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News - South China Morning Post

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South Korean investors pour millions into MiniMax,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

South Korean retail investors, known for their aggressive trading style, are ramping up exposure to Chinese artificial intelligence-related stocks, even as their home market ranks among the world’s top performers. Data from SEIBro, a portal operated by the Korea Securities Depository, showed that South Korean retail investors bought US$507 million worth of Hong Kong-listed shares and US$154 million of mainland-listed shares between January 2 and Monday. The data showed that total purchases

Zelensky speaks with Trump, says talks should lead to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he and US President Donald Trump agreed that the next session of trilateral talks in March on a war settlement should lead to a meeting of the countries’ leaders. Zelensky, speaking after a phone conversation with Trump, said the three-sided talks with Russia and the United States would take place early next month. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner also took part in the ‌phone call. “We expect this meeting to create an...

Cuba coastguard kills 4 in firefight with...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Cuba’s coastguard shot dead four people and injured six others travelling in a US-registered speedboat in an exchange of fire off the Cuban coast on Wednesday, the interior ministry in Havana said. The “illegal” Florida-registered boat was detected one nautical mile from Falcones Cay in Villa Clara province, the ministry said in a brief statement. As a coastguard vessel approached to identify the boat “shots were fired from the boat”, injuring the commander of the Cuban vessel, the ministry...

Ex-US Treasury chief Larry Summers quits Harvard over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers has resigned from his teaching post at Harvard University over his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Ivy League institution said on Wednesday.Summers, who ran the US Treasury under former president Bill Clinton, was revealed in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice to have had extensive exchanges with the now-deceased financier. Clinton will testify before a congressional committee on Epstein on Friday while his...

Pentagon to spend US$12 billion on surveillance over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

The Pentagon plans to spend an additional US$12.6 billion to improve surveillance of China’s military manoeuvres, submarines and satellites as the US tries to counter the “unprecedented Chinese military build-up” in Asia, according to a budget document sent to Congress. The funds, approved by Congress outside the normal budget process, are designed to improve US military readiness, offensive cyber capabilities and surveillance efforts across the Indo-Pacific. It will also help expand

Rare move to take income out of Exchange Fund to pay...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

The Hong Kong government has produced a consolidated surplus earlier than expected, its first in four years, ahead of a rare transfer into coffers from the Exchange Fund and other sources. Wednesday’s budget pointed to fund transfers of HK$127.83 billion (US$16.35 billion) and an 11.1 per cent jump in government revenues contributing to another surplus for 2026-27, on top of the one for the 2025-26 financial year. “We will bring back about HK$15.8 billion from funds established outside the...

Hong Kong Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2035:...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Achievements of the Hong Kong Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan In 2016, the Government launched the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP), working in concert with all sectors of the community to protect Hong Kong's precious ecological resources and advance sustainable development. The initial phase of the BSAP has yielded significant achievements, including the designation of new marine and country parks

Bill Gates says he had affairs with 2 Russian women,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Bill Gates has admitted making a “huge mistake” in associating with Jeffrey Epstein, telling staff at his charity foundation that he had affairs with two Russian women but denying involvement in the disgraced financier’s crimes. The Microsoft co-founder is among the prominent names appearing in documents released by the US Justice Department that revealed close friendships, illicit financial dealings and private photos with convicted sex offender Epstein. In a town hall on Tuesday with staff

Hong Kong’s virtual asset sector considered for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

A new government committee tasked with reviewing Hong Kong’s tax policies will consider updating them to allow for levies on the virtual asset sector and selected emerging industries, while providing incentives to attract business and investment, the South China Morning Post has learned. The SCMP learned of the development on Wednesday as experts called for Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po to regard the new Advisory Committee on Tax Policy, which he will chair, as an opportunity to conduct

Hong Kong to set up first national innovation centre...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Hong Kong will establish the first national manufacturing innovation centre outside mainland China and a high-level steering committee to spearhead AI development, the finance chief has said, as the city seeks to align with the country’s 15th five-year plan. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also unveiled a citywide artificial intelligence (AI) literacy drive in Wednesday’s budget, earmarking funds for various organisations to set up courses on the technology. “We must embrace the 15th...

