News - South China Morning Post

Nasa’s robotic Perseverance rover has now driven farther than any other vehicle on the surface of any world other than Earth, racking up 45.2km (28.1 miles) since arriving on Mars in 2021, the US space agency said on Tuesday. The car-sized, six-wheeled rover reached the milestone 5½ years into its mission to explore if conditions conducive to microbial life ever existed on Earth’s neighbour. In do...

Beijing and Moscow vowed deeper maritime and logistical cooperation to protect shipping lanes and energy supplies, as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Nikolai Patrushev, chairman of the Russian Maritime Board in the Chinese capital on Monday. “China stands ready to work with Russia to align maritime strategies and leverage their complementary strengths to protect each other’s legitimate mariti...

A former department head of Hong Kong’s fintech hub Cyberport has been granted bail after being charged with accepting bribes to help an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up secure HK$20 million in funding from a government-subsidised programme. Alice So Nga-lai, 59, former head of entrepreneurship of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company, was accused of receiving advantages such as flight t...

Many rural projects in Hong Kong start with funding, run for a year or two, then disappear when the money runs out. Good Old Soil, a community organisation, is trying to take a different approach on Lantau. Supported by the non-profit Land Education Foundation, the organisation works with farmers, young people, restaurants, craftspeople and businesses to build a local economy that can sustain itse...

China is seeking public comments on draft rules that would streamline procedures for “low-risk” exports of aviation components such as engines and inertial navigation systems to give the industry a competitive boost. Such avionics currently are classified by Chinese authorities as “dual-use” items, which can serve both civilian and military purposes, and are subject to strict export licensing requ...

Haidilao International Holding has agreed to provide its founder, Zhang Yong, with a one-month loan of up to the Hong Kong dollar equivalent of 100 million yuan (US$14.9 million), a move that has raised market speculation as investors closely watch Beijing’s October 22 deadline for offshore trust taxation. The Hong Kong-listed hotpot chain said in a stock exchange filing on Monday night that it wo...

A mysterious glow of high-energy light in our Milky Way galaxy could be the remains of an extremely rare cosmic “gold factory”, according to a new study by Chinese and US researchers. The collision of two orbiting neutron stars – dead stars so dense that a teaspoon of their matter would weigh a billion tonnes – may have shone as brightly as Jupiter in the sky, they wrote in a paper posted last wee...

Hong Kong’s new Huanggang Port recorded 79,500 passenger movements and 8,000 vehicle movements on its first day of operations, with transport officials preparing for heavier flows expected during the coming holiday weekend. Statistics from the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection showed 41,300 passenger trips entered Hong Kong through the rebuilt checkpoint on Monday, whi...

As missiles and drones take a bigger role in modern warfare, major defence contractors gathered in Washington this week to showcase their latest advances in the technologies – and systems to counter them. The three-day Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition, which opened on Monday, is one of the largest ground-based weapons shows in the US. This year there was a...

The People’s Bank of China on Tuesday gave its approval to Visa to make preparations for a locally registered bank card clearing organisation, calling the move a major step in the country’s financial opening up in an online statement. The US card payment giant will have one year to finish its advance arrangements, after which it may submit an application to begin operations, the central bank added...

Hong Kong police have stepped up their investigation into the disappearance of the ashes of late Cantopop diva Anita Mui Yim-fong by committing more resources and manpower to the case. Mui’s family had revealed over the weekend that the urn containing the singer’s remains was discovered to be missing from Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island three months ago, complaining that police had made “no prog...

It was a detour that saved his life. Malaysian Low Hock Meng, a 71-year-old veteran trekker, had set off on his own in Nepal. He wanted to explore the Tamang trail, Langtang Valley and Gosaikunda. Along his journey, he made the decision to visit the Nagathali viewpoint for a glimpse of Tibet on August 25. Low then made his way down towards Thuman en route to Lingling in Nepal’s Bagmati province on...

