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China says it’s ready to help Asean monitor...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

China was ready to help Asean observers monitor the ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday, a day after Bangkok and Phnom Penh called a halt to weeks of deadly border clashes. “China supports Asean in playing its due role and is ready to assist the Asean observer mission in monitoring the ceasefire,” Wang told his Cambodian counterpart Prak Sokhonn during talks in Yuxi, Yunnan province. An observer team from the Association of Southeast Asian...

Russia’s Putin warns of escalation if Ukraine rejects...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Russian ‌President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace ‍and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish all its goals by force. Putin’s remarks on Saturday, carried by state news agency Tass, followed a vast ⁠Russian drone and missile attack that prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say Russia was showing its wish to continue the war while Kyiv wanted peace. Zelensky is to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday

China owner of poisoned ‘smiling Shiba Inu’ berated...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

The newlywed owners of a Shiba Inu dog famous online for its adorable smile, which was poisoned to death in a village in eastern China, have been accused of cashing in on its death. The six-year-old canine, Peppa, had been raised by the couple since it was three months old. It died recently after its owners took it to their hometown in rural Shandong province for a honeymoon, where it ate poison-tainted food on the road. The dog has a combined half a million followers on several mainland

Can Hong Kong mature as a wine hub? French vineyard...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Hong Kong could strengthen its position as a global wine trading hub by enhancing its logistics and storage services, according to a seventh-generation French winemaker overseeing a 200-year-old Burgundy estate. Erwan Faiveley, owner of wine labels Domaine Faiveley and Billaud-Simon, also praised the Hong Kong government’s decision to axe its wine tax in 2008 during his first fact-finding trip to the city and mainland China since the Covid-19 pandemic. “The greatest thing they’ve done was...

Why Chinese victims of Unit 731 and Japan’s WWII...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

On August 6 last year, atomic bomb survivors held their annual commemorative lantern-floating ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Japan. Two months later, their group, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize for decades of campaigning against nuclear weapons. Fifteen years earlier, in Chongshan village in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, Wang Jinti took his last breath. Wang died in near-total obscurity, never having received an apology or compensation for the suffering he...

Zelensky looks to secure Ukraine peace deal at Trump...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down on Sunday with Donald Trump and seek to secure the US president’s stamp of approval for a new proposal to end the nearly four-year conflict with Russia. The 20-point plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, lacks Moscow’s approval, and the face-to-face in Florida comes in the wake of a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv. The meeting, hosted by Trump at his opulent Mar-a-Lago residence, will be the

Let’s get physical: Hong Kong hospital staff rally...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Doctors, nurses and students at HKSH Medical Group in Hong Kong swapped their clinical routines for a day of fitness and fundraising, inspiring all to “throw kindness and catch health”. The staff-led activity on December 19 formed part of HKSH OSC Month, a fundraising campaign in aid of Operation Santa Claus (OSC) – a cause the group has supported for the 17th consecutive year. Awards were given to employees and teams across departments in recognition of taking part, teamwork and sustained...

Greater Bay Area assets poised to lead surge in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

With the first wave of commercial Chinese real estate investment trusts (REITs) set to launch in the next two years, Greater Bay Area assets are likely to be in strong demand, according to Deloitte China. “GBA assets will likely be oversubscribed,” according to Ryan Wu, deputy managing partner for Hong Kong Chinese enterprises services with Deloitte China. He was speaking at the recent APREA GBA Conference on the fast-growing C-Reits market, which has recently expanded to include commercial...

Hong Kong developers test demand for ultra-luxury...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Hong Kong property developers are bringing new trophy homes to market, as Wharf Holdings kicked off a tender on Friday for three mansions at its ultra-luxury Plantation Road project on The Peak. The tender marked one of the most closely watched super-luxury home offerings in 2025, following a recent string of high-value transactions that pointed to renewed confidence in the market among affluent buyers. The three mansions, with saleable areas ranging from 5,629 to 6,122 square feet, include

What next for Taiwan’s Lai as US$37 billion defence...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te’s plan to push through a NT$1.2 trillion (US$37 billion) special military spending package has been thrown into limbo as political clashes escalate over fiscal reform and a controversial court ruling. Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature has blocked the cabinet-proposed “Special Act on Strengthening Defence Resilience and Asymmetric Warfare Capabilities” from committee review four times since Lai unveiled the plan in late November. The procedural...

