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News - South China Morning Post

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Seoul demands truth over student’s Cambodia torture...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

South Korean police plan to conduct a joint autopsy with Cambodian authorities on a Korean college student who was kidnapped and allegedly tortured to death, officials said on Sunday, amid rising concerns over similar crimes against Koreans in the Southeast Asian country.The move comes as diplomatic tensions between the two nations escalated over organised crime involving online scams and kidnappings targeting South Korean nationals. The Gyeongbuk provincial police agency said it will carry

What makes the Xinjiang-Tibet mega railway China’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Construction is set to begin next month on a monumental railway linking Hotan in Xinjiang with Lhasa in Tibet – one of China’s most ambitious infrastructure projects to date. The 1,980km (1,230 miles) line has been dubbed one of the “projects of the century” for the extreme engineering challenges it presents and the massive investment required. Traversing mountain ranges, glaciers and permafrost zones at altitudes averaging above 4,500 metres (14,764 feet), it will connect the two autonomous...

Singapore singer praised for anonymous US$1.4 million...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun Yanzi has donated more than 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) to a charity fund in China over the past decade, winning admiration on social media. Top Chinese diva Han Hong revealed that the Lion City singer was behind the previously anonymous donations while introducing Sun as a guest at Han’s Beijing concert on October 7, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported. Han established the Beijing Han Hong Love Charity Foundation in 2012. It mainly engages in medical,...

China’s car dealers feel squeeze between price war,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Chinese car dealers, once the beneficiaries of the country’s booming automotive market, are facing a bleak future as they fall victim to a brutal price war and a growing preference for e-commerce sales among manufacturers and shoppers. The industry’s 14 major participants reported a 10 per cent sales slump in the first half of 2025, following an 18 per cent year-on-year decline in 2024, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). Cui Dongshu, general secretary of the...

Hong Kong’s Paul Chan to attend IMF, World Bank...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Hong Kong’s finance chief will attend the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington for the first time since 2019, despite a dramatic re-escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday that in addition to the two meetings, which he will attend as part of China’s delegation, he would join other events to promote the city’s strengths and development efforts while also addressing “topics of concern”. In a

Chinese-Dutch team discovers how single cell can give...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Scientists in China and the Netherlands say they have discovered how a single plant cell can regenerate into an entirely new plant by flipping two genetic switches. They said the findings could help scientists develop technologies to quickly regenerate high-yield resilient crops to safeguard global food security and offer cross-species insights into regenerative medicine in humans. Researchers at Shandong Agricultural University and BGI-Research in China collaborated with peers at Radboud...

China AI professor goes viral over good looks,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

A young associate professor at a prestigious Chinese university has gone viral on social media after a video of her teaching generative artificial intelligence (AI) captivated viewers. She has also sparked an online discussion about her youthful appearance and academic credentials. He Jing, who is in her mid-30s, is a teacher at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences at Beihang University. Beihang University (BUAA) was established in 1952 and is one of China’s

Paedophile singer Ian Watkins killed in UK’s ‘Monster...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Ian Watkins, the former frontman of the British rock band Lostprophets, was killed on Saturday in a prison attack in England, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for multiple sex crimes against children. Watkins, 48, pleaded guilty in November 2013 to 13 child sex offences – including making or possessing child pornographic images, sexually assaulting at least one child under 13 and attempting to rape a baby. He was sentenced the following month for what the judge called “new depths of...

Hong Kong can expect fewer but stronger typhoons in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Hong Kong can expect fewer but stronger typhoons in the future, a former assistant director of the Observatory has warned, with storms lasting longer and potentially becoming even more destructive than in the past. Leung Wing-mo, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Meteorological Society, said the force of waves from such storms would require people in coastal areas to use wooden panels to secure windows and glass doors instead of tape, while more breakwater barriers would be needed. “If we follow

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: student who helps father...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

At just 23, university student Bianca Sadhwani has become a familiar face on Hong Kong’s streets, her smile and kindness lighting up evenings as she hands out meals to the homeless alongside her father. The young volunteer, a finalist in this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards in the Youth category, has turned her family’s compassion into a bridge that connects cultures and hearts. The Spirit of Hong Kong Awards is co-organised by the South China Morning Post and Sino Group to recognise the...

