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News - South China Morning Post

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Hong Kong Cantopop singer Raymond Lam cancels 2...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actor Raymond Lam Fung has cancelled two coming concerts in Japan, adding to a growing list of high-profile entertainment disruptions amid escalating diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. Japanese promoter Promax Inc said on Wednesday that Lam’s “Go With The Flow in Japan” tour – originally scheduled for January 31 and February 1 at the Tokyo Garden Theatre – had been postponed indefinitely. “After careful consideration and extensive discussions with all...

Brazil-China trade hits record US$171 billion in 2025...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Trade between Brazil and China hit a record US$171 billion in 2025, more than double Brazil’s total with the United States last year, as Chinese demand for Brazilian oil, farm goods and minerals surged and US tariffs on Brazilian exports nudged Brasilia to deepen ties with Beijing. Washington imposed a sweeping 50 per cent tariff on a broad range of Brazilian products, citing political grievances linked to the prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro. As Brazilian officials scrambled to...

Gaps laid bare by deadly Hong Kong fire focus of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Hong Kong’s newly elected lawmakers, many of them fresh faces on the political scene, held their first meeting on Wednesday, with officials pledging to address policy gaps exposed by the deadly Tai Po inferno, from tightening oversight of maintenance project tenders and raising homeowner voting thresholds to imposing a smoking ban at construction sites. Wednesday also marked the first time since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty 28 years ago that a city leader had addressed the first...

Could the Iran crisis push Global South blocs to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

As the US considers taking military action over a crackdown on unrest in Iran, there has been no official response from either the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation or Brics. Iran is a member of the two Beijing-backed forums for the Global South, and analysts said remaining silent on the situation could be damaging for them. But according to one expert, the Iran crisis could also lead to an expansion of security and strategic cooperation within the two blocs. US President Donald Trump has...

Hong Kong customs arrests 62, seizes HK$431 million...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Hong Kong customs has arrested 62 people and seized about 1.4 tonnes of suspected drugs worth roughly HK$431 million (US$55.27 million) in a major crackdown at the city’s airport, carried out with mainland Chinese and overseas authorities. The Customs and Excise Department said on Wednesday that a months-long operation conducted from October to December targeted criminals smuggling drugs through passenger and cargo channels at Hong Kong International Airport. Officers uncovered syndicates...

Alibaba, JPMorgan said to invest in Chinese chip...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Chinese chip designer Montage Technology is set to enlist Alibaba Group Holding and JPMorgan Asset Management among the key investors in its upcoming Hong Kong listing, according to people familiar with the matter, in a sign of promising demand for the city’s latest share sale related to artificial intelligence. Alibaba and the JPMorgan Chase asset manager were participating as cornerstone investors, which get guaranteed allocation in exchange for holding the shares for a period of time, the...

Beijing launches antitrust investigation into...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

China has opened an antitrust investigation into Trip.com Group, the country’s largest online travel services provider, weeks before hundreds of millions of people on the mainland go away on holiday during the Lunar New Year break. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on Wednesday said the group – operator of namesake platform Trip.com, Skyscanner, Ctrip, Qunar and Dutch site Travix – abused its “dominant market position” and engaged in “monopolistic practices”. The...

Zheng Yu, ‘rising star’ in chemical engineering from...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

A leading young Chinese chemical engineer has left the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to return home to Peking University. Zheng Yu recently completed her postdoctoral training in bioelectronics in the US but has now joined the Chinese university’s college of chemistry and molecular engineering as an assistant professor. According to her Peking University webpage, Zheng is working on wearable and implantable electronic devices, such as smart bandages that are used to monitor

‘Fundamental disagreement’ with Trump remains over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

A top Danish official said on Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with US President Donald Trump after highly anticipated talks in Washington with Vice-President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The two sides, however, agreed to create a working group to discuss ways to work through differences as Trump continues to call for a US takeover of the semi-autonomous territory of Nato ally Denmark. “The group, in our view, should focus on how to address

Proportion of young Hongkongers owning subsidised...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Hong Kong’s young adults are being pushed off the housing ladder, with the proportion of subsidised homeowners aged 30 to 39 nearly halving to 16 per cent over the past three decades, and a mid-sized private flat now costing more than 18 years of an average household’s combined income, a study shows. The “Hong Kong Economic Policy Green Paper 2026”, released by the University of Hong Kong Business School on Wednesday, highlighted a long-term shift in Hong Kong’s housing landscape. Overall

Why Russia is gambling on a protracted war in Ukraine

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

When countries committed to supporting Ukraine met in Paris earlier this month to discuss Ukraine’s post-war security, Russia answered with fire. Just days after the summit, Moscow launched a strike that killed civilians and plunged Kyiv into darkness and cold, while also firing its nuclear-capable hypersonic Oreshnik missile towards Ukraine’s Lviv region, attacks widely seen as intimidation rather than a battlefield necessity. The world wants peace. So why does Russia keep firing? Moscow is...

