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Hong Kong Bar Association chief urges critics to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

The head of the Hong Kong Bar Association has called on the public and foreign governments to review the judgment against former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, convicted of national security offences, before forming their own opinions, acknowledging such verdicts could spark controversy given differing values. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, association chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet reaffirmed that Hong Kong’s judicial independence and the rule of law were “alive and strong”. “In

South Korean court rules Yoon’s martial law illegal...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Once South Korea’s top prosecutor and head of state, Yoon Suk-yeol now faces the courtroom reckoning of a lifetime, as successive rulings brand his failed attempt to impose martial law “unconstitutional and unlawful”, setting the stage for a verdict that could carry the death penalty. In one of the most consequential legal findings since the country’s return to democracy in 1987, the 21st Criminal Court of Seoul Central District Court on Monday declared that the 2024 martial law decree...

Homicide investigation launched after MIT professor...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was fatally shot at his home near Boston, and authorities said on Tuesday they had launched a homicide investigation. Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, was shot Monday night at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. He died at a local hospital on Tuesday, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The prosecutor’s office said no suspects had been taken into custody as of Tuesday afternoon,...

Hongkongers to change trains at Hung Hom for 2-day...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Passengers travelling on the Tuen Ma line on February 1 and March 8 next year will need to change trains at Hung Hom station due to rail track works, which are expected to add about four to five minutes to their journeys, according to Hong Kong’s rail giant. The MTR Corporation said on Wednesday that normal train frequencies would be maintained on both days, which fall on Sundays. “[The arrangement] will only affect passengers passing through Hung Hom, which will extend their journeys by four

How Chinese scientists turn allergy cells into a...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Chinese scientists have turned allergy into a powerful weapon against cancer to deliver drugs and turbocharge the body’s own immune attack on cancer. The team loaded mast cells – which cause allergic symptoms when they encounter antigens such as seafood and pollen – with anticancer drugs to deliver them into tumours. The researchers said they were working on clinical applications, including exploring its potential combination with existing cancer immunotherapies. The scientists from

China CCTV removes short film that ‘romanticises’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

China’s state broadcaster CCTV has come under fire over a short film that romanticises food delivery jobs. The film told viewers that such jobs offer “the freedom to enjoy the scenery along the way” and “brings delivery workers closer to their dreams”. Netizens slammed the video for glorifying hardship and suffering, describing it as being tone-deaf to the real struggles faced by delivery workers. On November 28, CCTV and Meituan, the operator of China’s major on-demand delivery platform,...

Malaysian religious authorities clear woman of ‘2...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

A woman from Tanah Merah, Malaysia’s Kelantan state, who was alleged to have two husbands, had in fact divorced her first spouse in June 2022, Kosmo reported. Kelantan Islamic Development, Da’wah (proselytising), Information and Public Relations Committee chairman Mohd Asri Mat Daud said both the 30-year-old woman and her ex-husband confirmed the divorce. He said the verification was made after both parties appeared to clarify their marital status with the Kelantan Islamic Religious Affairs...

Taiwan government accused of trying to ‘bypass...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

The Taiwanese government has sparked fresh controversy by refusing to enforce amendments passed by the opposition-controlled legislature about local government funding. The move risks deepening a political stand-off and has drawn criticism that the island’s leader William Lai Ching-te was “bypassing the legislature when you can’t win”. The dispute centres on revisions to a law about how the central government distributes revenue to local authorities. Observers said the clash had escalated

War-torn Sudan tops global humanitarian crisis watch...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Sudan has topped a watch list of global humanitarian crises by an international aid group for the third year in a row as a devastating war grips the northeastern African country. The International Rescue Committee said Sudan was at the top of its annual Emergency Watchlist released on Tuesday, which included 20 countries at risk of worsening humanitarian crises in 2026. The IRC called for scaling up global humanitarian funding, which has shrunk by 50 per cent in the outgoing year and is on

Hong Kong man arrested after car hits 94-year-old...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Hong Kong police have arrested a man after his car struck a 94-year-old pedestrian, who later died in hospital. The force said the accident took place on Tam Kon Chau Road towards Yuen Long at 4.06am on Wednesday. As the car approached Mai Po near the border, the 32-year-old driver knocked down the pedestrian. The elderly man sustained multiple injuries and was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin. He was certified dead at 7.37am. The driver, arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving...

