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News - South China Morning Post

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‘I cannot sleep soundly’: helper battles trauma, job...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Domestic helper Siti Zulaikho has only one word to describe her life after Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades turned everything upside down: “chaotic.” The 41-year-old Indonesian was among more than 200 domestic helpers living in Wang Fuk Court when the 43-hour blaze broke out on November 26, engulfing seven of the housing estate’s eight buildings and killing 161 people. Over the past month, she has relocated with her employers four times – first to a shelter, then to a hotel, and then to...

Hong Kong Island promenade to be completed after 16...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Hong Kong Island’s 13km (8-mile) promenade will be fully connected after 16 years of planning and construction, with the last section of the boardwalk in North Point to open to the public on Monday. The Development Bureau said on Sunday that the eastern section of East Coast Boardwalk, spanning 1.1km from the North Point Promenade to Hoi Yu Street in Quarry Bay, featured a glass observatory deck and open spaces. “[It marks] the last kilometre to connect the approximately 13-kilometre-long...

Hong Kong finance chief upbeat about 2026 outlook on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Hong Kong’s finance chief has struck an upbeat tone about the city’s economic outlook for 2026, while forecasting that growth this year will accelerate to 3.2 per cent, surpassing earlier projections. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the optimistic outlook was mainly supported by anticipated growth in mainland China and Asia, along with interest rate cuts. But his optimism was questioned by former finance chief John Tsang Chun-wah and some economists. “Looking ahead to next year, Hong...

Brigitte Bardot, French icon and animal rights...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Brigitte Bardot, the French actress who set the standard for a generation of female sex symbols in the 1960s and devoted her later life to animal rights, has died. She was 91. Agence France-Presse reported her death on Sunday, citing a statement from her foundation that did not provide details. The archetype of beauty to millions of men, Bardot spawned an era of curvy, pouting, insouciant actresses with her role as a self-assured small-town sexpot in And God Created Woman (1956). Throughout

Why Saudi Arabia might not fulfil spending pledge to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Saudi Arabia has pledged to boost investments in America to nearly US$1 trillion, but according to analysts Riyadh could struggle to meet that target. Rather, they said the pledge – announced when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Washington last month – was more about the “political display” than a binding commitment. It was an increase to the US$600 billion that was promised in May, when US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh. The latest pledge comes as the rivalry intensifies

China paralysed man, who can only move a finger and a...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

A paralysed Chinese man who can move only one finger and one toe has successfully developed a smart farm control system and founded a start-up. The determination of Li Xia, who is reliant on a ventilator, has deeply moved countless people across China. Li, 36, from Chongqing in southwestern China, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of five. He was forced to drop out of school in the fifth grade. Since then, studying kept him going. He was most fascinated by physics and computer...

650 Hongkongers on Taiwan group tours confirmed safe...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

More than 650 Hongkongers on group tours to Taiwan have been confirmed safe following a 6.7-magnitude earthquake late on Saturday, with some shaken travellers recalling how buildings swayed “from side to side”. The Hong Kong Observatory said the earthquake struck at 11.05pm in Taiwan, with the epicentre located about 70km (43.5 miles) southeast of Taipei and at a focal depth of 60km. The forecaster also received more than 100 local reports of tremors lasting several seconds on

China’s anti-corruption campaign claims 3 more top...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Three more top-ranking Chinese officers have been expelled from the national legislature, becoming the latest to fall foul of an anti-corruption campaign sweeping through the military. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress said on Saturday that it had expelled Wang Renhua, head of the Central Military Commission’s Political and Legal Affairs Committee; Zhang Hongbing, political commissar of the People’s Armed Police (PAP); and Wang Peng, director of the CMC’s training...

Hong Kong’s Starry Lee seeks to unite lawmakers, but...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Hong Kong’s Starry Lee Wai-king has said her roles as a delegate to the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee and at the Legislative Council do not conflict, but she has stopped short of revealing whether she will run for the latter’s presidency. Lee, a member of China’s top legislative body, on Sunday held off giving a definitive reply about whether she would seek election as Legco president. Details would be clearer during the presidency’s nomination period, after the newly...

