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Singapore, Australia vow uninterrupted fuel supply...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Singapore and Australia pledged on Friday to keep fuel and gas flowing between them as the Middle East conflict rattled global energy markets, with both sides also working towards a legally binding agreement on essential supplies. At a joint press conference in Singapore, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Canberra stood ready to supply more liquefied natural gas (LNG) if the city state needed it, while Albanese’s Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong said his government would...

Macron woos Trump to G7 summit with Versailles palace...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited US President ⁠Donald Trump to a ⁠sumptuous dinner at the ornate Palace of ⁠Versailles the day after a G7 summit in mid-June, although it remains unclear if Trump will attend either event, sources said. France is the host of this year’s G7, with a leaders’ summit in the lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains at the foot ‌of the French Alps scheduled for June 15-17 – dates that Macron has already moved to accommodate a mixed martial arts event Trump is...

New Kai Tak Hospital to open in 2 phases starting in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Hong Kong’s largest public hospital will open to patients in phases from October, with the new 2,400-bed facility in Kai Tak set to take over the services of Queen Elizabeth Hospital and become a healthcare hub for Kowloon. The Hospital Authority said on Friday that the first phase of services at Kai Tak Hospital, located on Shing Cheong Road in Kowloon Bay, would start in October. The new facility has a total gross floor area of 500,000 square metres, the largest among the city’s public...

Alibaba’s HappyHorse tops Seedance, offering glimpse...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

A new video generation model quietly unveiled by Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding has overtaken Seedance 2.0, ByteDance’s most advanced model, as the world’s top-ranked artificial intelligence video tool based on an evaluation by a benchmark site, offering a glimpse into the AI talent race as the market heats up. The HappyHorse 1.0 model, which was still under internal beta testing, was developed by the Innovation Business Unit under the e-commerce giant’s newly formed Alibaba Token

Iran’s Hormuz toll threat lays bare Asia’s energy...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Iran’s threat to impose tolls on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz is stirring concern far beyond the Gulf, sharpening fears that one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints could be used as political leverage rather than governed by international rules. The concern is especially acute in Asia, which remains heavily reliant on Middle East energy supplies and exposed to any disruption in the waterway, through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Analysts warn

Malaysia’s Anwar on Singapore’s Hormuz stance:...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has reaffirmed Malaysia’s independent foreign policy stance, saying that while the nation prioritises maintaining strong ties with its neighbours, it remains firm in its refusal to overlook the causes of current regional instability. Responding to recent remarks by Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who stated that the republic would not negotiate for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, Anwar said Malaysia’s diplomatic approach is

Who are Araghchi and Ghalibaf, Iranian duo set to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

The Islamabad talks scheduled to begin on Saturday will represent the first direct US-Iran negotiations since the Pentagon launched Operation Epic Fury six weeks ago. Vice-President J.D. Vance will lead the US team, which will include Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to the White House. The Iranian delegation is expected to be led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas

Why China’s green energy strategy may shield it from...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

China’s green energy transition is expanding from a domestic security priority into a potent geopolitical asset at a time of heightened global uncertainty, according to the latest official reading of the country’s 15th five-year plan. That shift has been tested in recent weeks by the US-Israeli war in Iran and Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for 20 per cent of global oil and gas supplies. While Tehran signalled it would reopen the strait on Tuesday under a...

US-Israel war on Iran

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Health chief hails tobacco control efforts as smoking...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Hong Kong’s smoking rate fell to 8.5 per cent last year, missing an ambitious target of 7.8 per cent, but health authorities have hailed the success of the city’s tobacco control strategy, which led to a 30 per cent decline in overall cigarette consumption. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau told a Legislative Council meeting on Friday that the rate – the prevalence of daily cigarette smokers aged 15 and older in the population – had fallen from 9.1 per cent in 2023 to 8.5 per cent last

Chinese firms in Hungary face a post-election...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Travellers stepping out of the railway station at Hungary’s second-biggest city, Debrecen, are immediately greeted by a banner hanging over the street that reads “No battery, no deal”, “Debrecen belongs to Hungarians” and “Chinese, go home”. Targeting a mega-factory set up by Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL), it also calls for a protest on Saturday, on the eve of Sunday’s general election in the central European nation. The banner was put up by the local