Helicopter spins out of control and crashes into...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

A helicopter that was coasting above a popular Southern California beach on Saturday suddenly lost control and began spiralling in mid-air, eventually losing altitude and slamming into a row of palms as stunned sunbathers and beachgoers looked on. Multiple videos posted online show the aircraft twirling clockwise above Huntington Beach, then plunging towards the edge of the beach, where it becomes wedged between palms and a staircase near Pacific Coast Highway. The Huntington Beach Fire...

The mortal risks faced by Hong Kong’s intensely...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Senior Superintendent Raymond Suryanto Chin-chiu has been disposing of bombs in Hong Kong for 18 years, having cleared more than 1,000 explosives, from unexploded wartime bombs to smuggled fireworks. Yet he can never be 100 per cent sure of completing each task without a fatal detonation. A bomb can explode anytime when trained officers use fire to incinerate the explosives inside, which is a risk that cannot be calculated despite meticulous planning, and tried and true methods. “I can only

Why Kenya’s swap of dollar loans for Chinese yuan...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Kenya has converted its US dollar-denominated railway loans from China into the Chinese yuan, not only securing debt relief but also fitting into Beijing’s long-term goal of internationalising its currency. Analysts said the decision, announced by Kenya last week, paved the way for other debt-stressed African countries and could ultimately draw them closer to China. Kenyan Treasury Minister John Mbadi said on Tuesday that the country’s US$5 billion Chinese railway loans had been converted to...

Why ‘garage kit’ toy expos draw huge crowds in China

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

More than 120,000 fans gathered in Shanghai on October 2 and 3 to attend one of China’s biggest expos for toys and garage kits – homemade resin model figures. The Wonder Festival, founded by a Japanese toy company and at first only staged in Japan, has also been staged in Shanghai since 2018, attracting thousands of Chinese fans. The Post spoke with fans and exhibitors at the fair to learn more about the event’s appeal.

As Hong Kong retail sales recover, can landlords...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Ever since Hong Kong’s retail sector shook off 14 months of consecutive declines in May, analysts have been speculating whether the city’s landlords and developers can look forward to rental increases sooner rather than later. Hong Kong retailers such as Bakehouse and Korean food and beverage operator Seoul Recipe Group are more optimistic these days, as locals and tourists alike start to spend more in the city. However, a meaningful recovery in rents for high street shops and prime shopping...

CCTV drama Silent Honour marks rare salute to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Patriotic films in mainland China have long celebrated undercover agents of the Communist Party, their operations portrayed as pivotal to securing victory in the 1940s civil war against the Kuomintang and the founding of the People’s Republic. Less known are the clandestine activities carried out by these agents in Taiwan, where their efforts met with a harsh fate. Covert operations there were systematically crushed by the KMT, resulting in the capture and execution of many operatives. But...

6 steps democracies must take to match China on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

Global energy investment is projected to reach US$3.3 trillion this year, with some US$2.2 trillion directed towards clean technologies, double the amount flowing into fossil fuels. Yet beneath these impressive figures, a crisis of confidence is unfolding. During the first half of this year alone, companies cancelled or scaled back more than US$22 billion in clean energy projects in the United States. These included high-profile battery facilities, storage systems and electric vehicle

Hong Kong in fight for foreign university students as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

The number of international first-year students at Hong Kong’s public universities remained below pre-pandemic levels in the last academic year despite the government doubling quotas for non-locals, with an admissions official saying Singapore has emerged as a growing education powerhouse. The official from a local university also said some overseas students preferred to study in Singapore over Hong Kong because the city state’s strong rankings reflected its educational status. In Hong Kong,...

China woman cancels nuptials, demands US$4,200 ‘hug...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/12

A woman in central China who accepted a betrothal gift of 200,000 yuan (US$28,000) and later regretted the engagement agreed to return the money. However, her already shocked husband-to-be was then doubly taken aback when the woman asked him to deduct 30,000 yuan (US$4,200) as a “hugging fee”, triggering a public backlash against her. The incident, reported by Henan TV, has attracted 23 million views on mainland social media. It is a common practice in China that the groom’s family pays an...

Will China’s next 5-year plan rewrite its...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/11

As China drafts its 15th five-year plan – the next entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development over more than seven decades – we examine how these documents inform and reflect high-level policy priorities, what to expect in the coming iteration and how infrastructure spending and investment could evolve to meet the demands of a new era. For more stories in this ongoing series, click here. To view SCMP Plus Factsheets on the 15th five-year-plan

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