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Israel’s China envoy calls to deepen historical ties...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Israel’s ambassador to China has hailed the historical connections between the two countries and called for closer socioeconomic ties in a rare column for Chinese state media. Eli Belotserkovsky’s signed Chinese-language article for state news agency Xinhua comes amid global conversation over the Board of Peace, US President Donald Trump’s newly created body to tackle the Palestinian issue. The Jewish and Chinese civilisations had amassed rich historical wisdom and knowledge over millennia,...

PLA Navy warns off foreign jets with jamming missiles...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

State media has released rare footage of one of the PLA Navy’s most advanced destroyers warning off foreign aircraft near Taiwan with electronic jamming missiles. The footage, part of a series by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on the country’s naval power, involved the Yanan, a Type 055 guided-missile destroyer. CCTV said it was the first time the Yanan had been shown using “electronic countermeasures” in “waters near Taiwan island” to warn off foreign aircraft. The report did not specify

Pakistan says it has killed 145 ‘Indian-backed...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Pakistani police and military forces killed more than 100 “Indian-backed terrorists” in counterterrorism operations across the restive southwestern province of Balochistan over the past 40 hours, government officials said on Sunday, a day after coordinated suicide and gun attacks killed 33 people, mostly civilians. The raids began early on Saturday at multiple locations across Balochistan, and left 18 civilians, including five women and three children, and 15 security staff dead, authorities...

Hong Kong tourism minister aims for more than 50...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Hong Kong’s tourism chief has struck an upbeat note on visitor arrivals over Lunar New Year and has expressed confidence that numbers will cross the 50 million mark by the end of the year. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said she was optimistic about a year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals over the Lunar New Year “golden week” holiday in mainland China, which runs from February 15 to 23 this year. She noted that a larger gap between Christmas and Lunar New

Was General Zhang Youxia one of the ‘big rats’ eating...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

In its latest efforts to reinforce the Communist Party line in China’s armed forces, the PLA Daily took aim at one particular invasive species: “big rats”. The rats were eating away at the PLA’s budget and undermining combat readiness, the military mouthpiece said, adding that they had to be eradicated. “[We] must take strong and forceful measures to crack down on corrupt practices that undermine the building of combat abilities, and thoroughly investigate and root out those ‘big rats’ who...

Soaring Hong Kong rents: tenants pay more – and fight...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

For business owner Tracy Sung, flat-hunting in Hong Kong was complicated by two things – her pets and the intense competition in the rental market. Sung, who used to live in a 500 sq ft flat in Happy Valley, had to offer more than the landlord’s asking price to secure an 800 sq ft property in Tseung Kwan O. The 28-year-old is paying about HK$35,000 (US$4,480) a month for her new home, compared with HK$28,000 previously. The neighbourhood in Hang Hau offered what she considered the most...

Viral video of Chinese man extracting gold from SIM...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

A man in southeastern China who extracted 191 grams of gold from discarded SIM cards has sparked a sales frenzy. However, the man has warned of the serious safety risks involved in the process. Known online as “Qiao”, the man hails from Huizhou, Guangdong province, and specialises in refining precious scrap metal. On January 20, he posted a video showcasing his gold refining process, which gained more than five million views. In the clip, Qiao pours used SIM cards into barrels filled with...

Hong Kong’s spending should not grow faster than...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Hong Kong’s spending should not grow faster than its income, even though the city’s finances are improving, Paul Chan Mo-po has said, adding that the market expects the government to invest more to boost the economy. But the finance chief on Sunday also painted a rosy picture for the city’s retail sector, revealing that sales figures for December, set to be released on Tuesday, would show continued growth. Retail sales in November 2025 were provisionally estimated at HK$33.7 billion (US$4.3...

SHKP posts another Sierra Sea sell-out as Hong Kong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Hong Kong’s largest developer by market capitalisation, sold all 350 units released on Sunday in its Sierra Sea project, marking a fifth consecutive sell-out and underscoring returning buyer appetite in the world’s most expensive property market. The batch at phase 2B included 244 two-bedroom and 106 three-bedroom units, with discounted prices ranging from HK$4.6 million (US$590,000) to HK$9.74 million, according to sales documents released on Wednesday. The...

