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Hong Kong budget 2026-27: beyond balancing the books,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/20

Simon Leung has been without a full-time job since his contract ended in March 2024, after the Hong Kong government cut its budget for NGOs by 7 per cent. The social work event coordinator, who is in his late forties, now makes ends meet through gig jobs. With word spreading that the city’s coming budget will yield an early operating surplus, he wants Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po to restore funding for non-governmental organisations so retrenched workers like him can be hired

Why plan by US and Japan to relocate Okinawa airbase...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/20

For nearly three decades, Washington and Tokyo have pledged to close a controversial US airbase in Okinawa, located in the middle of a densely populated island, but the plan is now facing uncertainty. The US military would not return its Futenma airbase to Japanese control until Tokyo builds a longer runway than the one being built at a replacement site in the northeast of Okinawa prefecture, according to a report. Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday that the US Department

Scientists test universal vaccine for cold, flu,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

The world is a significant step closer to a universal vaccine for cold, flu, Covid and allergies, scientists believe. Experts at Stanford Medicine ⁠in the US have developed a universal ⁠vaccine that could be given as a nasal spray and ⁠could protect against a wide range of respiratory viruses, bacteria and allergy triggers. Although the study, published in the journal Science, was in mice, they said the vaccine offered broad protection in the lungs for several months. Vaccinated mice were...

Washington offers US$200 million to boost American...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

The US State Department will subsidise companies to roll out cheap smartphones running American software in the Indo-Pacific region, part of its “Pax Silica” initiative that seeks to shore up the resilience of the US artificial intelligence supply chain and win the AI race with China. The US has launched the Edge AI Package, which provides up to US$200 million of funding for mobile network operators and smartphone vendors to deploy “low-cost, high-performance” handsets in some partner nations

Climber convicted of manslaughter after girlfriend...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

An Austrian court late ⁠on Thursday found ⁠a 37-year-old amateur mountaineer ⁠guilty of manslaughter over his girlfriend’s death of cold near Austria’s highest summit after he left her to fetch help, local media reported. The case is unusual because while climbing accidents are common, prosecutions over them ‌are rare, even in situations like this one where various mistakes were made. The court in the western city of Innsbruck handed the Austrian man a five-month suspended prison sentence and

Hong Kong banks reward staff with gifts, extra...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

Thousands of Hong Kong bank employees will receive a return-to-work lai see on Friday, with some banks handing out extra benefits and gifts to their staff amid improving economic and market sentiment. While it is a Chinese tradition for companies to give their staff lai see on the first working day of the Lunar New Year as a token of appreciation for their hard work, many banks nowadays give their staff lai see and other goodies before the holiday. Bank of China (Hong Kong) is giving each of

Former Biden official says US must work with allies...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

Working closely with like-minded countries remains the most effective strategy to counter an increasingly powerful China – in marked contrast to the policies of US President Donald Trump – said a former senior US official, while admitting that the Joe Biden administration made some key mistakes that undercut its own effectiveness. “Given the size and the immensity of the China challenge, the only way that the United States is going to be effective to meet that challenge is if we work with

Chinese scientists put quantum chaos in ‘slow motion’

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

In a landmark achievement, Chinese scientists have directly observed and manipulated prethermalisation – a critical transitional state in quantum systems – using the 78-qubit “Chuang-tzu 2.0” superconducting processor. This allows researchers to “tune” the speed of quantum decoherence, providing a vital tool for managing complex quantum environments. If a quantum system is disturbed, it naturally returns to a balanced state. The energy and information within it spreads out until they are

UK public cheers ex-prince Andrew’s arrest, Trump...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

Britain’s typically pro-royal public welcomed the arrest of the former prince Andrew, whose friendship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has turned him into an outcast. Some on Thursday appeared delighted that police were holding King Charles’ brother, arguing it sent the right message that the royal family was not above the law. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, called the arrest “very sad”. “I think it’s a shame. I think it’s very sad. I think it’s so bad for the royal

It’s time for global governance to reflect the new...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

The global order has outgrown itself. The 2026 Munich Security Report describes this moment as a period of “wrecking-ball politics”, in which the post-war order constructed in 1945 is “under destruction”. However, that order was designed for a world shaped by bipolar rivalry and later sustained by American predominance. Today’s global system looks very different: economically diffuse, environmentally constrained and politically fragmented but deeply interconnected by both trade and...

