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Deadly tower crane collapse prompts calls for review...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Industry leaders have called on Hong Kong authorities to review crane safety guidelines to include mandatory testing for metal fatigue, following another fatal collapse. An operator was killed on Thursday afternoon when a tower crane toppled at a construction site for the second phase of a public housing project on Tai Wo Hau Road in Kwai Chung, crashing onto a slope opposite Pik Kwai House at Kwai Chung Estate. The project’s main contractor, Woon Lee Construction, was previously fined by...

Xiaomi’s new-generation SU7 launch sparks fresh EV...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Xiaomi’s updated SU7 electric vehicle (EV) is expected to bite into the market share of Tesla and some domestic rivals in China, as demand weakens and regulators tighten oversight. Founder and CEO Lei Jun on Thursday announced official pricing for the new-generation smart sedan, with the standard edition starting at 219,900 yuan (US$31,900) and the pro and max variants set at 249,900 yuan and 303,900 yuan, respectively. The figures are 10,000 yuan lower than pre-sale estimates, but 4,000 yuan...

Iran’s parliament speaker emerges as key figure in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards, has emerged as the highest-profile political figure in the Islamic Republic after the killing of its leaders. A pillar of the Iranian establishment for some three decades and one of the Islamic republic’s most prominent non-clerical figures, Ghalibaf, 64, now appears to be playing a key role spearheading the war effort. Whereas the son and successor of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba...

China, US end trade talks in Paris; chip...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Precision strike: China targets US, Japan stranglehold on photoresist supply China’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency is shifting from broad aspiration to a precision strike on chokepoint materials, with photoresist – the...

Inside look at Trump-Xi summits with ex-diplomat...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

William Klein worked for more than two decades as a US diplomat, including in several senior roles at the United States’ embassy in Beijing from 2016 to 2021. He worked at the American Institute in Taiwan and on the US State Department’s China desk in Washington, and occupied US diplomatic posts in South Asia, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. He is a consulting partner with FGS Global, a firm based in Berlin, with a focus on US-China and EU-China relationships. SCMP Plus readers

South Korea risks US rift over Iran’s Hormuz Strait...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/20

South Korea finds itself boxed in as Tehran moves to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a bargaining chip amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, leaving Seoul caught between its dependence on Middle East oil and its unwillingness to antagonise Washington.Economists note that South Korea relies on Washington’s security umbrella to deter threats from nuclear-armed North Korea and that its oil trade is settled in US dollars – two realities that sit awkwardly alongside Iran’s push for yuan-based energy...

How long will US-Israel war on Iran last? Chinese...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Iran’s missile and drone stockpiles will last another two or three months as US-Israeli strikes continue, while the US military is also depleting its interceptors, Chinese analysts have noted. However, how long the war lasts would depend less on stockpiles alone than on the effectiveness of new US deployments and President Donald Trump’s political calculus, one of them cautioned. Iran has continued its attacks on Israel and on US assets across the Middle East since the conflict was triggered

China’s high household savings reflect old values and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

My grandmother kept her banknotes under the mattress. Even after savings accounts became common and the money my siblings and I gave her began to accumulate, she still preferred to hide cash away at home. She loved saving and hated spending. I thought of her when China’s leaders again emphasised the need to boost domestic consumption at this year’s “two sessions” meetings. With exports facing geopolitical headwinds and the property sector struggling, policymakers hope households will become a...

Trump-picked panel approves gold coin with his image:...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

A federal arts ⁠panel comprised of members appointed by Donald Trump unanimously approved a commemorative gold coin featuring his image on Thursday, in the latest effort by the administration to celebrate the US president. Critics, including Democrats and members of another federal arts committee, said minting a coin with a sitting president’s image went against American values, especially as the nation celebrates its 250th birthday this year and the end of British monarchical rule. During a...

The peacock throne’s gambit: Iran’s Reza Pahlavi...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Allies of exiled Iranian royal Reza Pahlavi are signalling a potential reset in Tehran’s ties with China and Russia, even as the 65-year-old increasingly positions himself as a central figure in Iran’s political future – a claim that contrasts with Washington’s more cautious stance. Speaking at a media briefing in Washington on Thursday, Pahlavi’s chief of staff, Cameron Khansarinia, dismissed Beijing’s mediation efforts in the ongoing conflict, arguing that the current Iranian leadership is...

