All coverage of Hong Kong, ranked by recency.
Three dog owners have lost their appeal against the government’s decision to classify their pets as “fighting dogs,” designations that were made as authorities tightened regulations following fatal dog attacks in August. Bao Bao and Baku outside the Animal Management and Animal Welfare Building Complex on September 30, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The Dogs and Cats Classification Board, an advis...
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Thursday that there is no timeline yet for implementing the US-China Board of Trade, one of the key economic outcomes of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington last week. Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Trade Ministers’ meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Greer said the tariff reductions under the mechanism we...
Two giant pandas arrived in the US following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, continuing a decades-old tradition in which the beloved fuzzy ambassadors have become symbols of China’s ties with countries around the world. Zoo Atlanta announced the arrival of giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang on Sunday, saying it was “overjoyed” to welcome the pair after the zoo’s previous 2...
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday reiterated Moscow’s long-held position that Russia is not planning to attack European countries but will respond to aggression with “all weapons” in its arsenal. In remarks at a foreign policy forum, Putin accused the West and Europe of escalating tensions by talking about preparing for a war with Moscow in the coming years, conducting military drill...
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Tehran was likely to be involved in an attack by a pilot on a flydubai flight to Israel and that Iran would be “hit very hard” if it was. The co-pilot allegedly assaulted the captain before passengers managed to save the plane from crashing. Israel’s prime minister said the man had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination”. “I would say the answ...
Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Washington, but he still has a place at the White House. At least two, in fact. Two different photographs of Xi with US President Donald Trump feature on its walls: a handshake image that Trump showed his guest during last week’s state visit, and another beside a Palm Room doorway showing the presidents standing side by side. Journalist Jacqueline Alemany s...
Canada will fast track the approval process for a new proposed crude oil export pipeline to its west coast that could generate over C$20 billion (US$14 billion) a year in GDP, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday. The pipeline, which was announced in July, is a crucial part of Carney’s bid to diversify the economy away from the United States and help lessen the effect of US President Do...
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trade, Taiwan and ‘strategic stability’: key Xi-Trump takeaways overall Here are the key takeaways from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s whirlwind 43-hour trip to the United States, his first ...
In April last year, Brussels launched an obscure “import surveillance task force” to track the impact of US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China on the EU economy. The bloc was concerned that Chinese shipments bound for the United States would be diverted to Europe at lower prices, imperilling local manufacturers. Eighteen months on, the European Union is on the cusp of its own trade w...
When the US Space Force announced on September 14 that “the US has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action”, I thought of Isaac Newton’s well-known declaration that he could not calculate the madness of people. This is the first time a country has admitted to deploying weapons in space. Today, the orbits are congested and contested wi...
Anti-South Asian hate in the United States has spiked since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office for a second term, with racist, dehumanising and xenophobic slurs and narratives proliferating across both mainstream and fringe social media platforms, a US-based report has revealed. The report, titled “The Rising Tide of Anti-South Asian Hate in the United States”, by the Washington-based Cen...
US President Donald Trump’s unilateral announcement of a “colossal” South Korean investment package has prompted Seoul to clarify that the deal is far from finalised, laying bare stark differences between the allies over the terms of their trade agreement, observers have said. On Wednesday, Trump announced that South Korea would invest in the construction of a natural gas-fired power plant in T...
Five days after Chinese President Xi Jinping left Washington, the US State Department marked the 77th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China with a greeting short enough to fit on a calling card. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s congratulatory statement landed on Wednesday, a few hours before dawn on National Day in Beijing. It made no mention of Xi’s visit, the trade understandings r...
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto replaced his foreign minister with a career diplomat on Thursday, in his second change to a top post in his cabinet in less than three weeks. Prabowo in a cabinet reshuffle named as foreign minister, the ministry’s former permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, with the outgoing Sugiono appointed Human Development minister. The appoin...
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto is replacing Listyo Sigit Prabowo as the country’s police chief with the head of the National Narcotics Agency, Suyudi Ario Seto, amid reports of police transgressions under Listyo’s watch in recent years. Chairman of the House Commission on Legal Affairs Habiburokhman confirmed on Thursday morning that the house had received a presidential letter dismissi...
