Taiwan woman in Japan reports harassment to police who tell her ‘man has apologised’ A woman from Taiwan who was sexually harassed by a man on the street in Japan was shocked when police said they could not help her. The woman said online that on November 5 she had been slapped on her behind by a Japanese man on a street in the city of Kyoto on the evening of October 18. She was walking along when a group of Japanese young people walked towards her. One man from the group suddenly approached her. She moved to avoid him, but he chased after her and slapped her hard on her...

South China Morning Post

Taiwan woman in Japan reports harassment to police who tell her ‘man has apologised’

Victim who is ‘slapped hard’ on the buttocks chases assailant, kicks him in the belly; police respond by saying there is nothing they can do.

Blast kills 9, rocks India’s Kashmir police station, days after Delhi explosion At least nine people were killed and 29 injured when a pile of confiscated explosives blew up at a police station in the Indian portion of Kashmir late on Friday, police sources said, days after a car blast in New Delhi killed eight people. Most of the dead were policemen, including forensic officials who were examining the explosives, said the sources, who did not wish to be named. Some of the injured were in critical condition, they said. “The identification of the bodies is under way, as some...

South China Morning Post

Blast kills 9, rocks India’s Kashmir police station, days after Delhi explosion

Confiscated explosives blew up, creating a blast so intense that some body parts were recovered from houses more than 100 metres away.

Beijing warns against travel to Japan as row over Taiwan comments intensifies China has told its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan, upping the ante in its row with Tokyo after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested her country could deploy its military forces in the event of a cross-strait conflict. In a notice late on Friday night, China’s foreign ministry said the safety of its citizens in Japan had “continued to deteriorate”, citing a series of targeted attacks this year. The ministry said the Japanese leader had made provocative remarks on Taiwan-related...

South China Morning Post

Airlines offer Japan trip refunds as row over Takaichi’s Taiwan comments deepens

Air China, China Southern and China Eastern among seven carriers to offer refunds hours after Beijing urges nationals to avoid Japan trips.

Operation Santa Claus: 260 play for charity at Hong Kong Football Club tournament A charity football tournament brought cheers across Hong Kong’s Happy Valley Recreation Ground, with 260 players, including under-10 to under-12 boys and girls, players with Down syndrome and adults, taking part in the event. The tournament was jointly organised by Operation Santa Claus (OSC) – the annual fundraising campaign established by the Post and RTHK – and the Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC). Now in its 27th consecutive year, the partnership continues to champion a variety of causes. Held...

South China Morning Post

Operation Santa Claus: 260 play for charity at Hong Kong Football Club tournament

OSC x HKFC 5-a-side Football Tournament 2025 turns competitive sport into an occasion for inclusion, community spirit and charitable giving.

Hong Kong needs a new breed of lawmaker to steer its future course As 161 finalised hopefuls compete in Hong Kong’s second “patriots-only” Legislative Council elections, they will have just a few weeks to make themselves and their policy platforms known to the wider public. Some with political backgrounds already have exposure, but it may be limited to the district level. Of the candidates, 49 are district councillors, a high number that is more than three times the 14 in 2021. Thirty-two of them are competing in direct or geographical elections. Name...

South China Morning Post

As I see it | Hong Kong needs a new breed of lawmaker to steer its future course

Legislators must combine an international perspective with an understanding of the city’s social and political realities.

Race for first private space station heats up as Nasa plans 2030 ISS retirement With Nasa’s International Space Station set to come out of service in 2030, American aerospace firm Vast has stepped into a frenzied race for the world’s first commercial space station. Haven-1 - a mini station scheduled for launch in May 2026 - has been designed for comfort, according to Andrew Feustel, a former Nasa astronaut now an adviser at Vast. “It has a three-year lifespan, and over that period of time, we plan to visit the spacecraft with multiple crews of four, four at a time,” he said...

South China Morning Post

Race for first private space station heats up as Nasa plans 2030 ISS retirement

Companies like Vast, Axiom and Blue Origin are in a fierce competition to develop commercial space habitats.

Debates welcomed at Legco election forums, but no ‘mudslinging, back-stabbing’ Hong Kong’s No 2 official has said that debates are welcomed at government-run Legislative Council election forums while defending campaign initiatives as efforts to elect high-quality candidates without them smearing each other. Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki also said on Friday that he hoped all employees could cast their vote on December 7 even if they had work obligations and that no one would be asked to disclose whether they voted or not. Chan’s defence followed a series of “peaceful”...

South China Morning Post

Debate welcome at Hong Kong’s Legco election forums, but no smearing: Eric Chan

City’s No 2 official says government-run forums, other efforts aim to elect high-quality candidates without ‘mudslinging and back-stabbing’.

US designates 4 left-wing groups in Europe as terrorists The United States on Thursday designated four entities in Germany, Italy and Greece as global terrorists, accusing them of being “violent Antifa groups” as US President Donald Trump takes aim at left-wing groups. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement he had designated German-based Antifa Ost as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists”, along with three other groups in Greece and Italy, in an effort to build on Trump’s “commitment to confront Antifa’s campaign of political...

South China Morning Post

US designates 4 left-wing groups in Europe as terrorists

Designation hits groups in Germany, Greece, and Italy, with Rubio warning that Washington would target other groups around the world.