A Hong Kong therapy-dog programme run by one staff member and 65 volunteers with their dogs is fully booked until February 2027, as demand from schools, hospitals and elderly homes continues to outstrip the available visiting slots. Animals Asia’s Dr Dog and Professor Paws programmes rely on volunteers who give up their time, shoulder much of the cost of transporting their dogs and return regularl...

A Chinese centenarian leads a happy, healthy life despite a habit generally considered “unhealthy”, prompting curious reactions online. A 101-year-old great-grandfather in eastern China’s Zhejiang province recently went viral for his love of drinking large amounts of Coca-Cola and Sprite. While young people in China embrace healthy lifestyles – eating foods inspired by traditional Chinese medicine...

For Singaporean civil servant Clare*, finding a suitable lifelong partner has been an uphill battle. Swiping on dating apps soon became a chore after multiple unsuccessful first dates, so when the government launched its own platform, the 32-year-old was all for it. “It’s like ‘Why not?’, and I think it does have a few screening procedures so it might save you some trouble like having to deal with...

Ripe mangosteen and rambutan hang unpicked from trees in eastern Thailand, where a shortage of migrant workers is forcing growers to decide which crops are valuable enough to harvest and which will be left to rot. For Jomsak Putirattana, who also grows durian in Chanthaburi province, the departure of his five Cambodian workers after a border dispute disrupted crossings has intensified competition...

Over the coming weeks, Hong Kong and Shenzhen will host two major gatherings of Asia-Pacific decision-makers. Hong Kong’s first Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting takes place on October 20-21, with around 500 visitors expected, while Shenzhen hosts the Apec Economic Leaders’ Week next month. These Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings will bring international visitors to two neighbouring c...

Shares in Chinese companies present better opportunities today than at other times, a disciple of legendary investor Charlie Munger said in a rare reflection on the world’s second-largest economy amid tensions with the US and the ongoing artificial intelligence race. The comments by Li Lu, Chinese-American founder and chairman of Seattle-based value investment firm Himalaya Capital, came amid dive...

China Mobile, one of the country’s state-backed telecoms giants, has tripled the capacity of its largest intelligent computing hub in northern Inner Mongolia, amid Beijing’s push to boost digital infrastructure to power the country’s artificial intelligence ambitions. The expansion of its data centre in Hohhot was recently completed, with total processing capacity increased to 20,100 petaflops, ac...

Some senior American executives are lukewarm about attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and related business events in Shenzhen next month, according to people familiar with the matter. They cited limited scheduling details, few expected breakthroughs and a lack of opportunity for meaningful engagement. Beijing has invited multiple US business leaders – particularly those who joi...

Hong Kong travel agencies and border shops have capitalised on the opening of the revamped Huanggang Port as thousands of visitors poured through the control point, with special tours on offer and shopkeepers reporting brisk business. Agents said the port’s 24-hour joint clearance arrangements could give cross-border tourism a major boost, although crowd control measures dampened trade at the chec...

Investor Ben Lindsay relocated with his wife, dog in tow, from Sydney to Singapore in March, with his sights set on growing venture capital firm Investible from an Australian outfit into an Asia-Pacific one. Lindsay is among a growing number of investors, businessmen and tech founders from down under who are setting up bases and relocating to Singapore, Dubai and San Francisco to expand their comp...

Nato’s top military commander said the alliance is “ready to fight tonight” if it is attacked, as European officials warn Russia could test Nato’s defences with increased covert attacks or a limited military incursion. European nations have in recent months faced an escalation of covert Russian activity, including an arson attack on an Estonian defence company and a failed attempt to attack a Ukra...

China’s finance minister, Lan Foan, will deliver a keynote speech, while presentations by three prominent financial institutions will be among the highlights of next week’s Apec meeting in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. A draft agenda obtained by the SCMP on Monday listed a series of programmes for finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s 21 member econo...