South China Morning Post

Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of child abuse after she allegedly hit her 12-year-old son with a rattan cane in a Hong Kong flat. The police force said it received a report at 2.48pm on Saturday from a boy in Wong Tai Sin who complained he had been beaten by his mother. The boy, whose shoulder was red and swollen, was later taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei for treatment after police arrived at the public housing flat on Tsui Fung Street. Officers conducted an initial...

King Harold’s legendary 200-mile march across England to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 is a “myth” that likely never happened, according to research published on Saturday. In arguably the most famous battle in English history, the Anglo-Saxon leader was defeated by William the Conqueror, who became the first Franco-Norman king of England, at Hastings on October 14, 1066. The decisive clash, which marked the start of the Norman conquest of England, is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, set to be...

China has announced major discoveries of various critical minerals, including rare earths and fluorite, bolstering its reserves of the resources essential for the hi-tech, new energy and defence industries. At the Maoniuping mine in Sichuan province’s Mianning county, authorities announced the discovery of 9.7 million tonnes of rare earth oxides, bringing the site’s total proven reserves to 10.4 million tonnes, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday. Surveys also revealed 27.1 million...

Hong Kong police have arrested five people and recovered nearly HK$100 million (US$12.7 million) in gold stolen in a suspected deception case, in which a buyer allegedly worked as an accomplice of a group that seized the haul before fleeing. The incident took place at about 2.45pm on Friday at an office in Peninsula Square on Sung On Street in Hung Hom, where a staff member was conducting a gold handover to an alleged buyer. The South China Morning Post had earlier reported that the case was...

Iran launched a missile attack on a military base in the Indian Ocean jointly used by the United Kingdom and the United States, according to US media reports. The Islamic Republic fired ballistic missiles at the base on the island of Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands, on Friday morning, the Wall Street Journal and CNN reported, citing senior US officials. According to the reports, two medium-range missiles were launched but failed to hit the facility. There was no immediate public...

China called for a halt to the “unjust war” in Iran in a phone call between top diplomats on Friday and expressed willingness to work with France to prevent other nations from being drawn into the conflict. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to the French president, that as members of the UN Security Council, the two countries should work together to firmly uphold international law and prevent the world from reverting to the “law of the jungle”. “The urgent...

Fourteen people died and 25 were seriously injured in a fire at a car parts factory in the South Korean city of Daejeon, fire authorities said ⁠on Saturday. The fire broke out around lunchtime on Friday and was contained ‌by 11.48pm, the safety ministry said. Another 35 people suffered minor injuries, the fire authorities added. As of Saturday morning, 28 people were sent to hospital, and four of them had surgery for broken bones and other injuries. Fire officials said the factory was owned by...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the US robotics industry will have to rely on China’s supply chain despite the US pioneering the market, as the company bets on physical AI and looks to return to the Chinese market. “I think China is formidable,” Huang said when asked about the country’s rise in the robotics industry during a podcast hosted by Silicon Valley tech executives. “The reason for that is because their microelectronics, motors, rare earth and magnets – which are foundational to robotics –...

A shadowy go-between known as “Aunt Mei” allegedly involved in a notorious child trafficking case has been arrested, according to police in southern China. Police in the city of Guangzhou said the woman, surnamed Xie, had been identified last year, and the case was still under investigation, state media reported on Saturday. The reports did not specify when the arrest was made. For years, police were aware an intermediary had been involved in the trafficking case, but Aunt Mei remained at large...

An American man who donated photographs of the Japanese invasion of China in World War II and received a national gift of porcelain from China has announced that he has settled in the country. On March 15, Evan Kail announced the news on social media, saying that he has chosen to live in Tianjin in the north of the country, according to a report by the Beijing News. Minnesota pawn shop owner Kail, 37, has enjoyed enormous popularity in China after he donated an album containing more than 30...

The phone call between the Dutch and Chinese foreign ministers was a first on a series of fronts. For the new Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen, the call on March 13 was his first with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi since taking on the job a few weeks earlier. It was also the first between the two holders of the offices since China and the Netherlands became embroiled in a row over the control of Chinese-owned, Netherlands-based chipmaker Nexperia. Nexperia is a major component in the...

A 19-year-old star wrestler and two other young men were hanged in Iran this week, raising alarm among rights groups that a wave of executions may be under way as authorities facing relentless attacks from the US and Israel seek to squelch public dissent. The three men are the first to be executed from among the tens of thousands who were arrested during a January crackdown on nationwide protests. Rights groups say more than 100 others could face death sentences. The wrestler, Saleh Mohammadi,...

