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Top Goldman Sachs lawyer resigns after Epstein...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

Goldman Sachs’ chief legal ⁠officer Kathy Ruemmler has resigned, CEO David Solomon said on Thursday, after recent documents by the US Justice Department showed she accepted gifts from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and advised him on how to address media inquiries regarding his crimes. The departure of Ruemmler, who was among the top executive officers of the Wall Street firm, was the most high-profile banking exit after the release of the latest Epstein documents by the US Justice

Father, son arrested in Malaysia after woman’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

Jealousy has been identified as the main motive behind the brutal murder of a woman found dismembered in Indah Permai, Malaysia’s Sabah state, following the arrest of two suspects. The suspects, a father and his son, were held to facilitate investigations just hours after body parts were found in several dump sites in Indah Permai near Kota Kinabalu on Thursday. The main suspect, a 70-year-old, was first arrested in the city at around 5pm while his son, in his 20s, was caught about 11pm from

Make every penny count for combat, China’s military...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

The PLA has been told to close the funding loopholes and tackle the deep flaws in combat readiness exposed by an anti-corruption drive in the aftermath of the downfall of China’s top general. In a brief Lunar New Year speech via video link to the People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the PLA to bolster combat training and maintain a state of combat readiness, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “The past year has been unusual and extraordinary. The PLA

Trump flouts science to revoke landmark US climate...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

US President Donald Trump on Thursday revoked a landmark scientific finding underpinning US regulations to curb planet-warming pollution, marking his biggest rollback of climate policy to date. The repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 “endangerment finding” was paired with the immediate elimination of greenhouse gas standards on automobiles. But it also places a host of other climate rules in jeopardy, including carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and methane leaks for

China’s MiniMax releases cheap AI model ‘designed for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company MiniMax has released a new model “designed for real-world productivity”, hot on the heels of new releases from its domestic rivals in a frenetic week for China’s AI industry. The update to its M2 large language model comes as investor interest in smaller Chinese AI companies hits new heights, with global investors looking to capitalise on China’s rapid progress in AI beyond the traditional tech giants. Citing in-house benchmark scores, MiniMax said

Michelle Yeoh’s tearful tribute to parents at Berlin...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh was visibly moved when she was honoured for her lifetime achievement during the opening of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday evening. “Please allow me this one personal moment,” the 63-year-old, who won an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2023, told the audience in the German capital as she collected the festival’s Honorary Golden Bear award. “A part of me is still that young girl who simply wanted to make her parents proud,”...

‘Becoming Chinese’ memes reflect a world shaped by...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

Across social media, a curious phrase has been circulating: “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life.” It appears under videos of hotpot dinners, DHGate hauls, Chinese streetwear fits and users joking about switching their phone interfaces into Chinese “for the aesthetic”.It has even spawned an ecosystem of spin-offs: “Chinamaxxing”, “you will turn Chinese tomorrow” and countless posts where people half-joke about becoming “more Chinese” by the day. But beneath the humour of what looks...

China ‘genius’ girl, 10, began buying gold 3 years...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

A 10-year-old girl from northern China began buying gold with her Lunar New Year lucky money three years ago, fearing her parents would spend it. She has since been hailed as a “genius” due to the skyrocketing prices of gold. The girl, hailing from Langfang in Hebei province, has been using the red packets – known as lai see in Cantonese or hong bao in Mandarin – that she receives during Lunar New Year to buy gold for three consecutive years. It is traditional in China for adults to gift...

China’s marriage rebound: will more 2025 knots bring...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

China’s marriage registrations edged up in 2025, offering a glimmer of hope for the birth outlook this year, but analysts caution that deeper demographic headwinds remain entrenched and difficult to reverse without broader policy support. China recorded 6.76 million marriage registrations nationwide in 2025, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, marking a 10.8 per cent increase from a year earlier, or 657,000 more couples. The number of marriage registrations is closely watched in

Vietnam, mainland China among top Lunar New Year...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and mainland China are emerging as popular Lunar New Year destinations for Hongkongers this year, as residents take advantage of a calendar arrangement allowing them to enjoy nine consecutive days off by taking just two days of leave. Travel industry representatives said the long break had “significantly stimulated” demand, with departures likely to reach a peak on February 14, just before the start of the holiday. Moon Yau Moon-yee, assistant general manager at...

