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News - South China Morning Post

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Furniture retailer Ikea to close 7 stores in China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Ikea will close seven stores in mainland China, as the multinational furniture retailer grapples with the country’s weak property market and sluggish consumer spending, which have dampened demand for its goods. Following a comprehensive review, Ikea China said the seven stores would cease operations from February 2. These are located in Shanghai’s suburban Baoshan district, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Nantong and Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu province, Ningbo in eastern Zhejiang province and Harbin in...

Hong Kong equestrian coach denied bail over hotel...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

An equestrian coach with the Hong Kong Jockey Club has been denied bail after being charged with manslaughter and drugs possession, with prosecutors alleging that he killed a man last week in a suicide pact. British national Kyle McCullock, 36, appeared at Kowloon City Court for the first time on Wednesday after missing an earlier hearing this week for medical reasons. McCullock initially faced three drug-related charges for allegedly keeping an unspecified amount of methamphetamine,

China initiates anti-dumping probe against Japan over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

China has launched an anti-dumping investigation against Japan over a crucial chemical for chipmaking, marking a new escalation in tensions between Beijing and Tokyo. The investigation, set to run for one year with a possible extension of six months, targets dichlorosilane – a chemical that is primarily used in thin-film-deposition processes in semiconductor manufacturing and which plays a key role in the production of various types of chips, according to a notice from the Ministry of

China woman, 62, gets pregnant through IVF after...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

A 62-year-old woman in China, who has been pregnant for six months and regards the baby as the return of her deceased son, her only child, has trended on social media, sparking a heated discussion. On a leading mainland social media platform, a woman in Songyuan from Jilin province, in northeastern China, provides regular updates on the pregnancy life of her elder sister, Dahe News reported. The grey-haired expectant mother is pregnant for the second time in her life. In January of 2025, she...

Man jailed for 4 weeks in Hong Kong for taking...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

A Hong Kong court has sentenced a man to four weeks in jail for secretly taking upskirt photos of a woman on a Cathay Pacific flight from Osaka last year. Japanese IT manager Onishi Ryu, 46, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to unlawfully recording a woman’s intimate parts on the flight on November 24. He was en route to India on a business trip with a stopover in the city. The West Kowloon Court heard in mitigation that the defendant was merely an “opportunist” who had “accidentally” captured the...

As sextortion surges in Japan, NGO warns against...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Japan is facing a rampant rise in sextortion ensnaring young men, with a support group reminding potential victims of the near-irreversible nature of digital footprints and urging them to avoid sharing explicit content completely to combat the scourge. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves coaxing victims to send intimate photographs or videos online and then threatening to make them public if the person does not pay money or engage in sexual favours. Paps, a Tokyo-based NGO, reported

Chinese President Xi Jinping urges Seoul to be...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “patience” over North Korea’s nuclear programme, the South’s president, Lee Jae Myung, said on Wednesday. Speaking during a visit to Shanghai, Lee said he had asked Xi to act as a “mediator for peace” on the Korean peninsula, including on the nuclear issue. He said all channels between the North and South had been blocked and there was “zero trust” between the two sides. “President Xi noted the efforts until now and said patience is needed,” Lee

AI surgery: Chinese robot conducts complex operation...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

A robot developed by a Chinese company has successfully performed a biliary surgery on a 30kg pig, using an AI model to perform the procedure autonomously. The experiment, which took place on December 24, was conducted by Shanghai MicroPort MedBot, using its Toumai robot powered by the proprietary Neuron multimodal surgical model, the company said in a post on Wednesday. The core surgical procedures, including bile duct clamping and cutting, were performed autonomously by the Medbot, which...

Hong Kong police safely dispose of WWII British...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

A World War II British grenade was discovered on Wednesday morning in Aberdeen Country Park, Hong Kong, according to police. The Model 36M grenade, measuring about four inches long and 2.5 inches in diameter, was found by staff from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department as they were filling a hole along a walking path. A police spokeswoman said officers from the explosive ordnance disposal bureau handled the grenade safely with no injuries. No evacuation was necessary, though...

