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News - South China Morning Post

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Frenzy for Hong Kong luxury homes set to continue...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/26

Hong Kong’s sales of luxury homes more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier, helped by a buoyant stock market and attractively priced assets that drew the attention of wealthy investors including mainland Chinese buyers, according to analysts. The segment was likely to record another increase in the second quarter, they added. “With the wealth effect from accumulated gains in the stock market over the past two years, both local and mainland Chinese capital have seized the...

Japan underground idol sparks outrage for offering...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/26

A Japanese underground idol has stirred an online debate by offering fans the unusual perk of sniffing her armpits. Hari Matsumoto, from Wakayama, Honshu island, has attracted over 400,000 followers on social media thanks to her bubbly personality and approachable charm. In Japan, underground idols usually perform in intimate venues such as small theatre, livehouses or shopping centres and rarely appear on mainstream media. Unlike top-tier idols featured on television, in magazines, and in...

IPO market ‘raises HK$140 billion’ as Hong Kong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/26

Hong Kong’s initial public offering (IPO) market has raised more than HK$140 billion (US$17.9 billion) as of April, maintaining its global lead, the city’s finance chief has said, while indicating a renewed push to develop gold trading amid rising demand for risk diversification. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday that Hong Kong remained the world’s top IPO fundraising hub as of last week, citing a growing number of high-quality companies using the city’s strong financing...

Could Russian missiles help India counter its...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/26

India has reportedly signed a deal to buy Russian missiles that target support aircraft as its arch-rival Pakistan and China continue to integrate their aerial weapons profiles. Russia has cleared the export of around 300 R-37M ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles in a US$1.2 billion deal, according to media reports. Malaysia-based news platform Defence Security Asia said deliveries of the missiles could begin within 12 to 18 months. India is also developing its own Astra Mk 2 and Mk 3

How gunfire threw Trump’s glitzy Washington Hilton...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/26

It was meant to be a glitzy Saturday night at a Washington ballroom featuring President Donald Trump, but the glamour was shattered by gunshots that left guests diving to the floor and the US leader bundled out by security personnel. Trump was seated on the dais at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner – the first time he is attending as president – when loud bangs disrupted the revelry and caused him and others on stage to look up in alarm. Video captured by news

What’s fuelling the surge in South Koreans travelling...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/26

A new wave of South Korean content creators is descending on Chinese cities, cameras in hand, transforming the streets of Shanghai, Shenzhen and beyond into lively backdrops for travel vlogs and lifestyle videos. Dubbed the “Korean v-blogger influx” by some online users, their ranks have swelled since China extended its unilateral visa-free policy for South Korean passport holders for another year, allowing stays of up to 30 days for tourism, business and family visits. Introduced in 2024 and...

7,000-year history of China stilted houses celebrates...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

With sturdy wooden columns supporting a wide walkway that leads into a living space, stilted houses – known as ganlan in Chinese – represent a quintessential element of East Asian architectural heritage, boasting a remarkable history that spans 7,000 years.A day trip to Tai O, a historic fishing village on Lantau Island in Hong Kong, fully immerses visitors in the enchanting aesthetics of ganlan, making the village a premier destination for both locals and tourists. “In most Chinese regions...

Malaysia gets new anti-corruption chief as protests...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Malaysia on Saturday appointed a former judge as its new anti-corruption chief in an unprecedented move, as the government seeks to calm months of political turbulence over alleged misconduct linked to the watchdog’s outgoing head. Allies and opponents have hit out against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since February following reports claiming that Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) boss Azam Baki was involved in a share ownership scandal and the agency’s officers were allegedly

The Middle East’s new power brokers? Pakistan,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Amid the rubble of the US-Israel war on Iran, a new Middle East appears to be taking shape as a constellation of regional powers jockey for a seat at the table. Led by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the grouping stretches from the Gulf across the Caucasus to Central and South Asia, binding together countries with overlapping interests, interlocking partnerships and a shared conviction: that the post-war order should not be dictated exclusively by the US-Israel alliance or Iran and its battered but...

Hong Kong to step up crackdown on coerced shopping,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Hong Kong will step up law enforcement against coerced shopping, unlicensed tour guides and unfair sales practices targeting visitors during mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week”, the city’s tourism minister has said. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said on Saturday that hotel occupancy rates in Hong Kong were expected to exceed 90 per cent during the period, with the government estimating 980,000 mainland visitors, up 7 per cent from the same holiday last...

