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News - South China Morning Post

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US drops charges against Chinese scientists for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Beijing intervened and helped get charges dropped against three Chinese scientists at the University of Michigan who were accused of helping a colleague smuggle biological materials into the US, defence lawyers said. The materials turned out to be mostly tiny, transparent worms – nothing dangerous – though US officials last year hailed the arrests as a victory for national security. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the government must be vigilant when foreign nationals try to “advance a

Did Philippine gig workers help Jeffrey Epstein clean...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

As Manila scrambles to investigate links between convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and a Philippines-based team he allegedly hired to scrub his criminal history from the internet, the revelation has cast an unwelcome spotlight on a relatively obscure industry. Emails released by the US Department of Justice have alarmed lawmakers in the Philippines over the potential exploitation of Filipino gig workers handling shady online-reputation work. The Philippine Department of Information

Xi Jinping meets foreign leaders: tracker 2026

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz became the seventh world leader to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this year, when the two held discussions on February 25. US President Donald Trump may be next on the list, as he is scheduled to arrive in China on March 31, the first of potentially four face-to-face meetings with Xi this year. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to visit before the end of June. The rush of leaders travelling to China this year, often after

China’s Huawei joins US giants OpenAI, Google in AI...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies has joined hands with US companies OpenAI and Google, among others, to advance global open-source standards in the rapidly advancing field of agentic artificial intelligence. The development marks a rare collaboration between a US-sanctioned Chinese heavyweight and its US counterparts in global AI standards setting amid US-China geopolitical and tech competition. On Tuesday, the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) announced Huawei as one of 97 new members

Ex-media boss Jimmy Lai wins appeal over fraud...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

A Hong Kong appellate court has quashed Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s fraud conviction for operating a consultancy office from his now-defunct tabloid-style newspaper, Apple Daily, finding that the prosecution failed to prove the jailed former media boss had made a “false representation”. In a judgment delivered on Thursday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove that Lai and another executive at Next Digital, the paper’s parent company, could be held criminally liable for...

In Japan, plan to give cash rewards for reporting...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

A proposed scheme in Japan offering cash rewards for tip-offs about illegal foreign workers has won support from residents frustrated by what they see as weak enforcement of immigration rules, but migrant advocates warn the policy could deepen distrust and push vulnerable people further into the shadows. The “reporting reward” proposal, announced by Ibaraki Governor Kazuhiko Oigawa earlier this month, would amount to a cash reward of “several tens of thousands of yen” for information leading

Nvidia reports record earnings quarter as China’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Nvidia has yet to generate any revenue from its H200 chips in China and does not know if any sales will be allowed in the country, the company said, as the US chip giant reported record quarterly revenue on surging demand for data centre processors. While the Santa Clara-based tech giant remains the primary beneficiary of the global generative artificial intelligence boom, its ability to navigate the US-China tech war has become a challenge, with the pipeline for the H200 – Nvidia’s

How Hong Kong law ensures kids’ well-being when...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

I have a habit of re-watching movies during festive times. As we entered the Year of the Horse, one movie that I watched again during Chinese New Year was Marriage Story, a legal drama released on streaming platforms in 2019. The story centres on the divorce of the two lead characters and the resulting legal battle over the custody of their son. The film received rave reviews, earning six Oscar nominations, including for Laura Dern, who clinched the best supporting actress award for her...

Hong Kong 2026-27 budget: ‘Symphony of Lights’ to go...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Hong Kong will cancel the two-decade-old “A Symphony of Lights” within the year, with the South China Morning Post learning that the fixture will be replaced with immersive projections across various districts to upgrade the city’s offerings. The revamp is among a raft of new tourism measures announced in finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po’s latest budget, with others including a push for Hong Kong to become a destination for study tours and a HK$200 million (US$25.6 million) fund to revitalise

Japan’s Takaichi revives push to criminalise defacing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, buoyed by a commanding majority in the powerful lower house after this month’s election, is poised to revive one of her longest-standing conservative causes: making it a crime to deface the national flag. At issue is the hinomaru, the national flag, which currently carries no specific criminal penalty if damaged or desecrated – even though the Penal Code sets punishments for defiling foreign flags displayed in Japan with the intent to insult. Takaichi

The true cost of Panama’s port seizure lies in lost...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