Hong Kong authorities have received more than 100 applications for innovative drone usage to pioneer the city’s “low-altitude economy”, with some pilot projects set to launch as early as in three months, the transport minister has said. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan also pledged to push more advanced transport technologies to transition from trials to everyday use in 2026. In a blog post on the Transport and Logistics Bureau’s website on Saturday, Chan said “the industry...

After decades at the front lines campaigning for environmental protection, The Green Earth founder Edwin Lau Che-feng is slowing down to focus on his health and hobbies. The 68-year-old has been one of the most vocal environmentalists championing a waste-charging scheme for more than two decades. Lau still remembers May 27, 2024, when the government abruptly paused the waste-charging bill, as if it were yesterday. The suspension was the biggest blow in his 36-year career. “It feels impossible....

Popular doll Labubu and Blackpink’s Jennie were among the headline names and brands from the city and abroad that drew thousands of fans to Hong Kong’s third edition of pop culture festival ComplexCon on Saturday. Organisers said this year’s edition had broken attendance records and would draw tens of thousands across the two-day event at AsiaWorld-Expo. On Saturday morning, attendees took selfies with sculptures of the figurine and queued for exclusive merchandise, while others explored local...

Before his first term as US president began in 2017, Donald Trump was probably best known for his book, The Art of the Deal. But by launching, together with Israel, a widely unpopular war on Iran, Trump has arguably dealt himself a very weak hand. There is little “art” in it. The headline splashed across the front page of the Financial Times on March 17 – “Allies reject Trump’s call for warships” (to force open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has partially closed after US and Israeli attacks) –...

Accelerating glacial retreat in the Himalayas over the past decades is threatening over 2 billion people in the region who depend on meltwater from the “water tower of Asia” for their daily needs, according to climate scientists. Glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region have been losing ice at twice the rate since 2000, with smaller glaciers under 0.5 sq km shrinking more rapidly than larger ones, according to two landmark reports published on Saturday to coincide with the World Day for...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said Tehran is ready to facilitate the passage of Japanese vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global energy shipments, and that negotiations with Japan on the issue are ongoing. “We have not closed the strait. It is open,” Araghchi said in a telephone interview with Kyodo News on Friday. He also stressed that Iran, which was attacked by the United States and Israel in late February, was seeking “not a ceasefire, but a complete,...

Hong Kong authorities will issue weekly announcements about the changes in international and local fuel costs from April, following mounting suspicion that businesses are prematurely raising prices because of the United States-Israeli war on Iran. The announcement on Saturday also came after the conflict’s impact on oil prices prompted Hong Kong’s transport sector to consider temporary surcharges to offset rising costs. “We are currently collecting and organising data. Starting from April 1, we...

As China undergoes a sweeping economic transition, its regions are also in the process of embracing change. The powerhouses of yesteryear must adapt or risk falling behind, as traditional industries become less reliable growth drivers and new sectors take prominence. In this series, we explore three representative areas of the country as they attempt to navigate this rapidly changing environment. One morning in December, Zhang Li showed up for work as normal at Everwin Toys in Dongguan to find a...

China has joined the global top-tier timekeeping club with a new optical clock that could help it play a leading role in redefining the second. A team, led by Pan Jianwei at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, has built a strontium optical clock that would lose or gain less than one second over about 30 billion years – more than twice the age of the universe. The clock’s key parameters, known as stability and uncertainty, both surpassed the level of 10 to the power of...

Pancakes are a common breakfast in many parts of China today, but few people are aware that the popular meal has been around for 5,000 years. An ancient griddle unearthed from the Yangshao site in central China’s Henan province reveals that the history of Chinese pancakes could date back to at least 50 centuries ago. As for their invention, legend has it that pancakes came into being when Nuwa mended the heavens. In primordial times, when the world fell apart, mother goddess Nuwa gathered...

Mario Orain used to earn his living on the road. Now, the 51-year-old driver spends most of his time parked up, waiting for bookings that rarely come. “It’s really bad,” he told This Week in Asia. “There are very few bookings. And fuel prices have gone up a lot. It’s very expensive now.” With diesel prices in the Philippines shattering record highs amid the war on Iran, transport workers like Orain are being forced off the road as they face a stark choice between filling their tanks or feeding...

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit on Friday against Harvard University, accusing the institution of allowing a “hostile environment” towards Jewish and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus from 2023 to 2025. President Donald Trump has launched an offensive against major American universities, accusing them of giving free rein on their campuses to pro-Palestinian movements in the face of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, action which he equates with...

Three weeks into the Iran war, tit-for-tat escalations on multiple fronts have dragged the Middle East to the brink of the region-wide conflict that its governments have repeatedly warned about – and tried to avert – since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. Israel has launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon in recent days, after Hezbollah entered the conflict in response to the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iraq has been turned into a shooting range, as...

