PODCAST

News - South China Morning Post

All the latest breaking news from Hong Kong, China and around the world

All Episodes

Serbia tensions boil as riot police separate...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Hundreds of riot police separated opponents and loyalists of Serbia’s autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic in central Belgrade on Sunday as political tensions boiled after a year of persistent anti-government protests. Several thousand people faced off on both sides of the police cordons with officers in full gear standing in several rows between the shouting crowds who threw bottles, flares and stun grenades. Tensions in Belgrade soared a day after tens of thousands of people joined a huge...

Taylor Swift fans swarm German museum to see Ophelia...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Taylor Swift fans sang and danced on Sunday to her new hit “The Fate of Ophelia” at a German museum exhibiting a painting thought to have inspired the video for the chart-topper. Some came as Ophelia, in white dresses with flowers in their hair, while others donned sparkly outfits like those often worn by Swift, as they descended on the western town of Wiesbaden. They were attending a special event to see the painting by artist Friedrich Heyser, which shows Ophelia, a character in

Israel receives remains of 3 more Gaza hostages as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Israel on Sunday announced that the remains of three hostages had been handed over from Gaza and would be examined by forensic experts, as a fragile month-old ceasefire held. A Hamas statement earlier said the remains were found on Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza. Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, Palestinian militants had released the remains of 17 hostages, with 11 remaining in Gaza, before Sunday’s handover. Israel’s military said official identification of these remains...

Paris Louvre heist suspects are petty criminals, not...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

The audacious daytime robbery of historical jewels worth US$102 million from the Paris Louvre museum last month was executed by petty criminals rather than professionals from the world of organised crime, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday. On a Sunday morning two weeks ago, two men parked a movers’ lift outside the Louvre, rode up to the second storey, smashed a window, cracked open display cases with angle grinders, and then fled on the back of scooters driven by two accomplices in a heist...

Germany arrests Syrian suspected of plotting...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

German authorities said Sunday they had arrested a 22-year-old Syrian man in Berlin suspected of preparing a “jihadist” attack, without giving details of the alleged plot. The suspect, arrested on Saturday in the capital’s southern Neukoelln district, appeared before an investigating judge on Sunday and was ordered remanded in custody. He is suspected of “preparing an act of serious violence against the state” as well as “spreading propaganda material of anti-constitutional and terrorist...

Landslide and floods leave 26 dead in western Kenya

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

The death toll from a landslide in western Kenya’s Rift Valley has risen to 26, a government spokesman said on Sunday, following heavy rains on Saturday. Twenty-five people were still missing and 26 others had been rescued after devastating floods in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said in a statement. Most of the rescued people were receiving treatment. The government has deployed military planes and disaster response specialists to conduct a search and rescue...

Trump says Xi understands ‘consequences’ if Beijing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

US President Donald Trump said Xi Jinping understands the consequences if Beijing takes Taiwan, while refusing to specifically say the United States would defend the island, according to an extract of a CBS News interview broadcast on Sunday. Trump said Taiwan “never even came up as a subject” when he met the Chinese president in South Korea on Thursday for their first face-to-face meeting in six years. Asked on CBS’ 60 Minutes whether he would order US forces into action if Beijing moved...

Survivors of El-Fasher say Sudan’s RSF is detaining...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

A young man from one of the towns outlying the western Sudanese city of El-Fasher, Hussein was one of hundreds of men and boys captured and held by paramilitary forces that have overrun the area. “We were rounded up and taken,” he said on Sunday, explaining how he and roughly 200 other young men were detained for days by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters in Garni, 25 kilometres northwest of El-Fasher, after they tried to flee. “They hit us with sticks and called us ‘slaves’,” said Hussein,

Nigeria urges meeting with Trump after US president’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Nigeria on Sunday suggested a meeting between its president and US counterpart Donald Trump, after the US leader threatened military action over what he described as a threat to Nigerian Christians by jihadists. In an explosive post, Trump said on social media on Saturday that he asked the Pentagon to map out a possible plan of attack in Nigeria, one day after warning that Christianity was “facing an existential threat” in Africa’s most populous country. Nigeria, which is almost evenly

China’s updated sixth-generation fighter jets put US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Notable changes have been observed in both of China’s sixth-generation fighter programmes, with updated prototypes seen flying just 10 months after their first public appearance, indicating rapid progress as the country vies with the US for air supremacy. Photos circulating on Chinese social media since Tuesday showed what appeared to be Chengdu Aircraft Corporation’s sixth-generation fighter, bearing a tailless and three-engine design, conducting a test flight. Unofficially referred to as

AIIB confirms plan for Hong Kong office, with opening...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

The Beijing-headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has confirmed that it will open a hub office in Hong Kong – a move that will enhance its offshore financing capabilities and the city’s role as a global financial centre. Preparatory work is in the pipeline and progressing well, the Post has learned from the bank. A formal announcement is expected to be made by AIIB President Jin Liqun, who is scheduled to address Hong Kong FinTech Week on Monday. The AIIB’s second office...

Opec agrees to output increase, moderates plans due...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Opec is set to agree on Sunday on another modest increase in oil output targets, three sources familiar with the talks said, as the producers’ group moderates plans to regain market share due to rising supply glut fears. Opec has raised output targets by more than 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) – about 2.5 per cent of global supply – since April but slowed the pace in October and November from larger increases amid predictions of a looming oversupply. New Western sanctions on Opec member...

China’s atomic quantum computer reports first sales...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

China’s first atomic quantum computer has passed a major commercial milestone, making its first sales to domestic and overseas customers, according to state media. Hubei Daily, the official newspaper of Hubei province, reported on Friday that the first commercial Hanyuan-1 unit had been delivered to a subsidiary of telecoms provider China Mobile while Pakistan had also placed an order. The sales were valued at more than 40 million yuan (US$5.6 million). The Hanyuan-1 was one of the few

Can Southeast Asia benefit from the global race for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Southeast Asia is quietly emerging as a key arena in the global race for rare earth elements, the critical minerals powering everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to renewable energy systems and advanced weapons. As the world moves towards clean energy and digital transformation, control over these minerals has become central to geopolitical competition. While China still dominates global production and refining, countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam find themselves...

Ukraine strikes Russian oil depot, retaliation for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

A Ukrainian drone attack damaged at least two foreign vessels and the oil terminal infrastructure at Russia’s key Black Sea port of Tuapse on Sunday, as Kyiv tries to undermine Russia’s war effort by targeting its energy infrastructure. For several months, Ukraine has been striking Russian oil refineries, depots and pipelines in a bid to undermine the Russian economy, and some media have reported that Western intelligence agencies have helped Kyiv with the strikes. Russian authorities said

AI scientists fail to impress human experts at...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly involved in scientific research, especially in the fierce competition between China and the US, a unique gathering of AI “scientists” has revealed that the technology still faces fundamental weaknesses. Each paper presented at last week’s Agents4Science 2025 conference listed large language models as primary authors and reviewers, while scholars from around the world shared how they used AI bots in scientific work and the challenges...

Hong Kong joins sister cities in taking up torch for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Hong Kong joined Macau and two Guangdong cities on Sunday in marking the run-up to the National Games with torch relays featuring top athletes, business leaders and community members, as a minister revealed that about a third of local event tickets had been sold. The relays started in the morning in Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, with acting chief executive Eric Chan Kwok-ki describing the local section as a “city parade” involving 50 torch-bearers passing landmarks and modern

Hong Kong suspends contractor after worker falls from...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

Hong Kong labour authorities have launched an investigation and suspended a contractor’s operations at a construction site after a worker fell from scaffolding and died. The accident was reported at 3.20pm on Sunday after the worker reportedly plunged from bamboo scaffolding nine storeys high in Sau Mau Ping. The 47-year-old man landed on a two-metre-high working platform and lost consciousness. Fellow workers called emergency services. Paramedics arrived at the On Hei Street site but

‘Patriots-only’ good model for executive-legislative...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/02

In a new occasional series, outgoing lawmakers reflect on their time in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, which wrapped up its four-year term on October 24, ahead of the next general election on December 7. Hong Kong’s first “patriots-only” legislature has established a good model of executive-legislative relations where key policies are first discussed with officials in closed-door meetings, retiring legislator Doreen Kong Yuk-foon has said. Kong, 55, a solicitor by training, made her debut

China, US agree to preliminary deal in Malaysia ahead...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/10/26

China and the United States agreed on Sunday to a preliminary framework deal after two days of talks in Kuala Lumpur, signalling a de-escalation of tensions in the lead-up to a potential meeting between the presidents of the world’s two largest economies.The talks in the Malaysian capital, led by Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, came on the heels of a fresh surge of tensions in the volatile bilateral relationship and ahead of the November 10 expiration of

15,505 results