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Taiwan restoration experts help families say goodbye...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/19

Taiwanese mortuary reconstruction specialist Kuo Chang-chen wasted no time starting work to restore the bodies of Wang Fuk Court’s fire victims upon arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday. Kuo, 62, is leading a team of five other specialists from Taiwan who volunteered to assist in reconstructing the remains of the victims at the Kowloon Funeral Parlour. Their work aims to prepare the bodies for dignified funerals and offer closure to grieving families. “Every unexpected event deeply wounds the...

China’s pharmaceutical sector moves into the big...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/19

China is gaining a solid reputation as a pharmaceutical innovation hub, shifting from a copycat drug maker to one whose infrastructure and research and development capabilities rival global pharmaceutical behemoths, according to a global consultancy. US-based SAI MedPartners and its unit Idea Pharma recently launched a new index with the aim of highlighting Chinese drug makers and recognising their shift from generics to “true” innovation. The consultancy released the China Pharmaceutical...

Chinese team builds optical chip AI that is 100 times...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/19

Chinese scientists have unveiled an optical computing chip that outperformed Nvidia’s leading AI hardware by over a hundredfold in speed and energy efficiency – particularly for generative tasks such as video production and image synthesis. The LightGen chip was developed by a team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Tsinghua University, harnessing the speed of light to execute complex artificial intelligence workloads. With more than 2 million photonic neurons integrated into a compact

Trump signs defence bill restricting investment in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a sweeping defence bill that would restrict US outbound investment in Chinese technology and curb federal contracts with Chinese biotechnology companies, amid an uneasy trade truce between Washington and Beijing. The bill, known as the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), cleared both the House of Representatives and Senate earlier this month after months of negotiation. The Senate passed the bill on Wednesday in a 77-20 vote, following its...

TikTok reaches deal to sell US assets to American...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

In a landmark move that ends years of legal and political uncertainty, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew informed employees on Thursday that the company has signed a binding agreement to sell its US operations to a consortium of American investors.The deal, which has received the backing of President Donald Trump, effectively averts a looming nationwide ban and secures the platform’s future for its 170 million American users. The new entity, a TikTok US joint venture, is set to officially close on...

China to remain world’s biggest buyer of chipmaking...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

China is expected to remain the world’s biggest buyer of semiconductor manufacturing equipment through 2027, as domestic chipmakers keep expanding capacity under Beijing’s push for greater tech self-sufficiency, according to a new industry report. Sustained investment across both mature-node and leading-edge processes would keep China the largest market for chipmaking tools until at least 2027, industry association SEMI said. Even so, the association expects the pace to ease, with sales...

Violence erupts in Bangladesh after shot leader of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

Violence broke out in Bangladesh’s capital early on Friday after a youth leader of the country’s 2024 pro-democracy uprising who was injured in an assassination attempt died in a hospital in Singapore. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dhaka after the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was announced, to demand that his killers be arrested. Several buildings in the capital, including those housing the country’s two leading newspapers, were set on fire, according to authorities, with...

US arms deal supports Taiwan’s effort to reassure...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

The US State Department’s approval this week of a US$11.1 billion weapons package for Taiwan – reportedly the largest in the island’s history – dovetails with Taipei’s effort to show US President Donald Trump it is doing more to defend itself, even as it shifts towards a less conventional “porcupine” strategy, analysts said. “These are asymmetric weapons that are focused on bolstering the capability of Taiwan’s military to prevent a PLA invasion,” said Bonnie Glaser, vice-president of the

China reportedly sticking to its soybean deal with...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

China is estimated to have secured more than half of the 12 million tonnes of soybeans that Washington says Beijing committed to purchase by early 2026, based on US government data and market conventions that analysts say usually indicate China, though little has been shipped so far, heightening concerns over potential cancellations. While the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has officially documented nearly four million tonnes in sales explicitly to China, three million tonnes currently

Brown University shooting suspected identified, US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

US officials have identified a suspect in the shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured several others, US media reported on Thursday, in a breakthrough in the case. “Investigators believe they have identified a suspect in the Brown University shooting, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the case,” CNN reported. CBS News also reported similar information. There is a warrant out for the individual’s arrest, CNN reported, and the authorities are...

