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Hong Kong to answer Xi Jinping’s call for Greater Bay...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Hong Kong will heed President Xi Jinping’s call to forge closer ties with the Greater Bay Area to pursue technological innovations, the finance chief has said, noting the number of start-ups in the city increased by 40 per cent between 2020 and 2024. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also vowed on Sunday to help bay area cities tap into international markets by leveraging Hong Kong’s dual roles for “going global and attracting foreign investment”. He cited Xi’s remarks during a recent...

More than 1,000 daily inquiries for Hong Kong’s new...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Hong Kong’s public hospitals have received more than 1,000 inquiries daily since applications for new medical fee waivers opened last Monday, authorities have revealed. Hospital Authority chief executive Dr Libby Lee Ha-yun said in a television interview on Sunday that more than 100 applications had already been submitted. An additional 1.1 million people will be eligible for fee waivers under a revamp of the public healthcare subsidy scheme that takes effect on January 1 next year. The

To become a developed nation, China must still...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Following the Communist Party of China’s fourth plenum, debate has intensified over the direction of the country’s economy, with manufacturing remaining a central pillar of Beijing’s ambitions for the coming decade. The Communist Party’s Central Committee’s recommendations for the 15th five-year plan, released on October 28, reaffirm China’s goal of achieving socialist modernisation by 2035, measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita – a vision outlined in the 14th five-year plan and...

China quietly curbs abuse of detention procedure...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

China has been quietly restricting the widespread abuse of a form of detention legal critics believe is a key source of illegal interrogation that has led to multiple deaths and blocked suspects’ access to lawyers. There has been no official announcement of the changes. But last month, a leaked file of new guidelines circulated online, adding supervision and restricting the way the measure, known as residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL), is approved and executed. RSDL was...

China boss fires worker for sick leave after...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

The sacking of Chinese man who was found to have walked 16,000 steps after applying for sick leave because of foot pain has ignited a heated discussion about employees’ rights. An official social media account of the Ministry of Justice published details of the 2019 case on October 29. The man, surnamed Chen, who worked at a company in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, applied twice for sick leave for a back strain he suffered at work in February and March, providing a hospital diagnosis as...

Hundreds missing after migrant boat sinks off...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Hundreds of people were missing on Sunday after a boat sank near the Thailand-Malaysia border, as 10 survivors and one body were recovered, the Malaysian maritime authority said. More victims might still be found at sea some three days after the sinking of the vessel, which left Buthidaung, Myanmar, with about 300 people on board, said First Admiral Romli Mustafa, the maritime authority director of the northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis. Among the survivors found in the waters off...

3 teens arrested over attack on 17-year-old in Hong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Hong Kong police have arrested three teenagers in connection with an attack on a 17-year-old girl in a shopping centre toilet last month that was allegedly motivated by money and relationship disputes, with a video clip of the assault later posted on social media. The force said on Sunday that the three girls, aged 13 to 16, were arrested in Sau Mau Ping, Ta Kwu Ling and Tsuen Wan, on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an investigation by police’s Mong Kok district...

Elephant tramples Indonesian girl to death as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

The death of an eight-year-old girl in Riau province after being trampled by a wild elephant has reignited concern over Indonesia’s worsening human-wildlife conflict, with conservationists warning that shrinking habitats are pushing animals into increasingly dangerous contact with people. The girl, identified only as Citra, died last Saturday following three days in a coma after suffering severe head injuries in the October 30 incident. She had been fleeing with her family from their wooden

Hong Kong to tap new markets amid easing tariff war,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Hong Kong is seeking to expand its trade networks by tapping into new markets in Latin America, Africa and Central Asia amid the easing of the US tariff war, the minister has said, expressing confidence that export growth will continue due to stronger ties with Southeast Asia. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah said Hong Kong needed to diversify its exports following last month’s breakthrough in Sino-US trade talks when Chinese President Xi Jinping and his

Outrage in China over release of 1,000 cats into...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

A “life release” event saw 1,100 cats dumped near a protected water reservoir in China, causing many of the animals to panic, jump into the water and drown. On November 1, videos surfaced online showing a group of people wearing masks releasing large numbers of cats near the Yingzui Reservoir in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, southern China. “Life release” is a traditional Buddhist practice where animals such as fish, turtles or birds are released into the wild as a form of compassion and...

