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South Korean cafe’s US$1.35 ‘toilet without ordering’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

A social media post showing a cafe charging 2,000 won (US$1.35) for restroom use without a purchase has sparked heated debate online in South Korea. The image featured a screenshot of a self-order kiosk displaying a menu item reading “restroom use without ordering”, priced at 2,000 won per person per visit. The post also drew mixed reactions in an online community for small business owners. One user said the fee was understandable, writing that many people come in just to use the restroom...

Leading Chinese remote-sensing scientist Zhang...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Zhang Jinshui, a pioneering scientist in remote sensing who led major research and development programmes in China and was instrumental in boosting the country’s food security with satellite technologies, has died at the age of 47. Zhang, a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Faculty of Geographical Science (FGS) at Beijing Normal University, died in Beijing on March 9 following “unsuccessful medical treatment”, according to multiple Chinese media reports. The faculty held a memorial...

China café offers coffee made with eggs brewed in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

A coffee shop in China is offering a new type of Americano which includes eggs brewed in child urine, a drink believed to be of nutritional value. The shop in Dongyang city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province recently began to offer the special brew, claiming it was popular. Costing 28 yuan (US$4) per cup, the outlet sold more than 100 cups a day at weekends. Eggs brewed in child urine are a speciality in Dongyang. Locals believe that child urine, or urine from boys under the age of 10, can...

Prolonged Iran war could have ‘serious’ impact on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

The United Nations has warned the conflict in the Middle East is sending shock waves from the fertiliser industry to food prices, as countries across the northern hemisphere – including China – enter their spring planting seasons. If the conflict lasts longer than three months, the impact would become “significantly more serious”, affecting input costs in agriculture and disrupting the next planting season with longer-term consequences, chief economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization

Cambodia boosts fuel imports from Singapore, Malaysia...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Cambodia is importing more fuel from suppliers in Singapore and Malaysia to make up for supply shortfalls from Vietnam and China, its energy minister said on Wednesday, as the US-Israeli war on Iran squeezes fuel availability globally. About a third of the 6,300 petrol stations in the country of nearly 18 million ‌people closed last week due to uncertainty over the impact of the conflict on fuel prices, but only 5.77 per cent are closed currently, Energy Minister Keo Rottanak said. Vietnam

Hong Kong businessman Jason Poon, 5 others arrested...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Hong Kong businessman Jason Poon Chuk-hung, his wife and four others have been arrested on suspicion of defrauding an enterprise financing scheme out of HK$6 million (US$765,500) during the Covid-19 pandemic, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source confirmed to the SCMP on Thursday that construction businessman Poon, 56, and his 54-year-old wife were among six people arrested the day before for conspiracy to defraud. Police intelligence suggested a surgical mask manufacturer had...

Philippine police thwart Roblox-linked school...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Philippine police have foiled a school shooting and rescued seven students radicalised by “foreigners” online to stage an attack in Laguna province near Manila, amid growing calls for stronger parental safeguards against digital threats. Officers rounded up the suspects – five boys and two girls, aged 12 to 17 – on February 2 after receiving a tip-off about an alleged plot they intended to carry out a fortnight later, the Philippine Star reported. The teens, who were turned over to social...

Why tiny atomic clocks may hold the key to China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Timing is everything in modern warfare, where even a nanosecond’s delay can make the difference between hitting or missing a target in a coordinated drone or missile attack. China may now have taken a major step forward in this field with the mass production of the world’s smallest atomic clock – something the researchers behind it say could transform drone warfare, underwater navigation and battlefield communication. Developed by a research team led by Professor Chen Jiehua from Wuhan...

