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News - South China Morning Post

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Budding Mother’s Day competition as Hong Kong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Competition among Hong Kong florists heated up on the day before Mother’s Day as stores slashed bouquet prices and offered more innovative products, with some vendors reporting weaker business and lower profit margins compared with last year. Despite the wet weather on Saturday, vendors at the Mong Kok Flower Market touted colourful bouquets of carnations, roses and other fresh flowers. The price of a medium-sized bouquet at the market ranged from HK$300 to HK$400 (US$38.32 to US$51.10), at...

Russia’s Putin criticises Nato’s support for Ukraine...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday oversaw a scaled-back military parade in Moscow commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Security was tight as Putin spoke at the event, even as a US-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities. Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of Nato”. The president did not...

How Japan’s new economic model could inspire others...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

In the 1980s, then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad launched his “Look East” policy, urging his country and others in Southeast Asia to emulate the state-led economic development models of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, rather than those of market-dominated Western nations. China subsequently emerged as a prime example of state-led development, but Japan is now leaning again towards a more dirigiste model under the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, not only in...

Hong Kong’s MTR Corp to host exhibition with retired...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation will launch a large-scale railway exhibition at Hung Hom Station on May 16, featuring four retired trains and a new immersive train driving simulator. The rail giant said on Saturday that the exhibition, titled “Station Rail Voyage: Explorer”, would feature an expanded layout with a refreshed look. “The exhibition retains four iconic retired trains on display while introducing a new immersive train driving simulator and a range of interactive experiences, offering

Chinese military study suggests omega-3 supplements...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Oral fish oil intake may not improve and could even speed up cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, a research team from China’s Army Medical University has found. Many older adults are accustomed to taking omega-3 supplements to help protect cognitive function. However, findings from the Chinese study challenge this view. The study was based on an analysis of more than 800 older adults in North America, around half of whom carry the dementia-risk gene APOEε4. The data showed that those...

Beijing pushes AI data centres to adopt green energy...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Beijing is moving to make green electricity usage a key metric in the operation of new data centre projects, as part of a major push to align the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence with national carbon goals, according to an action plan released Friday. The policy document, jointly released by four bodies – the National Energy Administration, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and National Data Administration – encouraged

Chinese woman accuses tea shop of adding mercury to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

A Chinese woman who accused a famous chain of milk tea shops of planting mercury in her drink was later found to be the target of poisoning by her boyfriend. The woman, surnamed Zhang, from central China’s Anhui province, initially complained online that a Chagee shop laced her drink with mercury granules. Zhang said her boyfriend bought the drink for her on April 27. The first few sips were fine, but later she felt little granules in her sips that “did not taste like tapioca bubbles”. She...

Musk uses slurs to mock French prosecutors...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Elon Musk has launched a tirade against French judicial authorities currently investigating possible abuses on his X social network. France opened an inquiry in January 2025 into allegations that X, formerly known as Twitter, was used to interfere in French politics. The investigation has since widened to cover allegations of Holocaust denial, distribution of sexual deepfakes and most recently possible complicity in the distribution of images of child sexual abuse. Responding to a post on the...

US sanctions 9 mainland China and Hong Kong entities...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

The United States has sanctioned nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies and individuals, accusing them of helping Iran’s military. The decision, which risks complicating Donald Trump’s visit to China next week, was announced on Friday by the Treasury and State departments. A Treasury Department press release said those targeted were “enabling efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons” or securing “raw materials with applications in Iran’s Shahed‑series unmanned aerial vehicles and...

China’s Huaqiangbei bets on AI innovations to revive...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Huaqiangbei, home to the world’s largest electronics marketplace in southern China’s tech hub Shenzhen, is reinventing itself as the world’s artificial intelligence showroom, drawing back foreign traders and tourists hunting for the latest gadgets. For first-time visitors like Abigail Slagveer from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the sheer scale of Huaqiangbei’s electronics market is overwhelming. “I came here one and a half hours ago through that front door,” she said, pointing to an entrance

ByteDance raises 2026 capex by at least 25% amid AI...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

TikTok owner ByteDance is ramping up its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure, boosting its planned capital expenditure this year to more than 200 billion yuan (US$30 billion), according to two people familiar with the matter. This represented an increase of at least 25 per cent compared with a preliminary plan discussed late last year that proposed AI capex of 160 billion yuan, they said. The increase was necessary because of the company’s growing commitment to AI, as well as...

