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News - South China Morning Post

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Hong Kong to seek more elderly care places in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/10

Authorities will negotiate with operators of popular care homes in Guangdong province to secure more places for elderly Hongkongers to meet a rising demand, the welfare minister has said, amid a ninefold surge in city residents moving into such facilities across the border in recent years. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that the number of elderly Hongkongers living in care homes under the Residential Care Services

China’s ‘super catalyst’ turns waste water into...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/10

A team in China has designed a catalyst that can transform nitrate pollution from agricultural and industrial waste water into ammonia – the chemical backbone of urea fertiliser – with nearly three times the efficiency of conventional catalysts. The study detailing this advance was published on March 18 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, where it was showcased on the front cover. It has opened the door to a low-energy, waste-to-resource technology that could one day strengthen...

Norovirus outbreak on Caribbean Princess cruise ship...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/10

More than 100 people aboard a cruise ship that departed from Fort Lauderdale in Florida last month have fallen ill from norovirus, according to the US Centres for Disease Control. The Caribbean Princess, a Princess Cruises ship, departed from Port Everglades on April 28 for an 11-day voyage, according to Cruise Mapper. But on Thursday, the CDC announced that 102 passengers and 13 crew members were sick and had been isolated. There are more than 4,000 people on board, according to the CDC. The...

China scrambles to close AI security gap as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/10

While leading US artificial intelligence developers such as Anthropic and OpenAI unveil new models with enhanced cybersecurity capabilities, China is also aggressively scaling up its own AI-driven cyber defence market. Anthropic’s Mythos, launched in April, sparked a rapid global response due to its ability to discover and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities with unprecedented speed and efficiency. “Our assessment is that China’s own Mythos will definitely emerge, though currently the

Turning the tables: how 3 Hong Kong mothers are...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/10

Amid the crackle of vinyl records and the nostalgia of Cantonese golden oldies, Holy Lee Hau-yin, a Hong Kong mother of three young children, is spinning a new narrative as a professional disc jockey and turning a page on her troubled past. After suffering an abusive marriage and the exhaustion of a decade of childcare, Lee will spend Mother’s Day on Sunday with renewed hope. The 28-year-old is set to perform for a private event at The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel and ultimately hopes to make a...

Hantavirus-hit cruise passengers evacuate from...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/10

The first plane carrying passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship left Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday for Madrid, where they will be taken to a military hospital. Spanish nationals were the first to leave the MV Hondius, which remains anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa. The ship arrived hours earlier. None of the more than 140 people on the Hondius have shown symptoms of the virus, Spain’s health ministry, the World Health...

Is Hong Kong’s cultural hub of West Kowloon emerging...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/10

Hong Kong’s West Kowloon is poised to emerge as the second-most important office sub-market after Central with the completion of new buildings that will accommodate banks and insurance companies, according to industry officials. However, there was expected to be limited demand from newcomers or via corporate expansion, with leasing activity dominated by relocations and higher vacancy rates in some of the city’s other business districts. The 40-hectare stretch of reclaimed land is being touted

Trump heads to China weakened as Xi gains leverage...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the latest part of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we look at how Trump’s weakened hand could tilt summit talks.When next week’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was first...

100 Hong Kong-linked ships ‘stranded in Strait of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

About 100 ships registered in Hong Kong or locally managed or owned are stranded in the Strait of Hormuz along with an estimated 2,300 seafarers, an industry leader has said. Richard Hext, chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, told the South China Morning Post on Friday that it was very risky to sail vessels through the strait due to the risk of attack, even though the United States and Iran had recently reached a temporary ceasefire. The United States-Israel war against Iran has...

Beijing urges France to respect one-China principle...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

China and France must respect each other’s core interests, particularly the one-China principle, and strengthen a strategic partnership “free from external interference”, top diplomat Wang Yi said during talks with a senior adviser to the French president on Friday. Wang, director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, held talks in Beijing with Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to the French president, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wang said the...

US-Iran war no closer to ending as Gulf clashes flare

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

⁠The US and Iran appeared no closer on Saturday to finding an end to their war after the two sides traded fire in the Gulf amid a tenuous ceasefire, while a US intelligence analysis concluded Tehran could withstand a naval blockade for months. Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire began a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed ‌attack on Friday. Washington has been awaiting Tehran’s response to a US...

