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Man dies after getting electric shock from lamp post...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

A man was killed after receiving an electric shock from a lamp post while wet following a visit to a beach on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island, with staff at a nearby resort saying the light had not been checked for 10 years. Police received a report at 8.32pm on Wednesday that the man surnamed Chan, 57, had been left unconscious after touching a lamp post. “When the deceased tried to reach for some wild berries, his hand touched a lamp post next to the resort, and his body froze as if hit by an...

China opens world’s largest ship data set that could...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

A Chinese military research team has released what it described as the first publicly available visible light-infrared ship detection data set, a resource that could sharpen maritime target recognition for drones, missiles or surveillance systems operating at night or in environments where radar is degraded or suppressed. The dual-modal ship detection (DMSD) data set contains more than 2,000 paired visible and infrared vessel images and nearly 20,000 annotated instances, according to the...

South Korea’s drying booze culture leaves bars...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

“I hardly drink at all – one or two glasses of beer at most.” Kim Min-ha, a 21-year-old student at Sookmyung Women’s University, recently headed to a cafe with fellow club members after a meet-up. They each ordered one of the newly released drinks and chatted for a while before parting ways. On the rare occasions that they do go out for beer, only a few actually order alcohol. Kim said the gatherings usually start at 6pm and end around 8 or 9pm. Kim’s experience reflects the growing spread of...

China’s weight-loss drug makers take on global giants...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

At least 10 weight-loss injections and oral pills are lining up for regulatory approval in China, in a market projected to reach about US$14 billion by 2030. Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster semaglutide, which generated about US$35 billion in global revenue last year, lost patent protection in China on March 20, clearing the way for rivals. The rush comes as China’s drug regulator accelerates approvals of innovative therapies, helped by a surge in out-licensing deals with global pharmaceutical...

Residents slam ‘shady’ tendering process, smoking on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. A public evidential hearing by an independent committee into a fire that killed 168 people at a Hong Kong estate has entered its fourth day, with more residents set to testify. One resident who testified on Thursday morning said piles of rubbish were seen outside the building that first caught fire at Wang Fuk Court estate, while another who called

Euro, Chinese yuan to end US dollar dominance, top...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

Professor Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University has repeatedly warned that the US dollar is approaching a crisis of legitimacy. Having written extensively on the global recession in the late 2000s, Rogoff has turned his focus to the US currency’s increasingly unstable place at the top of the world’s financial hierarchy. A former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund and a chess grandmaster, he published Our Dollar, Your Problem in May last year. In this interview, Rogoff

Enact special law to send Japan’s warships to secure...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

Japan should consider sending warships to help jointly secure the Strait of Hormuz with other nations and protect both its own vessels and those of other nations – even before a ceasefire, according to a former top national security adviser. A special measures law would be needed to enable such a move, going beyond what Japan has done in past geopolitical conflicts, said Akihisa Nagashima, who served as a national security adviser to the predecessor of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The

Chinese satellite performs landmark refuelling test...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

A Chinese commercial satellite has completed a refuelling test in low Earth orbit using a flexible “octopus tentacle” robotic arm, advancing efforts to extend spacecraft lifespans and develop in-orbit servicing abilities. The Hukeda-2, or Yuxing-3 06, demonstration satellite used its flexible arm to carry out compliance control and refuelling tests after blasting off from Jiuquan in China’s northwestern Gansu province last week, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday. The arm can curl,

Innuendo and implication: just a joke or risk of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

Picture this – you’re having a few pints with your mates down at the pub during an open-mic comedy night. The aspiring comedian then, without much tact, mildly suggests that a certain public figure (without naming him or her) has a questionable private life. This segment is recorded by the audience and uploaded to various social media platforms. The whole thing spirals out of control and the public figure must now deal with an overwhelming public backlash. Innuendo is one of the cornerstones

Life in Iran illustrates shifting realities amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

On most nights, the sound that defines Tehran is not conversation or traffic. Instead, it is a distant explosion, a jet overhead, a pause in the rhythm of ordinary life. A few days ago, that distance collapsed. An explosion in eastern Tehran, where I live, shattered the windows of our home. Glass fell across my books and laptop, damaging it beyond repair. For a moment, the abstract language of conflict became immediate and physical. And yet, almost as quickly, life resumed. The city has not...