Rare earth strategy provides ‘opportunities for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

The United States is shifting strategy to fund local African processing and mining infrastructure, after recognising it cannot yet process the critical minerals it is racing to secure from the continent to counter China. Tom Haslett, managing director of policy for critical minerals at the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), said that unlike China, which had “significant industry backing for both processing and downstream manufacturing”, the US and Europe did not yet have...

2 bike-sharing apps vie for Hong Kong riders amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Hong Kong has proved a brutal market for companies offering online bike sharing. The number of operators rose to a peak of seven in 2017 before falling to just two today: home-grown Locobike and mainland China’s Helloride. They are going head to head in several districts as they seek to overcome challenges in a city that has proven fatal for past players. Retired economist Thomas Yuen Wai-kee has used bikes from both companies several times a month for leisure rides over the past year. The...

China defies Strait of Hormuz crisis with record...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

China’s export sector showed strong resilience last month, with the total value of outbound shipments hitting a monthly record even as the Strait of Hormuz crisis during the US-Israeli war in Iran showed little sign of abating after driving up energy and shipping costs. The value of China’s exports rose in April by 14.1 per cent, year on year, to US$359.44 billion, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Saturday. The reading was above the 6.96 per cent growth...

Has China just ended the end of history?

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

You can perhaps judge the rise and decline of a society by the quality of its public intellectuals. In the last century, the United States had some genuinely great thinkers such as Walter Lippmann and Hannah Arendt who addressed a literate public while producing enduring works that can still be read today with great benefit. Now you have people like Francis Fukuyama and Sam Harris who may be studied in the future more as a symptom of their society. A podcast between the two last month went

Hong Kong schools record net student rise for 2 years...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Hong Kong schools have recorded net student rises for two consecutive years, with the current academic year seeing an increase of about 7,200 pupils, a surge that an industry leader has attributed to the influx of dependants of admitted talent. The Education Bureau published enrolment figures on its website on April 28. The data covers all government, aided, private, international and direct subsidy scheme schools at the time of the annual headcount exercise in September 2025. To determine

Investors have worries about Trump’s pick for Fed...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

In an extraordinary break from the diplomatic restraint typical of central banks, a dozen leaders of the world’s foremost monetary institutions issued a joint statement in January declaring their “full solidarity” with the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chair, Jerome Powell. “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve,” they wrote. The move was intended to shore up the separation of monetary...

China boy, 4, survives 11-floor fall after climbing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

A four-year-old boy miraculously survived after falling from the window of his 11th-floor home. After the boy gained consciousness, he said in tears to his mother that he had climbed onto the window because he was missing her so much that he wanted to see if she was coming home. The boy’s experience went viral online after his experience was reported by the Haibao News in early May. The incident unfolded on April 11 when the boy, nicknamed Xiaoming, was left alone in his home in Dalian,

Mexico to end school year 40 days early for World Cup...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/09

Mexican authorities have announced that the school year will end over a month early as the country gears up to host World Cup matches, prompting broad backlash. Education Secretary Mario Delgado said the decision to end the school year 40 days early was made in part due to a heatwave affecting several states. “We’re going to end the school year on June 5 because many states are already experiencing high temperatures, and there’s also the issue of the World Cup,” he said at an event on Friday

How a China-backed highway may turn landlocked Laos...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/08

China has moved early to help Laos plan its longest highway, the latest project in Beijing’s push to expand transport connectivity in Southeast Asia.The initiative underscores Beijing’s broader effort to strengthen its economic footprint in the region through roads and railway infrastructure, as it seeks alternative trade routes amid a fractious relationship with the United States. Laos is conducting route surveys for an expressway linking the capital Vientiane to its northeastern border

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