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Iran detains Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammadi in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Iranian security forces on Friday detained the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi along with at least eight other activists in an arrest condemned as “brutal” by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Mohammadi, who was granted temporary leave from prison in December 2024, was detained along with eight other activists at the ceremony for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead in his office last week, her foundation wrote on social media. Those arrested at the ceremony in the eastern...

Ukraine war: EU freezes Russian assets so Hungary,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

The European Union on Friday indefinitely froze Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, cannot prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine. Using a special procedure meant for economic emergencies, the EU blocked the assets until Russia gives up its war on Ukraine and compensates its neighbour for the heavy damage that it has inflicted for almost four years. EU Council President Antonio Costa said European

EU fears China’s role in Russia’s war on Ukraine is...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

European Union members have observed an uptick in China’s support for Russia, multiple sources said, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prepares to drag into its fourth year. Officials are parsing evidence of an increase in battlefield weapons being shipped from China to Russia, to add to the well-documented flow of goods with dual civilian and military uses between the two states. “We note that 80 per cent of critical dual-use goods come to Russia either through or from China. They claim to be...

Miss Finland loses her crown due to anti-Chinese...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

The reigning Miss Finland, Sarah Dzafce, has lost her title and crown due to a racism scandal, the organisers of the beauty pageant announced on Thursday. They said at a press conference that they accepted no form of racism or discriminatory behaviour and apologised for the incident in a statement. Tara Lehtonen, who finished in second place in the competition, has already been chosen as the new Miss Finland. “I promise to carry this title with pride and deep respect,” the woman from Helsinki...

Trump says Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to cease...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he had spoken by phone with the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia, who both agreed to end border hostilities and return to a ceasefire he brokered earlier this year. “I had a very good conversation this morning with the Prime Minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul, and the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet, concerning the very unfortunate reawakening of their long-running War. They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go...

Trump, Clinton and ex-prince Andrew seen in new...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Democratic lawmakers released a selection of photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including some of now-US President Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the UK’s former prince Andrew. Trump is featured in three of the 19 photos shared by House Oversight Committee Democrats, who said they are reviewing more than 95,000 images produced by the estate. The panel released roughly 70 more photos later on Friday, including images of the disgraced financier’s home, Epstein taking a bath, a...

EU targets China’s Shein and Temu with new fees on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

The European Union will start collecting a three-euro flat fee for each small parcel valued below €150 (US$176) sent directly from a non-EU country to customers in the bloc, following a decision adopted by the EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday. The move, set to kick in next July, marks a milestone in Europe’s fight, led by France, against the influx of small parcels, mostly from Chinese platforms such as Temu and Shein, entering the union tax free. But how effective these...

New HKChat AI app wins over users in record time

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] The new intelligent dialogue application developed by HKChat OmniServe achieved a significant milestone within five days of its trial launch release on November 20. In that short time, HKChat claimed the top spot on the city’s app store free app rankings, a success which underscores the strong demand in the local market for homegrown artificial intelligence (AI) services. The company’s aim was to develop a product

The race for AI centres in space: why the US goes all...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

The global race to deploy data centres in space to power artificial intelligence (AI) development has begun, with China seizing an early lead. “In terms of the highest performance of space-based computing or the completeness of [the] technological framework, we are at the forefront,” Beijing-based computer scientist Han Yinhe said. Han is a researcher at the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and is taking part in a major initiative to

US rare earth firm outlines strategy to build...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

US-based rare earth firm REalloys believes it has a road map to build a North American supply chain for critical minerals that bypasses China, working with Canadian and Japanese partners – a potential first, though not without risks and challenges. The Ohio-based company expects to deliver rare earth products, including magnets, in early 2027, using a non-Chinese sourcing strategy that spans metal supply to procurement. In October, it received a letter of interest from the US Export-Import

US judge blocks ICE from re-detaining Abrego Garcia,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

A federal judge ordered on Friday that US immigration officials could not detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, hours after his release from immigration detention. Abrego Garcia was appearing on Friday morning for a scheduled appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office, some 14 hours after he was released from detention on a judge’s orders. His lawyers asked the judge to block authorities from detaining him again. Officials cannot re-detain him until the court conducts a...

