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Venezuela frees 99 prisoners detained after 2024...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Venezuela released 99 prisoners on Christmas Day, officials said, with the government calling it a goodwill gesture as it assesses arrests made after President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election. “The national government and the justice system have decided to evaluate each case individually and, in accordance with the law”, released 99 citizens “as a concrete expression of the State’s commitment to peace, dialogue and justice”, the Ministry of Penitentiary Services said. “They were deprived of

Record Taiwan arms deal casts shadow over Trump’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

As 2025 draws to a close amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over new arms sales to Taiwan, analysts warn that the worsening atmosphere could weigh on the substance – if not the scheduling – of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China next year to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Washington’s announcement last week of a US$11.1 billion arms package for Taiwan, the largest to date, has sharpened frictions at a sensitive moment, making it less likely that Beijing

Israel becomes first country to formally recognise...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and ‌sovereign state on Friday – a decision that could reshape regional dynamics and test ‍Somalia’s long-standing opposition to its secession.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek immediate cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology and the economy. In a statement he congratulated Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, praised...

Zelensky to meet Trump in Florida to discuss ‘90%...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday he will meet US President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend. Zelensky told journalists the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday’s talks, and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90 per cent ready”. An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelensky said, but he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalised by the end”. The Ukrainian side will also raise “territorial...

Trump’s military restraint on Venezuela: power play...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

President Donald Trump’s reluctance to authorise direct military intervention in Venezuela underscored the US dilemma of how to reassert dominance in its traditional sphere while managing escalation risks in multipolar rivalry with China and Russia, observers said. But they cautioned against seeing US hesitation as weakness, noting intensified sanctions, naval blockades and diplomatic pressure from Washington, alongside a recalibrated strategy to sustain influence without overcommitment

China’s Zhipu AI ramps up push towards human-level...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Chinese AI start-up Zhipu AI said it would step up efforts next year in the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) while continuing to open source its AI models after its initial public offering. In 2026 “we’re going to contribute more substantially to the AGI journey,” Zheng Qinkai, a researcher at the company, which markets itself internationally as Z.ai, said in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session hosted on US social media site Reddit. AGI, referring to technology that matches human...

China launches venture capital fund to lead the...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

China has launched a national fund designed to channel state-backed money into early-stage bets on tech, a move officials said could ultimately steer trillions of yuan into preferred avenues of investment. Beijing’s National Venture Capital Guidance Fund was unveiled on Friday, at a ceremony which also introduced three investment vehicles covering major cross-regional agglomerations: the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay

Old Hong Kong police station gets new role hosting...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Hong Kong’s old Yau Ma Tei police station, a century-old building and popular selfie spot among mainland Chinese tourists, will host a new film-related exhibition, with tickets going on sale from Saturday. Opening on January 2, the exhibition is the first to be held inside a police station and aims to promote tourism and culture related to local films. “It allows visitors to experience first-hand the interior design, ambience and iconic scenes of Hong Kong police and crime films inside a real...

Blast in Syria kills 8 at mosque targeting Alawite...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

An Islamist militant group has claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, Syria, on Friday. In a statement on Telegram, Saraya Ansar al-Sunna announced that its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” inside the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque. The group – which was formed after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad – previously claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed 20 people at a Damascus

Chinese EV battery giant CATL and Guoxin Micro set up...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, has partnered with semiconductor developer Unigroup Guoxin Microelectronics to form a new automotive chip firm in Beijing. CATL-owned Wending Investment, Guoxin Micro subsidiary Tongxin Micro and five affiliates have agreed to establish Tongxin Micro Technology with a registered capital of 300 million yuan (US$43 million), according to a Thursday filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. With its 153...

