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Helium supply shock threatens Asian chipmakers as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

The Iran war is rattling Asian chipmakers as damage to Qatar’s gas facilities chokes off supplies of helium, an essential ingredient in manufacturing products ranging from smartphones to medical scanners. Analysts warn that the supply disruption is expected to trigger ripple effects across the global economy for some time. Pradeep Philip, head of Deloitte Access Economics, said that while there had been considerable focus on the energy shock arising from the conflict, the crisis over helium...

Work from home, but we’re watching: Indonesia,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Indonesia and Malaysia have ordered civil servants to work from home to save fuel amid the Iran war but with digital surveillance measures far stricter than those used during the pandemic. Civil servants in Indonesia must activate location tracking and respond to work communications within five minutes. Their Malaysian counterparts must log into a geolocation monitoring system every hour. Those who fail to comply face escalating sanctions. The work-from-home policies, announced within days of...

Hong Kong set for thunderstorms and showers on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong is expected to be hit by thunderstorms and showers on Saturday, with the weather to remain unsettled for the rest of the Easter holiday, the local forecaster has warned. The Hong Kong Observatory said on Friday that occasional showers – which would be heavier at times – and some fast-moving thunderstorms brought by a trough of low pressure would

Hong Kong customs seizes HK$280,000 worth of dried...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Hong Kong customs officers have seized about 162kg of suspected dried shark fins from protected species worth about HK$280,000 (US$35,720) from Panama at the airport. The Customs and Excise Department said on Friday that officers inspected an air consignment declared as dried fish maw arriving from the country the day before. Upon inspection, officers found six boxes of suspected scheduled dried shark fins, weighing about 162kg (357lbs), inside the consignment. The case has been handed over

3 reasons Xi-Trump summit won’t be a waste of time...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

The Trump administration has assured us that the long-awaited summit in Beijing between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump will now be held on May 14 to 15. Whether you believe the meeting will go ahead is up to you. Beijing has not confirmed it, but neither has it contradicted the White House. That is more than can be said for Tehran’s brutal response to White House claims that US-Iran peace negotiations are under way. Even if we take the White House summit claim at face

Beijing hails US cooperation as ICE returns suspected...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

A Chinese fugitive suspected of drug-related crimes has been repatriated from the United States and handed to police in China, the first such case in years, according to state media. The suspect was returned to China by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) via cooperation channels between the two countries, based on information provided by Chinese narcotics control authorities, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday, citing the Ministry of Public Security. The Chinese national,...

Iran says shot down F-35 fighter jet with new defence...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Iran on Friday said it shot down an F-35 fighter jet. A statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s elite military force, said the fighter jet was shot down over Iranian airspace by a new, advanced defence system. There was no initial confirmation of the incident from the United States, which has been waging war against Iran alongside Israel since February 28. The IRGC said the F-35 was the second to have been shot down. “Due to the complete destruction of the aircraft,...

Revamped transport fare scheme triggers concerns...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Hong Kong’s elderly residents have raised concerns about the financial burden placed on their low-income peers under a revised HK$2 (26 US cents) transport fare scheme that came into force on Friday, with some avoiding higher-charging, long-route buses. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said the implementation of the new arrangements had gone smoothly on the first day. He also stressed that the government was still subsidising a large part of the fares and the saved funds

Operation Santa Claus: Maxim’s ramps up programmes,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

A major Hong Kong catering and restaurant conglomerate has stepped up its annual fundraising efforts to provide emergency relief to those affected by the deadly Tai Po fire and long-term community projects for vulnerable groups. For more than 18 years, Maxim’s Group has supported Operation Santa Claus (OSC), an annual charitable fundraising initiative organised by the South China Morning Post and public broadcaster RTHK. “The (OSC’s) mission of ‘unlocking the city’s spirit of giving’ strongly...

3 Chinese nationals arrested in Malaysia over fake US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Fourteen Chinese nationals and a Malaysian man have been detained by the immigration department for various offences in Kuala Lumpur. In the first case, three Chinese nationals were detained for using fake passes as supporting documents to obtain entry visas to the United States. Immigration director general Zakaria Shaaban said the arrests were made following intelligence gathering and an enforcement operation conducted on Wednesday. “A team from the enforcement division detained one man and...