Avoiding ‘strategic suicide’: Vietnam’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Half a century after the fall of Saigon, the United States and Vietnam are edging towards deeper defence cooperation built on shared anxieties about China and Washington’s desire to wean Hanoi off its historical dependence on Russian arms. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived in Hanoi last Sunday for a two-day visit, declaring that establishing stronger security ties would be a win-win. “Deeper [military] cooperation will benefit both of our countries,” said Hegseth, who had travelled to...

Singapore PM says election win came after ‘very...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

In the lead-up to the 2025 general election, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong received cautionary messages from People’s Action Party (PAP) members and supporters urging him to “be prepared” to lose some seats. Speaking at the PAP Awards and Convention on Sunday, Wong said these well-wishers had shared various predictions, prompting him to mentally prepare for all possible outcomes. “When the results came out, the same people who had messaged me earlier said to me: ‘Sorry, we should

Super Typhoon Fung-Wong: Hong Kong to issue No 1...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The Hong Kong Observatory will issue the No 1 warning signal on Monday due to Super Typhoon Fung-Wong, while temperatures are expected to drop to around 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) by midweek. The forecaster said the storm would continue moving towards Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea on Monday and track northwards

China’s consumer prices return to growth as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

China’s consumer prices returned to growth in October – though the near-zero figure still pointed to persistent deflationary pressures amid weak domestic demand and trade uncertainties – while factory-gate prices continued to fall. The national consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 per cent year on year last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday. The reading beat market expectations after a poll by financial provider Wind...

China’s DeepSeek makes rare comment, calls for AI...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek made a rare appearance at a state-backed industry event on Friday as a senior researcher reaffirmed the AI lab’s commitment to developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) despite its potentially “dangerous” impacts on society. Chen Deli spoke during a panel discussion alongside the heads of five other companies collectively known as China’s “six little dragons” of AI at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, eastern Zhejiang

Hong Kong passengers stuck on Starlux plane for 4...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

A Starlux Airlines flight departing from Hong Kong was forced to stop on its way to the runway due to a suspected oil leak, leaving 185 passengers stranded on board for more than four hours. Some passengers were reportedly heard screaming when the plane came to a sudden stop. The Airport Authority said on Sunday that at around 8pm the previous evening, flight JX236 bound for Taipei stopped on the taxiway because of a mechanical issue and had to be towed back to its parking stand. “During this...

Ukraine faces blackout crisis after Russian missile...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Ukraine was scrambling on Sunday to turn lights and heating back on after Russian attacks targeting energy infrastructure reduced the country’s power generating capacity to “zero”. Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure in recent months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country overnight into Saturday. The attacks interrupted electricity, heat and water supplies in several cities, with state power firm Centrenergo warning generating capacity...

National Games giving Hong Kong restaurants,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Hong Kong retailers and restaurant operators expect a business boost from the National Games, with one shopping centre near competition venues already reporting a roughly 20 per cent increase in weekday footfall helped by early sporting events. Malls across the city also plan to capitalise on the Games, which officially open on Sunday and run until November 21, with some set to live-stream competitions to allow residents to watch and cheer on the athletes. Hong Kong is co-hosting the Games

How the fight over a Chinese bookstore heightened...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

A recent furore over the future of a popular independent bookstore has shone a fresh spotlight on concerns that the space for public debates and cultural events in China is shrinking. The announcement that the You Xing Bookstore in Chengdu – a venue that had hosted a number of events featuring prominent Chinese and foreign speakers – would shut later this month followed the closure of a number of other bookshops as well as cancelled cultural events and film screenings across the...

How Hong Kong’s currency exchange shops have become a...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/09

Currency exchange shops, once a ubiquitous feature of Hong Kong’s retail landscape, are in a gradual, irreversible decline, with their closure precipitated by the pandemic, stricter licensing regulations and adoption of an array of convenient digital payment systems. The number of registered currency exchange shops in the city has more than halved to around 1,050 from a peak of nearly 2,500 in 2018, before the social unrest and border closures brought tourism to a standstill for three years,...

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