Trump boosts Nasa plans for moon base with nuclear...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that moves to protect Nasa’s Artemis space programme, which aims to return astronauts to the moon with an eye towards building a permanent lunar presence. The directive reinforces Nasa’s current plans for sending Americans back to the moon by 2028, and for Americans to begin establishing the outpost by 2030. It also reaffirms Nasa’s plans to use space nuclear power, including readying nuclear reactors for launch by 2030. Thursday’s order

2025 marked the end of Pax Americana’s unipolar moment

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

Historians are likely to point to 2025 as the watershed in China’s 21st century ascent, a year in which the People’s Liberation Army’s power projection matured across all domains, resetting the global balance of power. This seismic shift is underscored by an unmistakable admission: the US has formally acknowledged the limits of its global reach in its new national security strategy and begun a strategic recalibration away from undisputed hegemony. These military and strategic realities are...

US highlights Panama security ties as China-linked...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

The United States on Thursday underscored its maritime security partnership with Panama, as a high-stakes dispute involving China, US investors and a Hong Kong conglomerate continues to cloud the future ownership of key ports at the Panama Canal. US Ambassador Kevin Cabrera boarded the US Coast Guard cutter Alert during a port visit in Panama City, praising joint operations ranging from counter-narcotics missions to search-and-rescue efforts carried out with Panama’s Ministry of Public...

World-famous Kennedy Centre renamed to honour Trump

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

US President Donald Trump’s hand-picked board voted on Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts centre as the Trump-Kennedy Centre, the White House said, in a move that was quickly denounced as a “disgrace” by the Democratic leader of the House, who is on the board. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the vote on social media, attributing it to the “unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its...

Russia deploys nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

Belarus’ authoritarian president said on Thursday that Russia had deployed its latest nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system to the country, a move that comes as talks to end the war in Ukraine have entered a crucial phase. President Alexander Lukashenko said the Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile system, arrived in the country on Wednesday and is entering combat duty. He did not say how many missiles have been deployed or give any other details. Russian President Vladimir

New Epstein photos show Lolita quotes written on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

House Democrats released several dozen more photos on Thursday from the estate of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, showing his associations with the rich and famous, as the US Department of Justice faces a deadline to release many of its case files on the late financier by the end of the week. The photos released Thursday were among more than 95,000 that the House Oversight Committee has received after issuing a subpoena for the photos that Epstein had in his possession before he

Brazil’s Lula vows to veto bill slashing Bolsonaro’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday that he would veto a bill that could significantly reduce the 27-year prison sentence of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was arrested in November for attempting a coup. The Senate passed the bill late on Wednesday, following approval by the Chamber of Deputies. “With all due respect to the National Congress, when it reaches my desk, I will veto it,” Lula told journalists in Brasilia, noting that those who committed crimes

Retired Nascar driver Greg Biffle and family among 7...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

Former racing driver Greg Biffle and members of his family were among seven people who died in a plane crash on Thursday in North Carolina, state police said. The business jet erupted into flames when it hit the ground while trying to land at Statesville Regional Airport, about 72km (45 miles) north of Charlotte. Flight records show the plane was registered to a company run by Biffle. “Although the post-crash fire prevents us from releasing a definitive list of the occupants at this time, it

Brian Walshe, who googled how to dispose of body,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

A Boston-area man was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for the grisly murder of his wife, who disappeared nearly three years ago and whose body has never been found. Brian Walshe, 50, was convicted on Monday of first-degree murder in the killing of Ana Walshe, 39. The sentence carries no possibility of parole. He pleaded guilty in November to misleading police and illegally disposing of a body after admitting he had dismembered her body and disposed of it in a rubbish bin. He said he

Japan PM office source hints at need for nuclear...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/18

A source within Japan’s prime minister’s office said on Thursday that the country needs nuclear weapons, remarks that deviate from the country’s long-standing non-nuclear principles and could trigger backlash at home and abroad.“I think we should possess nuclear weapons,” said the source, who is involved in devising security policy under the government led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, while also indicating that such a move is unrealistic. The remarks came as Takaichi, known for her

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