Trump says US strike on another alleged drug boat off Venezuela kills 6 The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no US forces were harmed, the president said in a social media post. It was the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump’s administration has asserted it was treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. US Defence Secretary...

South China Morning Post

Trump says US strike on another alleged drug boat off Venezuela kills 6

US president announces the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean, releasing video of a vessel exploding.

Defects, lax oversight may have led to Hong Kong prefab flat woes: experts Material defects and poor installation supervision may have contributed to the improper assembly of prefabricated flats at three light public housing projects in Hong Kong, experts have suggested amid a controversy over the new construction method. Their analysis came after a series of incidents involving Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) flats across various public housing projects sparked concerns over the dependability of the new building technique that has been heavily promoted by the...

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Defects, lax oversight may have led to Hong Kong prefab flat woes: experts

Incidents involving Modular Integrated Construction flats at public housing projects have sparked public concerns over reliability of new building ...

Nuclear ‘bribery’ backlash in Japan over restart plan for world’s largest plant Japan’s largest power company is reportedly dangling a 100 billion yen (US$654 million) payout for locals to restart its long-dormant Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in a move critics have called “bribery”. The unprecedented financial support package, originally reported by the Nikkei business newspaper, reflects Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (Tepco) mounting desperation to revive the world’s largest nuclear site more than a decade after the Fukushima disaster, according to analysts. A...

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Nuclear ‘bribery’ backlash in Japan over restart plan for world’s largest plant

Critics call Tepco’s US$654 million offer to residents living near the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant a cynical attempt to buy public consent.

US revokes visas for 6 foreigners over Charlie Kirk-related speech The Trump administration has revoked the visas of six foreigners deemed by US officials to have made derisive comments or made light of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month. The US State Department said on Tuesday it had determined they should lose their visas after reviewing their online social media posts and clips about Kirk, who was killed while speaking at a Utah college campus on September 10. The announcement came as US President Donald Trump was posthumously...

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US revokes visas for 6 foreigners over Charlie Kirk-related speech

The news came as Trump posthumously awarded the right-wing activist the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour.

Trump warns he could cut Argentina’s aid lifeline if ally Milei loses election US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday he could sever struggling Argentina’s financial lifeline if his libertarian ally Javier Milei loses crucial legislative elections later this month. “If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” Trump said as firebrand Milei visited the White House to seek the Republican’s political and economic support. “I’m with this man because his philosophy is correct. And he may win and he may not win – I think he’s going to win. And if he wins we...

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Trump says could cut US aid to Argentina if Milei loses midterms

The US president’s administration has promised US$20 billion to prop up the Latin American country’s struggling economy.

Trump says Hamas must disarm or be disarmed, perhaps violently US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had communicated to Hamas that the militant group must disarm or it will be forced to. On Monday, Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza, and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees under a ceasefire deal brokered by Trump, but Hamas has not publicly committed to putting down its weapons. “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. And it will happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said during a meeting at the...

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Trump threatens to violently disarm Hamas as Gaza ceasefire is tested

US president says Hamas must disarm or be disarmed as Israel warns of Gaza aid cuts over the return of dead hostages.

Zelensky strips Odesa mayor of Ukrainian citizenship Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revoked the citizenship of Odesa mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov on Tuesday, which Ukraine’s security service said was due to Trukhanov also being a Russian citizen. Trukhanov denied having Russian citizenship and said he would take his case to court. Ukraine prohibits its citizens from holding Russian citizenship, and Trukhanov, mayor of Ukraine’s largest port city since 2014, has been dogged by allegations of dual nationality throughout his political career. “I...

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Zelensky strips Odesa mayor of Ukrainian citizenship over Russian passport claim

Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov denied holding Russian citizenship and vowed to appeal the decision.

