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News - South China Morning Post

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Hong Kong police seize 1,600 litres of diesel, arrest...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Hong Kong authorities seized 1,600 litres (423 gallons) of diesel from an illegal fuel station in Sai Wan on Saturday as part of a continuing crackdown on illicit fuel sales, amid rising oil prices driven by conflicts in the Middle East. Officers from the Fire Services Department and police raided the site on Fung Mat Road, recovering diesel worth HK$50,000 (US$6,383) and confiscating fuelling equipment. A man was arrested at the scene for alleged violations of fire hazard abatement and...

AI ‘collusion’ forcing down wages a bigger threat...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

The threat to employment posed by artificial intelligence was not a “robot apocalypse” that would steal jobs, but “algorithmic collusion” that could quietly erode wages and workplace safety, Ekkehard Ernst, the International Labour Organization’s chief macroeconomist, warned in Beijing on Tuesday. While public anxiety frequently centred on the potential for AI to trigger a mass wave of unemployment, Ernst said its disruptive potential had been overestimated. “I don’t think that we are

Cambridge top architect Francois Penz relocates to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Francois Penz, former head of the department of architecture at the University of Cambridge and a pioneer in the interdisciplinary field of architecture and film, has joined Nanjing University on a full-time basis. The school of architecture and urban planning of Nanjing University announced the appointment on its social media account on March 17. Penz is an emeritus professor at the university, a former director of The Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, a fellow of Darwin...

Why Chinese pour leftover TCM medicine onto roads,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

While walking along China’s roads, it is not uncommon to see leftover herbs scattered on the surface. This is not some random dumping problem, it is in fact Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) leftovers deliberately poured out by the people who cooked them. Superstition has it that by pouring the TCM leftovers on public roads, other people can walk and drive over them, thereby helping keep illness at bay. There is a folk legend that the habit originated in the Tang dynasty (618–907). Sun

Singapore seizes record Asian pangolin scales...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Singapore has seized over 830kg (1,800 lbs) of Asian pangolin scales hidden in a shipment bound for Cambodia, authorities said on Saturday, calling it the largest haul of its kind discovered in the city state. Falsely declared as “dried fish skin”, the scales – estimated to be from more than 2,200 pangolins – were found in 30 bags on December 29 after officials intercepted an inbound truck carrying sea cargo, Singapore’s National Parks Board said in a statement. The announcement came as...

Singapore’s Lawrence Wong meets tycoons, leaders as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has met Hong Kong political heavyweights and business leaders – including former Chief Justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang and Richard Li Tzar-kai, the son of tycoon Li Ka-shing – in what he described as a “short but meaningful visit” to the city. Wrapping up his first official visit to the city since he became prime minister in 2024, Wong said in a Facebook post on Saturday that closer cooperation between the two Asian financial centres would contribute to the...

4 held as Hong Kong seizes HK$92 million of illicit...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Hong Kong customs has seized about 20 million illicit cigarettes with an estimated market value of HK$92 million (US$11.46 million) from a cargo vessel during a joint anti-smuggling operation with authorities in mainland China. The cigarettes would have generated about HK$68 million in tax revenue, authorities said on Saturday. Officers from the Customs and Excise Department, marine police and mainland law enforcement agencies conducted the operation in the early hours of Friday based on risk...

Hong Kong breaks ground on Northern Metropolis data...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Construction has begun on a major data centre in the Northern Metropolis, with Hong Kong’s innovation and technology minister saying the project will supercharge the city’s computing power and drive the national artificial intelligence (AI) push. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Saturday at the Range (Hong Kong) Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster, which spans more than 110,000 square metres. Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said the project marked a leap forward

For Asia, the worst effects of Trump’s war on Iran...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

The law of unintended consequences, a theory popularised by American sociologist Robert K Merton, has rarely been more applicable to any situation than to US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. Those consequences will be far greater than generally imagined. Their impact will fall heavily on Asia, the world’s most energy-import-dependent region and will almost certainly hurt US ally Japan more than it will the US’ main rival, China. Indeed, China may even emerge from the crisis with an...