Likening Trump’s AI mission to the Manhattan Project...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

US President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order for the “Genesis Mission”, a national campaign to use artificial intelligence (AI) to boost scientific breakthroughs. In the opening section, the mission is explicitly described as “comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project”. The comparison is compelling, but also misleading. At first glance, the order evokes the image of America in the 1940s, muscular and confident, mobilising the whole nation to end World War

Hong Kong to launch ‘special channel’ for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Hong Kong authorities are preparing to launch a special channel next year to allow sensitive mainland Chinese biological samples and data to cross an “innovation cooperation zone” between the city and Shenzhen, a minister has said. Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said on a television programme on Sunday that authorities had already clearly defined the scope of specific genetic resources and sensitive information to be permitted. “I believe we will roll out these...

How Algeria could help China plug iron ore gaps and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

In the heart of Algeria’s Sahara Desert, Chinese state-owned giant China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) has completed laying track on the PK330 Bridge, a final and critical link in a new railway designed to unlock the nation’s mineral wealth. The 6km (3.7-mile) bridge is part of the 950km railway linking the Gara Djebilet iron ore deposit in southwestern Tindouf province to the industrial hub of Bechar in the northeast. It was the “most technically demanding railway engineering feat...

China pupils, inspired by suspense novels, use chalk...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

A group of suspense-novel-loving Chinese school pupils smeared chalk dust on the combination lock of a safe in their classroom to unlock it and retrieve their mobile phones. Despite being disciplined by the school, many netizens were left amused and praised their creativity. A disciplinary notice issued by the secondary school in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, southern China, on December 10, has gone viral online. It said that on November 14, a pupil surnamed Tian from Class 13, Grade 10, had...

Why are rich Chinese ‘quietly’ moving private jets...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

China’s ultra-wealthy are quietly parking their private jets offshore to sidestep tougher compliance rules at home, while corporate executives are downgrading to commercial flights, analysts say, as economic headwinds hit the country’s business aircraft fleet. Aircraft owned by affluent Chinese nationals are said to be increasingly resurfacing in hubs such as Singapore and Japan, while more billionaires and corporate executives are turning to first-class commercial cabins or timeshare jet...

China says it’s ready to help Asean monitor...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

China was ready to help Asean observers monitor the ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday, a day after Bangkok and Phnom Penh called a halt to weeks of deadly border clashes. “China supports Asean in playing its due role and is ready to assist the Asean observer mission in monitoring the ceasefire,” Wang told his Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn during talks in Yuxi, Yunnan province. An observer team from the Association of Southeast Asian...

Russia’s Putin warns of escalation if Ukraine rejects...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Russian ‌President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace ‍and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish all its goals by force. Putin’s remarks on Saturday, carried by state news agency Tass, followed a vast ⁠Russian drone and missile attack that prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say Russia was showing its wish to continue the war while Kyiv wanted peace. Zelensky is to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday

China owner of poisoned ‘smiling Shiba Inu’ berated...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

The newlywed owners of a Shiba Inu dog famous online for its adorable smile, which was poisoned to death in a village in eastern China, have been accused of cashing in on its death. The six-year-old canine, Peppa, had been raised by the couple since it was three months old. It died recently after its owners took it to their hometown in rural Shandong province for a honeymoon, where it ate poison-tainted food on the road. The dog has a combined half a million followers on several mainland

Can Hong Kong mature as a wine hub? French vineyard...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Hong Kong could strengthen its position as a global wine trading hub by enhancing its logistics and storage services, according to a seventh-generation French winemaker overseeing a 200-year-old Burgundy estate. Erwan Faiveley, owner of wine labels Domaine Faiveley and Billaud-Simon, also praised the Hong Kong government’s decision to axe its wine tax in 2008 during his first fact-finding trip to the city and mainland China since the Covid-19 pandemic. “The greatest thing they’ve done was...

Why Chinese victims of Unit 731 and Japan’s WWII...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

On August 6 last year, atomic bomb survivors held their annual commemorative lantern-floating ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan. Two months later, their group, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize for decades of campaigning against nuclear weapons. Fifteen years earlier, in Chongshan village in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, Wang Jinti took his last breath. Wang died in near-total obscurity, never having received an apology or compensation for the suffering he...

Zelensky looks to secure Ukraine peace deal at Trump...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down on Sunday with Donald Trump and seek to secure the US president’s stamp of approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia. The 20-point plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, lacks Moscow’s approval, and the face-to-face in Florida comes in the wake of a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv. The meeting, hosted by Trump at his opulent Mar-a-Lago residence, will be the

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