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Philippines’ UN defeat: a result of domestic...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

The Philippines’ landslide defeat to Kyrgyzstan for a UN Security Council seat has dealt a blow to Manila’s long-running campaign to raise its international diplomatic profile through the prestigious body, prompting questions about President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s foreign policy legacy. Analysts said the loss reflected the appeal of having under-represented Central Asia play a role in the council, Kyrgyzstan’s perceived neutrality and the geopolitical baggage attached to the Philippines as a...

Hong Kong tour guide stripped of licence over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

A Hong Kong tour guide who coerced visitors into shopping has been struck off for damaging the sector’s reputation and breaching professional conduct, in the second disciplinary action of its kind in less than two months. The Travel Industry Authority said on Friday it revoked Siu Man-chung’s tour guide licence after investigating complaints that Siu made “inappropriate remarks” to pressure mainland Chinese visitors into shopping during tours between February and April. The authority said on...

Hong Kong taps banks, lawyers and crypto firms to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has formed a group of industry experts to help remove legal and regulatory hurdles to tokenized bonds, as authorities seek to move beyond pilot projects and encourage wider adoption from private issuers. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Friday it had established a Tokenised Bond Expert Group comprising 21 institutions spanning banks, law firms, market infrastructure providers and digital asset companies to support the development of the city’s...

Australian fined, given suspended jail term for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

An Australian man, who claimed to be a lawyer, has been fined HK$2,000 (US$255) and given a suspended sentence by a Hong Kong court for repeatedly leaving restaurants without paying. Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, was also ordered to pay HK$2,039 in compensation to two Shangri-La hotels in Admiralty and Tsim Sha Tsui, as well as a Japanese restaurant, after skipping out on bills on four occasions between April 24 and May 5. Eastern Court heard on Friday that Monkivitch used various excuses to...

How China imperial exam leaves historical footprint...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

In the first of a two-part series focusing on China’s hugely important national college entrance examination, or gaokao, the SCMP examines and explains the origins of the test and how it influenced not only the nation’s modern education system but those elsewhere in the world. Each June, China’s gaokao turns the country’s classrooms into arenas of aspiration as millions of students sit an exam seen as a path to university and a better future. Its cultural ancestor is sometimes traced to the...

How a pig farm dispute exposed fault lines in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Pig farmers in the central state of Selangor have spent years trying to keep their business out of Malaysia’s culture wars. A royal decree has dragged them straight into one. The state’s decision to shut down pig farms, prompted by Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Selangor’s hereditary ruler, has transformed a long-standing local dispute over pollution and odour into a flashpoint touching on royal influence, the livelihoods of a minority community and the delicate balancing act facing

Chinese military team inspects Russian bases as Putin...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

A PLA inspection team visited several facilities in Russia’s Eastern Military District this week, including an air defence missile unit in the far-eastern Jewish Autonomous Region, Russian media reported. The visit, conducted under a decades-old confidence-building mechanism, came as President Vladimir Putin described China and Russia as “natural allies and partners”, while emphasising that their deepening military cooperation was not directed against any third party. The June 2-3 inspection...

No cap on HK$2 transport scheme trips as costs...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Hong Kong authorities will not cap the monthly number of subsidised trips that eligible elderly residents and people with disabilities can take under a revamped transport fare scheme, largely because implementation costs would exceed the savings. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han revealed the decision on Friday, as data showed that an average of only about 450 people took more than 240 trips a month under the scheme between May last year and April this year, out of about 2.7...

Hong Kong police arrest man after repeated...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Hong Kong police have arrested a 50-year-old man on suspicion of repeatedly throwing glass bottles from the windows of his Ma On Shan flat over more than two years, injuring two pedestrians. Officers from the Sha Tin district crime unit arrested the man on Friday at his home on Sai Sha Road following an investigation into multiple reports of glass bottles being thrown from flats at the high-rise estate. The man allegedly threw bottles from his flat on eight occasions between 2024 and May

China, South Korea boost commercial flights as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

China and South Korea will allow 70 more flights per week between the two countries in view of fast-growing, two-way tourism and a drop in Chinese group travel to Japan. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Seoul said in a statement Thursday that passenger flight capacity would grow from 608 to 664 per week and that maximum air freight flights would expand from 54 to 68 per week. These expansions, the first since before the Covid pandemic, reflect a surge in two-way tourism,...

