PODCAST

News - South China Morning Post

All the latest breaking news from Hong Kong, China and around the world

All Episodes

Southeast Asia barely features in America’s new...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

Washington’s latest national security blueprint may be one of its most consequential in years, yet it barely mentions Southeast Asia. Analysts say that absence speaks volumes, signalling a narrowing of American priorities that risks turning the region into a “bargaining chip” in the US-China rivalry. The National Security Strategy published by the White House on December 4 presents the Trump administration’s vision for restoring “American economic independence”, alongside preventing conflict

Soft power – hard work: can China harness social...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

Mary Roettger was just one of millions of Americans seeking a social media life raft when she warily logged onto China’s RedNote platform for the first time in January. As fears loomed over a threatened US ban on TikTok, the Florida writer braced for a clumsy, spam-filled experience full of “negative people”. Instead, she was struck by a starkly different culture. Roettger was “blown away with the amount of tenderness and excitement” of the online community suddenly before her. “That was

China’s growing young billionaire class masks...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

While China continues to produce many young self-made billionaires, showcasing its economic dynamism, observers have urged the creation of a more supportive environment, saying that innovation is still being held back. About 98 per cent of the super-rich in mainland China, with assets valued at US$1 billion or more, are relatively young first-generation entrepreneurs, reflecting the vitality and wealth-creation power of its economy, Swiss bank UBS said in a recent report. However, Beijing’s...

Europe fears hidden Russian threat in Trump-backed...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

European officials are growing concerned that an emerging US-brokered peace deal in Ukraine could be exploited by Russia, paving the way for a reinvasion of territory in the war-battered nation’s eastern Donbas region. The fear, a main sticking point in recent talks, is that the US plan for a demilitarised zone would give the Kremlin cover to deploy covert forces in the contested area, according to people familiar with the matter. The Kremlin might then use hybrid tactics, including so-called...

Operation Santa Claus helps Hong Kong domestic...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

Two non-governmental organisations serving Hong Kong’s community of about 400,000 domestic helpers, mostly women from the Philippines and Indonesia, have joined forces to train some of them as community leaders to support their peers. Many NGOs can lack the resources and capacity to help individual workers, who work long hours far from home and face a variety of challenges. But Uplifters and EmpowerU have collaborated to create a programme that supports domestic workers in helping each other...

Virtual reality and the Nanking massacre: where does...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

In October, as Simon Li finished speaking at an international conference about embracing technological innovation in education, several Chinese history educators approached him with a potent, pressing question: could a virtual reality (VR) project about the 1937 Nanking massacre become the next pedagogical frontier? Li, executive director of the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre, recalled it as an electrifying moment. “They were genuinely energised, saying that such a programme could

Age just a number for Singapore Slinger Lim,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

A year after Luke Littler became the youngest winner of the PDC World Darts Championship, 71-year-old Paul Lim became the oldest winner of a match in the tournament’s history. Roared on by the usual raucous Alexandra Palace crowd on Saturday, the Singapore veteran stunned Dutch-born Swede Jeffrey de Graaf, winning 3-1. Lim, who famously thew the first world championship nine-darter way back in 1990, eclipsed the mark set by Northern Irishman John MaGowan who beat Chris Mason in December 2008,...

Japan’s proposal to ‘speedily draft’ anti-spy laws...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

The Japanese government’s plans to tighten espionage and secrecy legislation have been welcomed as a necessary bulwark at a time of deepening national security concerns, although analysts fear that any revisions will be too broad and could be used to stifle free speech and media freedom. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a long-time proponent of tightening rules on espionage and secrecy, was already formulating policies before she took office in October. On November 26, Takaichi told a Diet

Frank Gehry’s vision for Hong Kong’s arts hub was an...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

I often wonder whether my architectural career peaked in 2006 – not because I had already accomplished a lot or designed my masterpiece – but because that was the year I resigned from Gehry Partners. As exciting as it was to return to Hong Kong, I left the world’s most famous architectural practice wondering if I would ever collaborate on projects as high-profile, emotionally striking and complicated as those I had worked on in my five formative years there. Considered by some the original...

