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Macron says France to restore voluntary military...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a new national military service plan on Thursday as France seeks to bolster its armed forces to address growing concerns over Russia’s threat to European nations beyond the war in Ukraine. Macron announced that volunteers aged 18 and 19 will start serving next year in a 10-month new military service programme. “A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from next summer,” Macron said in a speech at the Varces military base, in...

‘My superhero’: girlfriend mourns loss of firefighter...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Pride mingled with grief as the family and loved ones of the Hong Kong firefighter who died while battling Wednesday’s disastrous high-rise inferno shared their feelings of tragic loss. The girlfriend of the deceased firefighter, Ho Wai-ho, posted a heartfelt message on social media on Thursday, revealing her grief and longing for her boyfriend. “I really, really want to be able to hold your hand again,” she wrote, adding that she “could not accept” what had happened and wished to “take a

‘Internal affair’: China dismisses reported US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Beijing has warned against foreign interference in its internal affairs following reports that US President Donald Trump privately pressed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to dial back her rhetoric on Taiwan. During a call on Tuesday, the US leader urged Takaichi not to provoke China, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited government officials. While reportedly briefed on Takaichi’s domestic political constraints, Trump asked her to “temper” her tone, but stopped short of...

Xiaomi hires engineer from Tesla’s Optimus team to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Xiaomi has hired a former engineer from Tesla’s Optimus team, Zach Lu Zeyu, to join the Chinese tech giant’s robotics initiatives, as the talent grab in the industry intensifies. Lu, previously a senior robotics engineer focused on the Optimus humanoid robot, joined Xiaomi last month to lead the Beijing-based firm’s dexterous hand research and development operations, according to his LinkedIn page. During his two years at Tesla, Lu worked on the design for dexterous grasping and manipulation,

Families frantically seek loved ones as scores...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Scores of people, including infants and the elderly, remain unaccounted for a day after Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Families and friends are racing against time, issuing appeals at the scene and on social media to find their loved ones. The Post put together some of the appeals as the search and rescue operation continues, after authorities reported that 279 people were missing. Six-month-old Ho Tsz-yan and her grandparents Winnie Hui tells the

‘Tired and anxious’: displaced Hong Kong fire...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Residents displaced by Hong Kong’s worst fire in seven decades have been left weary and anxious, fearing another sleepless night and uncertain about where they can shelter. A 76-year-old retiree, Chow, who lives in the Kwong Fuk public housing estate in Tai Po, spent all of Thursday sitting in the open area near Wang Fuk Court – the scene of the fire – after being evacuated from her home the previous day. “My back hurts from sitting too long on the hard flower bed edge. I did not sleep at all...

Hong Kong insurers liable for payouts of US$334...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Hong Kong’s insurance sector is expected to face record claims of HK$2.6 billion (US$334 million) related to the deadly fire in Tai Po, the worst in seven decades that claimed 75 lives and seriously damaged seven buildings, according to industry insiders. The fire would lead to a surge in insurance payments for personal and property coverage in the coming year, they said. The Insurance Authority on Thursday set up a special task force led by senior executives to ensure all insurance companies...

Prize for Physics that proves big things can be...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

In the eighth instalment of his exclusive series for the South China Morning Post, American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek explores the big world manifestation of small world quantum mechanics. Read his previous articles here. The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2025 was awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit”. The trio collaborated on a series of...

Elderly China woman seeks ‘daughter’ to care for her,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

An elderly woman from central China has turned to the internet in search of a new “daughter” to care for her in place of her biological daughters, offering a flat and a monthly salary in return. The woman, from Henan province and known by her surname Ma, shared the motivations behind her search during a local TV programme on November 19. Ma explained that she has two biological daughters, one of whom wishes to sever ties with her, while the other suffers from a mental disability and is unable

Families facing heartbreaking uncertainty in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Leaving Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin on Thursday, unaware of the whereabouts of some of his relatives, a 76-year-old man surnamed Lam was left uncertain how to arrange the funeral of his older brother, who had just died in Hong Kong’s worst fire in seven decades. He arrived at the interdepartmental help desk in the hospital lobby early in the morning to look for his sister-in-law and nephew, who had lived with his brother, 80, in the same flat at Wang Cheong House. “They haven’t picked

