PODCAST

News - South China Morning Post

All the latest breaking news from Hong Kong, China and around the world

All Episodes

Hong Kong’s top court rejects challenge to law...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Hong Kong’s top court has dismissed a legal challenge against a law barring calls to boycott the city’s “patriots-only” elections, ruling that the prohibition is necessary to counter “organised campaigns” seeking to undermine the establishment following the enactment of the national security law. In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, five Court of Final Appeal judges unanimously found that criminalising incitement to undermine elections was essential to further Beijing’s objective of ensuring...

Hong Kong to mandate health checks for commercial...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Hong Kong plans to introduce mandatory health checks for commercial vehicle drivers aged 65 or above by the middle of next year, tightening both the age threshold and the frequency of assessments to improve road safety. Undersecretary for Transport and Logistics Liu Chun-san told the Legislative Council on Wednesday that authorities would also establish a register of doctors, providing guidance to help drivers choose an appropriate practitioner. Liu said the government planned to lower the

PLA’s plan to destroy US carriers; world’s largest...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

We have put together stories from our coverage on science from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. PLA scientists propose a plan to destroy US carrier groups from 3,000km away As the United States quietly pulls its most precious military assets away from the coasts of Asia, they are falling back to places like Guam in Micronesia, a US island territory far beyond the reach of most conventional

Filmmaker Raymond Wong begins jail sentence, giving...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Veteran Hong Kong filmmaker and actor Raymond Wong Pak-ming has begun serving a five-month prison sentence for insider trading after relinquishing his bail. The 80-year-old told West Kowloon Court on Wednesday that he would spend time behind bars while awaiting an appeal in the High Court. Wong, a prominent figure in Hong Kong’s film industry for decades, was convicted last month of sharing insider information regarding Transmit Entertainment, a television series production company formerly...

Zheng Yuxiu: modern China’s ‘xia nu’ assassin and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

A revolutionary who once declared she was “no bird in a cage” became both an assassin and China’s first female doctor of law. Born in 1891, Zheng Yuxiu grew up in an influential household. Her father served the Qing (1644–1912) government, her grandfather was a Hong Kong merchant, and her well-educated mother came from a military family. From childhood, Zheng showed a defiant independence rare for her time. After moving to Guangzhou in southern China, she attended a local school and

New UK party emerges as a threat to Farage. And, it’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

A new political party called Restore Britain is threatening the rise of Nigel Farage’s hard-right group, with a tougher anti-immigrant stance and the backing of tech trillionaire Elon Musk. Led by businessman and ex-football chairman Rupert Lowe, Restore is tipped to deprive Farage’s Reform UK party of victory over the ruling Labour Party in a crunch special election on Thursday. Lowe, 68, formed Restore as an alternative on the right of British politics in February following his split from...

Cigarettes, football and Greenland: G7 hot mics...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

The leaders of the world’s richest democracies are talking about how to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems this week, but hot mics at the G7 summit revealed that conversations also covered lighter fare. Sports. Cigarettes. The weather. And something about Greenland? As world leaders made their way into conference rooms at a lakeside resort, microphones set up for their weighty discussions about war and trade often caught off-the-cuff banter. Meloni quit smoking Italian Prime Minister...

China study finds subsea cable-wrecking supercurrents...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Scientists have known for decades that massive undersea flows called turbidity currents can reshape ocean floors and damage the vital cables that carry the world’s internet traffic. But an understanding of how they form and behave has remained elusive until now. An international team led by Tsinghua University has found that these flows are more common than previously believed, forming in gentle environments such as reservoirs and lakes, where such currents were thought to be impossible. The...

Hong Kong teachers to undergo 30-hour digital...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Hong Kong teachers will have to complete at least 30 hours of digital education training every three years, as authorities unveil a blueprint to boost the use of technology in schools. As part of the initiative, primary and secondary schools will also be required to incorporate digital elements into their annual school development plans, while an innovation and technology curriculum will be rolled out for pupils. The move came as the Curriculum Development Council released the Blueprint for...

Data leak fears after ransomware attack hits Hong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

A major bakery chain has been hit by a ransomware attack on its internal network, prompting Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog to seek details to assess the risk of a potential data leak. Kee Wah Bakery, known for its local and Chinese pastries, revealed the incident on Tuesday, after its internal network malfunctioned on Friday last week. A preliminary investigation found that a ransomware attack had targeted its system, which contains employees’ personal data as well as information related to...