China digs in for trade ‘struggles’ as Beijing eyes...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

After witnessing the effects of a tumultuous trade war with the United States this year, China’s top leaders have issued a directive to fortify the domestic economy against persistent or even heightened trade frictions. Following the annual central economic work conference, which concluded on Thursday and set the agenda for 2026, officials emphasised “better coordinating domestic economic work and international economic and trade struggles”, anchoring a pro-growth strategy for the start of...

Lee Kuan Yew’s 38 Oxley Road home officially declared...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Singapore’s government on Friday gazetted as a national monument the former home of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, a site long at the centre of a bitter family dispute among his children. The action marks a pivotal moment in the saga that has gripped the city state since Lee’s death in 2015, when his children publicly clashed over whether the bungalow at 38 Oxley Road should be preserved or torn down. Lee’s oldest son, and former prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, favoured preserving the...

Hongkongers urged to get Covid vaccine as next...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Hong Kong health authorities have urged the public to get the latest Covid vaccine as the next wave of the virus is set to arrive. The Centre for Health Protection said on Friday active periods of Covid-19 came in cycles of every six to nine months. More than five months had passed since the last periodic upsurge of Covid activity, it noted, as it asked the public to get the vaccine “in a timely manner” to reduce the risk of serious illness and death. “According to the centre’s analysis, the...

Japan, US defence chiefs discuss radar row; Mexico’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Japan, US defence chiefs cover radar row and other China tensions in phone call US and Japanese defence chiefs spoke on the phone on Friday about a confrontation between Chinese and Japanese fighter jets over the weekend, with Tokyo saying it did not seek to escalate the tensions. 2. Mexico slaps tariffs of up to 50% on Chinese goods as US trade pact

‘Win without fight’: how China fast-tracked the J-36,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

When it comes to building next-generation stealth jets, experience is the foundation of speed, reliability and combat readiness. Handing this critical job to a company with no stealth fighter experience could significantly delay progress and hand competitors a strategic gift. This is an open message from Yang Shuifeng, a lead designer of China’s cutting-edge stealth fighters. “The experience and capability of the research and development team cannot start from zero,” Yang, senior engineer and...

Ukraine says it ‘liberated’ two settlements in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the strategic frontline town of Kupiansk on Friday, just as Ukrainian forces reported retaking parts of the railway hub and encircling Russian troops. Standing at the city’s entrance in a bulletproof vest, Zelensky emphasised in a video message that “it is extremely important to achieve results on the front lines so that Ukraine can achieve results in diplomacy”. “Many Russians talked about Kupiansk – we can see. I was here, I congratulated the...

Would the world be safer if the military were in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Tom Barrack, the United States special envoy for Syria, recently made waves at an international forum in Doha, Qatar, by suggesting that “benevolent monarchies” might be the most effective form of government for the Middle East. He also suggested that Israel was not a democracy. His remarks were probably welcomed in some parts of the region, but probably less well received by the US and other Western media, which all but consider themselves guardians of proper world opinion. Barrack was just...

Yuen Long cafe’s meat patties skyrocket to fame after...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

Yuen Long Tai Bo Cafe shot to Internet fame after it became the subject of a viral copypasta trend on Threads. The lengthy text, which has been copied and pasted on various online posts repeatedly, playfully referred to the cafe’s meat patties as “a tastebud nuke” and “Asia’s number one”, prompting a wave of customers to experience the hype, some from as far as Macau.

China to keep high fiscal deficit ratio in 2026 to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/12

China is expected to set its fiscal deficit ratio at around 4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2026, analysts said, adding the affirmation of a more prominent role for fiscal policy at this week’s central economic work conference indicates a selective approach to increasing government expenditures. In a statement issued after the annual conference ended on Tuesday, officials called for maintaining a “necessary deficit size, total debt and expenditure volume”. The December meeting of...

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