Japan is increasingly tapping into Ukraine’s war experience against Russia as a valuable source of intelligence on military technologies that could strengthen its defensive and offensive capabilities. A visit to Kyiv this week by senior ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and former Japanese defence minister Itsunori Onodera demonstrates this interest, analysts say, against the backdrop of...
Hong Kong’s health minister has warned that the city will need to “bear the consequences” of exaggerating concerns over the employment prospects of nurses, as such remarks could deter new blood from joining the profession. “I do not want recent comments, such as claims that ‘[nursing] graduation equals unemployment’, to dampen the interest of our younger generation in joining the nursing profes...
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has expressed concern over reports of high “no-show” rates among medical officers assigned to permanent postings in Sabah and Sarawak. The medical body urged the government to take action by reverting to a percentage-based allowance and introducing incentives to attract and retain healthcare workers in East Malaysia. MMA president Sivanaesan Letchumanan p...
An Indian pilot’s extraordinary bravery during an apparent mid-air hijack attempt has ignited a wave of national pride, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailing the pilot as a hero for saving 174 lives on a flydubai plane – adding a dramatic chapter to a career that began almost by chance. Captain Smit Machchhar was critically injured after taking the brunt of a knife attack on Wednesday, but ...
The Chinese ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, has described the personal rapport and “mutual respect” between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump as the “most valuable strategic asset in our bilateral relations”. “Their personal connection and in-depth dialogue have helped keep China-US relations on course at critical moments,” Xie said during a speech on Wednesd...
US President Donald Trump has announced US$200 billion in energy investments from South Korea, including US$54 billion towards a long-discussed liquefied natural gas project in Alaska and more than US$100 billion in planned longer-term nuclear power investments. Besides the Alaska LNG project and pipeline and the nuclear plants, the Trump administration announced a US$22.3 billion natural gas-f...
Perhaps no story illustrates the secret of China’s industrial success better than its rise as the world’s gold superpower. China has revered the metal for millennia, yet it has never had a gold-based economy. Its own deposits were simply too scarce. In 1975, as China began its economic modernisation, it desperately needed gold to fund reform and build up foreign reserves. Despite its best effor...
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and senior government officials are attending a ceremony and a National Day reception as the city celebrates the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he discussed the release of political prisoners in China with his counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Washington last week. “We talked, and I think we had some very, very important discussions. Hopefully fruitful discussions,” Trump told reporters in the White House. Families had stepped up pressure on the Trump administration to push Beijing to release ...
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that the United States has slashed the number of its generals and admirals by 20 per cent, in a move he said is aimed at “accountability”. Hegseth suggested the cuts targeted officers who failed to get on board with his efforts to ensure the military is focused on war-fighting rather than the “woke” policies of previous administrations, d...
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Wednesday proposed a new global framework to tackle excess steel production capacity on the sidelines of the ongoing Group of 20 Trade Ministers’ meeting, just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States. “The United States has taken robust measures, and it probably makes sense for other countries to do that too,” Greer sa...
Israel’s leader credited the Indian pilot of a Dubai-Tel Aviv flight, as well as the aircraft’s passengers, with averting catastrophe on Wednesday after the man was attacked by his co-pilot, sparking a fight for control of the aircraft and forcing an emergency landing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the co-pilot of the flydubai jet had been trying to crash it and kill all its passengers...
China will charge an extra 55 per cent tariff on Brazilian beef from Thursday after Brazil filled its import quota for the year and has not agreed to let Brazilian exporters use the unfilled quota of neighbouring Uruguay, industry sources said. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced the surtax on Wednesday, a day after China’s customs administration confirmed that Brazil had used all of its...
A pilot programme between the UK and France that aimed to curb the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has been scrapped, Britain’s government said on Wednesday. In a statement, the Home Office said the so-called “one in, one out” deal is “no longer processing new cases”. Under the plan, people who arrived in the UK after making the dangerous crossing across the Chann...
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday said there were “strong indications” that Iran was involved in suspicious activity at a UK airbase that triggered a major security incident this weekend. “There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” Burnham told the BBC, referring to Sunday’s bomb scare near the airbase in southwest Eng...