When Uzma Naveed discovered she was a finalist for a global award in Paris, it should have been the proudest moment of her life. Instead, she met the news with what she described as “mixed feelings”. The 37-year-old refugee from Pakistan was chosen from a pool of 1,500 nominees from 97 different jurisdictions for the “national impact” category of the 2026 Women Changing the World Awards, an annual event meant to celebrate women’s achievements. Uzma, who first came to Hong Kong seeking asylum...

Malaysia’s recent enforcements and cancellations linked to LGBTQ-related activities have ignited debate about whether the government is backsliding on reform. Rather than reading these moves purely as contradicting past administrations’ policies, these government actions may be better understood as an attempt to balance two political imperatives. For the political establishment, appearing conservative – and being conservative – remains central to political survival in a context where...

South Korea shut down the heart of Seoul on Saturday for a comeback concert by K-pop supergroup BTS, as authorities prepare for an estimated 260,000 fans to flood the city’s streets and millions more to watch the show live on Netflix. The one-hour-long concert, set to be held in the capital’s historic Gwanghwamun Square, marks the release of the seven-member group’s first new album in more than three years and the start of a global tour in April. BTS made their debut in 2013 and ‌have since gone...

A 31-year-old Georgia woman has been charged with murder after she took abortion medication and gave birth to a premature infant who died within hours, according to court documents and arrest records. Alexia Moore was arrested, charged and jailed by local police earlier this month ‌in coastal Camden County, Georgia, near the Florida border over the episode on December 30. Nearly all abortions in Georgia are illegal after six weeks of pregnancy. Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade...

As diplomatic friction between China and Japan drags on, no Japanese business executives will attend a key forum in Beijing of multinational companies this week, according to an internal list seen by the South China Morning Post. Nearly 80 top executives from major foreign corporations, with those from the US making up the largest group, will attend the China Development Forum (CDF) from Sunday to Monday, according to the list. Meanwhile, some foreign CEOs – including a few from the Middle East...

South Korea built the Cheongung-II to stop North Korean missiles. Now the system is stopping Iranian ones – and in doing so, has turned Seoul into one of the most sought-after defence suppliers on the planet. The medium-range surface-to-air missile system, also known as the KM-SAM Block II, has scored a reported interception rate of 96 per cent against Iranian missiles fired at the United Arab Emirates. It was a combat debut that rivalled, and in some cases exceeded, the performance of the US...

Three Hong Kong police officers fired five shots at a man, suspected to be mentally ill, who charged at them with a serrated knife and a metal rod in the early hours of Saturday morning. Senior Superintendent Iu Wing-kan said that police received reports after midnight that a man was carrying weapons and behaving abnormally at Tsuen Wan MTR station and Cheung Wing Road in Kwai Chung. Officers were dispatched to the area, but found no sign of the suspect. The force was alerted by several drivers...

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) last week proposed its biggest set of listing reforms since 2018 for Asia’s third-largest stock exchange. Delivered in a consultation paper, the reforms aim to further improve the competitiveness of the exchange that topped the world rankings for initial public offerings (IPOs) last year. The bourse operator will collect views on the proposals, which include broadening a special listing regime for innovative companies and opening the door for listings by...

Chinese youth are enthusiastically adopting Japan’s “ita bag” fashion accessory style to showcase their admiration for beloved anime and real-life idols, elevating the culture with their imaginative designs. On China’s popular lifestyle-sharing platform, RedNote, the hashtag #tongbao, which means “painful bag” (the Chinese translation of ita bag), boasts 2.3 billion views. Originating in Japan around the 2010s, the “ita bag” refers to bags adorned with plushies, badges, or small cards...

The US Treasury on Friday temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded onto vessels, in Washington’s latest step to stem a supply crisis over the Middle East war. The authorisation allows for the delivery and sale of Iranian crude oil and other petroleum products loaded onto ships before March 20, and will last through April 19, the Treasury said in a statement. The move by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday was under...

Operators of illicit fuel stations can earn as much as HK$10,000 (US$1,280) a day by smuggling untaxed petrol into Hong Kong using vehicles equipped with enlarged tanks and selling it to car club members via coded messages, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said there had been more cases involving illicit fuel or “ghost oil” in the city since late February, when petrol prices began to soar following US-Israel strikes on Iran. The source said law enforcement raids usually...

Death is the family business for Viroj Suriyasenee, a second-generation Thai funeral director. His bespoke coffins range from plain wooden boxes to ornate creations trimmed in gold with plush red velvet interiors, priced anywhere from US$30 to US$30,000 – each one representing a story of loss, grief and a life concluded. They also speak to the sheer scale of Asia’s ever-growing, multibillion-dollar death economy. All the coffins Viroj makes are destined for the cremation furnace, yet the...

