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China’s tech giants pursue AI, semiconductor talent...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Major Chinese technology companies, including ByteDance and Baidu, are aggressively expanding their US-based research and development teams, targeting high-level artificial intelligence and semiconductor recruits in key American tech hubs. The overseas hiring spree underscores these “big tech” firms’ growing ambitions to build up their skilled workforce in AI systems development and semiconductor design amid increased competition in their home market. Social media giant ByteDance, the parent...

Is China’s Xi set to host a weakened Trump after US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

US President Donald Trump may find himself wielding less leverage when he heads to China in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that overturned his signature tariff policy, Chinese analysts and exporters say. They said the court’s decision could weaken Trump’s negotiating position with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while potentially offering short-term good news for US-linked exporters in China. The White House confirmed Trump’s China visit on Friday, just as the US Supreme Court ruled the...

Hong Kong Ocean Park’s last 2 arctic foxes die, den...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Hong Kong’s Ocean Park has temporarily closed its Arctic Fox Den after the enclosure’s last two remaining animals, “Siu Go” and “Trinity”, died of old age. The theme park announced on Saturday that Siu Go and Trinity had both died at the age of 11. It did not specify when the deaths occurred. “The park’s animal care and veterinary team closely monitored the health of each arctic fox throughout their later years and provided them with meticulous care,” a spokesman said. “However, they

30 people in Iran face death penalty after protests,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

At least 30 people in Iran are facing the death penalty in connection with the recent mass protests in the country, according to the human rights group Amnesty International. A death sentence had already been passed in eight cases, the organisation reported on Friday. Among the 22 other cases before the courts, two men were still minors, Amnesty said. The Iranian judiciary has not officially confirmed any of the death sentences. However, a week ago, the Misan news agency, which is linked to

HK$200 million Mark Six draw to be split across 5...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

The first prize for the Year of the Horse’s Mark Six snowball draw on Saturday is set to be split across five winning bets, with each garnering a payout of about HK$42.2 million (US$5.4 million). The total turnover for the draw reached HK$402.3 million – 6.45 times the total turnover of the HK$62.4 million recorded for the previous draw earlier this week. This lottery’s HK$200 million first prize fund is the highest in its history. The winning numbers were 2, 18, 34, 35, 37 and 49, with 33

‘Belongs to everyone’: wheelchair dancers move beyond...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

At a rehearsal studio in Hong Kong on an early February morning, a group of 12 dancers gathered around a table, hands on deck and eyes locked in intense glances. They slammed the counter in unison. Then they twisted and turned their bodies with fierce precision, as a wave of energy swept through the room. Half stood, while the others moved in wheelchairs. The dancers dispersed into the four corners of the room. Evina Wong Wai-king, a 65-year-old wheelchair dancer, lifted her hand. Tilting her...

EU bans Chinese bodies from critical tech programmes,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Researchers in China have been excluded from the European Union’s most advanced collaborative technology programmes. However, specialists in the sectors affected say the impact of the ban may be limited because some areas of collaboration are already at a historic low. The EU has barred organisations based in China from applying for its €93 billion (US$110 billion) Horizon Europe grants in “critical areas”, citing concerns over research security and potential military use. Effective this

5 European nations to make drones by tapping...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Five European nations have announced a new programme to produce low-cost air defence systems and autonomous drones using Ukrainian expertise hard-won over the past four years of war against Russia. Friday’s initiative of the E5 nations – France, Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy – comes as one of many European efforts to bolster defence along their borders, like a “drone wall” with Russia and Ukraine to better detect, track and intercept drones violating Europe’s airspace. Both...

The rail ahead: as high-speed lines saturate China,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Chinese railway giants look set to scout Eurasia in the years ahead to build high-speed train lines as the domestic market matures and some countries are more prepared than others for capital-intensive yet transformative ventures, analysts said. Inspired by China-invested projects such as the 142km (88-mile) Jakarta-Bandung high-speed line in Indonesia and the partly finished 350km (217-mile) Budapest-Belgrade railway, Chinese construction and engineering firms are expected to expand their...

