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Rubio, G7 diplomats duel over wars in Iran and Ukraine

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Group of Seven counterparts traded barbs over the wars in Iran and Ukraine, casting doubt on Europe bowing to Donald Trump’s demand for military help in the Gulf. “The United States is constantly being asked to help in a war,” Rubio said referring to Ukraine, before taking off for the Friday conclusion of a G7 gathering outside Paris. “But when the US had a need, he didn’t get positive responses,” he added. The Europeans have rebuffed Trump’s bid for...

Hong Kong’s MTR Corp to keep fares unchanged for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Hong Kong’s rail operator has announced it will keep fares unchanged for the coming year after an annual review, marking the second year without any increase. The fare freeze was decided based on the so-called direct-drive formula under the fare adjustment mechanism, which takes into account factors such as inflation, the latest wages in the transport sector, the MTR Corporation’s productivity and profitability, and the affordability of the people. MTR Corp Hong Kong transport services

China’s economy big enough to absorb Iran war shocks,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

China has sufficient capacity to absorb external shocks from the Iran war and meet its annual economic growth target, a prominent economist said, while adding it was also preparing for the possibility that Washington might renege on trade deals. Justin Lin Yifu, dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University and a former chief economist at the World Bank, said on Thursday that no country could be spared from the economic impacts of the conflict in the Middle East,

The end of ‘win-lose’? China-backed mediation body...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

The head of the recently launched International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed) has hailed its process as a flexible and pragmatic way to resolve commercial and state-level disputes involving long-term investment. Speaking on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia on Thursday, Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah, IOMed’s secretary general, said mediation offered “the innate flexibility to create an infinite number of ways to resolve the dispute”, unlike arbitration and litigation that were marked by

Hong Kong developers test market with 222 units...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Hong Kong developers on Friday released 222 new flats in Kowloon, the city’s largest batch of units on a single day since buyers were warned about the uncertain direction of interest rates. K&K Property launched 122 one-bedroom units at foto+, a single residential tower in Mong Kok close to Olympic station, while Wang On Properties put 100 units up for sale at the Connext project in Wong Tai Sin. By 7pm Friday, 103 of the foto+ units had found buyers. Sales at Connext, meanwhile, kicked off

10 defendants remanded in custody in JPEX...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

A Hong Kong court has remanded in custody another 10 people in connection with the HK$1.6 billion (US$205.8 million) in JPEX cryptocurrency scandal, bringing the number prosecuted in the city’s largest alleged financial fraud in recent years to 26. The latest development came nearly three years after the scandal broke out in 2023, when police revealed that more than 2,700 people had fallen victim to the alleged scam involving losses of more than HK$1.6 billion. Twenty-three counts of money...

Top Singaporean materials scientist Seeram...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Seeram Ramakrishna, a leading researcher at the National University of Singapore and the most cited scientist from the city state, has joined one of China’s leading universities full time. He joined the department of mechanical engineering at Tsinghua University in September, but the university only announced the appointment this week. The Singaporean, who was described by MIT Technology Review China as the “father of electrospinning”, has been appointed as a Xinghua distinguished chair...

Iran says Hormuz closed for shipping to and from...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that they had turned back three ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz, adding the route was closed to vessels travelling to and from ports “belonging to allies and supporters of the Zionist-American enemies”. “This morning, following the lies of the corrupt US president claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was open, three container ships of different nationalities … were turned back after a warning from the IRGC Navy,” the Guards said on their...

Residents of fire-hit Wang Fuk Court blocks can...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Displaced residents from the seven fire-ravaged blocks of Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court will be allowed to return to their flats for up to three hours to collect their personal belongings, with the first batch to be allowed back on April 20. Authorities said on Friday that each household could register up to four people to return to their flats, who would be accompanied by police officers, as well as government social workers and support staff. They added that there would be a “very slim” chance...

Rise of the ‘wolf pack’: China’s canine robots evolve...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

China’s military canine robots have evolved into intelligent “wolf packs” with specialised roles and a shared “brain” to coordinate complex tasks in urban warfare, according to state media. Compared with earlier models deployed and tested by the People’s Liberation Army, these “robot wolves” have achieved a transformational leap from a “single-soldier support system to a coordinated swarm combat platform”, state broadcaster CCTV said in a documentary series episode that aired on Thursday. The...