Quiet courage of ordinary people can rebuild a world...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

My son, who is almost four, has recently become obsessed with the universe. He can recite the planets of the solar system and tell anyone who will listen that Pluto – his favourite – was once a planet but was reclassified as a “dwarf planet” in 2006. Now that he has a sense of scale and size, he has developed a habit of comparing everything: an ant is smaller than a leaf, the Earth is smaller than the sun, the sun is just a dot in the galaxy, and the galaxy is a tiny part of the

5,000 Hong Kong workers idle as new scaffold net...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/28

One month after the Wang Fuk Court fire, Hong Kong’s construction industry grapples with a scaffold net safety regime halting repairs on over 200 buildings. In the third part of a series, Edith Lin and Vivian Au report on calls for certified suppliers, expedited testing and a broader accountability overhaul. Here’s part one and two. Hong Kong’s construction industry has been thrown into uncertainty under a new scaffold net inspection regime introduced after the deadly fire in Tai Po,

Hong Kong’s role to be discussed in China’s top...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

China’s top legislative body will review the nation’s next five-year development plan in its annual session in March, where Hong Kong’s role in contributing to national development is also expected to be discussed, according to the city’s sole delegate to the body.Starry Lee Wai-king, a member of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said on Saturday that the proposed agenda for the session – which includes the 15th five-year plan, as well as the government’s work report

Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O–Lam Tin Tunnel fully...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O–Lam Tin Tunnel has resumed full operations nearly seven hours after it was forced to partially close when a fuel truck tipped over inside. Police received a report at 12.52pm on Saturday that a medium-sized truck had crashed into the right wall of the tunnel while driving along Cha Kwo Ling Road in the direction of Tseung Kwan O. The force added that the driver, a 53-year-old man, had sustained injuries to his head. “The crash had broken some traffic signs and

China-Pakistan warplane deal with Libyan faction ‘may...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Pakistan is selling warplanes it jointly developed with China to the Libyan National Army (LNA), a move analysts said could serve as a gateway for Beijing to expand its influence into North Africa. In one of Pakistan’s largest-ever arms deals, 16 of the JF-17 “Thunder” fighters were listed among the over US$4 billion worth of military equipment sold to the force led by Khalifa Hifter, which controls the east of the country. The deal included other land, sea and air equipment, such as 12 Super...

9 held in Italy over US$8.2 million charity scam...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Italian authorities arrested nine people linked to three charitable organisations on suspicion of raising millions of euros for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, anti-terrorism prosecutors said in a statement on Saturday. The suspects are accused of sending about €7 million (US$8.2 million) to “associations based in Gaza, the Palestinian territories, or Israel, owned, controlled, or linked to Hamas”, the statement said. Among those arrested was Mohammad Hannoun, president of the

Chinese nuclear experts believe Japan could build...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

One of Henry Kissinger’s final and most sobering predictions before his death was that Japan would eventually pursue nuclear weapons. In a 2023 interview with The Economist, Kissinger warned that Japan was “heading towards becoming a nuclear power in five years”. Chinese nuclear experts estimate that Japan has the political motivation but also the technical capacity to develop nuclear weapons in less than three years, echoing Kissinger’s warning that Japan harbours ambitions to revive its...

Spanish town reaches deal to share El Gordo jackpot...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

A small town in northern Spain has reached a compromise after a ticket sales error threatened to leave some winners of the country’s iconic Christmas lottery empty handed. Spanish media reported on Saturday that everyone holding a ticket with the winning number of the main prize, called El Gordo (The Fat One), will now receive almost their full winnings. Celebrations in Villamanin, a town of fewer than 1,000 residents, on Monday over winnings totalling almost €35 million (US$41.2 million)

China puts drone rules into law as low-altitude...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Beijing adopted sweeping revisions to its decades-old Civil Aviation Law on Saturday, formally bringing uncrewed aircraft such as drones under the national legal framework for the first time and signaling state support for the country’s rapidly growing low-altitude economy. The revisions, which will come into effect on July 1, were approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee and are a critical step in closing long-standing gaps in safety regulation. They will also guide...

Hong Kong records 10% rise in festive period visitors...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Hong Kong received 10 per cent more visitors during the Christmas period compared with 2024, while residents made nearly 1.7 million outbound trips, representing a 22 per cent increase from last year. Ahead of New Year’s Eve, the retail sector also expressed concerns that the absence of the annual fireworks could affect the number of visitors to the city in the coming days, further dampening local consumer sentiment following the deadly fire in Tai Po. “Because of the Tai Po fire, consumer...

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