Hong Kong animal groups urge HKTVmall boycott over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

An international animal rights group and a veterinary organisation have called for a public boycott of Hong Kong’s major online retailer, HKTVmall, after its parent company revealed a life science project testing the viability of detached animal heads and limbs. The two groups staged an hour-long protest on Friday outside the HKTVmall building in Tseung Kwan O, demanding the company disclose more details of the experiments and stop animal testing. The Hong Kong Technology Venture Company,

Fear, anxiety grip Iranians ahead of US talks: ‘I’m...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Everyday Iranians are awaiting planned negotiations between Washington and Tehran with a mixture of scepticism and outright fear, caught between a government they say does not understand peace and an American president who has threatened to destroy “a whole civilisation”. Talks between the United States and Iran and hosted by Pakistan were hanging in the balance on Friday, but if they go ahead they could transform a temporary ceasefire in the US-Israeli campaign against the Islamic Republic

US-Iran talks leave Gulf states on edge about the...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

The Gulf’s six Arab monarchies, battered by Iranian drones and missiles because of a war they never wanted, are watching with trepidation to see what Pakistan-hosted US-Iran negotiations will yield for their collective future. After China and Russia vetoed the Gulf Cooperation Council’s bid to attain UN Security Council approval for “defensive” measures to force open the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, analysts say the GCC states have little sway over what is about to transpire in...

Move over, Hercules: China’s new Y-30 aims to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

China’s new-generation medium-lift transport aircraft will surpass America’s best counterpart, the C-130J “Super Hercules”, in most performance metrics, according to a Chinese military magazine. The four-engine turboprop aircraft, frequently referred to as the Y-30 or Y-15, conducted its maiden test flight in December last year. It is developed by Shaanxi Aircraft Industry Corporation, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). The Chinese “new medium-lift

Foreigners flock to China spas to enjoy unique...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Foreign visitors have been flocking to spa centres in China to try a unique cultural experience at an affordable price. Many foreigners have been amazed by the bathhouses in the country because they operate on a 24-hour basis. Not only can people take a bath at hot springs, but they can also enjoy everything from fruit, drinks, ice cream and a buffet, to singing Karaoke, playing with game machines, billiards and mahjong. Some places also provide libraries and mini cinemas, the China News...

Hong Kong bookstore owner fined HK$32,000 for using...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

A Hong Kong independent bookstore owner has been fined HK$32,000 (US$4,085) for holding a Spanish class in his shop after a court ruled the course took place at an unregistered school. Pong Yat-ming, 52, was convicted on Friday of violating the Education Ordinance by organising a Spanish course in April last year at Book Punch, a bookstore he founded in Sham Shui Po in 2020. Kowloon City Court earlier heard Pong’s defence at his trial, where he testified that he held the basic language course

Gaza marks 6 months of ceasefire. Does it offer...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Friday marks six months since Gaza’s ceasefire deal took effect, a milestone largely lost in the confusion over the new and even more fragile ceasefire in the Iran war. The ravaged Palestinian territory of 2 million people has seen the most intense fighting stop between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants. But most of the ceasefire work remains to be done, from disarming Hamas and ending its two-decade rule to deploying an international stabilisation force and beginning vast

Hong Kong awards stablecoin licences to HSBC,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

HSBC and a joint venture led by Standard Chartered have been awarded Hong Kong’s first stablecoin issuer licences, marking the city’s latest step towards embracing cryptocurrency’s most-traded cash substitute in its bid to become a global digital asset hub. Eight months after Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance, one of the world’s first such laws, took effect, HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial, the Standard Chartered-led group, received the green light from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)

Xi holds landmark Taiwan meeting, Iran war ceasefire,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/10

Communisrt Party chief Xi Jinping said he was “fully confident” of closer ties with Taiwan as he met a leader of the island’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party for the first time in almost a decade. “The historical trend that compatriots of both sides of the strait will get closer and get together will not change,” Xi said at the start of his discussion with Cheng Li-wun. “This is a certainty of history, and we are fully confident.” Cheng called for a “systemic solution” to avoid war in the...

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