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Hong Kong home prices snap 3-year downturn as rents...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

Hong Kong’s lived-in home prices ended a three-year downturn with a 3.25 per cent increase in 2025, as the property market gallops into the new year buoyed by expectations of more transactions and further price gains, according to analysts. Rents climbed to a record high in December, boosting annual gains to 4.26 per cent in 2025 and marking a third consecutive year of increase, according to the Rating and Valuation Department on Wednesday. “Hong Kong’s residential market strengthened notably...

Ukraine war military casualties ‘near 2 million’ as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

Russia’s grinding invasion of Ukraine has caused nearly 2 million military casualties - killed, wounded or missing - between the two countries, according to a new study by a US think tank. Moscow’s forces have borne the brunt of the losses, suffering as many as 325,000 killed out of an estimated total of 1.2 million casualties since invading Ukraine nearly four years ago, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found. “No major power has suffered anywhere near these numbers

Workers protest over unpaid wages for renovation...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

A group of Hong Kong construction workers has staged a demonstration for unpaid wages at an upscale Hong Kong residential estate that hired the contractor linked to the Tai Po fire to carry out renovations, with two climbing up scaffolding as part of the protest. At least 15 scaffolding workers on Wednesday held banners and chanted slogans outside Baguio Villa in Pok Fu Lam at around 9am. The Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union said they were owed several months’ wages...

Taiwan’s defence ministry slams TPP’s ‘unworkable’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

Taiwan’s defence ministry on Tuesday pushed back against an opposition party proposal to cut a planned NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special military budget to NT$400 billion and drop plans for the “T-Dome” layered air defence system. It said the plan would not only be unworkable but could also undermine the island’s defence readiness in the face of mounting military pressure from Beijing. The warning came as Taiwan’s legislature remained deadlocked over the special funding bill, which was...

‘Don’t blindly follow’ US changes to infant vaccines,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

Hong Kong health authorities have warned parents not to “blindly follow” overseas changes to childhood immunisation schedules, including for the hepatitis B birth dose, after the United States scaled back routine vaccine recommendations for infants. The city’s Centre for Health Protection issued the warning on Wednesday in response to a controversial overhaul by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable...

Trump warns Iraq against returning former prime...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end all US support for Iraq if Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister with ties to Iran, returns to the post. Trump, in his latest blatant intervention in another country’s politics, said that Iraq would make a “very bad choice” with Maliki, who has been nominated as prime minister by the largest Shiite bloc. “Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again,”

Partnerships, not plants: Chinese companies rethink...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

As Chinese companies accelerate their overseas expansion, industry leaders are urging a more partnership-driven approach rather than simply building factories abroad – a strategy they say could help ease growing concerns about excess capacity. As it pushes further into global markets, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will prioritise partnerships over rapid capacity build-outs, vice-chairman Daniel Li Donghui said at the Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong Kong on Tuesday. “We don’t think it’s the...

Operation Santa Claus: law firm volunteers dig deep...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

On a sunny Saturday, 25 employees from the Hong Kong law firm Deacons spent the morning working side by side with 18 elderly volunteers, weeding, tilling the soil, and transplanting seedlings, while sharing laughter and lessons on organic farming and healthy eating. The event on January 24 took place on the rooftop of Metroplaza in Kwai Fong, at an urban farm run by Farm the City, one of 13 charities selected to receive funding this year from the annual fundraising campaign, Operation Santa...

Malaysian man arrested after illegal sea crossing to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

A 46-year-old man from Perak in Malaysia sneaked out of the country to visit his pregnant second wife without his first wife’s knowledge. He landed in hot water when he was arrested while returning from Indonesia via an illegal route. His passport was being held by his first wife. The man, a lorry driver, who just arrived from Tanjung Balai in Indonesia, told officers he had travelled to Medan to visit his pregnant second wife. “My second wife was pregnant and in critical condition, which is

US congresswoman Ilhan Omar sprayed with unknown...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

A man sprayed an unknown substance on Democratic US congresswoman Ilhan Omar and was tackled to the ground during a town hall on Tuesday. The incident occurred in Minneapolis, where tensions over federal immigration enforcement have come to a head after agents fatally shot an intensive care nurse and a mother of three this month. The audience cheered as the man was pinned down and his arms were tied behind his back. In video of the incident, someone in the crowd can be heard saying, “Oh my

China has a drug that could help India battle deadly...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