Canada approves all Gulfstream jets, ‘backing down’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Canada’s aviation regulator certified the remaining Gulfstream private jet models that US President Donald Trump asked it to approve, a move which let the White House claim a win in its trade dispute with Canada. The certifications of Gulfstream’s GVIII-700 and GVIII-800 models, the largest business aircraft made by the unit of General Dynamics, were issued on Monday by Transport Canada. Trump said on January 29 that Canada had “wrongfully, illegally” refused to certify Gulfstream jets.

Hong Kong bets big on innovation, AI and finance in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Hong Kong is betting big on innovation, artificial intelligence and redoubling its focus on its international financial centre role as it aligns its economic future with the country’s development goals, the financial secretary has said while unveiling a budget allocating billions of dollars to these sectors. Paul Chan Mo-po on Wednesday spotlighted the development of the Northern Metropolis megaproject and San Tin Technopole as the cornerstones of Hong Kong’s innovation and technology (I&T)...

Is China flexing its intelligence muscle by tracking...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

A Chinese private company has drawn the attention of security watchers after detailing US military deployments near Iran, a move experts say underlines Beijing’s intelligence abilities. MizarVision, a Chinese commercial intelligence analysis firm, has consistently published monitoring posts regarding American military movements on social media over the past two years. But it has attracted fresh attention in the past month with an increase in the frequency and granularity of its posts and by...

Hong Kong boosts investment body’s role in property...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Hong Kong’s government investment agency will take on a bigger role in attracting commercial property investment while advancing the establishment of an alliance focused on Chinese-developed RISC-V chips, as the financial secretary pledged additional funding to the corporation in Wednesday’s budget speech. The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), which manages HK$62 billion (US$8 billion) in government funds, described its new role as a means to ‘encourage businesses to take root’ in the...

Who is Ali Shamkhani, the face of Iran’s wartime...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Ali Shamkhani, who taunted Israel after ⁠being pulled alive from the rubble of his Tehran home ⁠following a strike in June 2025, has survived at the centre of Iranian policymaking during ⁠its most testing military confrontations and diplomatic endeavours. The 70-year-old former Revolutionary Guard commander is a trusted adviser to Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a high-stakes stand-off with the US that could determine whether the Islamic Republic, born from revolution in 1979,

Suicide lawsuit against China-born scientist Jane...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

A US judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit accusing Northwestern University of mistreating Chinese-American neuroscientist Jane Wu before her suicide, allowing the case to move ahead. The ruling on Tuesday rejected the university’s request for dismissal and means one of the most consequential cases related to the now-defunct “China Initiative” will proceed into a more substantive phase, with the next hearing set for mid-May. Wu’s family alleges the former Dr Charles L. Mix research

How Saudi diplomacy is thwarting Trump’s desire for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

The new year is not off to a good start. In January, US president Donald Trump ordered the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and now there is a massive US military build-up in the Middle East, apparently aimed at Iran. One aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the region, with another one on the way. However, there does appear to be a silver lining to the stand-off. Unlike last year, when US bombers struck Iranian nuclear facilities during the conflict between Iran and...

Hong Kong seeks to hone edge as offshore yuan hub,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

Hong Kong is aiming to sharpen its competitive edge as an offshore yuan hub, an asset and wealth management base, and a digital-asset front runner under Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget released on Wednesday. Market participants largely welcomed Hong Kong’s renewed push to strengthen its position as an international financial centre, after Chan highlighted the city’s unique role in driving the yuan’s internationalisation and capital account opening. The initiative comes as Beijing...

ByteDance valuation said to hit record US$550 billion...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

US private equity firm General Atlantic is selling an equity stake in TikTok owner ByteDance in a deal that raises its valuation of the private Chinese company to US$550 billion, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two unnamed sources. The deal, still pending, confirms a previous report by the South China Morning Post in December that ByteDance’s valuation had surged to US$500 billion on the private market, up from US$400 billion as recently as the second quarter of 2025. General Atlantic...

Trump’s USMCA exit threat seen pushing Canada into...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/25

A reported threat by US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the North American trade pact could push Canada closer to China, analysts say, even as his new global 15 per cent tariff has little immediate impact due to existing trade agreements. Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City are set to renegotiate terms of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) before a possible extension on July 1. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Trump was quietly considering exiting the trade deal –...

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