Indian police reveal Bondi Beach shooting suspect’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

The alleged gunman shot dead by police during Sunday’s attack on Australia’s Bondi Beach was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and his family did not know about his “radical mindset”, Indian police said on Tuesday. Fifteen people were killed in the attack on a Hanukkah event, Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and it is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community. In a statement providing more details about the man alleged to

Hong Kong launches consultation for 2026 budget...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Hong Kong authorities have launched public consultations for the next budget, with the finance chief saying it will focus on how the city can boost economic development and better integrate into the nation’s latest five-year plan. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Wednesday highlighted several key issues for the 2026-27 budget, including how the city could further broaden and deepen its economy, accelerate innovation and technology, upgrade its industrial structure and strengthen its...

Nepal rolls out tourist tracking system to keep tabs...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

As tourist numbers climb back towards record highs, Nepal is rolling out a new digital registration system to track every foreign visitor, in a move officials say will boost safety and curb visa misuse. Starting from January 1, all foreign visitors will be required to register detailed accommodation information through the government’s new digital platform, replacing the earlier system that allowed only partial disclosures. Authorities say the measure will modernise an overstretched

China’s new ‘invest in people’ slogan heralds a...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Beijing’s fresh imperative to “invest in people” – first raised in a proposal for the 15th five-year plan and reaffirmed at an agenda-setting policy meeting last week – reflects a rethink in economic strategy designed to stimulate domestic demand and improve social welfare, analysts said. China’s leaders vowed to “fully tap” the domestic economy’s potential at the annual central economic work conference held last week, which laid out their economic policy priorities for 2026. A readout from

Retailers beat a hasty retreat from mainland China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Mainland China’s highly competitive retail landscape has taken its toll on one of Hong Kong’s largest health and beauty chains, which has decided to exit the market. Analysts said retailers across the board have found the going tough on the mainland, with a slowdown in consumer spending compounding matters. Health and beauty chain Mannings said it would cease all online and offline retail operations on the mainland as it adjusts its strategy in the highly competitive market. “It doesn’t

Operation Santa Claus helps Hong Kong’s Shaw...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

One of Asia’s largest philanthropic organisations, the Shaw Foundation, has pledged to continue supporting small charities in Hong Kong and urged the public to do the same, after making a generous donation to victims of last month’s catastrophic fire in Tai Po. The foundation made a HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) contribution to help victims of the Wang Fuk Court fire, which broke out on November 26 and raged for 43 hours. The deadly fire killed at least 160 people, injured 79 others and...

Frustrated with South Korea, more men seek work-life...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

An increasing number of South Korean men are looking to Japan not only for employment but also for marriage, drawn by what they see as more stable living conditions compared with South Korea’s tough job market and demanding marriage expectations. According to Shueisha Online, a Japanese media outlet, the number of South Koreans seeking work or permanent settlement in Japan has been steadily rising. Data released by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare showed that the number of South...

China’s research paper boom could be a ‘false...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

A top scientist has sharply criticised China’s increasingly resource-driven research culture, warning that a reliance on vast accumulated funding, manpower and data for scientific output is inefficient and actively undermines genuine innovation. Zhang Hong, a senior cell biologist at the Institute of Biophysics in Beijing and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, condemned what he called “a vicious cycle” in how life sciences research was increasingly done in China. Projects were

3 injured, over 100 evacuated after fire breaks out...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Three people were injured and more than 100 others were evacuated after a fire believed to have been caused by burning incense broke out in a Hong Kong flat on Wednesday. The fire was reported at around 2.30am in the flat at Prime View Garden on King Fung Path in Tuen Mun and was later put out. According to police, the blaze was suspected to have been caused by a 40-year-old woman burning incense at home, which ignited nearby items. There was no evidence of any criminal element. The woman,...

End of the road for Hong Kong’s democracy movement?...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/17

Hong Kong’s Democratic Party has announced what many people had been expecting for some time – that it would disband. For the party, this is the beginning of the end; for others, the question lingers: is this also the end of the democratic movement in Hong Kong? One thing is certain: the party’s demise will mark the end of an era, one when a colonial pressure-group mentality dictated the quest for democratic reforms in Hong Kong, a mentality which, sadly, was destined to ensure failure of the...

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