US man found guilty of beating 4 to death in New York...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

A man who fatally beat four sleeping men on the streets of New York’s Chinatown was convicted of first-degree murder on Thursday, with a jury rejecting his insanity defence in the 2019 rampage. Randy Santos’ lawyers had conceded that he pummelled the defenceless victims – Chuen Kok, Anthony Manson, Florencio Moran and Nazario Vasquez Villegas – with a metal bar and meant to kill them. But Santos’ lawyers contended that he was too mentally ill to be held criminally responsible. They said he

Trump appears to set Iran deadline, as US deploys...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

The US military is stationing a vast array of forces in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, fighter jets and refuelling tankers, giving President Donald Trump the option for a major attack against Iran as he pressures the country to strike a deal over its nuclear programme. The deployment is unlike anything the US has done since 2003, when it amassed forces ahead of the invasion of Iraq. It dwarfs the military build-up that Trump ordered off the coast of Venezuela in the weeks...

Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ debuts with Gaza pledge as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

US President Donald Trump on Thursday promised US$10 billion and Muslim-majority nations offered funding and troops for Gaza as he inaugurated his “Board of Peace”, a new institution whose ultimate mission has drawn questions. Trump brought together allies from around the world - many authoritarians, with few Western democrats who traditionally ally with the United States - to hail his peacemaking just as he sends US military might near Iran and threatens war. Presiding with a gavel over the...

US trade deficit widens sharply in December, testing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

The US trade imbalance widened sharply in December 2025, highlighting continued challenges in America’s economic relationship with the world and with key economic competitor China, according to a release from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday. For the full year 2025, the US recorded a goods and services trade deficit of US$901.5 billion, a modest decline of 0.2 per cent from 2024, one of the largest since 1960. The total goods and services deficit in 2024 was US$903.5 billion,

Mugabe’s son Bellarmine arrested after gardener shot...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

The youngest son of former Zimbabwean ruler Robert Mugabe was in police custody after a gardener was shot at his South Africa home on Thursday, media reported. Police said they were investigating a case of attempted murder after the shooting in a wealthy suburb north of Johannesburg and had taken two men in for questioning. A police spokeswoman declined to identify the men but several South African media outlets reported that one of them was Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe. Photographs on the IOL...

Macron tells Meloni to ‘stay in lane’ over remarks on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on Giorgia Meloni to stop “commenting on what is happening in other people’s countries”, after the Italian prime minister expressed shock at the fatal beating of a far-right activist in France. Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people last week on the sidelines of a far-right protest at a university in the city of Lyon. Most of the 11 suspects detained are from far-left movements, according to

Born in China, raised in US: adoptees explore the...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

Lunar New Year wasn’t always on LuLu Grant’s radar. Adopted at two from Fuzhou, China and raised in the US state of Washington, Grant decided to cut her birth country out of her life at a young age. Decades later, she would celebrate Spring Festival alongside her birth family with a complex array of feelings about her two worlds. “People think that finding your birth family is so joyous, and part of it is, but it’s also very sad and very difficult,” she said, adding that “it’s not how I wish

Is this the end of the golden age of Chinese think...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

During the past decade, Chinese think tanks have had the best of two worlds – having the backing of the government while having some room to move outside it. Encouraged by the country’s leadership to promote China’s soft power, the sector has grown in influence as retired officials have come on board, bringing expertise, connections and some freedom. Not unlike their Western counterparts, these institutes have come to play major roles in Track 2 diplomacy and policy recommendations. But two...

China’s latest box office draw: spy thriller backed...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

A spy thriller backed by a Chinese intelligence agency has become one of the biggest box office hits of the Lunar New Year. Scare Out, directed by Zhang Yimou, who is best known internationally for films such as Raise the Red Lantern and House of Flying Daggers, was produced under the direct supervision of the Ministry of State Security, which said the film was based on real-life cases. The film features a tense game of cat and mouse as counter-espionage agents track down a researcher who

US and China can again find common ground – in AI’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/19

I travelled to Zurich, Switzerland, last month to attend the Asia Leaders Series, a forum designed to foster candid exchange between Europe and Asia, offering policymakers, economists and business leaders a trusted setting to engage seriously with global challenges. The event took place on the eve of the World Economic Forum meeting. I was asked to moderate a session on a topic that was hardly novel: US-China rivalry. I approached the event with modest expectations. Strategic competition

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