Xpeng sets August goal to overtake Tesla’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Xpeng, the Chinese electric vehicle start-up often cast as a key rival to Tesla, has set an ambitious goal to surpass the US carmaker’s self-driving capabilities in China by August, according to co-founder, chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng. The target highlights an intensifying technology race in the world’s largest car market, where manufacturers are increasingly leaning on advanced software to drive growth as government subsidies are phased out. Although Tesla’s full version of its Full...

Hong Kong Aberdeen marina project attracting local...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Hong Kong’s Aberdeen marina-residential tourism project has attracted local and overseas interest, with the city’s leading yacht club and a Singapore-based operator seeking partnerships with developers to expand their presence. Experts in the real estate and boating industries said developers would be keen to work with local, mainland Chinese or overseas marina operators to strengthen their bids and tap into the market, while urging the government to improve infrastructure and reinforce the...

China and Mozambique to map critical minerals in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Mozambique and China have agreed to map the vast, untapped deposits of critical minerals buried beneath the African nation’s resource-rich northern provinces, as Maputo seeks Chinese capital and security expertise to unlock one of the continent’s most coveted – and conflict-ridden – resource frontiers. The announcement was made in a joint statement issued after talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mozambican counterpart Daniel Chapo in Beijing on Tuesday. The geological survey

Traditional bathhouses in Japan sink under soaring...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Traditional public bathhouses in Japan are in deep water as soaring energy costs triggered by the Middle East oil supply disruptions threaten to extinguish the fires of a fading tradition, with some of them forced to shorten their hours or even shut their doors for good. Already struggling with a shrinking customer base and ageing owners without successors, the oil price surge is dealing a fresh blow to sento, as the communal baths are known in Japanese, with regulated pricing making it...

Just what the doctor ordered: how AI could help China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Li Bin, a doctor at the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, was among the wave of Chinese consumers who snapped up Apple Mac Mini computers during the country’s frenzied adoption of the OpenClaw artificial intelligence agent earlier this year. The young surgeon from Lanzhou, the capital of northwestern China’s Gansu province, bought one to run the open-source program, using it to develop an app to extract and organise information from doctor-patient conversations and lab report photos into...

Default in our stars: China’s banks use satellites to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

With bad loans and repayment collateral in focus, Chinese banks are increasingly using satellites to evaluate their clients’ terrestrial assets, mounting a hi-tech offensive to safeguard against rising credit risks. China Merchants Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank started making use of satellites this year, following a 2022 launch by Ping An Bank and a 2020 move into satellite remote-sensing technology by Zhejiang E-Commerce Bank. Furthering the trend, the Postal Savings Bank of

Japanese military seeks answers for fatal Type 10...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

A turret explosion that killed three Japanese crew members inside a Type 10 tank during manoeuvres earlier this week has caused shock and confusion in military circles. Japan’s defence ministry and experts concur that a round detonating inside a tank turret is virtually unheard of and the cause of the accident will need to be traced before the Ground Self-Defence Force’s (GSDF) newest and most advanced tank can return to training. An analyst suggests the investigation will look closely at...

China’s AI token drive is really about upgrading...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

The idea of a token economy is gaining traction. The concept is still nascent, loosely defined and easy to dismiss as just another piece of artificial intelligence jargon. It is no surprise Chinese policymakers are quick to jump on the bandwagon. But in the Chinese context, there is a more concrete policy logic that deserves attention. It reflects an emerging attempt to reframe how energy, infrastructure and digital services interact, and in doing so, how China positions itself in the next

Russia accuses US of using coups, kidnappings to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States of ⁠abandoning internationally recognised diplomatic ⁠conventions in pursuit of its ⁠own interests, particularly in dominating energy markets, in an interview broadcast on Friday. Lavrov, interviewed by Russian state television, said Washington, in its dealings with Latin America and the Middle East, was “taking us back to a world where ‌nothing existed” in international law. “The United States has officially declared that no

Wang Fuk Court residents make long climb to retrieve...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/25

Hon Wing, 77, and his family climbed 19 floors to their fire-ravaged flat in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court housing estate on Tuesday but left almost empty-handed after a two-hour search for valuables. Hon, a retired part-time taxi driver, had hoped to find a bag of change he kept during his work shifts, but “nothing much was there” in his charred flat in Wang Sun House. His daughter Ice Hon wanted to retrieve items passed down from her late mother. “Dust and ruins are everywhere. It feels like

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