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China’s role in Cabo Verde’s historic World Cup draw...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

On Monday, thousands of Cabo Verdeans poured out onto the streets of their capital, Praia, to celebrate the national football team’s shock draw against Spain at the World Cup, beating drums, blowing horns and dancing.For Cabo Verde, an archipelago country of 500,000 people located off the coast of West Africa, a stalemate with former World Cup champions is as good as a win. President Jose Maria Neves described it as a defining moment for the country, which became independent from Portugal in...

Sri Lanka arrests son of ex-president Mahinda...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

The son of Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges, the anti-bribery commission said, the latest case to target the once all-powerful political clan. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 38, is accused of tapping state funds for overseas training during his career as a naval officer. The Bribery Commission said he was being investigated for having risen through the ranks without the necessary qualifications and going to Britain for government-funded

Trump pauses spy chief hearing to secure pick for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

US President Donald Trump suspended a Senate hearing on Jay Clayton’s nomination for intelligence chief, saying on Wednesday he wanted to be sure Clayton’s current post as prosecutor would be filled by the man of his choosing. In a game of musical chairs, Trump picked Clayton, who headed the Securities and Exchange Commission during the president’s first term in office, as his director of national intelligence (DNI). Clayton has served as US attorney for the Southern District of New York –

Hong Kong’s John Lee pledges 10-fold expansion of new...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Hong Kong’s leader has vowed to expand its proposed university town near the border by tenfold to 1,000 hectares from its current size, after Beijing’s point man on local affairs endorsed the concept of linking education with industry, while recognising the city’s economic and innovation and technology (I&T) development. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also said on Wednesday that Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, had pointed out that the Northern Metropolis...

The white paper making China’s case for new rules for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

China has pitched itself as a champion of rule-making for new frontiers, including AI and outer space, calling for a “more just and equitable” world order as humanity navigates “dangerous waters”. In a policy document released on Wednesday, Beijing said it would continue to uphold the “central” role of the United Nations in the global governance of those emerging sectors. The document, a white paper called “More Just and Equitable Global Governance: China’s Principles, Proposals and Actions”,...

Fifa invites South Korean YouTuber targeted by racist...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Fifa has extended an official invitation to a South Korean YouTuber to attend her country’s World Cup match against Mexico on Thursday after she was subjected to a racist gesture during a recent game. The football governing body said the match, which falls on the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, will be used to deliver a “message of inclusion and respect”. The UN established the observance in 2021 to tackle what it called the “exponential spread” of hate speech, xenophobia and...

Ex-China military dog handler has 5 million online...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

A retired military dog handler in China has become an online pet-saving sensation by curing cats and dogs in a spartan clinic with little medical equipment. Qian Yong, who opened the clinic in rural Tangshan, northern Hebei province, has earned the nickname Hua Tuo in the Vets Field, the China News Service reported. Hua Tuo was a Chinese doctor who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty (25-220) and is generally regarded by the public as a Divine Doctor because of his great medical...

Indonesia’s rupiah rebounds but rate rises threaten...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Indonesia’s rupiah rallied from a historic low this week, its stock market surged and a closely watched sovereign wealth fund bond offering was oversubscribed, offering Southeast Asia’s largest economy a reprieve after months of asset pressure. But economists have warned that the relief may come at a cost as the same forces helping stabilise the rupiah, including higher interest rates and easing external pressure, could deepen financial strain on the country’s shrinking middle class and weigh

Ex-China military dog handler offers low-cost pet...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Over 1,100 foreigners granted ‘anti-woke’ Russian...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Over 1,100 foreign citizens received Russian visas last year for their declared commitment to “traditional values”, state media reported on Wednesday, a track opened as Moscow hardens its anti-liberal narrative amid the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has for years denounced anything that goes against what he calls “traditional family values” as unRussian – including everything from LGBTQ rights to mixed-gender bathrooms – portraying them as a sign of the moral decadence of