Myanmar junta pledges to remove former civil servants...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Myanmar’s junta called for ex-civil servants who quit their jobs in protest over the coup five years ago to report back to work, pledging to remove absent state employees from “blacklists” on Sunday. After the military snatched power in a coup on February 1, 2021, tens of thousands of public workers, including doctors and government administrators, left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience. Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military in

Hong Kong road accident scam reports double to over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

The number of suspected scams involving unusually high and belated compensation claims for minor or non-existent traffic accidents in Hong Kong has doubled to more than 70 in less than a week, according to the security minister. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung told a radio programme on Sunday that the increase was recorded after publicity efforts by the force. Authorities on Tuesday said they had recently received reports of drivers facing sudden massive civil claims, long after...

China’s deflation near-miss isn’t the economic story...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

China did not slip into outright deflation last year and that in itself matters. When weak global demand, geopolitical frictions and a prolonged property correction weighed heavily on sentiment, consumer prices stayed marginally positive. The latest data suggests an economy not in free fall but navigating a transition towards more balanced and sustainable growth, albeit at a subdued pace. December’s inflation figures underline this point. Consumer prices rose by 0.8 per cent year on year, the...

Saudi Arabia set to redraw economic road map as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Almost a decade after launching the Vision 2030 programme to diversify its oil-dependent economy, Saudi Arabia is redirecting its spending away from attention-grabbing futuristic urban projects into sectors that hold more promise to deliver results. Since last year, the programme has undergone a review following a US$8 billion writedown at the end of 2024. The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has scaled down glitzy projects significantly, such as the US$500 billion 170km (105 mile) long...

Chinese man crafts equine figure from 2,600 metres of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

A man in China has used more than 2,600 metres of aluminium thread to weave a horse ornament as a gesture to welcome the Year of the Horse. The golden figurine is named Mythical Horse Embracing Auspiciousness according to its creator, Yang Guang. Its front two legs are lifted high, two back legs stand on the ground and its head is turned back. The animal’s saddle and the bridle are vibrant in colour. Yang, an aluminium artist based in Qingzhou of Shandong province, eastern China, told the

In China, is ‘family’ becoming a legal shield for rape?

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

It started out as a family reunion story but soon took a darker turn. A 45-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Bu, had lost contact with her family for more than a decade. She was found in late 2024 in a rural area in Heshun county in the central Chinese province of Shanxi, more than 100km (62 miles) from her home. Bu had an advanced university education but she also had a history of mental illness, and the discovery that she had given birth to several children with a villager

‘Technical issue’ forces Hong Kong-bound Cathay...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

A Hong Kong-bound Cathay Pacific Airways flight had to return to Kaohsiung in Taiwan shortly after take-off on Sunday morning due to a technical problem, with around 200 passengers affected. A Cathay Pacific spokesman confirmed flight CX449 had turned back because of an unspecified “technical issue”. “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank our customers for their understanding and patience,” the spokesman said. Taiwanese media said on Sunday that a fuel leak in the

How Marius Hoiby went from living in Norway royal...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Marius Borg Hoiby, the son of Norway’s future queen from a previous relationship, was initially welcomed into the royal family, but now, facing trial accused of four rapes, he has become a liability. The 29-year-old, who was born before his mother Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby married Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon, goes on trial in Oslo’s district court on Tuesday accused of 38 counts, including four rapes and assaults against ex-girlfriends. He was arrested on August 4, 2024, suspected of

Failures on 2 fronts led to Hong Kong’s seat belt...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/31

Hong Kong authorities’ swift U-turn on a law requiring bus passengers to wear seat belts came about because of a lack of public consultation during policymaking and a less than thorough crafting process for the regulatory fine print, political observers have said.Failures on both fronts should serve as a wake-up call for officials and lawmakers to do much better and put themselves in the public’s shoes when formulating policies, they said. In an embarrassing about-face, authorities announced

Hongkongers should brace for chilly Sunday as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/31

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hongkongers should brace for cooler weather on Sunday as temperatures are expected to drop to as low as 13 degrees Celsius (55.4 Fahrenheit). The Hong Kong Observatory said on Saturday that the mercury would plunge to about 13 degrees in urban areas the next day and a couple of degrees lower in the New Territories. The maximum temperature is forecast to be

The future of AI in music? US and China strike...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/31

Dressed like 1970s rock stars evoking bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Velvet Sundown look the part of a real band – with one key difference: despite millions of listeners, they do not exist. The group is generated by artificial intelligence. AI-generated music is exploding, with the rapid expansion of platforms like the United States’ Suno and Udio, as well as China’s Mureka. From creation to copyright, the technology is making waves globally. But the US and China are approaching

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