Chinese airlines shed weight, add flights over Russia...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

From controlling the weight of aircraft to sending more flights to Europe via Russian airspace, Chinese airlines have adopted a range of measures in response to the surge in oil prices resulting from the Middle East conflict that threatens to crimp their razor-thin margins. A number of carriers, including China Eastern Airlines, have been enforcing more precise and complex cost management measures in recent weeks to save fuel, according to industry insiders. They include stricter load and

US delays Japan’s Tomahawk missile supplies as Iran...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Japan’s order for hundreds of Tomahawk missiles from the US is under threat as the American-Israeli war with Iran burns through inventories, the latest example of how the conflict is drawing in supplies and troops at the expense of defending against Washington’s primary strategic rival, China. Tomahawk missiles are a centrepiece of Tokyo’s new strategy of equipping itself with long-range strike capabilities to deal with challenges from China and North Korea. But Washington has informed Tokyo...

Trump’s ‘Stone Age’ threats against Iran spark war...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Threatening to destroy Iran’s electricity grid and to reduce the country of 90 million to destitution, US President Donald Trump is shattering precedent by not just accepting but gloating about acts seen as potential war crimes. The consequences for Trump, at least in the near term, are probably none, experts say, as his administration works hard to undermine international institutions tasked with keeping norms. The Geneva Conventions governing the laws of war, agreed following World War II,...

Indonesia rebalances energy policy as Iran war spurs...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Indonesia is accelerating the transition to clean and renewable energy while pushing for more investments in oil and gas projects, critical minerals and rare earth mining, amid the global energy crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict. In the past week, Jakarta signed a raft of deals with international partners to develop renewable and fossil fuel projects, aimed at achieving energy security as an insurance against the impact of heightened geopolitical tensions. Green energy could also...

China launches heavyweight rocket to challenge...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

China’s attempt to launch its most powerful privately developed rocket failed on Friday after the vehicle suffered a flight anomaly. The Tianlong-3 rocket is being developed in hopes of breaking a key bottleneck in the country’s roll-out of internet satellite megaconstellations to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. The Tianlong-3, built by Beijing-based start-up Space Pioneer and seen as China’s answer to the US company’s workhorse, the reusable Falcon 9, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite...

From general to Myanmar president: Min Aung Hlaing’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

His makeover from junta chief to president now complete, Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing may seek to tiptoe back into the international fold as a civilian leader. But critics say the change is just a “veneer” that poses a challenge for Asean, the regional bloc that has frozen out Myanmar from its top summits, while its military wages war on its own people. On Friday, a parliament stuffed with military loyalists made Min Aung Hlaing president. They were put there by an election held five years after...

Tesla outraces China’s BYD in pure electric car sales...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Tesla has regained the global pure electric vehicle (EV) crown for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2024, after its deliveries rose 6.5 per cent year on year in the three months ending March. The modest increase was enough for the US carmaker to beat China’s EV king BYD, which posted a 25.5 per cent drop in sales during the first quarter of 2026. Tesla’s deliveries worldwide between January and March hit 358,023 units, it said in a statement on Thursday. Tesla builds only pure

Chinese man blasts ghost stories over speakers for 10...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Following a dispute with his neighbour, a Chinese man resorted to blasting ghost stories for more than 10 hours a day as revenge, deliberately keeping the volume just below the legal limit, drawing widespread ridicule online. The case was revealed by the Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China. The man, surnamed Lu, and his cohabiter, surnamed Li, both from Guangzhou in Guangdong province, southern China, became embroiled in a dispute with their neighbour, surnamed Xie. The

University town to be fast-tracked, Eric Chan says...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

Hong Kong’s No 2 official has pledged to fast-track a new university town’s development following a visit to similar projects in mainland China, saying authorities will devise a strategy to attract top institutions from across the border and overseas to take part. Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki and his working group on the university town’s planning and construction, which falls under the Committee on Development of the Northern Metropolis, concluded their three-day visit to the mainland...

Trump hails ‘victories’ in Iran; China’s underwater...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/03

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Controlled escalation? Trump hails ‘victories’ in Iran but vows more strikes US President Donald Trump declared the US‑Israel war against Iran had delivered “decisive, overwhelming victories”, even as he signalled that key military...

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