A federal jury in California found on Friday that tech titan Elon Musk misled Twitter shareholders in an effort to drive down the company’s share price as he was poised to buy it in a US$44 billion deal. The verdict in a class action securities lawsuit means the world’s richest person could be ordered to pay out as much as US$2.6 billion, according to damages calculated by jurors. Giuseppe Pampena filed the suit against Musk on behalf of people who sold Twitter shares between mid-May of 2022 and...

The House Select Committee on China released a report on Friday asserting that China is manipulating its position at the United Nations to “undermine America’s interests and advance its international ambitions”. The 34-page report makes the case that China uses budget contributions, appointments to key UN executive positions and strategically deployed troops to expand its reach. The committee did not detail how these activities differed from how most countries operate at the UN, or the influence...

A US federal judge on Friday ruled as unconstitutional a Pentagon press access policy that withdrew accreditations from a host of prominent media organisations. Elements of the policy are “unlawful because they violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution”, a judge in Washington said in response to a lawsuit brought by The New York Times. US media and a host of international news outlets including Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Fox News declined to sign...

US President Donald Trump said Friday he was considering “winding down” military operations against Iran three weeks into the war, but warned the Strait of Hormuz would need to be policed by other countries. Trump’s comments were his strongest signal yet of an end to the conflict, but came despite the fact that the key oil passage effectively remains closed, and as thousands more Marines are headed to the Middle East. “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding...

The official line is straightforward: US President Donald Trump asked for a delay to his long-anticipated summit in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and it has been pushed back by “a month or so”. According to the White House, moving the meeting allows Trump to remain in the US and manage the escalating war with Iran, including urgent efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But beneath the surface, a more complex story emerges: months of growing frustrations, mismatched expectations,...

During a press conference of the annual “two sessions”, National People’s Congress spokesperson Lou Qinjian referenced the grass-roots football league Suchao or Su Super League, which drew millions of spectators in Chinese stadiums last year. At a time when boosting domestic demand tops Beijing’s economic agenda, discussing an amateur sports tournament at the national podium goes beyond mere cultural commentary. It hints at something broader about how policymakers are approaching the consumption...

The administration of US President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) policy framework aimed at curbing state-level restrictions on innovation, as it urged Congress to address AI risks and reinforce the US edge in an intensifying technology race with China. Congress should pre-empt state AI laws that “impose undue burdens”, to ensure a national standard instead of “fifty discordant ones”, Trump said in a new legislative recommendation named the National AI...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected accusations on Friday that he had intended to offend Christians when he said the previous day that Jesus had “no advantage” over Genghis Khan. “More fake news about my attitude towards Christians, who are protected and flourish in Israel. Let me be clear: I did not denigrate Jesus Christ at my news conference,” Netanyahu wrote in English on social media. “To the contrary, I cited the great American historian Will Durant. A fervent admirer of...

The UK ⁠government gave authorisation on Friday ⁠for the US to use military bases in Britain to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites that are attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz. British ministers met on Friday ‌to discuss the war with Iran and Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Downing Street statement. “They confirmed that the agreement for the US to use UK bases in the collective self-defence of the region includes US defensive operations to degrade the missile...

In 2012, American Jesse Appell stepped off a plane in China on a Fulbright scholarship to study an unusual subject: the art of Chinese comedy. Over the next few years, Appell, then in his 20s, found himself telling jokes in clubs across China, studying traditional comedy under a master, and even appearing on television. The country’s comedy scene and cultural footprint expanded in ways he could not have predicted – and Appell was along for the ride. “There were so many opportunities to be a part...

Three victims of IRA bombings in England on Friday dropped their civil claim for damages against former Irish republican leader Gerry Adams, whom they had sought to hold personally responsible for orchestrating the blasts. The trio – who were injured in IRA bomb blasts in the 1970s and 1990s – had also sought to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Adams was a senior member of the Irish Republican Army. But on the very last day of the two-week trial, their lawyer Anne Studd told the High Court in...

Hong Kong police have launched a manhunt for three people involved in a suspected deception case in which a shop reportedly lost 73kg of gold bars worth an estimated US$12 million, the South China Morning Post has learned. The force said on Friday that it had received a report from a woman in Hung Hom at around 2.57pm on Friday that a nearby shop was suspected to have been “burgled”. The woman said the shop owner had told her someone had stolen the gold bars before fleeing in a private...

A pregnant Syrian woman and her five young children died when a fire ripped through containers housing agricultural workers near the southwestern Antalya resort, the governor and media reports said on Friday. DHA news agency said the 27-year-old mother was seven months pregnant, with her husband fighting for his life after the blaze. The tragedy occurred as Turkey began celebrating the three-day Bayram holiday to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Antalya Governor Hulusi Sahin...