‘Feeling powerless’: Hong Kong internet users grieve...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Internet users in Hong Kong poured out condolences for victims and their families affected by the city’s worst fire in decades, expressing shock and disbelief on the second day of the tragedy on Thursday. Many sent messages of grief and condolences on social media, with several posts offering material support and blood donations. As of 2.50pm on Thursday, 55 people have died, including a firefighter, as an inferno ripped through all but one of the eight blocks of Wang Fuk Estate in Tai Po

China warns against Japan travel citing ‘significant’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

China’s embassy in Japan has advised citizens to put travel plans on hold “in the near term”, citing a spike in unprovoked assaults and discrimination. In a security warning issued on social media, the embassy reported a “significant” surge in requests for help since July. “Recently, several Chinese citizens in Japan have reported that they were verbally abused, assaulted and injured for no reason,” it said. The advisory comes as relations between the two countries have hit their lowest level

Price wars and tariffs: China’s industrial profits...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

China’s industrial profits dropped in October after a strong September, according to official year-on-year data released on Thursday, and analysts are pointing to domestic competition and trade tensions weighing on corporate balance sheets. Profits fell 5.5 per cent from a year ago, reversing a 21.6 per cent surge in September and a 20.4 per cent jump in August, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. For the January-October period, profits earned by Chinese companies of

Jack Ma Foundation pledges US$4 million for Hong Kong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

The Jack Ma Foundation said on Thursday it would donate HK$30 million (US$3.9 million) to support families, firefighters and rescuers affected by a deadly fire at a housing estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.In a statement, the foundation – established by the founder of Alibaba Group Holding and Ant Group – expressed solidarity with all those affected by the tragedy. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The donation follows a further commitment of HK$20 million from Alibaba and

Indonesia scripts soft-power diplomacy push with film...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

In north-central China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region – where desert mountains frame ancient mausoleums and Islamic culture shapes daily life for the Hui Muslim community – a new Indonesian feature film has transformed the landscape into a stage for cultural diplomacy. The production, Assalamualaikum Beijing 2: Lost in Ningxia, blends Chinese settings with Indonesian storytelling in a way that analysts said signals a more deliberate effort by Jakarta and Beijing to use filmmaking as a tool

Asahi admits cybersecurity ‘weakness’ after info of 2...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

Japanese drink giant Asahi Group Holdings said on Thursday an investigation has found that personal information linked to around 2 million customers and employees may have been leaked in a cyberattack that hit its domestic servers in late September. “I painfully feel the responsibility of management” with regard to the cyberattack, said Asahi president Atsushi Katsuki at its first press conference since the maker of Asahi Super Dry beers was hit by a system failure on September 29,

Chinese man marries woman 4 hours after blind date,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

A 40-year-old man has stunned mainland Chinese social media by marrying just four hours after a blind date arranged by multiple matchmakers, subsequently depleting his entire savings of over 240,000 yuan (US$34,000) within a month of marriage. Huang Zhongcheng, hailing from Hengyang in Hunan province, southern China, went on a blind date on the morning of August 21. During the matchmaking process, nine different matchmakers introduced him to the same woman, who works in a beauty salon. “On

China has 3 reusable rockets lined up for launch as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

The race to launch China’s first reusable rocket is heating up, with three contenders now lined up at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the country’s northwest for flights that could make history. On the pads stand the state-owned Long March 12A, LandSpace’s Zhuque-3, and Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 – all three of which are expected to be used to build China’s massive internet satellite constellations and to compete internationally on low-cost, rapid-turnaround missions. Both the Long

Can mediators prevent war between Afghanistan,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

A ceasefire between Afghanistan’s Taliban regime and Pakistan, agreed after intense clashes last month, is hanging by a diplomatic thread, following a wave of suicide bombings in Pakistan and disputed claims that it retaliated with cross-border drone strikes on Tuesday. With both countries vowing vengeance, analysts say regional states acting as mediators – Qatar and Turkey, and Iran and Russia – have only a narrow window of opportunity to prevent another round of hostilities. Otherwise,...

China names ‘hotspot’ sectors in 19-point plan to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/27

China has launched a 19-point plan to better align the supply of consumer goods with demand, as Beijing steps up its efforts to rebalance its economy towards a consumption-driven growth model. A document outlining the plan issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and five other departments on Wednesday laid out goals that included the cultivation of three “trillion-yuan-level consumption sectors” and 10 “hundred-billion-yuan-level consumption hotspots” by 2027. The...

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