Asean countries warned against exploiting US-China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

A prominent Chinese political scientist has cautioned Southeast Asian countries against leveraging China-US tensions for short-term benefits, saying this strategy could backfire. Speaking on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia on Friday, Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said that in the context of South China Sea sovereignty disputes, the key challenge lay in how countries interpreted the China-US rivalry. “Many

Hong Kong defends 3-hour limit for Wang Fuk Court...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Hong Kong authorities have insisted that a three-hour time limit is sufficient for residents of the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court to retrieve their belongings, with discretion to be exercised for those requesting a second entry. Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing said on Saturday that although each household could register up to four people to enter the building, only one person would be allowed into severely damaged flats owing to safety concerns. “With four people and three hours...

Hong Kong police searching for driver on the run...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Hong Kong police are searching for a driver who fled the scene after crashing a car into a barricade and hitting a bus on Saturday. The force said it received a report at about 9.20am that a car had crashed into a roadside railing along Pui To Road in Tuen Mun. During the incident the car also made contact with a bus that had stopped at a traffic light along the same road. The driver then got out of the vehicle and fled, police said, adding that no injuries were reported. It was not

Trump’s Iran gamble falters as war drags on amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

A month after the US and Israel launched the war with Iran, nothing seems to be going according to President Donald Trump’s plan for a conflict lasting four to six weeks.Despite the assassinations of most of the Islamic Republic’s political and military leaders, the regime shows no signs of collapse. Similarly, wave after wave of US and Israeli air strikes may have degraded Iran’s ballistic missile and drone capabilities, but they still look set to remain a potent threat to the region for

US-based Iranian’s cloth works at Art Central reflect...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

A series of artworks featuring six coats with distinctive features created by an Iranian-American artist for the Art Central festival will allow Hongkongers to reflect on themes of memory and conflict amid the ongoing war in the Middle East. Elnaz Javani, who was born in Iran in 1985 and currently lives in the United States, told the South China Morning Post that the work could also serve as a meditative space for Hongkongers amid rising global geopolitical tensions. She said her art also...

Pope Leo heads to swanky Monaco with pro-poor message

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Pope Leo heads on Saturday to the Mediterranean principality of Monaco, a millionaires’ playground on the French Riviera that is the pontiff’s surprise pick for the first western European trip of his papacy. The US-born pope, a former missionary critical of the wealthy elite, will helicopter in for a day in the world’s second-smallest state, best known for its casinos, luxury yachts and Michelin-starred dining. In Monte Carlo, billboards featuring mild-mannered, white-cassocked Leo stand in...

Chinese lithium battery electrolyte could double EV...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Chinese scientists have created an all-weather electrolyte that could improve lithium batteries, allowing them to operate more efficiently at room temperature and in extreme environments. The research team from Shanghai and Tianjin said batteries made using the hydrofluorocarbon-based electrolyte had more than double the energy density of those made with traditional electrolytes when operating at room temperature. They said the batteries could also operate efficiently at minus 70 degrees

From rural girl to tycoon: China woman, 55, marries...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

A 55-year-old Chinese medical aesthetics tycoon has shocked the internet by marrying her 25-year-old husband, reportedly with a 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million) dowry. Yu Wenhong, 55, was born into a financially modest family in Dalian, Liaoning province, in northeastern China. After her father died, she began working in the beauty industry at the age of 18 to support her mother and younger brother. She started as an eyebrow tattooing technician and later went on to establish her own beauty...

Indonesia begins social media ban for children under 16

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Indonesia on Saturday began implementing a new government regulation approved earlier this month that bans children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction. With the move, Indonesia became the first country in Southeast Asia to ban children from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox. It follows measures that Australia took last year in a world-first

Hong Kong government defends changes to national...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Hong Kong authorities have defended legal changes that have made it illegal to withhold smartphone passwords from police in national security investigations, after the United States sent a new alert to its citizens travelling to the city. The government on Friday also expressed “strong dissatisfaction with misleading information and sweepingly generalised descriptions” by foreign organisations and media regarding the amendments to the Beijing-imposed national security law earlier this week,

As Vietnam leads on AI rules, Southeast Asia risks...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/28

Southeast Asian countries are racing to assert control over their data flows, driven by a potent mix of nationalist sentiment and security anxieties. But analysts warn that while certain measures may deliver domestic economic benefits, the broader push risks undermining innovation, deterring foreign investment and even cutting the region off from the global digital economy. On March 1, Vietnam became the first Southeast Asian nation to have in force a comprehensive law on artificial...

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