Why China may buy Nvidia’s H200 chips as Trump eases...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

China is likely to accept Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips following US clearance, driven by immediate demand in the country’s vast tech sector, according to analysts – though they said Beijing would push to replace them over time. The American chip giant’s second-most-advanced AI processor can be exported to China from Thursday, as long as shipments total no more than half the amount sold in the US, according to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and...

Zhipu AI breaks US chip reliance with first major...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Chinese artificial intelligence firm Zhipu AI said its new image generation model was trained on chips from Huawei Technologies, making it the first powerful open-source model to be developed on an entirely domestic training stack. The Beijing-based company, fresh off its Hong Kong initial public offering, said on Wednesday that the achievement proved the feasibility of developing powerful multimodal models without US semiconductors, as Beijing pushes for self-reliance in China’s AI industry...

Hong Kong officials urge buy-back plan over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Rebuilding the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court on its original site to rehouse displaced residents will be “immensely challenging” because of complex legal and property rights issues, a senior Hong Kong official has said, adding that a cash buy-back would be the “fastest and most flexible” solution. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun, who leads a government task force on emergency resettlement of the residents, has shifted his stance several times over the past few days. His latest...

Huawei reclaims top spot over Apple in China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Huawei Technologies edged out Apple to reclaim the No 1 spot in mainland China’s smartphone market in 2025, a new report showed, as the domestic handset maker overcame crippling US sanctions. For the full year, Huawei captured 16.4 per cent of China’s smartphone market with 46.7 million units shipped, narrowly beating Apple, which shipped 46.2 million iPhones for a 16.2 per cent share, research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Wednesday. Huawei’s smartphone shipments fell 1.9...

China’s anti-corruption watchdog reveals how former...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

China’s anti-corruption watchdog has detailed how disgraced former banker and Communist Party chief of Hubei province Jiang Chaoliang received bribes for favours, ultimately landing himself and his brothers under investigation. The revelations came in an episode of a CCTV documentary series that aired on Tuesday night during the fifth plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Held at the beginning of each year, the session aims to sum up the achievements of...

73% of Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area firms speeding up...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Nearly three-quarters of enterprises from Hong Kong and other Greater Bay Area cities will speed up their expansion into the Asean market as a primary strategy to mitigate risks from international trade frictions and shifting global supply chains, according to a survey. The survey and research findings, co-published by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Singapore-based United Overseas Bank on Wednesday, also revealed that about 98 per cent of enterprises were planning to keep or

Li Ka-shing’s CK Infrastructure gets nod to sell...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

CK Infrastructure Holdings is poised to complete the disposal of UK Rails (Eversholt Rail) this month following London’s approval of the deal, according to the company, which is part of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s business empire. The train leasing company is owned by a consortium of the group’s companies: CK Infrastructure, which holds 65 per cent, along with CK Asset Holdings (20 per cent), Power Asset Holdings (10 per cent) and CK Hutchison Holdings (5 per cent), according to the...

Animal welfare groups slam Hong Kong pet shop for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

Animal welfare groups have criticised a Hong Kong pet shop for offering a cat rental service, calling the move unethical and harmful to the felines’ well-being. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said on Wednesday that it had sent staff to inspect the shop in North Point and reminded its operator to comply with the law. In a social media post – which appears to have been since removed – the Petbook pet shop advertised a “cat friend rental” service. It offered people...

How Putin’s focus on Ukraine war leaves allies...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/14

As Russian President Vladimir Putin focuses his attentions on Moscow’s war in Ukraine, his strategic allies around the world have been left feeling neglected – or worse. In Venezuela, officials now think their years-long security relationship with Moscow was a paper tiger. They’re not alone: From Damascus and Tehran to Havana, over the last 13 months authoritarian regimes which previously benefited from their close ties to the Kremlin have found Russian support lacking when it mattered...

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