Destroyed homes, cancelled events: Hong Kong counts...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

Hong Kong continues to count the economic losses from the city’s deadliest fire in decades, with the disaster having destroyed 1,736 flats at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court, turned residents’ valuables into ashes and triggered the cancellation of banquets and mega-events. Economists and industry leaders estimate the losses could run into billions of Hong Kong dollars, with the total market value of the flats alone amounting to an estimated HK$5 billion (US$642.3 million). Last month’s blaze killed

China engineer fired for taking loo breaks of an hour...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

An engineer in eastern China has been fired for taking frequent bathroom breaks that lasted longer than an hour despite his claims that he was suffering from haemorrhoids. The man, surnamed Li from Jiangsu province, was let go for taking 14 bathroom breaks, the longest of which lasted four hours, in a month between April and May 2024. The case was reported by the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions recently after the man took the company to court for illegal termination of an employment...

Why South Koreans are falling out of love with K-pop:...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/14

From sold-out stadium tours in the US, Europe and Asia to history-making Grammy nominations, K-pop has never stood taller on the global stage. Yet within South Korea, many say the music they once called their own now feels made for someone else. For fans like 21-year-old university student Lee Ye-jin, that shift hits every time she turns on the radio or scrolls through new releases on her phone. Lee has been a member of “Light” – the official fan club of popular boy band Highlight – since

Suspect arrested in US after 2 students shot dead at...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/13

A suspect in Saturday’s shooting at Brown University that left two people dead and nine injured has been arrested after an extensive manhunt, NBC said. The shooting occurred in a classroom on Saturday, on the second day of final exams for the fall semester at the Ivy League institution, which has a student population of about 11,000. Surveillance footage released by authorities showed the alleged shooter walking away from the Providence, Rhode Island, campus. In the brief clip, the person

Hundreds join Tommy Robinson’s far-right rally in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/13

Around 1,000 people gathered in London on Saturday for a “Christmas” rally organised by far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson, as bishops said they were gravely concerned by the use of Christian symbols to “justify racism and anti-migrant rhetoric”. People waved Union flags and others that read “Jesus is King” at the rally in the centre of the capital, where a counterprotest was also held. “It’s great to see one is not alone … our Christian faith is important, more than ever, and we have to...

6 UN peacekeepers killed in Sudan drone strike blamed...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/13

A drone strike hit a United Nations facility in war-torn Sudan on Saturday, killing six peacekeepers, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. The strike hit the peacekeeping logistics base in the city of Kadugli, in the central region of Kordofan, Guterres said in a statement. Eight other peacekeepers were wounded in the strike. All the victims are Bangladeshi nationals, serving in the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). “Attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may

‘I’ve grown up’: Hong Kong legislator Christine Fong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/13

Christine Fong Kwok-shan, a long-time district councillor in Hong Kong known for defending constituents’ rights with fiery and sometimes controversial political acts, has pledged to abandon her past protest methods, now that she has been elected as a lawmaker.The city’s new “Queen of Votes” in the Legislative Council election, who previously positioned herself as an independent moderate belonging neither to the pan-democratic nor pro-establishment bloc, reaffirmed her stance as a “patriot”

Syria’s year of ‘epic’ transformation earns it...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/13

A year after the curtain fell on the Assad regime’s five-decade reign of terror, Syria is emerging as a rare beacon of renewal in a conflict-weary region. President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadi filled with revolutionary zeal to rebuild his home after 14 years of civil war, has successfully consolidated power and won broad international recognition. Over the past 12 months, Syria has “transformed from a global pariah to a fully fledged, integral component of the international community”,...

China-built headquarters for 15-member economic bloc...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/13

China is cementing its image as a lasting partner across Africa by gifting high-profile infrastructure, such as presidential palaces and parliament buildings. A key example is the new US$32 million Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) headquarters in Abuja. Funded by China and set for handover by the end of January, this centralised complex for the 15-member bloc aims to boost staff productivity and cut operational costs. On December 4, Chinese ambassador to Nigeria Yu Dunhai...

China eatery owner wears mecha suit to deliver food,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/13

A Chinese restaurant owner has gone viral for hitting the streets in a home-made mecha suit to deliver food, earning the nickname “Chinese Iron Man” and leaving netizens in awe. The blogger known as “Gaosai Armour”, who has almost 100,000 followers on social media, recently went viral after posting a video in which he calmly walks into a milk tea shop clad in a metallic suit of armour and picks up his order, leaving stunned onlookers in awe. A mecha suit is a large mechanical exoskeleton that...

21,995 results