Meet China’s moon porter for Chang’e-8 mission: a...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

China is sending a new kind of explorer to the moon – with a humanoid upper body and four wheels. The lunar rover, developed by a team led by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), is designed to act as an AI-powered porter for the Chang’e-8 mission, scheduled for 2029. The 100kg (220lbs) robot will transport, deploy and install instruments and sensors at their designated lunar locations after the Chang’e-8 probe lands. It is also tasked with collecting samples of the

Hong Kong home market maintains upwards momentum as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Hong Kong homebuyers snapped up new flats on offer on Saturday, fuelling optimism that the bull run in the city’s property market will continue. All 154 units at Sun Hung Kai Properties’ Lime Spark project sold out as of 4.30pm, while 147 homes, or 93 per cent of the 158 flats available at Henderson Land’s Highwood Phase 2 project, found buyers, according to real property agents. “Home prices have climbed by nearly 8 per cent this year, and prospective buyers are likely to find that a delay

Heroism and grief: 6 residents’ stories from Wang Fuk...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Stories filled with tragic bravery, outrage at heedless officials and horror as loved ones perished were among those shared by 24 residents of the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court estate, as they testified at a public hearing investigating Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades. Over multiple sessions that began on March 19, some told the presiding committee how their repeated efforts to raise bid-rigging and safety concerns about the estate’s exterior renovation fell on deaf ears, well before the...

‘Not decoupling’: what US-China trade data signals...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

China’s trade with the United States has declined this year, official data shows, as US President Donald Trump heads to Beijing next week for a high-stakes visit that could determine the future of economic relations between the two superpowers. China’s merchandise exports to the US fell 10.2 per cent year on year to US$133.4 billion in the first four months of 2026, according to data released on Saturday by the General Administration of Customs. Imports from the US also declined 10.9 per cent

Wanted ‘Hong Kong Parliament’ member may be deported...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

A wanted member of the overseas group “Hong Kong Parliament” has been arrested in Thailand for overstaying her visa and is reportedly set to be deported to mainland China. The organisation said on Friday that Zhang Xinyan, who took part in what it called a parliamentary election and was sworn in as a member last year, was recently arrested in Thailand for overstaying her visa. It was not immediately clear what type of visa Zhang held. In a reply to the South China Morning Post on Saturday, a...

China unveils Hanyuan-2, the world’s first dual-core...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

China has built the world’s first dual-core quantum computer, a development that could “significantly enhance” efficiency, according to official media. The breakthrough signalled that Chinese quantum computing technology was “entering a new stage”, the state-owned Science and Technology Daily reported this week. While other quantum computers rely on high energy consumption and need to be run in temperatures close to absolute zero, the design of this computer uses neutral atoms – which consume...

Hong Kong Golf & Tennis Academy members reject...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

An exclusive Hong Kong sports club will press ahead with an imminent change of operator for its Central clubhouse despite objections by some of its members about unfair access and incompatibility of their client profiles, the South China Morning Post has learned. The controversy began about a fortnight ago after private members’ club Carlyle & Co announced it would take over the operation of the Town Club of the Hong Kong Golf & Tennis Academy (HKGTA). Some HKGTA members told the SCMP that

Hongkongers pack major supermarkets amid ‘price war’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Hongkongers packed the aisles of supermarkets with carts full of daily necessities as the city’s major grocery chains engaged in what some called a “price war” ahead of Mother’s Day. CK Hutchison Holdings-backed ParknShop and Jardine Matheson’s Wellcome each offered 12 per cent off everything in their stores for those who spent a certain amount on Saturday. HKTVmall, the city’s popular online shopping platform, entered the fray and offered an even bigger discount – up to 15 per cent off – for...

Xi-Trump summit: why the Iran war could become fresh...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

As US President Donald Trump prepares to visit Beijing next week after a six-week delay, the cause of the delay – the war on Iran and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz – risks becoming a fresh point of friction in his summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. While both China and the US stand to benefit from the reopening of the strait and a permanent end to the war, Beijing and Washington have viewed the crisis through different lenses and sharply diverged over how to

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