

Investigators worked on Thursday to determine why an Omani pilot stabbed the captain of a flight to Israel, causing the plane to plummet dangerously before others on board landed it in Saudi Arabia. Passengers on the FlyDubai plane – which was carrying 174 people, mostly Israelis, from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv – have described how the bloodied Indian captain managed to open the cockpit...

Thousands of Hongkongers, domestic helpers and tourists have taken advantage of the extended lantern show in Victoria Park as the National Day “golden week” holiday began in mainland China. Many people arrived early at sunset on Thursday to avoid the huge crowds that had previously gathered for the International Lantern Spectacular, organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, which has attracted mor...

Washington is “not too far away” from a production line for its F-47 sixth-generation fighter, a senior US Air Force official has said, as China presses ahead with flight-testing two different next-generation combat aircraft of its own. During a virtual event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on Monday, Brigadier General Timothy Helfrich, the service’s portfolio acquisition ex...

When the US Space Force announced on September 14 that “the US has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action”, I thought of Isaac Newton’s well-known declaration that he could not calculate the madness of people. This is the first time a country has admitted to deploying weapons in space. Today, the orbits are congested and contested with...

Anti-South Asian hate in the United States has spiked since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office for a second term, with racist, dehumanising and xenophobic slurs and narratives proliferating across both mainstream and fringe social media platforms, a US-based report has revealed. The report, titled “The Rising Tide of Anti-South Asian Hate in the United States”, by the Washington-based Centre...

People have been trying to fend off mosquitoes for thousands of years – using methods ranging from physical barriers to chemical insecticides – but a Chinese start-up is now taking pre-orders on a hi-tech solution that uses lidar detection and lasers to zap them out of the air. Photon Matrix Lab, based in Changzhou, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, said it expected initial monthly production o...

US President Donald Trump’s unilateral announcement of a “colossal” South Korean investment package has prompted Seoul to clarify that the deal is far from finalised, laying bare stark differences between the allies over the terms of their trade agreement, observers have said. On Wednesday, Trump announced that South Korea would invest in the construction of a natural gas-fired power plant in Texa...

Revellers packed promenades along Victoria Harbour to watch a 23-minute National Day fireworks display that illuminated Hong Kong’s skyline on Thursday night with cascading ribbons of light, red hearts and smiley faces. At the Wan Chai Ferry Pier, crowds clapped and cheered in awe, raising their arms to capture the spectacle on their phones. Fanny Yao, 34, travelled with her family from Fujian pro...

Tech billionaire Elon Musk will make a return to officially advising US President Donald Trump’s government by co-leading what the Pentagon called a study on the future of war. Musk served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency before departing in May last year, having publicly fallen out with Trump. In a speech at the Quantico military base, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said “Proje...

Five days after Chinese President Xi Jinping left Washington, the US State Department marked the 77th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China with a greeting short enough to fit on a calling card. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s congratulatory statement landed on Wednesday, a few hours before dawn on National Day in Beijing. It made no mention of Xi’s visit, the trade understandings reac...

While China’s iconic silk embroidery is world-renowned for its exquisite detail and painterly effects, an even more meticulous traditional technique surpasses it. Originating in Dongtai, located in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, during the Tang dynasty (618–907), hair embroidery relies on the incredibly fragile medium of human hair. With a rich history spanning over 1,000 years, a single intric...

Hongkongers flocked across the border on National Day for grocery shopping, massages and trendy 60cm-long egg tarts, citing lower prices and a wider variety of leisure activities. Immigration Department figures showed that about 192,000 residents had left Hong Kong by 4pm on Thursday, while the city had welcomed about 225,261 mainland Chinese visitors. At the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point, c...

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto replaced ⁠his foreign minister with a career diplomat on Thursday, in his second change to a top post in his cabinet in less than three weeks. Prabowo ‌in a cabinet reshuffle named as foreign minister, the ministry’s former permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, with the outgoing Sugiono appointed Human Development minister. The appointme...

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto is replacing Listyo Sigit Prabowo as the country’s police chief with the head of the National Narcotics Agency, Suyudi Ario Seto, amid reports of police transgressions under Listyo’s watch in recent years. Chairman of the House Commission on Legal Affairs Habiburokhman confirmed on Thursday morning that the house had received a presidential letter dismissing...

Japan is increasingly tapping into Ukraine’s war experience against Russia as a valuable source of intelligence on military technologies that could strengthen its defensive and offensive capabilities. A visit to Kyiv this week by senior ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and former Japanese defence minister Itsunori Onodera demonstrates this interest, analysts say, against the backdrop of To...

Hong Kong authorities are investigating the abrupt shutdown of the Hotstone Yoga chain on Thursday, with customer losses of roughly HK$430,000 (US$54,800) already reported to the consumer watchdog. The Consumer Council said that by 5pm on Thursday, it had received 27 complaints involving losses of HK$429,326 related to the closure of Hotstone Yoga. The Customs and Excise Department also posted a n...

Hong Kong can attract more global biotech investments if the city builds up a new healthcare financial model, according to AstraZeneca, a Cambridge-based multinational pharmaceutical giant. While global drug makers have been doubling down on investments in mainland China in recent years, AstraZeneca brought over 60 clinical trials to the city and invested over HK$200 million (US$25.5 million) over...