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Is North Korea’s constitutional shift a move towards...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/07

North Korea has removed references to “national reunification” from its constitution and newly defined its territory as land bordering South Korea, a move analysts say may signal Pyongyang’s intent to avoid direct conflict with Seoul. The constitutional overhaul is widely seen as aligning with the North’s evolving stance towards Seoul – shifting away from reunification and towards a more formalised state-to-state relationship. Pyongyang took more than two years to revise the constitution

Note linked to Epstein’s first suspected suicide bid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

A note Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate claimed he found after the financier’s first suspected jail suicide attempt was made public on Wednesday after it had been sealed and locked in a courthouse vault for nearly five years as part of an unrelated legal dispute. US District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, ordered the note’s release after The New York Times petitioned last week to unseal it and other documents in a case involving the cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione. Few people

Trump seeks to halt payment to E. Jean Carroll in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, hoping for an eventual Supreme Court victory, has asked a federal appeal court in New York to temporarily block a long-time columnist from collecting a US$83 million defamation award. The lawyer, Justin D. Smith, told the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing on Tuesday to stay its decision supporting the award so that Trump will not have to pay writer E. Jean Carroll while he appeals to the high court. A Manhattan jury awarded Carroll the payout in...

US trial opens over alleged Chinese ‘secret police...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

A trial of a US citizen of Chinese descent accused of creating a covert police station in Manhattan opened on Wednesday, considering evidence of what the US government says is part of Beijing’s bid to expand its influence well beyond Chinese shores. Lu Jianwang, 64, faces three charges in the US Eastern District Court of New York: acting as an unauthorised agent of China; conspiracy to act as a foreign agent; and obstruction of justice. He is accused of using the fourth floor of a building in...

Will warming Arctic trigger further chill in US-China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

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 first part of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we look at the Arctic as an arena for competition. The Arctic is heating up, both physically and in terms of geopolitics. As Arctic warming accelerates and sea ice...

US aims to deploy Qatar-gifted luxury jet as Air...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

The US Air Force is targeting a Fourth of July delivery for a Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar that would join the Air Force One fleet in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary, a US official and a person familiar with the programme said. The White House accepted the luxury jet from Qatar in 2025 ‌and asked the Air Force to rapidly upgrade the aircraft to presidential standards, with L3Harris tapped to carry out the overhaul. If the company meets its deadline, US President Donald Trump will have a...

Trump-Xi summit hides simmering trade tensions under...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

The scheduled summit next week between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will almost certainly include proclamations about cooperation, friendship and respect between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies, but beneath the surface, major trade conflict is building, said trade experts on Wednesday. In the past, a weaker China was forced to grit its teeth and grudgingly accept US tariffs, export restrictions and other restrictions, but Beijing has quietly and...

Passengers on hantavirus-stricken cruise ship sway...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

It was billed as an Atlantic odyssey to some of the most remote islands in the world. Instead, the cruise on the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius was left stranded off Cabo Verde, formerly known as Cape Verde, with passengers in their cabins, medical workers in protective suits tending to the sick and the ship’s operator seeking a safe port. The outbreak has left three dead and eight confirmed or suspected cases linked to the ‌Dutch-flagged expedition ship. Passengers, some of whom have been...

France’s ex-president Sarkozy escapes second ankle...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will not serve time with an electronic ankle tag as punishment for illegal funding of his 2012 re-election bid, an informed source said on Wednesday. Sarkozy, 71, has faced a raft of accusations since leaving office after a single term from 2007 to 2012. He has denied all allegations in all cases. Last year, he became modern France’s first-ever president to go to jail, serving 20 days in a case related to alleged Libyan funding in his 2007 election...

US strikes Iranian tanker amid reports Washington and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

US forces struck an Iranian oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, even as Washington and Tehran appeared to move closer to a tentative agreement to end their two-month war, with US President Donald Trump warning that renewed bombing could begin if Iran rejects the proposed deal. A US fighter jet disabled the tanker by targeting its rudder as the vessel attempted to breach an American naval blockade of Iranian ports, US Central Command said in a social media post. The strike highlighted...

