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Hong Kong holds off on annual LGBTQ publicity drive....

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/24

For the first time in a decade, a Hong Kong government task force did not conduct any publicity campaign covering gender identity and sexual orientation in the latest financial year, triggering concerns that authorities are taking a lukewarm attitude towards the local LGBTQ community. Figures from the Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Unit (GISOU), which falls under the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, also showed that it only received seven complaints from 2015 to 2025, a

China boy wants to raise silkworms to create silk...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/24

A boy in central China dreamed of making his own silk quilt, prompting his parents to buy 10,000 silkworm eggs to nurture his curiosity. In May, a mother surnamed Ruan from Wuhan, Hubei province, revealed online that her family was raising silkworms to help realise her six-year-old son’s unusual dream. Ruan told the mainland outlet Chengshi Interactive that the idea came during the silkworm-rearing season. The optimal window generally runs from May to October. The family, who raise silkworms...

Budget cuts leave Thailand’s twin-sea navy at risk of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/24

Thailand’s navy has to watch two seas at once. To the east lies the Gulf of Thailand, with its busy shipping lanes, offshore energy interests and long coastal frontier with Cambodia. To the west is the Andaman Sea, a gateway to the Indian Ocean with its own trade routes, chokepoints and strategic pressures. That twin-sea geography has long given the Royal Thai Navy a role larger than its public profile might suggest. It also underpins the navy’s stated goal, laid out in a 2023 white paper, to...

US Secret Service fatally shoots gunman who opened...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

A gunman opened fire near the White House on Saturday evening, with US Secret Service agents killing the assailant in a shoot-out during which a bystander was also struck, authorities said. US President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time as he worked to negotiate a deal with Iran, but was not affected by the incident, Secret Service communications chief Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. The confrontation took place just after 6pm (local time) when a man near the White House...

Why Bangladesh could raise Indian red flags by buying...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Bangladesh’s potential purchase of a Sino-Pakistani fighter jet could raise tensions in India’s sensitive northeast, as relations between Dhaka and New Delhi remain tense, analysts said. According to Pakistani media reports, the country has transferred a fully operational simulator of a JF-17 Thunder Block III combat aircraft to Bangladesh. Fighter jet simulators replicate the experience of flying an aircraft and are used to train pilots in combat tactics and systems management. Jointly...

Hong Kong can turn Hung Shui Kiu into a northwest...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

More than a decade ago, I argued that Hung Shui Kiu should be conceived as the “northwest stronghold” of Hong Kong, a geographic centre of the New Territories and a hinge point between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Today, that vision is beginning to materialise. Hung Shui Kiu is no longer just a dot on the planning map; it is emerging as a core node of the Northern Metropolis and a testing ground for institutional innovation and industrial policy. The government’s embrace of an industry-first

‘Fjord’ by Romania’s Mungiu wins Palme d’Or at Cannes

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Cristian Mungiu’s Norway-set drama about political polarisation Fjord has won the Palme d’Or, handing the Cannes Film Festival’s top honour for the second time to Mungiu, the Romanian director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. At a 79th Cannes Film Festival that saw few films break out, Fjord found wide admiration for its engrossing tale of what Mungiu called “left-wing fundamentalism”. It stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as Romanian evangelicals who move to Norway, but soon after have...

Rubio renews US ties with India after Trump’s China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called India a natural partner and invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, turning the page at least rhetorically on friction despite new-found US warmth towards China. One week after joining US President Donald Trump on a state visit to Beijing, Rubio – visiting both Asian powers for the first time – flew to New Delhi and met Modi for more than an hour, inviting the premier to visit the White House soon. “The world’s oldest democracy

‘Let’s give it a try’: motion sickness no barrier for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Lai Ka-ying suffers from motion sickness, cannot stand hot weather, was not a top student and did not speak Mandarin – all of which made the 43-year-old mother of three an unlikely pick as Hong Kong’s first astronaut. But the Hong Kong-born payload specialist on China’s Shenzhou-23 mission, which is expected to blast off on Sunday night and head to the Tiangong space station, made it through almost two years of training. “I held a ‘let’s give it a try’ attitude,” Lai said in interviews with...