There are few assets on earth as strategically sensitive as the ports flanking the Panama Canal. They sit at the hinge of global trade, where container ships glide between oceans and geopolitics moves just beneath the surface. That is why Panama’s seizure of two major port terminals operated by CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong conglomerate built by Li Ka-shing, deserves more than a passing headline. It is not simply a contractual dispute dressed up as constitutional housekeeping. It is a stress

Why is the Communist Party warning cadres about their...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Communist Party cadres have been put on notice over governance and performance appraisals as the ruling body counts down to leadership changes across the country and the start of the next five-year plan. In a campaign that will continue until July, officials from the county level up have been told to correct any deviations from the “correct” line in their own duties and in assessments of those under their watch. In an article on Wednesday, state news agency Xinhua suggested that breaches of

Merz’s China tightrope: warm words, but hard...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz travelled to Beijing with a delicate brief: vouch for a shrinking slice of big German firms still bullish on China, while defending the growing number being squeezed. On day one of his first official visit, Merz trod the line carefully – voicing openness to resetting beleaguered bilateral ties, even while gently nudging his hosts on bugbears including subsidies, currency devaluation and Russia. A day of meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, President Xi

China extends tech lead over South Korea and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

China widened its lead over South Korea in critical technologies in recent years, according to an official review by Seoul’s science ministry, as Beijing doubles down on strategic investment in advanced research. The expanding gap underscores the need for both countries to move beyond zero-sum competition and deepen cooperation in economic and technological development, according to analysts. Quantifying this trend, the latest technology-level assessment from the South Korean Ministry of

China boy sues dad for taking his US$11,500 red...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

A Chinese father who, after divorcing, confiscated more than 80,000 yuan (US$11,500) of his son’s Chinese New Year “red envelope” money to cover the expense of a new marriage ceremony, has lost a lawsuit that demanded he return the full amount. The boy, 10, who is known as Xiaohui, comes from Zhengzhou in Henan province, northern China, and has been living with his father since his parents divorced two years ago. Over the years, Xiaohui had accumulated more than 80,000 yuan in Chinese New

Budget reveal: government turns matchmaker with...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Hong Kong’s finance chief on Wednesday lived up to his credentials as a chartered accountant when he produced a surprisingly robust budget, flush with surpluses and full of initiatives to be funded through substantial means at his disposal.One significant initiative is a rare move to dip into the Exchange Fund, the government’s main investment arm and de facto sovereign wealth fund, traditionally used to defend the currency peg to the US dollar, to finance infrastructure development. The...

What Yoon’s life sentence means for South Korean...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

It began with a late-night declaration of martial law and has ended, for now, with a gavel. In the 443 days between those two moments, South Korea’s democracy was tested in ways most countries never experience. Citizens formed human chains to block troops from reaching the National Assembly. Lawmakers rushed through corridors in the dead of night to kill the martial law decree by vote. The Constitutional Court upheld a president’s impeachment. Millions took to the streets in protest. A new...

US women’s ice hockey captain responds to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Hilary Knight, captain of the victorious US women’s Olympic ice hockey team, said Wednesday it was unfortunate that a “distasteful joke” by President Donald Trump had overshadowed the achievements of US athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games. The US men’s ice hockey team took a congratulatory call from Trump as they celebrated their gold medal victory over Canada. The president invited them to his State of the Union address and added he would have to ask the triumphant women’s team as well or

US to keep China trade tariffs steady ahead of key...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Washington will keep China tariffs at their current level as the Trump administration seeks “continuity” after the Supreme Court struck down the levies it imposed last year, according to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, weeks ahead of a high-stakes meeting between the two countries’ leaders. The US will keep in place current China tariffs, which have varied from 35 per cent to 50 per cent depending on the product, since the countries “de-escalated” the trade war last year, Greer said

Immigration slows, but America’s appetite for ethnic...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Weee, an online grocer specialising in Asian and Latino goods, is betting that America’s appetite for ethnic food and grocery delivery will outlast a sharp drop in immigration, with its founder forecasting years of double-digit growth even as the Trump administration tightens border controls. The San Francisco-based company has seen its annual revenue grow at about 30 to 40 per cent from 2023 to 2025, and is expecting to expand at the same pace in the next five to 10 years, founder and CEO

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