Israel strikes Beirut for the first time since...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

Israel struck Beirut ⁠on Wednesday for the first time since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last month, with Israel saying it targeted a commander of the militant group’s elite Radwan force in the city’s southern suburbs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the action in a joint statement. Israeli media reported that the commander was killed in the strike, but there was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli military or

FBI reportedly probing leaks behind article on bureau...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

The FBI has opened a criminal leak investigation focusing on a journalist who wrote a critical article about Kash Patel, the head of the US law enforcement agency, the cable news channel MS Now reported on Wednesday. Patel filed a US$250 million suit last month against The Atlantic magazine and the author of the article, Sarah Fitzpatrick, calling it a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece”. The Atlantic story accused Patel of frequently drinking to excess and said he was in danger

CNN founder Ted Turner dies at 87

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

Ted Turner created CNN in 1980, revolutionising the way America, and the world, got their news, and then went on to become one of the most prominent business leaders and philanthropists of his era. A brash risk taker, Turner – whose death aged 87 was announced on Wednesday – helped reshape the television industry in the late 20th century. He also made a name for himself with spectacular business deals, his ownership of professional sports clubs, a marriage to actress Jane Fonda, his

Hong Kong college’s finance director arrested over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

The finance director of Hong Kong Chu Hai College has been arrested on suspicion of embezzling HK$770,000 (US$98,262) after the head of the institution reported the case to the police.Jane Zhang, president of the Tuen Mun‑based college, contacted police on April 29 after the Bank of China alerted her on April 17 to three unusual transactions from the college to the suspect’s personal account, amounting to about HK$770,000, a police source said. Zhang decided to report the matter after...

Hong Kong teen lured 4 victims for gang to rob and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

A young woman has been accused of helping to rob four people as a teenager by luring them to a remote area in Hong Kong where her gang was waiting to use violence and take nude photos to force them to pay. Hau Yan-ki, an unemployed 23-year-old, is on trial at the High Court on Wednesday for her role in three alleged robberies that took place in a row between November 19 and 22, 2020, during which the four victims were beaten up and forced to transfer money to the gang. Prosecutors alleged

Pope to inaugurate Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

Pope Leo will inaugurate the soaring central tower of Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica when he visits Spain next month in a weeklong trip that will also take him to a migrant reception centre in the Canary Islands, the Vatican said on Wednesday. The June 6-12 visit will first bring Leo to Madrid for meetings with the government, parliament and King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. He will also preside over a prayer vigil with young people that will recall the last time a pope visited...

Bus and oil tanker collide in Indonesia, killing at...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

A passenger bus collided head-on with a fuel tanker truck on a highway on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and injuring four others, officials said. The crash occurred around midday on the Trans-Sumatra Highway in North Musi Rawas regency of South Sumatra province, when an intercity bus carrying at least 20 people struck a tanker truck travelling in the opposite direction, said Mugono, a local disaster management agency official. Mugono, who uses a single

Does China’s YJ-20 hypersonic sea-based missile give...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

The YJ-20 is China’s first sea-based hypersonic anti-ship missile to have entered mass production, giving the People’s Liberation Army a decisive strike advantage over all rival surface combatants worldwide. The YJ-20, with its remarkable range, hypersonic speed and near-invulnerability to interception, has been tailor-made for the Chinese navy’s Type 055 destroyer’s 112-cell vertical launch system (VLS). Specifications Also known as the Eagle Strike-20, the YJ-20 adopted the boost-glide

Tai Po fire: inspectors failed to anticipate firms’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

Government inspectors did not foresee engineering firms colluding to deceive authorities over the use of substandard renovation materials at a Hong Kong residential estate devastated in the city’s deadliest fire in decades, a public inquiry has heard. Andy Ku Siu-ping, a senior maintenance surveyor with the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit, on Wednesday blamed “systemic defects” for the body’s failure to rectify the use of flammable polyfoam boards and scaffolding mesh during a

Hong Kong draws over 1 million mainland ‘golden week’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/06

Hong Kong welcomed more than 1 million mainland Chinese visitors during their five-day Labour Day “golden week” holiday, a 10 per cent rise from a year ago, exceeding government expectations, but industry leaders have said their spending was inconsistent. Immigration Department data showed the city recorded 1.01 million mainland visitor arrivals between May 1 and 5, surpassing the forecast of 980,000. Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said on Wednesday some shopping centre operators had

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