Singapore to explore opportunities in Hong Kong’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Singapore will explore opportunities arising from Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis megaproject and its coming five-year development plan, the city state’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said, stressing that relations between the two sides are “more important than ever” in a fragmenting world. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Friday that Wong’s visit – his first official trip to Hong Kong since becoming prime minister in 2024 – was indicative of the strong ties and friendship between

From semiconductors to medical tech, Iran war puts...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Beyond oil, the Middle East conflict is fuelling fears of a shortage of helium – a by-product of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production that is critical for semiconductors, aerospace applications and high-end medical equipment. The medical sector is on alert, as magnetic resonance imaging machines depend on liquid helium to cool their superconducting magnets, and a supply crunch could jeopardise diagnostic services. A warning from Marc Johnson, a virologist and professor at the University of...

From great escape to great reunion: plot twists of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

The tale of seven dogs from China allegedly fleeing captivity from a dog meat restaurant won hearts globally, but the reality has recently come to light, taking an unexpected turn. Local media and official fact-checks later revealed that the German shepherd in the video was in heat, attracting the other six dogs who followed it. This dramatic and heartwarming story began with a video captured by a road user in Changchun, Jilin province, northeastern China, showing seven dogs walking along a...

UN tells US to swiftly finish probe into ‘visceral’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

The deadly bombing of an Iranian school spurred “visceral horror”, the UN rights chief said Friday, urging Washington to conclude its investigation and demanding justice “for the terrible harm done”. Speaking at the start of an urgent debate in the UN Human Rights Council focused on the February 28 strike on an Iranian junior school in Minab on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Volker Turk said that “whatever differences countries have, we can all agree they will not be solved by...

Merz floats EU-China deal, Trump’s new Beijing date,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signalled support for a European Union-China trade deal, as rising tensions with the United States complicate Europe’s response to a growing flood of low-cost Chinese imports. Merz told German lawmakers on Wednesday he could envisage an agreement with China in “the longer term” among other trade accords. “We now need strategic partnerships around the world in order to strengthen ourselves, especially our exports,” he said. The comments highlight an emerging

German defence minister urges strong US presence in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Germany’s defence chief has called on the US to honour its security commitments to the Indo-Pacific and signalled that Berlin will keep raising its military presence in the region. During his visit to Australia this week, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius shared concerns about “dangerous activities” in the South China Sea and sounded an alarm over Beijing’s “close” monitoring of Washington and its allies’ management of the Iran and Ukraine conflicts. “To me, one thing is crystal clear....

Iran war shows China’s urgent need to plug maritime...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

The havoc unleashed on global shipping by the US-Israel war on Iran has underlined China’s urgent need to fix its lack of a robust maritime insurance industry, a shipping expert has said. “In the maritime shipping sector, China’s industrial chain for ‘hardware’ is very well-established and mature,” said Chen Jihong, director of the Shenzhen International Maritime Research Institute. “However, when it comes to ‘software’, we are still constrained by others, and it will be difficult to change

Israel launches strikes on Iran with no sign of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Iran on Friday after US President Donald Trump claimed talks on ending the war were going well and gave Tehran more time to open the Strait of Hormuz, though there have been no signs of Iran backing down. With stock markets reeling and economic fallout from the war extending far beyond the Middle East, Trump is under growing pressure to end Iran’s chokehold on the strait, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is usually...

WTO meeting in Cameroon signals the rise of a ‘world...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

In these turbulent times, focusing on the World Trade Organization’s 14th ministerial conference (MC14) in Yaounde, Cameroon, is a bit like trying to focus on a picnic sitting alongside a bar brawl, or listening to a lesson in pruning bonsai while a lumberjack takes a chainsaw to a giant redwood. But try we must. Even if the deliverables are meagre and may take years to materialise, the symbolism of Yaounde points to a possible future very different from today’s chaotic hegemonic unilateralism

Thundery showers in Hong Kong expected in several hours

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/27

Hongkongers can expect thundery showers in the next few hours, the local weather forecaster has said. The Observatory issued the advisory notice at 3pm on Friday, urging the public to be aware of the weather change. “Areas of thundery showers now to the west of the [Pearl River Delta] are edging closer, and are expected to affect the territory in the next couple of hours,” it said. The weather would be mainly cloudy with a few showers in the afternoon and at night, with isolated thunderstorms

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