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Red faces at bureau after anti-drug advert sends...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Hong Kong’s Security Bureau has apologised for an advertising blunder in its anti-drug campaign, after a banner in a railway station appeared to encourage the use of illegal substances when viewed from certain angles. The bureau addressed the issue in a social media post on Friday, a day after an internet user circulated a photo of the poorly placed advert at Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station. The banner was part of the government’s latest anti-drug campaign, featuring one of Hong Kong’s “Four

China woman working away from home receives care...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

An unwell Chinese woman working away from home has received a care package from her concerned parents which contained a whole cow. On March 7, a woman posted a video of herself receiving the heavy package at her home in Beijing. She says in the video that the package, sent from her hometown in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, contains a whole cow. The 33-year-old woman, surnamed Chang, said her father bought the cow near the grasslands in her hometown, which is known for quality beef

China’s Hainan free-trade hub reinvents itself as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

As Hainan pushes ahead with its free-trade port, the tropical island is emerging as a potential rival to Hong Kong’s long-standing role as a regional shopping and low-tax hub – even as both sides signal interest in closer cooperation. Since launching a separate customs regime three months ago, Hainan – now a gateway to the Chinese market – has positioned itself as a “super partner” to Hong Kong across industry chains, finance, tourism and other sectors, according to officials. “Hong Kong

Trump to praise Japan in China, Xi summit delayed,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

US President Donald Trump said he will be “speaking Japan’s praises” when he makes a delayed trip to China, even with the two Asian nations engaged in a long-running dispute over Taiwan. The Beijing visit, including a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has been postponed “for about a month and a half”, Trump told reporters in the White House alongside Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The US president was due to arrive in China on March 31. Trump’s remarks underscore how China

Trump ally Steve Daines will be first sitting US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Republican Senator Steve Daines, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, is expected to visit Hong Kong at the end of this month, according to sources. It would mark the first trip to the city by a sitting US senator since the Covid-19 pandemic. Daines would meet American business leaders in Hong Kong on March 30, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly on the matter. The senator from Montana has played a prominent role in...

Gulf states again under fire as Iran says still...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Firefighters battled a blaze at a giant oil refinery in Kuwait on Friday after a fresh drone attack as Iran kept up a wave of strikes on its neighbours and vowed there was “no concern” about its missile production. Despite calls for an end to targeting Gulf energy infrastructure by European leaders on Thursday, Kuwait reported a fire at its Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, a day after a direct hit on Qatar’s vital Ras Laffan facility. Iranian authorities had vowed to retaliate after an Israeli strike

Chinese stocks shake laggard image amid oil shock as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Chinese stocks have emerged as outperformers in the latest oil shock, reversing their reputation as laggards, as crude takes a back seat to renewable fuels in the world’s second-largest economy. The CSI 300 Index of stocks trading on the mainland’s exchanges has dropped 3.1 per cent since the US and Israel began attacks on Iran on February 28, outperforming the S&P 500, the Euro Stoxx 50 and Japan’s Nikkei 225, which have all slid at least 4 per cent during the period. This marked a

NIH-awarded life scientist Shu Xiaokun abruptly...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Eminent life scientist Shu Xiaokun has received numerous awards and significant funding from the US government over the past two decades. Earlier this year, he was appointed the prestigious Herfindahl Endowed Chair professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), capping a career that included pioneering fluorescent protein tools in Nobel laureate Roger Yonchien Tsien’s laboratory. The motto of Shu’s lab is a quote from the Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman: “If you’re

Preview of Alibaba’s strongest AI model tops Chinese...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Alibaba Group Holding unveiled the preview version of its most powerful artificial intelligence model to date, solidifying its position as China’s leader in the race to catch American giants like Anthropic, Google and OpenAI. Qwen3.5-Max-Preview, the flagship model of Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5 family, is now available on Arena, formerly known as LMArena, a model performance community created by researchers from UC Berkeley. Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, unveiled the model on...

5 jailed in Hong Kong crackdown on illegal employment

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Five people have been jailed in Hong Kong after an Immigration Department crackdown on illegal employment. The department said on Friday that it had raided 23 locations, including restaurants, cleaning companies and commercial buildings, during an operation carried out from Monday to Thursday. Officers arrested six men and 13 women, aged 22 to 62, found or suspected to be working illegally and six employers who allegedly hired them. Thirteen of those arrested held tourist visas – 11 from...

