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News - South China Morning Post

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Chinese scientists use AI model to crack mystery of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Chinese scientists have used AI to determine the chemical make-up of the moon’s far side, offering new insights into one of lunar science’s enduring mysteries. Nearly half the moon’s surface – the far side which permanently faces away from the Earth – had long remained chemically unmapped. But samples from China’s Chang’e-6 mission, combined with advanced technologies, have enabled a team led by the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (SITP) to crack the lunar chemical code. Researchers

In the emerging world order, Europe and China’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

The Iran war has declared the death of the old global order. Europe wasn’t even consulted before Washington struck Iran alongside Israel – proof the continent is trapped between moral outrage and geopolitical irrelevance. If Europe wants to matter, it must shift its gaze eastwards, redefining China not as a binary adversary but as a balancing power. This is the path from Atlantic dependence to Eurasian relevance. For China, too, this moment is pivotal. US President Donald Trump has launched

Hong Kong urged to review fuel prices amid ‘unfair’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Hong Kong authorities have been urged to review the pricing mechanism for local fuel supplies after petrol retailers were accused of swiftly raising prices as conflict erupted in the Middle East, even though the city had not yet exhausted its weeks-long stockpile. Global fuel prices have soared since the US-Israel war with Iran broke out, disrupting traffic along the Strait of Hormuz – the key waterway that handles about 20 per cent of the world’s oil shipments. The price of Brent crude, the...

Health authorities probe possible food poisoning...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Authorities have launched an investigation into a potential food poisoning cluster that has affected 53 trainees understood to be from the Hong Kong Police College. The Department of Health said on Saturday that 48 male and five female trainees, aged 20 to 40, had developed symptoms of abdominal pain, diarrhoea, vomiting and fever since Thursday evening. It did not name the police college in its statement, only referring to the location as a training institute. A source confirmed to the South...

At least 23 die in Kenyan capital flash floods

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

At least 23 people were killed in flash flooding overnight in the capital Nairobi, police said Saturday, amid search and rescue operations and widespread devastation. Torrential rains lashed the city late on Friday, turning major streets into rivers and flooding thousands of homes and businesses. Rescue teams were still pulling out bodies and rescuing trapped residents on Saturday, while reporters saw heavily damaged roads and infrastructure from the city’s vast slums to upmarket areas like...

Top envoy urges China-Russia border infrastructure as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

China’s top envoy to Russia has urged more transport infrastructure along the countries’ shared border to cut logistics costs and address challenges. Zhang Hanhui, Beijing’s ambassador to Moscow, said on Thursday that the two countries could explore cross-border transport corridors as major maritime logistics had been affected by sanctions. “I have suggested to the Russian side that more convenient crossings should be built along the China-Russia border, such as cross-river bridges,” Zhang

Singapore’s ban on caged lorries revives debate over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Singapore is moving to ban caged lorries used to transport migrant workers in a bid to reduce safety risks in emergencies, but activists say the change does not address the wider dangers of ferrying workers in such vehicles. Senior Minister of State for Transport Sun Xueling said that caged lorry decks posed “additional safety risks” to passengers sitting in the rear. “For example, if a lorry with a caged door that is locked or latched from the outside is involved in an accident or a fire,...

Hong Kong police step up security at consulates of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Hong Kong police have stepped up security around the consulates and officials of countries involved in the Middle East conflict, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said officers had increased patrols at the consulates as a precaution since the outbreak of the conflict. The United States and Israel launched a massive attack on Tehran last Saturday, killing its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with his wife and senior Iranian officials. The move prompted Iranian...

Iran apologises for strikes on neighbours, Trump...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Iran’s president said on Saturday that a demand by the United States for an unconditional surrender is a “dream that they should take to their grave”. President Masoud Pezeshkian made the statement in a pre-recorded address aired by state television. He also apologised for Iran’s attacks on regional countries, saying that Tehran would halt them and suggesting they were caused by miscommunication in the ranks. He blamed the killing of the country’s supreme leader and other top officials for

Hong Kong authorities propose ferry fare adjustments...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Hong Kong transport authorities have proposed adjusting single-journey fares for six ferry routes from April 1, the first revision in nearly three years, with some journeys to rise by 12.5 per cent, while certain high-speed trips will become cheaper. In a document submitted to the Islands District Council, the Transport Department said its fare adjustment proposal struck a balance between residents’ travel needs and the ferries’ financial viability. Under the proposal, fares for one-way trips...