Hong Kong van driver arrested over deaths of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Hong Kong police have arrested a van driver after his vehicle collided with a taxi on a highway, killing two passengers, an off-duty firefighter and his wife. The Fire Services Department said on Wednesday it was “deeply saddened” by the deaths of the 38-year-old from Kwun Tong Fire Station and his 35-year-old wife. The department extended its “deepest condolences” to their families and said it would offer help where possible. The crash on the eastbound Tsing Sha Highway near Hoi Lai Estate

Top PLA graft-buster urges more loyalty, ‘political...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

The PLA’s top anti-graft officer concluded unprecedented training for senior military officials in Beijing on Tuesday by urging continuing efforts to boost loyalty to the Communist Party and “political rectification”. Zhang Shengmin, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) – China’s top military decision-making body – said the first-of-its-kind training course had sharpened participants’ ideological transformation and sense of responsibility. “We should greet the 100th

US Navy flexes soft power in ‘renewed pivot’ to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

The US Navy has launched its largest annual humanitarian mission in the Indo-Pacific with a renewed focus on Southeast Asia, in what analysts described as part of Washington’s effort to rebuild confidence and project soft power in a region central to its rivalry with China. Pacific Partnership 2026, the US Navy’s largest annual maritime humanitarian and civic assistance effort in the Indo-Pacific, began after US personnel departed San Diego on May 27 for a mission-coordinating hub in the...

In cyberfriendly Asia, online crime dominates...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Illegal cyber activities accounted for around a third of all crimes recorded in some Asian countries, with scams the most widespread and financially damaging, according to a new Interpol report. The global policing agency’s latest cyber threat assessment cited the increasing dominance of online crimes compared to traditional illicit activity, describing the activities as “persistent, large-scale challenges affecting multiple jurisdictions” linked to the rapid adoption of digital...

China vows new legal shield that could counter US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

China has vowed to strengthen legal protections against unilateral sanctions, according to Vice-Premier He Lifeng, as Beijing moves to build a robust legal shield for its financial system and companies facing rising geopolitical risks. Addressing the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai on Wednesday, He said China would incorporate blocking and countermeasure provisions into upcoming financial legislation and expand legal tools to counter what it considers to be improper extraterritorial sanctions. “We...

AI boom sparks Kingboard subsidiary’s US$1.5 billion...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Riding on a buoyant stock market for artificial intelligence hardware components, Kingboard Holdings plans to raise HK$11.77 billion (US$1.5 billion) by selling a stake in its listed subsidiary, Kingboard Laminates Holdings, one of the world’s biggest makers of laminate materials used in circuit boards for AI servers. The company said the proceeds would be used to expand business and production capacity to meet surging demand. The fundraising comes as AI server backlogs hit record highs at

Geopolitics is complicating the green transition –...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

The recent escalation in the Middle East has produced an unforeseen winner. The conflict has rekindled worries about logistics and energy security, prompting governments and businesses to reconsider their reliance on fossil fuels and fragile supply routes. This has sped up the move towards renewable energy. And the principal beneficiary of this shift is China. The strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz is well understood. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil trade passes through this...

Norway’s crown princess has ‘successful’ lung transplant

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Norway’s ⁠Crown Princess Mette-Marit has undergone ⁠a successful lung transplant and is recovering ⁠from the procedure, the royal household said in a statement on Wednesday. The 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs and leads to a reduced oxygen uptake. The hospital said the transplant had “so far” been successful, ‌in a statement provided by the palace, but...

3 dead, no apology: US strike strains relations with...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

For years, Washington described India as an indispensable partner, a democratic counterweight to China and a strategic anchor in the Indo-Pacific. Then the US Navy killed three Indian sailors and America’s top diplomat could not even bring himself to apologise. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar raised the deaths directly with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call last Friday, reiterating what he called India’s “strong protest” and declaring, in a later social media...

Could AI algorithms hold China’s solution for global...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

To win the global war of words over Tibet, China’s western autonomous region that repeatedly makes international headlines, Beijing must stop fighting the West’s algorithms and start adapting to them. That was the blunt assessment of Zachary Lundquist, an American media professional with the state-run China International Communications Group (CICG), speaking in Lhasa, capital of China’s Tibetan autonomous region, on Tuesday. Lundquist – better known by his Chinese name, Huang Hao – was...

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