Global drug giants double down on China amid trend to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

AstraZeneca said it would establish drug manufacturing facilities in Guangzhou and Shanghai as well as a separate innovation centre in Shanghai, joining a group of foreign players building new plants in China amid geopolitical tensions. The moves are part of a US$15 billion commitment the British firm pledged to make in the world’s second-largest drug market through 2030, unveiled during UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing in January. China’s manufacturing capabilities,

US military aircraft losses mount as Iran war...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

At least 16 US military aircraft have been lost since the start of the war with Iran, including 10 Reaper strike drones hit by enemy fire and a half-dozen other planes badly damaged in attacks or accidents. The most serious losses were because of accidents: three US F-15s downed by friendly fire in Kuwait, and a KC-135 tanker destroyed during a refuelling operation. All six crew members on the tanker were killed in the accident. Five other KC-135s were reportedly damaged by an Iranian missile...

China and Japan’s complicated ties in a turbulent 2026

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

‘Intimate touch therapy’ sparks debate in China over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

An emerging form of therapy in China has stirred controversy over blurred boundaries by using sensory tools, touch and hugging to ease clients’ stress. Mainland media reports say workshops and services centred on “intimate touch” have spread across social media since late last year. In quiet, softly lit rooms, intimate touch therapists offer what they describe as emotional healing through light caresses, hugs and sensory tools such as feathers and velvet gloves. Customers typically remove

Deadly tower crane collapse prompts calls for review...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Industry leaders have called on Hong Kong authorities to review crane safety guidelines to include mandatory testing for metal fatigue, following another fatal collapse. An operator was killed on Thursday afternoon when a tower crane toppled at a construction site for the second phase of a public housing project on Tai Wo Hau Road in Kwai Chung, crashing onto a slope opposite Pik Kwai House at Kwai Chung Estate. The project’s main contractor, Woon Lee Construction, was previously fined by...

Xiaomi’s new-generation SU7 launch sparks fresh EV...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Xiaomi’s updated SU7 electric vehicle (EV) is expected to bite into the market share of Tesla and some domestic rivals in China, as demand weakens and regulators tighten oversight. Founder and CEO Lei Jun on Thursday announced official pricing for the new-generation smart sedan, with the standard edition starting at 219,900 yuan (US$31,900) and the pro and max variants set at 249,900 yuan and 303,900 yuan, respectively. The figures are 10,000 yuan lower than pre-sale estimates, but 4,000 yuan...

Iran’s parliament speaker emerges as key figure in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards, has emerged as the highest-profile political figure in the Islamic Republic after the killing of its leaders. A pillar of the Iranian establishment for some three decades and one of the Islamic republic’s most prominent non-clerical figures, Ghalibaf, 64, now appears to be playing a key role spearheading the war effort. Whereas the son and successor of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba...

China, US end trade talks in Paris; chip...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

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. Precision strike: China targets US, Japan stranglehold on photoresist supply China’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency is shifting from broad aspiration to a precision strike on chokepoint materials, with photoresist – the...

Inside look at Trump-Xi summits with ex-diplomat...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

William Klein worked for more than two decades as a US diplomat, including in several senior roles at the United States’ embassy in Beijing from 2016 to 2021. He worked at the American Institute in Taiwan and on the US State Department’s China desk in Washington, and occupied US diplomatic posts in South Asia, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. He is a consulting partner with FGS Global, a firm based in Berlin, with a focus on US-China and EU-China relationships. SCMP Plus readers

South Korea risks US rift over Iran’s Hormuz Strait...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

South Korea finds itself boxed in as Tehran moves to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a bargaining chip amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, leaving Seoul caught between its dependence on Middle East oil and its unwillingness to antagonise Washington.Economists note that South Korea relies on Washington’s security umbrella to deter threats from nuclear-armed North Korea and that its oil trade is settled in US dollars – two realities that sit awkwardly alongside Iran’s push for yuan-based energy...

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