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Israel offers ‘limited’ Rafah reopening on Sunday...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Israel said Friday that it will reopen the pedestrian border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in both directions over the weekend, marking an important step forward for US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said in a statement that starting on Sunday a “limited movement of people only” would be allowed through the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world. The announcement followed...

33 arrested over HK$150 million fraud involving Hong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency has arrested 33 people on suspicion of defrauding two government technology funding schemes of more than HK$150 million (US$19.2 million). The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Friday that it had dismantled two syndicates this month and arrested 24 men and nine women aged between 27 and 66, including a former Cyberport Management Company employee. The two funding schemes were the Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme (DTSPP)

China says Philippines is stoking tensions with...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

China has accused the Philippines of “deliberately stoking maritime tensions” following reports Manila had warned it would stage military exercises across a large area of the disputed South China Sea for more than two months. The move represents the first external military challenge facing China after two senior generals were placed under investigation on suspicion of corruption, and could serve as a test of Beijing’s ability to handle such tests at a highly sensitive time. The Philippine

Ant Group’s open-source push aims to move robots from...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has open-sourced its first artificial intelligence models for robotics, as it steps up efforts to build machine intelligence capable of handling complex real-world tasks. The move signals a deeper push by the Hangzhou-based Ant into embodied intelligence – AI systems designed to perceive, reason and act in physical environments rather than purely digital settings. The company is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning...

Japan and South Korea upgrade defence pact to counter...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his South Korean counterpart Ahn Gyu Back decided on Friday to step up personnel exchanges between their forces amid mounting regional security challenges. At the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s (MSDF) base in Koizumi’s hometown of Yokosuka, near Tokyo, the two agreed to hold annual reciprocal visits, as ties between the Asian neighbours have continued to improve in recent years. “We opened the door for a new level of defence exchanges between

Tianxia 2.0: how China can help shape the next world...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Several signals from this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos revealed a fundamental transformation in international politics. The forum laid bare the conclusion of a long era, yet provided little clarity about the coming one. The first signal is the collapse of the post-World War II order shaped by the West – and the West’s own unravelling with it. The West has used its dominance over global discourse to construct and impose concepts it favours on the non-Western world. Yet the West itself

Why India should tackle pollution more urgently than...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Remarks by a prominent economist about India’s air quality have raised a debate on whether New Delhi should prioritise tackling pollution over tariff talks, as the country continues to transition towards a green economy. Former International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath made the comments at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, arguing that investors considering India would have to factor its environment because it “is going to be consequential for health”. India has been...

Trump picks former Federal Reserve official Kevin...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

US President Donald Trump on Friday named former Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh to be the next head of the US central bank, after teasing his choice for weeks, with Jerome Powell due to step down from the top job in May. The 55-year-old Warsh, who served as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board from 2006 to 2011, appeared to align with Trump’s bid to control the monetary policymaking institution as economic issues – from tariffs to affordability – dominate the policy agenda ahead of

As UK PM Starmer leaves China, what did he achieve –...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

China and the United Kingdom are expected to sign more business deals as the British delegation, which comprises 54 companies, heads to Shanghai from Beijing as part of Keir Starmer’s visit, the first by a UK prime minister since 2018. The UK delegation will attend a reception in Shanghai on Friday evening, according to Peter Burnett, chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council. A business forum will be held, followed by lunch on Saturday before the group departs the country. “I

China tech giants ByteDance and Alibaba to ramp up AI...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

ByteDance and Alibaba Group Holding are poised to ratchet up their artificial intelligence infrastructure initiatives, as the global AI arms race continues to intensify. The two companies’ latest moves lend weight to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s recent remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the world was witnessing the biggest infrastructure buildout in history and that trillions of dollars of infrastructure still had to be built. Beijing-based ByteDance, operator of

US envoys to Israel blocked ‘apocalyptic’ Gaza...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

US Agency for International Development staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an “Apocalyptic Wasteland” with dire shortages of food and medical aid. Three months after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip, the internal message laid out in gruesome detail scenes observed by United Nations staff who visited the area on a two-part humanitarian fact-finding mission in

