Hong Kongs property market dodged an immediate hit from the Federal Reserves rate hike on Thursday as major local banks kept their prime rates unchanged, but another increase could puncture the markets relatively fragile recovery, according to industry insiders. The Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point at its latest meeting on Wednesday in the ...

Progress towards reunifying with Taiwan hinges on factors like the islands level of provocation, retired PLA major general Luo Yan told the South China Morning Post, warning that Taiwans leader had challenged Beijings red lines. Speaking on the sidelines of the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on Wednesday, Luo said the timeline for reunification with mainland ...

Over the course of the summer, Russian attacks have been pushing ever deeper into European territory. On August 11, military divers destroyed two drones floating off the coast of Romania near a 4 billion (US$4.7 billion) energy project. Nine days later, Bucharest scrambled two F-16s to take out a maritime drone near the same Black Sea gas platform with ...

Indonesias latest ferry disaster has exposed persistent weaknesses in maritime safety oversight, experts have said, with poor enforcement and inadequate supervision continuing to leave passengers vulnerable across the sprawling archipelago. The capsizing of the Virgo Transport 8 in the Java Sea on Sunday has intensified scrutiny of a system that analysts ...

Taiwan has quietly acknowledged donating a coastguard vessel to the Philippines, potentially adding to Manilas maritime patrol capacity amid its long-running stand-off with Beijing in the South China Sea. Taiwans Coast Guard Administration said on Wednesday that this case was being handled in line with previous transfers of vessels to the Marshall Islands, ...

A diagnosed paedophile who sexually abused 11 girls over 33 years, with the acts ranging from molestation to rape, was sentenced by a Singapore court on Thursday to 21 years jail. The victims were as young as five, and included his daughter, granddaughters, nieces and students at an enrichment centre he ran with his wife. The judge noted that the jail term ...

Authorities in Malaysia have seized several more Israel-bound shipments at one of the countrys biggest ports, according to people familiar with the matter, an apparently new level of scrutiny in a nation where anti-Israeli sentiment runs high. Three containers bound for Ashdod Port south of Tel Aviv were detained at Malaysias Tanjung Pelepas port in ...

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr has won a burst of online support among Filipinos who see him as one of Manilas most outspoken senior officials against China, with some already asking whether it could give him enough political momentum to carry him into the 2028 elections. His latest boost came after a viral moment at the Seoul Defence ...

A former police constable who was left paralysed and bedridden for 21 years after a knife attack during a stop-and-search has died, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said Jacky Chu Chun-kwok died on Wednesday. He was in his fifties. Frankie Leung Chun-kit, chairman of the Junior Police Officers Association, said on Thursday that the forces ...

Hong Kong is broadening its equity markets, deepening its offshore yuan business and expanding further into gold trading under its first five-year plan for economic and social development, as the city seeks to defend its standing as Asias top financial centre and close the gap with London. Unveiled on Wednesday by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu alongside ...

Russia is increasingly mobilising North Korean workers to build military drones for use against Ukraine in defiance of international sanctions, giving Pyongyang a key source of revenue to fund its unlawful weapons programmes, according to a report by the US and its allies. Up to 25,000 North Koreans were believed to be working in Russias drone industry, ...

A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to 22 months behind bars for driving his Tesla car dangerously and causing a 19-year-old students death at a pedestrian crossing two years ago. The District Court on Thursday also disqualified Ernest Au Yeung Shiu-hong from driving for five years and criticised his extremely dangerous and irresponsible attitude that led to ...

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) recorded a roughly 10 per cent increase in passenger traffic in the first eight months of the year, while cargo volume declined for a second consecutive month in August amid weak exports. The airport said passenger numbers rose 10.1 per cent year on year to 44.3 million between January and August, while flight ...

Hong Kongs new AI city brain will not involve personal data and poses no privacy concerns, the city leader has said, adding that the system will also help improve visitor management during golden week holidays. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also stressed on Thursday the importance of AI education and the need to nurture young peoples AI literacy, citing ...

Two German state elections Sunday could deal a double blow to embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz, two weeks after his party suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of the far-right AfD. Tight races for power each with their own unique electoral dynamics are expected in the city state of Berlin and the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. ...

Intense public discussions surrounding the downsides of technology have been sparked by a Chinese man accusing a phone companys lock screen feature of obstructing his father from calling an ambulance, which he claims contributed to his mothers death. On September 10, a 19-year-old man named Zhang shared on social media that his mother suffered a heart ...

A man believed to be millions of dollars in debt is suspected of murdering his wife in their flat after previous financial disputes, according to preliminary investigations by Hong Kong police. Superintendent Kwan Chun-ting, assistant district commander of Eastern district crime squad, said on Thursday that a 51-year-old man had turned himself in at Kowloon ...

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for stricter regulations and sanctions against those who use slash and burn methods to clear land, as the country struggles to contain wildfires that have been raging for weeks. Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, with super El Nino weather parching the countrys forests and fields. ...

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu has vowed to examine whether the government can better support women aged over 40 who are seeking assisted reproductive treatment, while acknowledging that financial incentives alone would not reverse the citys falling birth rate. Lee made the pledge during a radio phone-in programme on Thursday, when residents described ...

Hong Kong aims to adjust listing rules to grab a share of initial public offerings (IPOs) by mainland Chinas space companies as activity in the sector increases in line with Beijings priorities and heightened activity in the sector following the blockbuster June listing by Elon Musks SpaceX. That could lead to more head-to-head competition between the Hong ...

We have put together stories from our coverage of John Lees 2026 policy address. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. 14 key takeaways from John Lees policy address, Hong Kongs first 5-year plan Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has placed deepening integration with mainland China and developing new ...

Electronic payment providers need to be more diligent in vetting companies that use their platforms to protect people from fraud, the Philippine central bank said. The requirement came after Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas found thousands of illegal businesses on the payment platforms, including many online casinos masquerading as more ordinary companies like ...

The US House of Representatives held billionaire investor Leon Black in contempt of Congress on Wednesday for defying subpoenas issued in its investigation into notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The resolution was adopted by unanimous consent, without a recorded vote, a day after the House Oversight Committee unanimously recommended the action. The ...

When transgender woman Kali Sidharth Medepalli began hormone replacement therapy in India, she expected to complete her medical transition and undergo surgery within a year. But just months after she began treatment earlier this year, Indias parliament amended the countrys transgender law, and the clinic where she was receiving care stopped her medicines. ...

Okinawa has handed a landslide victory to a conservative who accepts Tokyos plans for relocating a controversial US airbase delivering a blow to 12 years of anti-base politics in Japans southernmost prefecture. Genta Kojas victory on Sunday over two-term governor Denny Tamaki raised a question cutting to the heart of Okinawas post-war politics: is it ...