Israel PM says Iran can no longer enrich uranium,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Iran no longer has the capacity ⁠to enrich ⁠uranium or make ballistic ⁠missiles after 20 days of US-Israeli air attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference on Thursday. “We are winning, and Iran is being decimated,” Netanyahu said, noting that Iran’s ‌missile and drone arsenal is being massively degraded and will be destroyed. “What we’re destroying now are the factories that produce the components to make these missiles and to make the nuclear weapons that

TP-Link’s Chinese founder Jeffrey Chao seeks US$1...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

The Chinese founder of the massive router maker facing national security probes by the Trump administration has applied for an expedited visa under the Trump Gold Card programme, according to people familiar with the matter. California-based TP-Link Systems told the federal agencies scrutinising its operations that founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Chao had applied for permanent residency under the programme, the people said. Successful Gold Card applicants must give a US$1 million...

US-China split on digital money deepens as stablecoin...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

US crypto advocates have increasingly pointed to competition with China’s new interest-bearing e-CNY to demand legislative clarity on stablecoin yields, but China is charting a completely different course for the future of digital money, experts said.“The world’s two largest economies are not so much competing in digital assets as they are pursuing very different strategies,” said Andrew Fei, a partner at law firm King & Wood Mallesons in Hong Kong. Winston Ma, adjunct professor and

Trump talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

A high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday appeared to get off to a good start as the two touted the bilateral relationship and pledged to work cooperatively on trade, stabilising the global energy market and regional security. Takaichi was the first US ally to meet face to face with the mercurial president, amid concern that he would take out his anger on her for the large number of security partners who have declined to help...

US F-35 hit by suspected Iranian fire, forced to make...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

A US F-35 fighter aircraft was hit by suspected Iranian fire and had to make an emergency landing on Thursday. This would be the first time Iran has hit one of the US$100 million planes since the US and Israel launched their attack on the country on February 28, according to CNN, which first reported the incident. The F-35 was “flying a combat mission over Iran”, a spokesman for US Central Command said. “The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” Captain Tim Hawkins

US has no end date for Iran war, strikes ‘very much...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday there was no “time frame” for ending the US-Israeli war against Iran, which was launched three weeks ago. “We wouldn’t want to set a definitive time frame,” Hegseth told a news conference, adding that “we’re very much on track” and that President Donald Trump would be the one to decide when to stop. “It will be at the president’s choosing, ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to.’” American objectives in the war had not...

Deadly Tai Po fire revealed ‘unacceptable systemic...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Contractors for a renovation project at the site of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades got away with covering up the use of substandard material because of systemic defects in government supervision, a public inquiry into the blaze that claimed 168 lives has heard. In the first of a series of evidential hearings, a judge-led independent committee was told on Thursday that six “human factors” led to the almost complete failure of fire safety measures at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court before seven

Survey shows China’s professionals have high...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

About two out of every five professionals in China expect no pay rise this year after more than half missed out on one last year, with both figures higher than the Asian average, according to survey data gathered by a recruiting firm – a trend suggesting further pessimism among an already dissatisfied workforce. London-based recruitment firm Hays found that 44 per cent of professionals in China – the highest share anywhere in Asia – anticipate no salary increase in 2026. Six per cent expect a...

Pro-Kremlin Russian blogger who turned on Putin sent...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

A pro-Kremlin figure who unexpectedly denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine in a social media post this week that went viral has been placed in a psychiatric facility, Russian media reported on Thursday. Ilya Remeslo made a career denouncing Putin’s critics until he became one himself, posting a manifesto late on Tuesday to his 90,000 followers on ⁠Telegram entitled: “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.” He said Putin had prosecuted a “failing

Hong Kong finance chief stresses flexibility in pitch...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Hong Kong is ready to discuss land, tax incentives and financial support for businesses setting up in the Northern Metropolis, the finance chief has told a trade seminar in Beijing, stressing a “flexible and innovative” approach will be taken with developing the megaproject. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Thursday also met Xia Baolong, Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs, who underscored the central government’s support for the city’s efforts to bolster its competitiveness

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