Alibaba AI chip push hits 100,000 mark, beating local...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Alibaba Group Holding has delivered more than 100,000 units of its most advanced artificial intelligence chip, the Zhenwu 810E, whose performance is said to be comparable to Nvidia’s H20, according to people familiar with the matter – a milestone that highlights the company’s growing role in China’s race to build domestic alternatives to US processors. The shipments, handled by Alibaba’s semiconductor arm T-Head, have already surpassed those of domestic rival Cambricon Technologies, the

Hang Lung flags ‘tough slog’ for property, as it...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Hong Kong developer Hang Lung Properties is pinning its medium-term outlook on a recovery in mainland Chinese consumption, even as it warned that both the city’s and China’s property markets remain under strain. The commercial landlord, residential developer and hotel owner said it expected a “tough slog” for the broader sector despite signs of improvement in operating conditions, particularly in the second half of the year. Net profit attributable to shareholders fell 16 per cent to HK$1.8...

It is ‘flourishing’: China’s man-made forest in Gobi...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Chinese scientists are planting high-value alternative “rubber trees” in the Gobi Desert. China is the world’s largest consumer and importer of natural rubber, mainly to support its massive car sector. Consumption last year is expected to have exceeded 7 million tonnes, over 85 per cent of it imported. However, the unique Chinese medicinal plant Duzhong (scientific name Eucommia ulmoides) may help to resolve this dependency. While its bark is a valued material in traditional Chinese medicine...

Over 110,000 secure waivers since Hong Kong public...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

More than 110,000 patients have secured fee waivers since Hong Kong’s public medical fee reform took effect at the start of the year, a jump from a previous annual number of 14,000, the health minister has said while defending the overhaul. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau also said on Friday that among the more than 110,000 people with approved waivers, about 53,000 had already received certificates for fee reduction. The roughly 60,000 patients remaining who had failed to provide income

Shanghai residents offload their gold as prices surge...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

Shanghai residents have been flocking to sell gold as the price of the precious metal surges to record highs. The latest jump in gold prices was fuelled by ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainties, but prices slumped by 4 per cent on Friday, January 30.

China gives Apple ‘best iPhone quarter in history’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

China has emerged as the brightest spot in Apple’s quarterly earnings, as the US tech giant achieved record iPhone revenue in the world’s largest smartphone market. Revenue in Apple’s Greater China region, which comprises mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, surged 38 per cent from a year earlier in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which ended December 27, the Cupertino-based company said on Friday. That growth, more than double the company’s overall 16 per cent quarterly revenue increase,...

Jiangsu vs Guangdong: why the battle to be China’s No...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

The southern Guangdong province has been the largest engine powering China’s economic rise for decades. But the region is now in danger of losing its status as the country’s top regional economy, as a rival to the east outpaces its growth. Jiangsu, home to a wide range of multinationals and hi-tech enterprises, has long been Guangdong’s closest competitor: together, the two provinces account for over 20 per cent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP). And the region has shown greater

Why China Bulang ethnic group in Yunnan blackens...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

China’s Bulang people have an unusual rite of passage known as ranchi in which they dye their teeth black to mark adulthood and social rights. The ethnic group, with a history spanning more than a thousand years, is mainly found in Yunnan province, southwestern China. According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2021, there are around 127,000 Bulang people today. Living in the mountains and forests, they view the colour black as a symbol of beauty and power, believing it protects against evil...

Trump slams allies’ China ties, top generals fall,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/30

US President Donald Trump criticised UK and Canadian efforts to boost ties with China, as traditional American allies increasingly seek to diversify their global relations. “It’s ‌very dangerous ⁠for them to do that,” Trump said about a UK pledge of deeper business cooperation with China. “And, it’s even more dangerous, ‌I think, for Canada to get ‌into business ‌with China.” Trump spoke to reporters at the premiere of the movie Melania at ‍the Kennedy Centre in Washington. UK Prime Minister...

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