Sips of history: how ancient Chinese brewing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Alcohol has played a central role in human culture for at least 10,000 years, with the earliest known alcoholic beverage – a rice wine – originating from the Henan province of central China. However, much of our understanding of these early adult beverages is superficial at best. Recently, a handful of studies from China are shedding light on what the oldest Chinese residents were drinking and how they crafted these libations. The highlight was the discovery of an unopened bottle of drink

What launch of Himars rockets towards Taiwan Strait...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Taiwan’s recent launch of Himars rockets westwards towards the Taiwan Strait highlights how the island’s defensive strategy is shifting to the use of mobile strike weapons to disrupt a mainland Chinese attack before it reaches shore. The exercise on June 10 was the first time the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System had been launched in the direction of mainland China. Beijing has yet to respond to the launches. Analysts said the significance of the drill lay in what it revealed about how...

Can Hong Kong make a giant leap to commercial space...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

Some may feel a lump in their throats as they watch Hong Kong’s first astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, make history, but few see it as anything more than an inspirational story for our youth. In reality, space, which can feel lofty and far away to pragmatic Hongkongers, could hold the key to our city’s economic future. In my previous column, we discussed why Hong Kong represents China’s best chance to build an alternative global maritime insurance system, but also why that remains mission impossible

Eternal ‘star’: asteroid named after firefighter...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/17

An asteroid discovered by a Hong Kong-born astronomer has been named after a firefighter who died in the city’s deadliest blaze in decades, with his fiancée expressing gratitude for a move that turned him into an eternal “star”. Ho Wai‑ho, 37, was killed in the Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po last November while helping to evacuate residents. To honour his sacrifice, amateur astronomer William Yeung Kwong-yu, a former president of the Hong Kong Astronomical Society, has named asteroid 34871...

American flag blue? Algae turns Trump’s reflecting...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/16

One of US President Donald Trump’s pet beauty projects for Washington was supposed to make the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool look blue, like part of the US flag. Enter Mother Nature. Algae has proliferated in the water, turning it a swampy green. “Can you see it in my photos? Oh well, I’ll just use a filter to hide the algae,” said Farrah Lu, a 43-year-old tourist from China. The invasion comes just days after the completion of the pool repainting project, part of Trump’s drive to put his...

SpaceX vaults past Amazon’s market value, briefly...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/16

SpaceX roared past Amazon’s market valuation on Tuesday ⁠and briefly topped that of Microsoft, rapidly scaling the list of the world’s most valuable companies on a topsy-turvy trading day fuelled by frenzied action in the firm’s newly listed option contracts. SpaceX shares rose 4.8 per cent to close at US$201.80, giving Elon Musk’s company a market value of roughly US$2.655 trillion – some US$800 billion more than its value when it sold its record initial public offering last week and about...

Latin America and Europe are bystanders in the...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/16

The race for artificial intelligence has hardened into a two-power contest between the United States and China, fought over rare earths, data and the rules governing the technology, with Latin America and Europe sidelined, Brazil’s top foreign policy adviser said on Tuesday. Celso Amorim, a former foreign and defence minister, made the case at the Forte de Copacabana International Security Conference in Rio de Janeiro, an annual forum run by the Brazilian Centre for International Relations

Europe is gearing up for a trade fight with China....

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/16

As trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels continue to rise, China’s firms in the European Union have been forced to walk a delicate tightrope: expanding their presence in the lucrative market while grappling with heightened regulatory hurdles and rapid geopolitical shifts. In the second part of this three-part series, we look at whether China and the EU are heading for a full-blown trade conflict. Last week, Beijing gathered more than a dozen Chinese companies in Berlin for a forum with

Leader of Taiwan’s KMT Cheng Li-wun talks Beijing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/16

The two-week US trip by Taiwan’s main opposition leader offered Washington a different take on cross-Strait relations, although whether it will change anything remains in question, some experts said. Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng Li-wun landed back in Taipei early on Tuesday, concluding a five-stop visit she called “beyond expectations”. Cheng began her trip on June 1, visiting San Francisco, Boston, New York, Washington and Los Angeles. She met with representatives from several think

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says society needs ‘new social...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/16

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang – whose work helped enable artificial intelligence – stressed in an interview on Tuesday that society has no choice but to change in the advent of AI. Huang has been optimistic about the technology’s potential to rapidly change society, creating faster economic growth and more scientific breakthroughs. But as the head of a computer chip company now developing AI systems, Huang has felt obliged to respond to critics who warn of job losses and threats to humanity...

23,191 results