Hong Kong MTR Corp CEO Jacob Kam named as next chairman of rail giant The CEO of Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation, Jacob Kam Chak-pui, will take the reins as chairman from January next year, tasked with leading the rail giant with added momentum to boost the city’s development and integration with mainland China. The government, the company’s majority shareholder with a stake of about 75 per cent, announced his promotion on Tuesday, saying Kam, 63, would succeed Rex Auyeung Pak-kuen, 73, for a three-year term until the end of 2028. Secretary for Transport and Logistics...

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Hong Kong MTR Corp CEO Jacob Kam named as next chairman of rail giant

Company veteran Kam will succeed Rex Auyeung in January for a three-year term.

Images of hull sections suggest progress on China’s fourth aircraft carrier China appears to be making progress on its fourth aircraft carrier at a shipyard in the country’s northeast, according to satellite images, another key part of the navy’s modernisation drive. Commercial satellite images posted to Chinese social media show new hull sections at the shipyard in Dalian, Liaoning where the warship – known as the Type 004 – is believed to be being built. The hull sections are visible in the satellite imagery from late September but were not seen in images from...

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Images of hull sections suggest progress on China’s fourth aircraft carrier

Warship known as the Type 004 is believed to be under construction at a shipyard in Dalian, though it has yet to be confirmed by Beijing.

Will Cambodia’s scam epidemic cause South Koreans to shun country? The death of a South Korean student in Cambodia, leading to Seoul summoning the Cambodian ambassador, is set to dent tourism and Phnom Penh’s reputation in the eyes of the Korean public, but ties between both sides may not be drastically affected, according to analysts. Last Friday, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun summoned the Cambodian ambassador in Seoul to protest the death of the student, linked to an employment scam in Cambodia. Cho also called for stronger measures to tackle the rising number of...

South China Morning Post

Will Cambodia’s scam epidemic cause South Koreans to shun country?

Following the death of a student, Seoul has announced that 80 South Koreans, believed to be victims of scams, are still missing in Cambodia.

National Games torch relay in Hong Kong to highlight city’s culture: John Lee Hong Kong’s leader has revealed that a torch relay route for the coming National Games is being planned to showcase the city’s culture, while authorities have said that a section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will be sealed off for a cross-border cycling race. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced on Tuesday that he had brought back the National Games’ torch after attending a flame-lighting ceremony in Nansha of Guangzhou on October 9. “Early next month, the torch relay will be held...

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National Games torch relay in Hong Kong to highlight city’s culture: John Lee

Authorities also say city’s section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will be sealed off for a cross-border cycling race.

‘Stalemate’: is prolonged Pakistan-Taliban hostility new border reality? Pakistan has vowed to respond to future terrorist attacks launched from Afghanistan with overwhelming military force after deadly cross-border clashes over the weekend, with the conflict setting the stage for prolonged hostilities between Islamabad and the Taliban regime. Analysts say the fighting, sparked by retaliatory Pakistani air strikes against insurgents in Kabul and the eastern Afghan province of Paktika on Thursday, is unlikely to break into an all-out war, but a diplomatic solution...

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‘Stalemate’: is prolonged Pakistan-Taliban hostility new border reality?

Though an all-out war between Islamabad and Kabul is unlikely, a diplomatic solution also remains elusive, analysts say.

How India’s purchases of Russian oil are reshaping global energy trade Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine have shifted global energy flows, with India and China emerging as prominent buyers of Russian oil. The question is no longer from whom New Delhi and Beijing will purchase energy, but in which currency they will pay. Amid warming ties between India and China following US President Donald Trump’s imposition of sweeping tariffs on Indian exports after New Delhi refused to stop purchasing Russian oil, Indian traders are reportedly asking...

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Opinion | Trump’s tariffs are pushing India closer to Russia and China

When India buys Russian crude with yuan, it boosts the currency’s international acceptance and helps China promote a US dollar alternative.

Europe losing tech race to China and US, Nobel Prize winner warns French economist Philippe Aghion issued a stark warning to Europe shortly after winning this year’s Nobel Prize, saying the continent was losing the technology race to China and the United States. “Europe needs to wake up. We’re falling behind technologically compared to the United States and now China,” the newly minted laureate said during public broadcaster France 2’s evening news programme on Monday. “Since the 1990s, they’ve been developing breakthroughs, hi-tech innovations, while we’ve...

