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Ecuador voters reject return of US bases, in blow to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Ecuadorian voters roundly rejected the return of US military bases to the country in a referendum on Sunday, a major political blow to Trump-friendly President Daniel Noboa. With three-quarters of the vote counted, about 60 per cent of Ecuadorans had voted ‘no’ to lifting a long-standing ban on foreign bases. The rejection effectively blocks the US military from returning to an airbase at Manta on the Pacific coast - once a hub for Washington’s anti-drug operations. US Homeland Security...

Hong Kong watchdog urges scrutiny of travel insurance...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has warned residents travelling abroad to carefully compare the scope of coverage and exclusions of different insurance plans, following complaints regarding disputes over claims. The Consumer Council said on Monday it had received 221 complaints about travel insurance since 2022, including 152 disputed claims. It noted that 55 such complaints were filed in the first 10 months of 2025, down from 80 in the same period last year. The council said the cases

Chikungunya may be spreading silently in Hong Kong,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Hong Kong may have silent transmission chains of chikungunya fever in the community, a leading infectious disease expert has warned, as authorities have yet to identify the source of the city’s fourth local case recorded last week. Joseph Tsang Kay-yan, co-chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association’s advisory committee on communicable diseases, said on Monday that authorities should step up mosquito control, noting that cooler weather and declining cases in neighbouring Guangdong province...

How China’s HQ-29 mid-course missile interceptor...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

After 15 years of testing, China unveiled the HQ-29 at its Victory Day parade in September, showcasing the land-based air-defence missile system that is capable of intercepting targets in the near region of space outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The HQ-29, also known as the Red Flag-29, is considered a key supplement to the top layer of China’s multilayered ballistic missile defence system. The missile is mounted on a six-axle launcher, according to the Chinese military magazine Ordnance

South Korean prison officer probed for asking Kim...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

A correctional officer at South Korea’s only private prison is under investigation for allegedly demanding 30 million won (US$20,600) from singer Kim Ho-joong in exchange for helping arrange his transfer to the facility – a claim authorities say is false. The Ministry of Justice said the officer, whose name was not released publicly, could face disciplinary action depending on the result of the investigation. According to the ministry on Sunday, the Seoul Regional Correctional Headquarters is...

Hong Kong driving schools slammed for opaque fees,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has slammed driving schools for their non-transparent fees, with one charging nearly twice the quoted rate for extra lessons to meet the minimum training hours. The Consumer Council announced on Monday that all 32 basic courses offered by 11 driving schools in the city failed to meet the Transport Department’s requirement of 30 hours of practical training, forcing students to buy extra lessons and go over their original budget. “The current situation is not

Asbestos in play sand forces over 70 school closures...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

More than 70 schools in Australia and New Zealand were closed on Monday for cleaning after asbestos was discovered in widely used children’s play sand products. Recalls have been issued for several colourful play sand products after laboratory testing detected traces of tremolite and chrysotile asbestos. A number of schools and preschools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and one in Brisbane shut on Friday after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a

Incoming Asean chair Philippines faces a...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

The resurgence of hostilities between Thailand and Cambodia, just weeks after US President Donald Trump brokered a truce over a violent border row, is set to pose significant challenges for the Philippines as the next Asean chair. Thailand last week announced it was suspending the peace agreement with Cambodia, signed at the 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26. Bangkok accused its neighbour of laying new mines after several Thai soldiers were

Chinese history blamed this woman for 2,796 years....

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Few women in Chinese history have been as scorned – or as misunderstood – as Bao Si. For nearly three millennia, the queen has been remembered not as a person, but as a symbol: the beautiful femme fatale whose cold heart and unparalleled beauty brought down a dynasty. According to legend, Bao Si was a queen so aloof she never smiled. Desperate to amuse her, King You of the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 1046-771 BC) is said to have played a deadly prank: he lit the kingdom’s sacred beacon fires

‘Sales fallen to half’: violent crime cripples...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

A wave of armed robberies targeting Japanese nationals has plunged Japanese-run restaurants in Manila into crisis, forcing many to shut their doors and others to band together for survival. Since October last year, more than 20 robbery cases involving Japanese victims have been reported, according to the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines. The violence has led Japanese companies to restrict evening outings for employees, draining customers from popular nightlife districts once frequented by...