US, Iran aim to finalise ‘largely negotiated’ deal to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

The United States and Iran sought on Sunday to finalise an agreement to formally end the Middle East war after Donald Trump said a proposal that included opening the blockaded Strait of Hormuz was “largely negotiated”. However, the US president emphasised that the deal was still “subject to finalisation”, while The New York Times reported that the two sides would only address thorny issues about Iran’s nuclear programme after an initial pact was reached. “An Agreement has been largely...

Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir banned...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

France has ⁠decided to ban Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from French territory, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Saturday, adding that this reflected ‌growing anger among governments around the world over the treatment of an activist flotilla heading to Gaza. “As from today, Itamar Ben-Gvir is banned from entering French territory,” Barrot wrote on X. “Along with ⁠my Italian counterpart, I am asking the European Union to ‌also take sanctions against Itamar...

Vance and Rubio emerge as early contenders to inherit...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

An early glimpse of the battle to succeed US President Donald Trump atop the Republican ticket played out last week in classic Trumpian fashion when Vice-President J.D. Vance was temporarily demoted to play press secretary.His hour-long spell fielding questions from the White House “lion’s den” press corps included statements chiding the media and the obligatory denial for ambitious politicians. “This is crazy. You guys have got to behave yourself,” he told reporters, before adding: “I’m not

Is China building the world’s largest naval support...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

China appears to be close to launching the world’s largest naval support ship. On Thursday, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation released a picture of one of its shipyards on social media as part of a message marking a new Chinese solar term, which showed a massive hull in a dry dock in the background. The photo prompted speculation among military observers that the hull was an auxiliary ship and triggered a debate about the future logistical capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army...

Hong Kong’s astronaut to gather data using...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Hong Kong’s first astronaut will operate a locally developed observatory that monitors key sources of greenhouse gas emissions on Earth during her time aboard the Tiangong space station, the research team behind the project has said. The imaging equipment could pinpoint the location and intensity of emissions, providing data that could be used to reduce carbon sources in the Greater Bay Area and elsewhere in mainland China, Professor Li Jia of Lingnan University said on Saturday. Payload...

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visits China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is visiting China as the country seeks support for its efforts to mediate in the conflict between Iran and the United States. The visit also coincides with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries, which are expected to use the occasion to upgrade their already close relationship. One Chinese analyst said Beijing was willing to offer its support for the peace efforts – and also help resolve Pakistan’s...

Ebola spreads in eastern Congo as contact tracing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Ebola is spreading faster than responders can track it in eastern Congo, where health workers managed to follow up with barely one in five identified contacts in a single day. Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported 83 confirmed infections, 746 suspected cases and 1,603 identified contacts as of May 21, according to the health ministry. Yet health workers were able to follow up with only 342 contacts that day – about 21 per cent of the total under monitoring – according

Why China is looking to coal waste as a source of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

China is turning coal waste into a source of critical metals including lithium, gallium and germanium, leveraging its advantages in extraction technology and industrial infrastructure. Coal mining and burning produce large amounts of waste, including coal gangue, the rock embedded in coal seams, and fly ash, the fine particulate ash captured after burning. Traditionally both are used only as low-value cement additives, while their stockpiling consumes land and causes environmental...

Hong Kong’s justice department rejects ‘despicable’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Hong Kong’s justice department has rejected online accusations about the newly promoted public prosecutions director and a colleague, labelling the allegations “despicable behaviour” and an attempt to “defame public officers”. In a statement on Saturday, the department said it had referred the case to law enforcement agencies for further investigation, vowing to “severely punish lawbreakers in accordance with the law”. US-based Hong Kong fugitive activist Frances Hui Wing-ting has accused the...

Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers granted permanent UK...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Nearly 10,000 Hongkongers have been granted permanent residence in the UK under a bespoke British immigration pathway launched in January 2021, making them eligible to apply for citizenship next year. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the British National (Overseas) visa pathway, which allows successful applicants and their dependants to live, work and study in the United Kingdom for up to five years. “Since the scheme began, there have been a total of 9,804 grants of settlement to...

Pope Leo urges end to pollution, criticises profits...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/23

Pope Leo on Saturday called out companies who seek “dizzying” profits at the cost of environmental pollution, on a visit to an area in Italy known as a hotbed for illegal dumping of toxic waste. On a visit to Acerra, ‌about 220 km (137 miles) south of Rome, the first US pope urged the world to “reject temptations of power and enrichment linked to practices that pollute the land, water, air, and social coexistence”. Leo said he wanted to come to the area near Naples known as the “Land of Fires”

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