Why China’s humanoid robots are still waiting for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

A “ChatGPT moment” for China’s humanoid robots – the tipping point at which the technology becomes widely usable – remains years away as persistent challenges in adapting to new tasks and training efficiency continue to hold back the industry, leading experts said on Wednesday at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan. Despite rapid advances in recent years, humanoid robots were still far from large-scale deployment, with both hardware and software limitations yet to be fully resolved, panellists...

Singapore’s green fuel levy on air travellers delayed...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

Singapore is delaying a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) levy that airline customers were meant to start paying next month, citing the surge in fuel costs spurred by the Iran war. Additional charges will now begin on October 1 as a result of the “impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East on airlines and passengers”, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said on Wednesday. The amount charged will depend on the class of travel or length of flight, and could total as much as...

Boy, 7, is youngest professional rally car driver in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

A seven-year-old boy has become China’s youngest professional rally car driver after being certified at the age of five. Shao Ziyan, from Wenzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, has amazed mainland social media with his professionalism and passion for the sport despite his young age. According to his father, the boy became obsessed with car racing when he was a toddler. He began using a racing simulator at home when he was one. Noticing that his son had a “particularly great sense” for...

CLP customers facing heftier electricity bills as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

CLP Power customers face heftier electricity bills from next month, with Hong Kong’s largest supplier saying it will raise its fuel cost adjustment (FCA) charge, blaming changes in actual fuel prices compared with forecasts. Starting from April 1, the FCA will rise from 39.2 HK cents (5 US cents) to 39.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, an increase of 0.6 cents, according to the power supplier’s website on Wednesday. CLP, which serves Kowloon, the New Territories and Lantau Island, said it was the

Warning over mould and infections as Hong Kong set...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

Elderly Hongkongers and people with chronic illnesses should protect themselves from illnesses arising from high humidity by using dehumidifiers and removing mould, a doctor and a community advocate have said, as damp conditions are expected to persist until the end of the week.They said the public should be better informed about the health risks posed by the damp weather, cautioning that high moisture encouraged mould that could cause breathing difficulties in asthmatics, while humid and

Iran war could boost China’s ‘petroyuan’ and weaken...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

The US-Israeli war in Iran could weaken the US dollar’s historic dominance in the oil-rich Middle East and bolster a “petroyuan” alternative backed by China’s currency, according to analysts at a leading European bank. Fallout from the nearly month-long conflict was testing the “foundations of the petrodollar regime”, while damage to Gulf economies “could encourage an unwind in their foreign asset savings”, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a research note published on Tuesday. “If the Gulf

What Japan’s missile plan for remote Pacific island...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/26

Japan is reportedly planning to deploy advanced anti-ship missiles on Minamitorishima, the country’s easternmost island, as it moves to enhance its defence posture against what it perceives as rising Chinese military activity in the region. The defence ministry is also seeking to deploy a launcher, spotting drones and radar systems on the island as early as June, according to a report by national broadcaster NHK on Tuesday. These would be used to identify and target vessels, complementing the...

Chinese nationals, companies charged in US with...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/25

In two different cases on Wednesday, United States authorities charged Chinese nationals on offences ranging from conspiring to smuggle advanced AI chips to China to drug trafficking and money laundering. The cases came on the same day US President Donald Trump announced new mid-May dates for his highly anticipated summit with China. The developments come as the two countries continue to compete over global leadership in artificial intelligence, and as Washington continues to accuse Beijing

Justice Department settles lawsuit from Trump ally...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/25

The US Justice Department has settled for roughly US$1.2 million a lawsuit from Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser to US President Donald Trump who pleaded guilty during the Republican’s first term to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian diplomat and was later pardoned. Court papers filed on Wednesday do not reveal the settlement amount, but a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose nonpublic...

Trump to skip major annual conservative gathering for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/25

US President Donald Trump will not attend a major annual gathering of American conservatives for the first time in a decade, a White House official told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday. The Republican billionaire has been a marquee fixture at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) since 2016, but will miss this year’s edition due to a busy schedule amid the “ongoing Iran conflict”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The conference this year is being held

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