The European Union would embrace the UK if it ever decided to rejoin the bloc, the leaders of Spain and France said shortly after new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham floated the possibility. “Welcome back,” French President Emmanuel Macron quipped in English, speaking Wednesday in Madrid alongside Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is hosting the leader on a two-day visit. “This prime minister is...
A decades-long effort by Beijing and Washington to recover the remains of US servicemen missing in China since World War II has resurfaced in the wake of the summit between the nations’ leaders. The commitment was included in an eight-point list of outcomes from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day state visit last week, alongside other agreements covering issues including artificial intell...
Chinese President Xi Jinping projected a message of confidence about the country’s ability to overcome challenges during his annual National Day address, issuing a rallying call for robust economic growth and more certainty amid geopolitical complications. Xi’s address, delivered at a state reception in Beijing on Wednesday evening to mark the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Re...
Nearly 150 companies have reduced packaging material equivalent to the weight of about 900 double-decker buses over the past year after taking part in a government charter on waste reduction launched in Hong Kong in 2025. A-1 Bakery, Watsons Water and SF Express Hong Kong were among 75 firms recognised for their efforts at an award ceremony on Wednesday, following an assessment by the Environme...
We have put together stories from our coverage of the Xi-Trump summit. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Why Xi Jinping skipped the UN after his Trump summit Han Zheng, China’s vice-president, called on “major countries” to respect the sovereignty and security of Middle Eastern nations and bring about a two-state solution for the “Palestinian questi...
We are reminded seemingly daily of the great power transitions that ended in conflict. However, it is the exceptions – the ones that did not result in war – that could have real lessons to offer. Today, the question is more than academic. Standing beside US President Donald Trump at the White House last week, President Xi Jinping proposed that competition between China and the United States sho...
Disagreement over how to prevent conflicts could explain why Chinese and US accounts characterised discussions at last week’s summit so differently, analysts said. Speaking at a White House arrival ceremony, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the two militaries should maintain regular dialogue and “improve mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention”. In a statement issued after the summi...
Indonesia is pursuing plans to make public schools free at all levels, stretching from kindergarten to university, but mounting pressure on the state budget could hinder the government from pulling off the massive undertaking, analysts have said. President Prabowo Subianto summoned his ministers last week to discuss a plan to “accelerate the implementation of free education in public schools”, ...
Norway’s parliament began hearings on Wednesday of current and former ministers to examine practices in the diplomatic service, following revelations about ties between late US convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and senior Norwegian officials. The hearings come against the background of the foreign ministry’s payment of more than 130 million kroner to the International Peace Institute (IPI)...
A US-led coalition deployed in Iraq more than a decade ago to fight jihadists concluded its mission on Wednesday, a move celebrated by the country’s leaders, but which some fear will embolden pro-Iran armed factions. Coalition troops deployed to Iraq and Syria in 2014 to fight Islamic State, which had seized large swathes of territory, committing massacres and forcing thousands of women and chi...
The death of a 14-year-old student at a Malaysian boarding school has renewed scrutiny over student safety, raising questions over whether reforms introduced after the high-profile death of Zara Qairina Mahathir last year have changed what happens behind dormitory doors. Police in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, have detained two 16-year-old students as they investigate the death of Muhammad Idla...
The Hong Kong government has pledged to expand its intellectual property (IP) financing sandbox scheme by adding more banks and enterprises, after seven corporate users found that a nine-month trial helped lower their borrowing costs. “This will help refine the IP ecosystem, including valuation practices, professional service costs, supporting measures and market awareness,” Carmen Chu Lap-kiu,...
The former head of China’s financial markets regulator will be tried for corruption, according to state media Wednesday, the latest high-profile official to fall under Beijing’s sweeping anti-graft campaign . Yi Huiman. Photo: China Securities Regulatory Commission. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced that an investigation into Yi Huiman had concluded and the case referred to a court i...
Philippine senators have urged the Department of Tourism to stick with a single marketing campaign to build long-term international recognition, pointing to long-running successes such as Malaysia’s “Truly Asia” tagline. Newly appointed Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay was asked about her plans for the current slogan, “Love the Philippines”, during a departmental budget hearing on Monday, t...