Box office bust? The show may be over for another...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

Hong Kong could see another cinema shut down in a prime retail district after the management of IFC Mall began informally sounding out potential tenants for the roughly 20,000 sq ft (1,858 square metres) occupied by Palace IFC, whose lease expires at the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter. Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), which manages the mall in Central, had been reaching out to select industry contacts to explore options as the struggling cinema business had...

What is China’s Central Military Commission and how...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

The Central Military Commission, the top decision-making body overseeing the People’s Liberation Army, is set for a leadership reshuffle after the downfall of most of its members. President Xi Jinping is now in his third term as chairman of the commission. But now five of the other six members of the commission – who were all originally slated to serve a five-year term, ending in 2027 – are no longer active. Last month Zhang Youxia, first-ranked vice-chairman of the CMC and China’s most

Why Takaichi’s Japan election victory has sparked...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/13

North Korea’s claim that Japan has breached a diplomatic “red line” by deepening security partnerships is less about Tokyo’s defence moves than about Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s decisive victory at the polls, analysts say, as a weaker mandate could have pushed her to negotiate with Pyongyang. With a commanding majority secured in Sunday’s election, Takaichi now faces fewer domestic constraints as she signals plans to expand Japan’s defence cooperation with Western partners and potentially...

Tumbler Ridge grieves 8 killed in Canada’s deadliest...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/12

The families of the victims of the mass shooting in a remote Canadian town grappled with unrelenting grief Thursday as details emerged about those killed in the country’s deadliest mass shooting in years. Authorities said the 18-year-old shooter killed her 39-year-old mother, Jennifer Jacobs, and 11-year-old stepbrother, Emmett Jacobs, in their northern British Columbia home on Tuesday before heading to the nearby Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and opening fire, killing five children and a...

Trump admin signs trade deal to lower Taiwan’s tariff...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/12

The Trump administration reached a trade deal with Taiwan on Thursday, with Taiwan agreeing to remove or reduce 99 per cent of its tariff barriers, the office of the US Trade Representative said. The agreement comes as the US remains reliant on Taiwan for its production of computer chips, the exporting of which contributed to a trade imbalance of nearly US$127 billion during the first 11 months of 2025, according to the Census Bureau. Taiwan’s exports to the US will be taxed at a 15 per cent...

Chief of UN intellectual property agency wins...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/12

As Washington withdraws from United Nations agencies and other member nations cut their funding, pushing the organisation into a severe financial crisis, the head of one well-funded agency won re-election on Thursday, despite criticism over some of his policies. The vote of 83 eligible member states saw incumbent Daren Tang Heng Shim, a Singaporean national, re-elected to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, or Wipo, by a vote of 81 to 2 against Haitian national Johanny Stanley...

James Zimmerman on how the US and China can make 2026...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/12

In January, James Zimmerman returned to the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) as its chairman. He previously served in that role for four one-year terms in 2007, 2008, 2015 and 2016. A lawyer by training and a resident of China for 28 years, Zimmerman has witnessed the rise of the world’s second-largest economy, the challenges it has faced and the attendant changes to how American businesses operate in the country. In this interview, Zimmerman assesses the potential of US...

Hong Kong should see the ‘silver economy’ as a golden...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/12

Hong Kong stands at a definitive demographic crossroads. With one-third of our population projected to be over 65 by the 2040s, the city can either treat ageing as a fiscal burden or it can transform longevity into a sustainable growth engine. Drawing inspiration from Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton’s work on the 100-Year Life project, Hong Kong should boldly embrace longevity as a new development frontier. By leveraging our unique strengths in finance, world-class regulatory frameworks and...

US, China clash over Peru’s Chancay megaport after...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/12

The United States has issued a warning that Peru risks eroding its sovereignty after a court ruling limited state oversight of a Chinese-controlled megaport, prompting a sharp rebuke from Beijing and intensifying geopolitical tensions over a strategic hub on South America’s Pacific coast. The dispute centres on the Port of Chancay, a US$1.3 billion deep water facility located about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Lima and majority owned by China’s state-run shipping giant Cosco Shipping...

9 arrested over Louvre ticket fraud scheme involving...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/12

The Paris prosecutors' office on Thursday said that nine people were being detained as part of an investigation into a suspected decade-long, €10 million (US$11.8 million) ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum. The arrests took place on Tuesday as part of a judicial investigation opened after the Louvre filed a complaint in December 2024, the prosecutors’ office said. The loss for the museum over the past decade is estimated to exceed €10 million, it said. Those...

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