Mahathir Mohamad: why surgery ‘not wise’ for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Doctors have advised against surgery for Mahathir Mohamad’s fractured hip due to his age, according to his son, Mukhriz Mahathir. The 100-year-old former Malaysian prime minister was admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) at 9.30am on Tuesday following a fall during his routine morning exercise. Mukhriz clarified in a video posted on Wednesday that while a hip fracture was sustained, “due to his age of 100 years, an operation is not a wise option”. Instead, Mahathir is expected to

China’s central bank signals reserve ratio, interest...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

China’s central bank has reiterated its commitment to a “moderately loose” policy stance in 2026, pledging stronger countercyclical and cross-cycle adjustments and signalling flexible and efficient use of reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cuts and interest rate reductions to support a strong start to the 15th five-year plan. At a work conference outlining priorities for the coming year, the People’s Bank of China also highlighted goals including a reasonable recovery in prices, mitigating...

Energy markets are political – Venezuela is the...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

The United States’ forcible removal of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from power has reignited a debate over international law and sovereignty. But this risks obscuring a more consequential fact: global energy markets are not governed primarily by liberal market logic, but are shaped by geopolitical strategy. Venezuela matters less as a case in itself than as a signal of how energy is being repositioned amid intensifying US-China economic competition. For decades, many assumed that

Hong Kong pharmacies pull Nestle baby milk formula...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Hong Kong pharmacies started pulling batches of Nestle baby milk formula from their shelves on Wednesday after a recall by the manufacturer over potential contamination, prompting frantic searches by thousands of mothers for alternative products. Nestle Hong Kong apologised to parents for any distress or inconvenience caused, saying that it had not received any reports of illness or discomfort related to the products to date. Hong Kong food safety authorities said on Tuesday that Nestle had...

Taiwan halts F-16 training missions after pilot and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Taiwan’s air force has suspended training missions for its F-16 fleet and ordered maintenance and inspections as it searches for a pilot who went missing after reportedly parachuting from one of the fighter jets. The pilot, Hsin Po-yi, took off in an F-16V jet at 6.17pm on Tuesday for routine nighttime training then ejected from the aircraft at around 7.29pm near Hualien county, after which all contact was lost, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA). Both the pilot and the aircraft...

Hong Kong moves ticketing for driving licence...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Hong Kong transport authorities will fully move ticketing for test-free driving licence applications online from Monday, after the highly sought-after service attracted long queues and scalpers. The Transport Department said on Wednesday that the policy change, resulting in walk-in applications being cancelled, aimed to distribute tickets in a fair and orderly manner. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan had told the department on Tuesday to find prompt solutions. Hong Kong

Beijing puts 2 more Taiwanese cabinet ministers on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Beijing has added Taiwan’s interior minister and education minister to its sanctions list of “stubborn Taiwan independence figures” for behaviour it said undermined cross-strait relations and promoted Taiwan independence. Chen Binhua, spokesman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), said on Wednesday that Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang and Education Minister Cheng Ying-yao had been designated as “stubborn Taiwan independence figures”. Liu and Cheng are cabinet members in William Lai...

China creates world’s first clone-hybrid rice that...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Chinese researchers have developed a revolutionary form of hybrid rice that can replicate itself through seeds that are clones, faithfully preserving high-yield traits generation after generation.The team says its breakthrough could transform global agriculture by dismantling the biggest barrier to hybrid rice production: the need for farmers to buy expensive new hybrid seeds every season. As hundreds of millions of people around the world face acute food insecurity, hybrid rice has promised...

Hong Kong singer G.E.M. praised for debut sci-fi...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Cantopop singer and songwriter G.E.M.’s first novel has been nominated for the prestigious Chinese Galaxy Award for science fiction writing. On January 4, the star whose real name is Gloria Tang Sze-wing announced that her book, The Path of Revelation, had been nominated along with 20 other books in the Best Original Book category. The Galaxy Award was established in 1985 and recognises domestic and overseas science fiction. Previous winners include renowned sci-fi authors Liu Cixin, Neil...

Singapore school battles backlash over bento meal...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Singapore’s Hwa Chong Institution has defended its new canteen programme after photos of student meals sparked an online backlash, saying the images do not accurately reflect the food standards. However, students interviewed on Wednesday confirmed the images showed what was being served. The controversy erupted when photos posted on social media on Saturday showed meals in turquoise trays containing rice, vegetables and protein. They drew sharp criticism from internet users who questioned...

Tai Po public housing site ‘viable option’ for fire...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/07

Hong Kong district councillors have proposed building residential blocks on a Tai Po site reserved for public housing to resettle residents displaced by last year’s deadly fire, with about 1,300 flats expected by 2030. Lo Hiu-fung, chairman of Tai Po district council’s newly set up working group on building management, also said he would convene the first meeting on Thursday to address maintenance and water leakage issues in other blocks in the area. In an interview with the Post on

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