‘Incredible’: China cabby drives foreign influencers...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Two China-based foreign influencers who hired a taxi driver to take them on a 4,000-kilometre trip from the south to the north of the country gave their cabby what he has described as an “incredible” experience. One, an Israeli internet celebrity called Raz Gal-Or is famous in China where he has 9.5 million followers and where he is known as Gao Yousi; the other is a French key opinion leader (KOL) whose Chinese name is Xiao Weihong. On January 28, they began sharing a four-episode series of...

Hong Kong to spend HK$6.8 billion buying back...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Hong Kong authorities will spend about HK$6.8 billion (US$870 million) to buy back homes damaged in the deadly Tai Po fire from flat owners, offering HK$8,000 or HK$10,500 per square foot as part of a long-term resettlement plan involving HK$4 billion in public funds. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun unveiled the plan on Saturday, ruling out on-site redevelopment of Wang Fuk Court and adding that authorities were inclined to demolish seven of the estate’s eight buildings and...

Hitler’s childhood home becomes a police station in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

Turning the house where Adolf Hitler was born into a police station has raised mixed emotions in his Austrian hometown. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said Sibylle Treiblmaier, outside the house in the town of Braunau am Inn on the border with Germany. While it might discourage far-right extremists from gathering at the site, it could have “been used better or differently”, the 53-year-old office assistant said. The government wants to “neutralise” the site and passed a law in 2016 to take

New US 10% global tariff will have ‘limited impact’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

The new 10 per cent global tariffs imposed by the United States will have only a “limited impact” on Hong Kong, the treasury chief has said, adding that the move highlights the city’s strength as a safe haven for capital amid geopolitical uncertainty. The remarks followed US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday of his plan to impose a new round of tariffs on all trading partners, effective immediately, after the US Supreme Court ruling against his earlier sweeping emergency...

600 Guangdong drivers enter Hong Kong as thousands...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

About 600 motorists from Guangdong province have driven their vehicles into Hong Kong’s urban areas during the Lunar New Year holiday under a new scheme that has so far attracted 3,000 applications, according to the transport minister. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said on Saturday that the number of weekend drivers was, on average, nearly at capacity while weekday slots were also “pretty well” filled, depending on whether any major events were taking place in Hong...

Date set for US President Donald Trump’s trip to China

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

US President Donald Trump will travel to China from March 31 to ⁠April 2 for talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the White House has announced. The summit between Trump and Xi, the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies, will be watched closely, particularly in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Observers noted that the court’s decision could leave Trump with less leverage against China during negotiations and might give a...

China’s Yangtze River fishing ban brings biomass...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

The ecological health of China’s Yangtze River is undergoing a meaningful recovery, just halfway through a 10-year fishing ban to restore the ecosystem, a new study has found. As one of the country’s vital waterways – and among the world’s most biodiverse rivers – the Yangtze has long supported immense economic and social functions. At its peak, it contributed more than 60 per cent of China’s freshwater fisheries output. Yet from the 1950s, the river basin faced sustained ecological decline

China’s AI crossroads: 3 divergent paths in the race...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

On a crisp January afternoon, the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, just a stone’s throw from Tencent Holdings’ headquarters, was packed with employees gathering for a party featuring celebrity cameos and prizes. But before the fun started, they witnessed a round of sober self-reflection from their low-profile leader. The New Year address by co-founder, chairman and CEO Pony Ma Huateng is an annual tradition for the social media and video gaming giant, offering its 115,000 employees rare insight

OpenAI flagged Canadian school shooter months before...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said on Friday that it had considered alerting Canada’s police last year about the activities of a person who months later committed one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history. OpenAI said the company identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar last June via abuse detection efforts for “furtherance of violent activities”. The San Francisco tech company said it considered whether to refer the account to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but determined at...

US military kills 3 in latest strike on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

The US military has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. US Southern Command said on social media that the boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations”. It said the strike on Friday killed three people. A video linked to the post shows a boat floating in the water before bursting into flames. Friday’s attack raises the death toll from the

How the next China shock is shaping hearts and minds

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/21

For decades, China’s role in the global economy was easy to define. It made things cheaply and at astonishing scale. “Made in China” became shorthand for industrial capacity. It was often contentious, sometimes admired, sometimes feared. In the years after China joined the World Trade Organization, its firms were deeply embedded in global supply chains, mostly at the lower end of the value chain. They produced for others. Western and Japanese companies controlled the premium segments and

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