Is China quietly preparing cargo ships to transform...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Images of a cargo ship in Shanghai carrying containerised vertical launchers, sensors and self-defence systems have spread online and prompted discussion for apparently showing China’s capacity to convert civilian cargo vessels to military purposes. The circulated images show vertical launch systems, rotary phased-array radars, over-the-horizon radars, close-in weapon systems and decoy launchers mounted atop containers on a cargo vessel. This configuration appears to be a temporary

Deceiving US experts; proving Einstein wrong: 10...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China science stories of the year. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China unveils a powerful deep-sea cable cutter that could reset the world order A compact, deep-sea, cable-cutting device, capable of severing the world’s most fortified underwater communication or power lines, has been unveiled by China – and it could shake up global maritime power dynamics. 2. China tests non-nuclear hydrogen bomb, science

Taiwan’s lawmakers vote to start impeachment process...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Taiwan’s legislature passed a motion on Friday to start impeachment proceedings against the island’s leader, William Lai Ching-te. The Legislative Yuan voted 60 to 51 in favour of the motion that argued that the leader undermined the self-ruled island’s constitutional order and democracy. Lawmakers are expected to vote on impeachment on May 19, according to the legislature’s procedures. The impeachment motion came after Lai’s administration failed to enact an amendment passed by the...

To harness crypto ingenuity, financial threat must...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

The fascination with cryptocurrencies shows no sign of fading. With the passage of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (Genius) Act in July, US lawmakers added to the sense that crypto is here to stay. But an uncomfortable issue remains unresolved: are cryptocurrencies a genuine innovation capable of serving the common good, or a speculative threat to financial and social stability? Not all cryptocurrencies are alike. Unbacked ones, such as bitcoin or Ethereum,...

Hong Kong tour bus driver arrested over allegedly...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

A Hong Kong sightseeing tour bus driver has been arrested for allegedly stealing HK$110 (US$14) in passenger fares, according to police. A police spokesman said on Friday that a 27-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of theft on December 23, days before the Christmas holiday. Officers were called to a bus terminus at Man Kwong Street in Central shortly before 5pm on Tuesday following a report about the alleged theft. The suspect was reportedly operating a Citybus H2 open-top

China’s mega expressway tunnel opens in Xinjiang,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

The world’s longest expressway tunnel has opened to traffic in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, capping five years of construction on a project designed to increase China’s links with Central Asia. The 22.13km (13.75-mile) Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, the centrepiece of the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, officially opened on Friday, creating a 20-minute drive through the Tianshan Mountains that divide northern and southern Xinjiang. The tunnel halves the travel time between the regional capital

Tech giants go prime time in the fight for China’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

China’s biggest tech companies and a clutch of fast-rising consumer electronics brands are battling for coveted sponsorship slots at the Spring Festival Gala, as intensifying competition in artificial intelligence turns the country’s most watched television broadcast into a rare nationwide marketing battleground. Major players including ByteDance, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding had all held discussions with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) over high-stakes...

Shanghai to double down on open-source projects amid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

Shanghai, China’s financial and tech hub, is aiming to foster over 200 open-source projects over the next two years as part of the city’s ambitious road map to build a world-class ecosystem amid the heated AI race with the US. By 2027, the city would see the establishment of one to two “internationally influential open-source communities”, along with 100 companies focused on related technologies and over 200 high-quality open-source projects, according to an action plan unveiled on Thursday

China opens shopping centre on Woody Island in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

China has opened a new shopping centre on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel Islands, bolstering its civilian presence on the strategically vital South China Sea outpost. The Sansha City Commercial Centre opened to business on Thursday, according to the local government. The over 6,000 square metre (64,600 sq ft) complex is the latest addition to China’s civilian infrastructure on what it calls Yongxing Island, following its first hardware store last year and a hotpot restaurant in

China aircraft carrier allows use of naked flames for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/26

China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has allowed the use of naked flames on board to accommodate a form of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The use of fire on the vessel is to be allowed so that cupping therapy can take place. The news has received much attention on mainland social media after it was reported by state broadcaster CCTV on December 24. The Fujian, China’s third aircraft carrier and the most advanced, officially entered into service in November at a grand...

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