‘I can’t sleep’: Iranian in Hong Kong gripped by fear...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Behzad Mirzaei, who has lived in Hong Kong for three decades, is losing sleep as tensions involving Iran escalate, worried about his elderly mother in Tehran. The founder of the Persian Club is among Hong Kong’s small Iranian community who are watching the war with mounting anxiety, waiting for daily updates and fearing for loved ones thousands of kilometres away. “Every night before I go to sleep, I have this nightmare – that anxiety – about what will happen,” the 57-year-old said. “On a few...

Rising star chip scientist Jiang Jianfeng leaves MIT...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Most academics take eight to 10 years after earning a PhD to become doctoral supervisors. But semiconductor scientist Jiang Jianfeng has done it in just 18 months. The 30-year-old only earned his PhD in June 2024. After briefly serving as a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he has now returned to Peking University to serve as a principal investigator, associate professor and PhD supervisor. Jiang’s research focuses on two-dimensional indium selenide...

China women living together for years spark...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Two women in southern China who have lived together for 13 years have gone viral and sparked an online discussion about female cohabitation. Liang Shichun, 59, and her best friend Li Yan, 51, bought a house together in Nanning, Guangxi province, and share everything from household chores to the mortgage. Both women had unhappy marriages and chose not to remarry, instead opting to live together and support each other. Their friendship, which has lasted more than two decades, included Li being...

‘46,800 jobs’: Xinjiang official says textile...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

Despite US-led sanctions, Xinjiang’s textile industry expanded last year to create tens of thousands of jobs, a senior official said, pledging stronger support for companies affected by the restrictions. Wang Kuiran, secretary general of the far western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region government, said yarn output rose more than 20 per cent in 2025. According to Wang, fabric production increased 36 per cent year on year and the sector – a key target of Western sanctions – created 46,800 new

At least 7 killed in Ukraine as Russian missile hits...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

At least seven people were killed and 10 others, including three children, were wounded on Saturday by a Russian missile that hit a five-storey residential building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack and called for an international response. He said that Russia struck Ukraine overnight with 29 missiles and 480 drones, targeting energy facilities in Kyiv and other central regions, with damage reported in at least seven...

Nepal election: rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

A 35-year-old rapper and engineer who entered politics just four years ago has beaten a former prime minister in Nepal’s crucial parliamentary election, in a contest widely seen as a referendum on a generational shift in leadership after last year’s youth uprising. Balendra Shah – the former Kathmandu mayor widely known as Balen – surged ahead of 74-year-old communist leader K.P. Sharma Oli in a race for a seat in Nepal’s House of Representatives in the eastern district of Jhapa, election...

The cause of the next global market crash is hiding...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

If financial markets can survive the United States’ war on Iran and Russia’s war against Ukraine, does this mean that financial crashes have become a thing of the past? Or have markets just not grasped the true nature of the current threats to the financial system? The latter is almost certainly the case, as former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein suggested when he said in a recent Financial Times interview that people had “got more complacent” about financial risks since the 2008 crisis. It

Beyond beef: China and Uruguay team up on science to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

China and Uruguay have forged a new scientific alliance by signing more than 20 cooperation agreements, targeting critical fields from cancer treatment and water management to fighting crop-destroying pests. The development signals a step forward in ties, moving beyond a decade mainly defined by trade in products like wood pulp, soybeans and beef. “China is a good partner for us, especially in basic sciences,” Alvaro Brunini, president of Uruguay’s National Agency of Research and Innovation...

Da Nang, South Korean province? Why this coastal city...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

At the bustling Han Market in central Da Nang, two Vietnamese vendors tease a middle-aged South Korean tourist by calling him harabeoji, or “grandfather” in Korean. “I’m offended!” he jokes. The women grab his arms and laugh. “It’s OK, it’s OK.” The man had returned to their stall after buying 200,000 dong (US$7.60) worth of macadamia nuts the day before. It is a small moment of banter, repeated dozens of times a day in a city that many people from South Korea jokingly call their own

Trump’s ‘feeling’-driven Iran war cops criticism for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/07

President Donald Trump has plunged the United States into its most significant conflict in decades over a “feeling”. It is not his political opponents saying this, but the White House itself. Throughout the first week of the war with Iran, the US president has prioritised impulse and emotion over explanations and reasoning. “I hope you’re impressed,” Trump, a former reality TV host, told an ABC News reporter on Thursday. “How do you like the performance?” Official government accounts are

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