Hong Kong authorities are facing calls to increase the proportion of private housing in selected districts and work more closely with developers to expand accommodation for non-local students. The government forecasts annual demand for non-local student housing at 2,310 flats over the next decade, 45 per cent higher than last year’s estimate, according to the latest Long Term Housing Strategy p...
Mark Carney built a global profile in 2026 by standing up to US President Donald Trump. If some prediction-market traders and prominent admirers are right, the Canadian prime minister could end the year with the Nobel Peace Prize and Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Carney briefly became the favourite Monday for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Kalshi, a US-based prediction market, when traders...
China’s broadcasting regulator has called for greater support for live-action dramas as the government seeks to steer the booming microdrama industry towards higher-quality production and tighter rights safeguards amid the rapid rise of AI. Artificial intelligence (AI) has created innovation and production possibilities for microdramas, while also posing challenges over content quality and righ...
Malaysia’s two-time prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has been admitted to hospital for observation, his office confirmed on Wednesday, in the latest health scare involving the 101-year-old. Mahathir was admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) on Tuesday night, barely a day after his wife of 70 years, Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, died at the same hospital. It is unclear why the former leader w...
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday let President Donald Trump’s administration continue swiftly deporting people to countries other than their own for now, while the justices consider whether the policy is legal. The apparent 6-3 order temporarily lifts lower court requirements for migrants to get a chance to object before being sent to countries to which they have no ties. The Supreme Court will ...
The two-month extension of the US-China trade truce remains fragile despite last week’s summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, with modest economic concessions leaving deeper disputes unresolved, Asia Society Policy Institute analysts said on Tuesday. “In my view, this truce is very fragile,” said Wendy Cutler, an Asia Society Policy Institute vice-president and former acting de...
Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and latest policy address have put demographic sustainability on the public agenda. Among the measures announced are an extension of the newborn bonus scheme and increased financial support for the second and subsequent children. These are welcome steps. But the fertility debate should not be reduced to whether a bonus is large enough to change family decisions....
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day state visit to Washington is over, but China watchers in Congress and the US-China policy community are still parsing a wide range of outcomes, with two more leadership summits expected before the end of the year. The talks between Xi and US President Donald Trump produced a series of joint announcements, including an extension of the US-China trade truc...
Hong Kong authorities have defended its policies on hiring non-locally trained nurses, saying that they are “very small” in number following complaints about the import of non-local workers causing unemployment. The government said in a statement on Tuesday that Hong Kong’s public hospitals have always prioritised the hiring of locally trained professionals. Nurses at the Children’s Hospital. P...
As American billionaires gathered at the White House to honour Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan last Thursday, a group of Chinese business leaders spent the evening on the sidelines. They had travelled to the US capital to join the state dinner. But their invitations never arrived. For weeks, their participation was the subject of intense discussion between Washington and B...
If you want to understand how Washington exercises power in the world, watch what it does when its closest allies try to deepen ties with each other. When EU chief Ursula von der Leyen proposed making Canada the European Union’s first-ever “associate member”, US President Donald Trump’s response was swift and blunt: “If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious...
New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham set out a sweeping political vision on Tuesday, pledging to give Britain “a new social contract for the 21st century”, reform the country’s electoral system and reset its relationship with its European neighbours. But he acknowledged that economic constraints make delivering his sweeping plans a big political risk. “Small things will not get us through wh...
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he does not want to work with China on addressing artificial intelligence (AI) risks, arguing that cooperation could undermine America’s lead in the fast-moving technology, as he announced a voluntary accord signed by the leaders of six major US tech companies to address growing concerns surrounding the technology. “Whoever wins superintelligence wins. ...
Spain’s coalition government said it had agreed on proposals including banning evictions until 2030 to address the country’s housing crisis, as the 87-year-old woman whose forced removal last week triggered protests accepted an offer to return home. Hundreds of people remained camped in one of Madrid’s main squares on Tuesday to protest Maricarmen Abascal’s removal from her home on a stretcher...
A young cyclist who died after a suspected canine attack in Hong Kong earlier this month was likely bitten on the neck by several dogs, but government forensic pathologists fear it may ultimately be impossible to determine which exact animals were involved, the South China Morning Post has learned. The SCMP has learned that the victim was Fairview Park resident Eva Chu, who was found on Pok Wai...
