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6 killed in Iran as cost-of-living protests turn violent

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Protesters and security forces clashed in three Iranian cities on Thursday, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the cost-of-living demonstrations broke out. The protests began on Sunday in Tehran, where shopkeepers went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, and have since spread to other parts of the country. On Thursday, Iran’s Fars news agency reported two people killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the city of Lordegan, in the

Taiwan arms, missing Chinese boy, Trump’s Jimmy Lai...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.1. As Trump upends US foreign policy, analysts see fresh openings for China Trump was expected to continue applying a wrecking ball to long-standing US national security architecture, threatening global stability and jolting long-time allies, with China a major beneficiary, analysts and

Beijing’s Venezuela plans, Mexico-China tariffs: 7...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Mexico stands by its decision for 50% tariffs on Chinese goods Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard in December defended Mexico’s decision to impose new tariffs on imports from China and other Asian countries, describing the move as a necessary step to protect hundreds of thousands of domestic...

China’s Ukraine war role, EU vs Shein and Temu,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. EU fears China’s role in Russia’s war on Ukraine is deepening European officials were parsing evidence of an increase in battlefield weapons being shipped from China to Russia as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prepared to drag into its fifth year, adding to the well-documented flow of goods

Bolsonaro denied house arrest by Brazil's Supreme...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Brazil’s Supreme Court has rejected former president Jair Bolsonaro’s request to convert his prison sentence for plotting a coup to house arrest, according to a ruling published on Thursday. Bolsonaro’s lawyers submitted the request on Wednesday, citing a “real risk of a sudden worsening” in health for the far-right ex-leader as the reason to serve his 27-year sentence at home. Bolsonaro, 70, has been hospitalised for more than a week after undergoing surgery for a groin hernia and then a...

Iran executions hit 35-year high with 1,500 killed in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Iran executed at least 1,500 people last year, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said on Thursday, in what it called an “unprecedented” hike in the use of capital punishment. “It is very alarming,” the group’s director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said of the provisional toll. “It is unprecedented in the last 35 years. As long as Iran Human Rights has existed, we have never had such numbers.” In 2024, Iran executed at least 975 people, according to IHR and the French group Together

How the ‘world’s supermarket’ rode out Trump’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Wang Nan, a hardware trader in China’s eastern city of Yiwu, expected her business to feel some pain when the US-China trade war escalated in April. “Last year, we still had many American clients, but the tariffs changed everything,” she said. Yet, Wang’s firm not only survived a rollercoaster year – which at one point saw US tariffs soar to triple-digit levels – it has emerged even stronger. An aggressive push to find new buyers in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa paid off. In the

DeepSeek kicks off 2026 with paper signalling push to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has ushered in 2026 with a new technical paper, co-authored by founder Liang Wenfeng, that proposes a rethink of the fundamental architecture used to train foundational AI models. The method – dubbed Manifold-Constrained Hyper-Connections (mHC) – forms part of the Hangzhou firm’s push to make its models more cost-effective as it strives to keep pace with better-funded US rivals with deeper access to computing power. It also reflected the...

Russia claims 24 killed in Ukrainian drone strike on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Russian officials on Thursday said a Ukrainian drone strike killed 24 people and wounded at least 50 more as they celebrated the New Year in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region, as tensions between the two nations continue to spike despite diplomats hailing productive peace talks. Three drones struck a cafe and hotel in the resort town of Khorly on the Black Sea coast, the region’s Moscow-installed leader, Vladimir Saldo, said in a statement on Telegram. He said that one of...

As history makes clear, a powerful China is not...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Beneath the “China threat” thesis, often heard in Western policy circles, is the assumption that China will become expansionist as it grows more powerful. But history gives us little reason to treat that as inevitable. At moments of peak strength, China has not consistently converted power into the kind of overseas colonialism, expansionism or conquest that marked the ascent of Western great powers. There are three often-cited reasons to suggest China’s rise might lead to expansionism. First,...

Can Beijing and Washington shield their planned state...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Tensions over the Taiwan Strait are likely to persist in 2026, but analysts expect Washington and Beijing to manage risks to ensure that reciprocal state visits planned for the new year are not derailed. Beijing launched massive live-fire drills around Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday, less than a fortnight after Washington announced its largest-ever arms sale to the self-ruled island. The People’s Liberation Army said the drills served as a warning to “independence forces” and against external...