Shanghai premium office market picks up amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Lower rents improved occupancy rates in Shanghai’s premium office market as the city reported solid economic growth, but most companies remained cost-conscious amid a cloudy economic outlook and expectations for bigger discounts, according to JLL. Discounts attracted corporate tenants in the quarter ended September, prompting relocations from business parks and suburban areas to grade-A office buildings, the property firm said. “As the rental disparity between grade-A and grade-B properties...

Hong Kong’s Legco election should priortise substance...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

These are interesting times in Hong Kong politics. Rarely has the city seen the government get so involved in galvanising voters ahead of the Legislative Council election. These things have traditionally been the work of political parties and groups. And that is one prominent feature of the development of Hong Kong’s “patriots-only” political system. Before the overhaul of the election system, voter turnout was a barometer of sorts for the election outcome. Conventional wisdom was that the...

Chinese man who donated US$20 as child to aircraft...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

A man from southern China who donated 140 yuan (US$20) as a child to help build an aircraft carrier has seen his dream of the country becoming a stronger nation come true. To top his wish, in November, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation invited him to visit the carrier fleet and gave him a commemorative watch. Chen Yuwen, from Qinzhou city in Guangxi province, developed an early interest in the military, influenced by his father’s background as a soldier. In 1999, at just five years

Polarised Chile facing presidential run-off between...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Chile was headed to a tense presidential run-off after a closely fought first-round vote on Sunday set up a showdown between a member of the Communist Party and an ultraconservative veteran politician, sharply polarising the country between the political left and right. Jeannette Jara, 51, the communist former labour minister and candidate of Chile’s centre-left governing coalition, won 26.8 per cent of valid ballots with almost 100 per cent of the vote counted, failing to pass the 50 per

‘Workplaces of death’: South Korean president’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

South Korean Kim Yong-ho thought he would die within seconds after a 200kg (441lbs) industrial press at a Hyundai Steel plant sprang to life during maintenance and crushed his legs and back. It was 2019, and Kim said he thought the heavy machinery around him had been switched off as he made repairs. “I was flattened like a squashed frog in a roadkill,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds.” A quick-thinking colleague saved his life by alerting the machine’s operator, said Kim, now...

What are Hong Kong Legco election candidates...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Integration with mainland China and boosting Hong Kong’s sluggish economy have dominated the manifestos of candidates contesting functional and Election Committee constituencies in the Legislative Council election, while those running for directly elected seats have prioritised livelihood concerns, the Post has found. A check by the Post of all 161 candidates’ manifestos on the government’s election website also found that only 38 of them, or 23 per cent, provided English versions. Of the 161...

In Malaysia’s Johor, silicon dreams meet parched...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/17

Malaysia’s southern state of Johor is being transformed by a torrent of tech investment. Global heavyweights – Microsoft, Nvidia, ByteDance – are pouring billions into vast data centres, the digital foundries that underpin the international AI industry and cloud economy. For Malaysia’s government, these investments are nothing short of transformative, representing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to vault ahead in Southeast Asia’s technology race. But for Johor residents like Muhammad

Israeli strike in Lebanon kills man in car amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/16

An Israeli strike killed a Lebanese man in the south of the country on Sunday, according to the Lebanese health ministry and the country’s main news agency. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an Agence France-Presse query, but has previously said it reserves the right to strike militant targets in Lebanon it deems a threat. The ministry said the strike hit a car in the town of al-Mansouri, south of Tyre and just over 10km (6 miles) from the Israeli border, and “resulted in

Syria detains security forces over sectarian violence...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/16

Members of Syria’s security and military services have been detained as part of an investigation into sectarian violence in the southern province of Sweida in July that left hundreds of people dead, investigators said on Sunday. The head of a Syrian committee investigating the violence in Sweida held a news conference in the capital, Damascus, to talk about progress made but did not release a death toll, saying this will come in the final report that is expected by the end of the year. In...

Chinese economist Lu Feng on why the time is ripe for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/16

Lu Feng is a professor of economics and a former deputy dean at Peking University’s National School of Development. In more than 40 academic papers, six books and numerous magazine articles, he has studied issues critical to China’s economy, including the exchange rate, industrial development, food security and external imbalances. Lu has also served as an adviser to several government agencies, including the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. This...

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