A Chinese drug could help manage outbreaks of Nipah and prevent the spread of the deadly virus that has no vaccine or cure, researchers have said. The virus has a fatality rate of up to 75 per cent and the most recent outbreak in the Indian state of West Bengal has infected at least five people. While the virus has no approved treatment, researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology have found that VV116 – an oral antiviral drug originally developed to treat Covid-19 – allowed two-thirds

Philippines steps up patrols around ‘significant’ gas...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

The Philippine military and coastguard have stepped up security around a newly announced natural gas discovery off Palawan, treating the operation as a test case for protecting future offshore energy projects in contested waters, according to officials familiar with the deployment. The expanded patrols cover Malampaya East-1, a fresh gas and condensate find about 5km from the existing Malampaya gas field, the country’s most important domestic energy source, which supplies fuel to power plants

China’s slowing overseas investment reflects caution,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

China’s latest outbound investment numbers look underwhelming at first glance. At the commerce ministry’s recently concluded national conference on outbound investment and foreign aid, officials revealed that outward direct investment grew by just 1.3 per cent in 2025, a sharp slowdown from the double-digit pace seen in 2024 and 2023. On paper, it appeared to confirm a cooling of China’s overseas expansion. That conclusion misses what is actually changing. The more important story is not the...

China ‘drama queen’ lamb goes viral for pretending to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

A 10-day-old animal nicknamed the “drama queen lamb” has gone viral online for its hilarious ability to play dead, which has attracted so much attention that someone even offered 130,000 yuan (US$19,000) to buy it. On January 13, the lamb from Zhongfang Village, Baofeng Town, Pingluo County, Shizuishan in Ningxia, northwestern China, went viral online for its unique ability. According to the lamb’s owner, farmer Jin Xiaolin, he had taken four lambs to a local market to sell. Three were sold

Hongkongers urged to avoid India’s West Bengal amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

Hongkongers should avoid travelling to West Bengal, which is battling an outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus, an infectious diseases expert has warned, with an Indian community leader in the city predicting a short-term impact on family and business trips. The community leader also sought to reassure the public, dismissing fears that the outbreak in India would significantly affect Hong Kong in the long term. “There is a large and thriving Bengali community in Hong Kong. Those who are planning...

Why Britain seeks to take its relationship with China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

Britain is eyeing greater engagement and closer trade ties with China, seeking to steady a relationship long marked by volatility, its ambassador to Beijing said, ahead of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s highly anticipated visit. Peter Wilson told reporters on Tuesday that Britain was taking a long-term “strategic approach” to China and that London sought “a relationship that is consistent”. “We want to build the kind of relationship of mutual respect and trust between our leadership that

China crushes rumours of after-school tutoring...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/28

China appears to have sent a message to the market with a recent 67 million yuan (US$9.7 million) fine on an unregistered education firm: the government is not planning to reverse its ban on after-school tutoring any time soon. With Beijing striving to boost consumption and create jobs, there had been growing speculation that authorities might relax their restrictions on private academic tutoring – an industry that had been worth tens of billions of dollars before the 2021 ban. But that now...

The Japanese public welcomes a Chinese tourist...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/27

China’s instructions to citizens not to visit Japan during the coming Lunar New Year holiday has been welcomed by some Japanese weary of overcrowding at tourist hotspots, while local travel operators say the immediate impact on business is likely to be limited. Beijing’s advisory, issued on Monday through the Chinese foreign ministry and diplomatic missions, cites security concerns in Japan and a claimed rise in crimes targeting Chinese nationals. It comes amid heightened diplomatic friction...

Man who beat 4 to death in New York Chinatown rampage...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/27

A man on trial for bludgeoning four men to death with a metal bar as they slept on the New York streets had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he left jail months earlier and was hearing voices telling him he needed to kill 40 people or he would die too, his lawyer told jurors on Tuesday. Randy Santos, 31, is asserting an insanity defence at his trial in state court in Manhattan. Through his lawyers, he has acknowledged committing the 2019 Chinatown rampage. But, they argued, he was not...

After killings in Minneapolis, Trump says will...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/27

US President Donald Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, met with the Minneapolis mayor and the Minnesota governor on Tuesday in a show of detente, as the ‌White House sought to ease unrest gripping the city after two US citizens were shot dead by federal agents. Homan was put in charge of the Minneapolis immigration enforcement drive to replace US Border Patrol “commander at large” ‍Gregory Bovino, who sources said was being demoted and removed after having overseen most of Trump’s crackdowns in...

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