Thai fortune-teller predicts client’s bad luck, then...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

A Thai fortune-teller was arrested in Pattaya on Thursday after being accused of telling a client she would soon face bad luck and lose a valuable possession on New Year’s Day, then allegedly making good on the prophecy by stealing her phone. The suspect, identified by local media as Udomsap Mueangkaew, 38, allegedly denied the theft when confronted by the woman but told her the loss proved the accuracy of his fortune-telling. Local news outlet Khaosod reported that Udomsap, shabbily dressed,...

K-pop stars BTS to reunite with March album and world...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

K-pop megastars BTS will release a new album in March ahead of a world tour, the group announced on Thursday. South Korea’s biggest musical act has been on self-described hiatus since 2022 as its members undertook national military service required of all men under the age of 30. All seven members were discharged last year, and the group announced a comeback for the spring of 2026. They confirmed on Thursday that they would release an album on March 20, before heading on tour. The exact date...

Japanese business leaders shelve annual China trip as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

A group of about 200 prominent Japanese business leaders has reportedly postponed their annual visit to mainland China, the first such deferral in more than a decade, amid tensions between Beijing and Tokyo over Taiwan. The postponement, first reported by Bloomberg and Kyodo, is widely seen by observers as a worrying sign of fraying corporate diplomacy – long regarded as a stabilising channel in the countries’ complicated relationship. It comes amid Beijing’s intensified efforts to rally a...

Bars, hotels cash in as Hong Kong welcomes 25% more...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

The number of inbound visitors to Hong Kong on New Year’s Eve rose by 25 per cent from 2024, despite the city forgoing its traditional fireworks display because of the deadly Tai Po fire, with bars and hotels appearing to benefit the most from the increase in footfall over the holiday. But with the number of departures by Hongkongers also increasing by nearly 21 per cent over the same period, not all businesses stood to gain equally. Immigration Department figures compiled by the Post on...

CIA concludes Ukraine did not target Putin’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has concluded that Ukraine did not target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in a recent drone attack, US media have reported. Various media, including The Wall Street Journal as well as the broadcasters PBS and CNN, cited unnamed US government officials in their reports published on Wednesday evening, contradicting serious accusations made by Moscow at the start of the week. Initially, US President Donald Trump also criticised...

Hong Kong’s John Lee suffering from sciatica, Chief...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu is suffering from sciatica, the Chief Executive’s Office has revealed, after he appeared to be in pain while standing for 1½ hours at the lawmakers’ swearing-in ceremony on New Year’s Day, with a cane placed nearby. The office said on Thursday that Lee was suffering from sciatica, but stopped short of revealing details of the city’s leader’s health condition. Sciatica is a condition that causes pain along the sciatic nerve, which is the largest in the body,...

Hong Kong issues first cold weather warning as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

Hong Kong’s forecaster has issued its first cold weather warning of the season on New Year’s Day as temperatures are expected to fall to a low of 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 Fahrenheit) in urban areas on Friday. The Hong Kong Observatory issued the warning at 4.20pm on Thursday and said a cold front moving across the coastal areas of Guangdong would bring cooler weather to the city in the coming days. Minimum temperatures in urban areas are forecast to be around 12 degrees on Friday and a couple

China warns satellites from Elon Musk’s Starlink are...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

China has warned that the rapid expansion of internet satellite constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink presented “pronounced safety and security challenges”. Addressing an informal United Nations Security Council event initiated by Russia on Monday, Beijing’s representative cited several incidents, including near collisions between Starlink satellites and the Chinese space station in 2021, and a satellite that disintegrated in December. The representative also pointed to the disregard of...

China online shop uses mouse pads, socks, plastic...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/01/01

The owner of an online shop in eastern China has begun using handy daily items as clothing tags to deter exploitative returns and boost sales. The ingenious owner, surnamed Wang, who lives in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, has been praised by customers and netizens alike for his creativity. After his piano business went bankrupt, Wang moved into selling menswear. He shared some of his unconventional clothing tags, such as mouse pads and wiper fluid bottles online. He also designed tags made

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