AI version of late actor Val Kilmer to co-star in new...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Actor Val Kilmer will posthumously ⁠appear in what ⁠First Line Films calls a ⁠first-ever performance enabled by generative artificial intelligence in the upcoming film As Deep as the Grave, the production company announced on Wednesday. Kilmer, best known for roles in Top Gun, The Doors and Batman Forever, had originally been cast ‌as Father Fintan - a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist - but was unable to work on set due to complications stemming from throat cancer. He was 65

FBI ‘investigating’ top US security official who...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

The FBI is investigating whether Joseph Kent, who resigned his position as a top counterterrorism official this week in protest of the Iran war, improperly shared classified information, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.The investigation precedes Kent’s resignation Tuesday from his role as director of the US government’s National Counterterrorism Centre, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing FBI inquiry. But it comes as the Justice

Japan gets tough against teachers’ sexual misconduct,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Japan’s education ministry has launched a campaign to fight sexual misconduct involving teachers and revised regulations against voyeurism in the wake of seven male educators arrested last year for taking inappropriate videos of students and sharing them on social media. A law aimed at preventing sexual misconduct in the nation’s schools went into effect in 2022, but revisions were introduced as a result of the offences. The ministry intends to update teachers on the rules, including

China’s global tech push

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

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‘Unprecedented in spread’: UK races to contain deadly...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Britain will ⁠roll out meningitis vaccines to students at a university in southeast England after an “unprecedented” outbreak of the disease killed two people while the number of new cases jumped to 20. The UK Health Security Agency said all those affected were young people. A 21-year-old student at the University of Kent and a teenage student at a school in ‌the town of Faversham have died. Six of the nine confirmed cases are group B (MenB), the agency added. It was also aware of a baby with

World’s ‘happiest’ places revealed as social media...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Heavy social media use contributes to a stark decline in well-being among young people, with the effects particularly worrying in teenage girls in English-speaking countries and western Europe according to the World Happiness Report 2026 published on Thursday. The annual report, published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, also found that Finland is the happiest land in the world for the ninth year in a row, with other Nordic countries such as Iceland, Denmark,

How China opened the door to creating a direct rival...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

China’s recent changes to the rules governing its global payment system could pave the way for turning it into a genuine alternative to Western networks, according to a new report. Beijing now appears to be moving towards building the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) into a global platform compliant with multicurrency settlements and other foreign payment channels, said the study led by Ju Jiandong, a chair professor at Tsinghua University’s PBC School of Finance. Beijing recently...

Middle East banks eye Hong Kong as ‘safe haven’ amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

Middle East banks and wealthy investors are poised to increase their investments in Hong Kong amid geopolitical tensions to diversify their risk and capture growing opportunities in Asia, according to the head of InvestHK, the government agency tasked with attracting foreign investment. A couple of Middle East banks were in the process of setting up offices in Hong Kong with the help of InvestHK, said Alpha Lau Hai-suen, its director general. These additions would strengthen the city’s ties

Why North Korea’s Kim expects the US to come ‘cap in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

North Korea fired a volley of ballistic missiles on Saturday, just as US officials were in Seoul exploring ways to reopen talks with the regime that launched them. But Kim Jong-un is not waiting by the phone. Instead, analysts say North Korea’s supreme leader has set terms that leave little room for negotiation, with a calendar that leaves even less room for a summit. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSombre touched down in Seoul last week and met

Here’s what an executive-led government really means...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

In my experience, most people misunderstand the concept of “separation of powers”, and so I would not be at all surprised if most people also misunderstand the term “executive-led government”. In the case of separation of powers, the confusion usually arises from the use of the word “separation”. It connotes a meaning of absolute independence or alienation. A better word would have been “division”. The concept of separation of powers focuses on the division of power in a government and how

Cigarette may have sparked Tai Po fire, public...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The first of a series of public evidential hearings into a fire that engulfed a residential complex in Hong Kong and killed at least 168 people begins on Thursday, nearly four months after the disaster. Ordered by the city’s leader and overseen by a judge-led independent committee, the hearings are meant to “clarify the relevant facts through oral

China’s PLA reveals AI-assisted aerial refuelling...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/03/19

The People’s Liberation Army has announced a new AI-assisted task dispatch system for China’s aerial refuelling tankers, days after a US military tanker crashed in the Middle East. According to the official PLA Daily, the Chinese air force has streamlined its aerial refuelling operations with a smart artificial intelligence (AI) system to improve efficiency and safety. The report on Monday came just days after a US Air Force Boeing KC-135 “Stratotanker” aerial refuelling tanker crashed in...

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