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Europe losing tech race to China and US, Nobel Prize winner warns

Europe ‘needs to wake up’ and take steps to cut government red tape, said economist Philippe Aghion after winning this year’s award.

Sarkozy set to become France’s first ever jailed ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy is next week set to become the first former French president in the modern era to go to jail, following his conviction for taking part in a criminal conspiracy to seek covert funding from Libya’s late dictator Muammar Gaddafi. He was told on Monday by prosecutors that he would be incarcerated on October 21, according to BFM TV, which added that the former president would be held in the Paris prison of La Santé. The date was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter who spoke...

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Sarkozy set to become France’s first ever jailed ex-president

The French former leader will report to prison on October 21 to begin a five-year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy.

‘Hope he’s alive’: South Korean on debt-repayment trip missing in Cambodia As South Korean authorities continue investigating the recent death of a 22-year-old student in Cambodia, another case has emerged, this time involving a man in his 30s from Daegu who disappeared shortly after arriving in the Southeast Asian country. According to Daegu’s Dalseo police station on Monday, the family of a 34-year-old man surnamed Yang filed a missing-person report after losing contact with him two days earlier. Yang had left South Korea last Thursday, telling his family he would...

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‘Hope he’s alive’: South Korean on debt-repayment trip missing in Cambodia

Victim’s father sought help from Seoul’s embassy, which told him that his son must report his own situation directly.

‘Hong Kong opportunities outweigh US tariff weaponisation,’ John Lee says Hong Kong’s leader has expressed confidence in the city’s ability to maintain its economic growth and overcome geopolitical challenges through multiple measures, despite the US “tariff weaponisation”. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu made his positive remarks on Tuesday, days after US President Donald Trump threatened, in a social media post, a 100 per cent tariff increase on Chinese goods and export controls on all “critical software” starting from November 1. Lee said that his administration...

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‘Hong Kong opportunities outweigh US tariff weaponisation,’ John Lee says

Chief executive says government will closely monitor the situation and safeguard Hong Kong’s rights and interests amid tariff uncertainties.

The true test of Gaza peace begins after momentous ceasefire deal On Monday, the fragile ceasefire in Gaza led to freedom for Israeli hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. It was the culmination of a long and tortuous process - but it may, in the end, have been the easier part. The coming weeks, months and years would require more than just rebuilding from the devastation that has left much of Gaza in ruins. Key details of the peace plan may remain unsettled. Granular details would need to be negotiated to keep the plan moving...

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The true test of Gaza peace begins after momentous ceasefire deal

Ceasefire deal masks huge unresolved questions on Hamas disarmament, Israel’s withdrawal and who will govern the devastated territory.

Fresh thinking as Hong Kong pair turn surplus fruit into smoothies Two university graduates in Hong Kong are redefining sustainability through a company they set up to turn surplus fruit into healthy and convenient food. The mission of Francis So Ka-hei and Matey Svetlan Yordanov through Food With Benefits (FWB) has earned their venture a place as a finalist in this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards in the sustainability category. Every sachet of FWB’s signature smoothie powder saves around 200 grams of surplus fruit that would otherwise end up in...

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Fresh thinking as Hong Kong pair turn surplus fruit into smoothies

Every sachet of Food With Benefits’ smoothie powder saves around 200 grams of surplus fruit that would otherwise have ended up in landfills.

Neighbour feuds in Singapore spark debate, epidemic in Japan: 7 Asia highlights We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘Dirtiest town in Asia’: Malaysian MP told to clean up act after viral backlash A lawmaker representing a Malaysian tourist town on the island of Borneo has come under fire after a viral video labelled it “Asia’s dirtiest town”, prompting condemnation from the public...

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‘Dirtiest town in Asia’, Singapore’s wages stall: 7 Asia highlights

From backlash over the ‘dirtiest town in Asia’ to trouble for Japan’s new PM, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting.