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5 of 7 villagers trapped in flooded Laos cave found...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Five of the seven villagers trapped deep in a flooded cave in Laos for a week were found alive cramped on a rocky ledge on Wednesday afternoon, rescuers said, in a mission that included some of the same expert cave divers who saved a Thai youth football team in 2018. Around 4.30pm, a Thai-led rescue team finally broke through to an area where they found five of the missing villagers perched on the ledge just above the floodwaters, after diving for four days and navigating swamped narrow

China warns against ‘third party’ influence as Panama...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday said Beijing was ready to deepen cooperation with Panama City and that third countries should not influence their bilateral ties. “China has always maintained that China-Panama relations are not directed against any third party and should not be interfered with by any third party,” Wang said, according to a foreign ministry read-out on Wednesday. Wang made the remarks while meeting with Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha on the

Bangladesh probes hospital deaths of 6 newborns

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

At least six newborn babies died in the same hospital ward in Bangladesh within hours of each other on Wednesday, said health officials, who launched an investigation. The newborns, aged between one and three days, were in the post-delivery ward of Ad-Din Hospital, a private facility in the capital Dhaka. “An investigation is under way, and we need some time to determine the cause of the deaths of the newborns,” Nahida Yasmin, a director at the hospital, told reporters. Prabhat Chandra

Samoan suspect confesses to hired hit in Vietnam on...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

One of the two Samoan men arrested by Vietnamese police over the killing of an Australian with reported links to Sydney’s criminal underworld outside a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City has admitted that he was hired to carry out a hit on a rival. Lorenzo Lemalu, 24, was gunned down outside the restaurant last Thursday, in a rare gangland murder involving foreigners using Vietnam as a base for their crime. Shocking images of the shooting caught on CCTV show flashes from a gun wielded by a hooded...

Hong Kong overtakes Switzerland as world’s largest...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Hong Kong has overtaken Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth hub, driven by an initial public offering (IPO) bonanza and capital inflows from mainland China, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Cross-border wealth booked in Hong Kong climbed 10.7 per cent in 2025 to US$2.95 trillion, narrowly beating Switzerland’s US$2.94 trillion after rising 7.6 per cent last year, the international consultancy said in its latest global wealth report released on Wednesday. “These...

Hong Kong braces for Friday scorcher as mercury...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong recorded its hottest day of the year so far as the mercury hit 33.7 degrees Celsius (92.7 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, with the Observatory warning that temperatures in parts of the city could reach a scorching 37 degrees on Friday. The highest temperature was logged at the Observatory’s Tsim Sha Tsui headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, as a “very

More villagers evicted from land earmarked for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Hong Kong authorities have evicted more residents from a village in the New Territories to make way for the Northern Metropolis megaproject, with one family complaining they received the notice to move out just last month. But the Development Bureau said on Wednesday that it had notified residents of the deadline over the past two years and exercised discretion in postponing the dates, adding that more than 20 households vacated their homes peacefully and voluntarily during the action by the...

China’s date with once-sanctioned Dutch trade...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

A Dutch minister who was previously sanctioned by Beijing will lead a business delegation to China in early July, according to a source familiar with the planning, as the two nations navigate thorny bilateral issues such as newly proposed US export curbs on ASML chipmaking tools and the Nexperia ownership debacle. Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, who was recently removed from Beijing’s sanction list, will lead a four-day visit starting on July 6 with stops in Beijing and Shanghai. In the capital, the...

Beijing hails Hong Kong astronaut’s selection as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Beijing has hailed the inclusion of Hong Kong’s first astronaut in the Shenzhou-23 mission as the “fruitful result” of the “one country, two systems” framework and believes that more young people from the city will be inspired to contribute to the country’s technological development. At a press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning described the successful launch of the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft and the arrival of Hong Kong payload specialist Lai Ka-ying

India tells filmmakers to drop ‘China-bashing’ as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

As India and China work to steady their relationship after years of border tension, Indian filmmakers say projects inspired by the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes are being reworked, delayed or shelved following official warnings against “China-bashing”. Bollywood heavyweight Salman Khan’s war drama, initially titled Battle of Galwan, was reportedly asked to change its name to Maatrubhumi: May War Rest in Peace, with several scenes requiring reshoots. A separate film, The Lion of Galwan, has been...

Spanish police search headquarters of PM Sanchez’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Spanish police are searching the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party as part of an ongoing investigation into possible financial wrongdoing, the Civil Guard said on Wednesday. The raid on the office in central Madrid is another blow to the party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose Socialists have been hammered by a series of corruption scandals. The Civil Guard said the police were under judicial orders to find material relevant to a National Court probe into accusations of

Ride-hailing cap of 10,000 ‘prudent’ start for Hong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Hong Kong’s cap of 10,000 vehicle permits for ride-hailing services is a “prudent and safe starting point” and the government will dynamically adjust the quota based on operational data, the city’s transport minister has said. The quota, revealed on Tuesday, prompted lawmakers to call for frequent reviews in the initial months after the scheme’s launch and swift government intervention if services proved insufficient. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Secretary for Transport and Logistics...

Hong Kong justice secretary fears possible leak in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Hong Kong’s secretary for justice has raised concerns that online accusations against the new public prosecutions director may have been based on information that came from inside his department, urging staff to come forward about the source of the allegations. The internal letter from Paul Lam Ting-kwok surfaced on Wednesday when US-based Hong Kong fugitive activist Frances Hui Wing-ting posted it on social media. She earlier cited “insiders among prosecutors” in accusing newly appointed...

Japan enacts law centralising intelligence gathering...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Japan’s parliament enacted a law on Wednesday to establish a new National Intelligence Council to centralise information gathering in response to overseas threats, marking a first step in plans to boost capabilities that have raised concerns over civil liberties. Establishing the council is a key aim in the governing agenda of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a security hawk who has pledged to strengthen intelligence and counter-espionage capabilities in response to what her government calls

Can AI help Hongkongers quit smoking? Health...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Hong Kong health authorities have deployed an AI chatbot developed by a local university to help residents quit smoking, after missing their target despite a clampdown on tobacco products. The Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office noted on Wednesday that the city’s smoking rate had dropped to 8.5 per cent last year, one of the lowest among developed economies. The office unveiled its “Chat to Quit” chatbot pilot initiative as part of its annual “Quit in June” campaign. The drive also offers free...

Alibaba’s new AI model scores higher than OpenAI,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Alibaba Group Holding’s latest artificial intelligence model has clinched a top-tier spot on a major global coding leaderboard, making the Chinese technology giant the only developer other than Anthropic to break into the ranking’s top five spots. Qwen3.7-Max, Alibaba’s latest AI model, scored 1,541 on the Code Arena ranking to claim the fourth spot globally, placing it ahead of rival models from OpenAI and Google. The other four spots in the top five were held by various iterations of Claude...

AI is massively increasing China’s new weapon...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

While much of military AI globally focuses on autonomous weapons and large language models, a new study suggests Beijing may also be pursuing a quieter transformation: embedding artificial intelligence (AI) in the deepest layers of industrial manufacturing. A study published last month in the Chinese defence engineering journal Acta Armamentarii described how researchers developed an AI-powered “bearing design agent” – capable of autonomously designing rolling bearings in advanced

Controversial China ‘dead or alive’ app transforms...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

A controversial Chinese app with the allegedly offensive name “dead or alive” has been transformed into a government-backed safety tool. The app, called Sileme, or “Are you dead?”, went viral in January because of its straightforward name that challenged the traditional taboo notions about death. Its function was extremely simple. The sign-in app features a giant green button on the screen. A person only needs to touch the button every day to confirm their “alive” status. If they fail to

Huawei seeks to match best chips without best...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies said it had found a way to make semiconductors on a par with the best worldwide without having to use cutting-edge chipmaking equipment it is unable to access due to US sanctions. The breakthrough will allow Huawei to make high-end chips that are equivalent to 1.4 nanometres by 2031, He Tingbo, president of the company’s semiconductor business, told a tech conference in Shanghai on Monday. TSMC, the world’s biggest producer of advanced semiconductors,

Hong Kong to roll out 2-month LPG subsidy to ease...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/27

Hong Kong will introduce a two-month LPG subsidy of 50 HK cents (6 US cents) per litre starting on Sunday to help transport operators running more than 20,000 vehicles, from taxis to minibuses and school buses, cope with soaring fuel prices linked to the Middle East war. A government spokesman announced on Wednesday that the subsidy would be implemented across all 66 filling stations supplying liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, from Sunday, with no registration needed for eligible

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