Tencent’s chief AI scientist dismisses lag concerns,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Yao Shunyu, the former OpenAI researcher now leading Tencent Holdings’ artificial intelligence model development, pushed back against concerns that the tech giant is slow in AI, arguing that the race is just beginning with massive untapped opportunities in coding agents and embodied intelligence. “AI is a long-term game, with the second half of the race just starting,” said Yao, chief AI scientist at Tencent, comparing the current state to the development of personal computers in the

Xi heads to North Korea, tech transfer clampdown,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to North Korea next week, his first overseas trip this year and his first to the hermit nation since 2019. The trip will take place on Monday and Tuesday, Xinhua said without elaboration. Xi’s last official overseas excursion was to South Korea in October, when he met US President Donald Trump and attended a regional summit. Xi’s visit underscores a rebound in relations with China’s only formal ally following relative isolation during the...

‘Another empty promise’: Quad’s proposed Fiji port...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

A proposal by the Quad to build a port in Fiji, seen by analysts as a move to counter China’s rising economic clout in the Pacific region, has fuelled doubts about whether the four-member security bloc is committed to completing the project amid differing policy priorities. At a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, in New Delhi last week, the foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States – Penny Wong, S. Jaishankar, Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary

French billionaire pleads for law change to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

French billionaire Pierre-Edouard Sterin, who has stirred controversy over his right-wing politics, is pleading with lawmakers to modify rules so he can disinherit his five children, saying he prefers to give his fortune to charity. “I would like to give my entire estate to philanthropic causes,” the businessman told senators on Thursday during a public hearing, noting that under French law three quarters of his assets would have to be passed down to his offspring. “I’m in favour of being

Hong Kong records hottest day of year so far as hail...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Hong Kong sweltered through its hottest day of the year so far on Friday as temperatures hit 34.6 degrees Celsius (94.3 Fahrenheit) in the afternoon, with the city’s weather forecaster warning of hail. The Hong Kong Observatory said that this marked the highest temperature recorded on Grain in Ear, the Chinese summer solar term, since records began. By 4.20pm, temperatures had reached 34.4 degrees in Yuen Long Park and 34.1 degrees in Tuen Mun and Wetland Park. The forecaster issued the “very...

Europe’s fears about China trade threat miss the point

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Europe’s political and business leaderships appear to have concluded that China’s economic dominance represents an existential threat – not from intrinsic competitiveness but from subsidies, technology theft, state-owned enterprises and a pervasive industrial policy. Cecilia Malmstrom, former European Commission member and a member of the European Parliament, wrote this week about “an ever more aggressive China”, which “seems to be entering a new phase of industrial policy with an increase of...

Opting out: why does Hong Kong have more idle youth...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

A job market mismatch, shrinking demand for junior roles and relatively comfortable family living conditions have driven up Hong Kong’s share of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET) compared to their regional peers, observers have warned. Their comments on Friday followed government figures released in response to lawmaker Elvin Lee Ka-kui, showing the city’s NEET rate was 6 per cent. A Legislative Council report last month put the 2025 figure at 6.3 per cent

Race for rare earths at Myanmar’s borders fuels...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

A race to dig rare earths and metals in the mineral-rich mountains of eastern Myanmar is polluting waterways that millions of people living downstream depend on after a new tungsten mine reportedly began operations near the Thai border, according to environmental groups.Myanmar is among the top three producing nations of rare earths and other critical minerals used to make magnets and other components that power products ranging from smartphones to electric vehicles, with most of its output...

Malaysian state polls loom as Negeri Sembilan snap...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Malaysia is heading into a run of state elections, including two triggered by early assembly dissolutions, after Negeri Sembilan became the latest state to call a snap poll amid fraying ties inside Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling alliance. While the polls will not directly affect Anwar’s parliamentary majority, they will test whether his federal partners can keep their coalition functioning at the state level or whether local disputes will deepen the fractures between them. On Friday,...

Hong Kong watchdog to propose criminalising...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/05

Hong Kong’s competition watchdog aims to submit proposals to criminalise bid-rigging as early as September, paving the way for the government to table legislative amendments by the end of the year, following the city’s deadliest fire in decades. Senior Counsel Jat Sew-tong, who assumed the role of chairman of the Competition Commission last month, said on Friday that the watchdog would also launch a study into the city’s auto fuel market amid a surge in prices. The market has faced

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