Serial intruder grabs Ariana Grande at film premiere in Singapore Cynthia Erivo performed some real magic on Thursday when she saved Wicked co-star Ariana Grande from an overeager “troll” at the premiere of the blockbuster’s second chapter in Singapore. The Oscar nominees were walking down a yellow brick road-inspired carpet, holding hands with co-star Michelle Yeoh and posing for fans, when a man screamed and hopped the barricade, according to fan footage. The man then wrapped an arm around 32-year-old Grande, only for Erivo, 38, and a guard to cut in. Erivo...

South China Morning Post

Serial intruder grabs Ariana Grande at film premiere in Singapore

Co-star Cynthia Erivo protected Grande from Pyjama Man, who was escorted out by security after the incident.

China pond owner feeds fish 5,000kg of chillie peppers daily so they ‘taste better’ A fish pond in southern China has gone viral online after its owner revealed that he feeds the fish 5,000 kilos of various chilli peppers daily, claiming this practice makes them appear more vibrant and taste better. The fish pond, located in Changsha, Hunan province – a region renowned for its spicy cuisine – has recently become an online sensation after its owners were filmed feeding chilli peppers to the fish. The pond is co-managed by Jiang Sheng, a 40-year-old experienced fish farmer...

South China Morning Post

China pond owner feeds fish 5,000kg of chilli peppers daily so they ‘taste better’

Owners say capsaicin in chilli peppers stimulates intestinal movements, promotes digestion, nutrient absorption which accelerate fish growth.

Meta Platforms’ AI lay-offs triggered by resource competition: ex-researcher A former research scientist at Meta Platforms, Tian Yuandong, has shed some light on the US social media giant’s restructuring of its artificial intelligence team, while casting doubt on traditional scaling laws used in AI model development. In an interview on the Chinese video channel Silicon Valley 101 broadcast on Wednesday, Tian – previously research scientist director at Meta FAIR, the Facebook parent’s legacy Fundamental AI Research team – said limited computing resources had triggered...

South China Morning Post

Meta Platforms’ AI lay-offs triggered by resource competition: ex-researcher

Tian Yuandong says internal conflicts emerged at Meta as LLM development became the industry-wide focus.

Elderly China woman tearfully hugs pet duck killed by car, mourns loss of companion An elderly woman in eastern China was seen in tears, mourning her pet duck on the street after it was killed in a road accident. A video of the woman crying over her deceased duck on the street in Jiangsu province, posted by a neighbour on November 4, went viral. According to the neighbour, surnamed Chen, the elderly woman had kept the duck as her beloved pet for the past four years after her husband was diagnosed with oesophageal and stomach cancers. Chen mentioned that the woman kept the duck...

South China Morning Post

Elderly China woman tearfully hugs pet duck killed by car, mourns loss of companion

Many recognise that the duck had become the woman’s emotional anchor and spiritual support.

Hongkongers to feel the chill as temperatures set to dip to 16 degrees next week This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hongkongers should brace for cooler weather next week, as a northeast monsoon is expected to push temperatures down to around 16 degrees Celsius (60.8 Fahrenheit), the weather forecaster has said. The Hong Kong Observatory said on Wednesday that the dry northeast monsoon would bring mainly fine weather to the region over the next few days, before temperatures...

South China Morning Post

Hongkongers to feel the chill as temperatures set to dip to 16 degrees next week

Forecaster says northeast monsoon will bring mainly fine weather over next few days, before temperatures drop later.

Hong Kong IPO market to extend hot streak in 2026, CICC says China International Capital Corporation (CICC) forecasts that Hong Kong’s initial public offering (IPO) market will remain vibrant through 2026, fuelled by listings from high-end manufacturing and technology firms, even as the bull run in the A-share market draws some issuers back to the mainland. “We believe the heat in Hong Kong’s IPO market will continue next year, particularly in sectors aligned with national priorities such as robotics and advanced manufacturing,” Shi Qi, deputy head of...

South China Morning Post

Hong Kong IPO market to extend hot streak in 2026, CICC says

While fundraising in mainland China has risen this year, capital flows are unlikely to be diverted entirely from Hong Kong, the bank says.

Chen Zhi’s firm breaks silence, denies tycoon’s empire built on scam money A Cambodian conglomerate whose founder has had more than US$15 billion of allegedly ill-gotten assets seized said it “categorically rejects” claims he amassed his fortune running an internet scam empire. A frenzy of asset confiscations in Europe, the United States and Asia has targeted Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group – with authorities alleging its founder Chen Zhi was running a transnational criminal organisation. The US Justice Department in October unsealed an indictment against the tycoon,...

South China Morning Post

Chen Zhi’s firm breaks silence, denies tycoon’s empire built on scam money

Prince Holding Group vowed to clear its name amid global asset seizures and forced labour allegations.

Russian forces push into battered Ukrainian city Mad Max-style Russia said its forces had pushed deeper into the eastern Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk on Tuesday, with one video showing Russian soldiers rolling into Pokrovsk on motorbikes and even on the roofs of battered cars and vans. Moscow has said that taking Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk” by Russian media, would give it a platform to drive north towards the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Russia has been...

South China Morning Post

Russian forces push into battered Ukrainian city Mad Max-style

Video and images show soldiers on motorbikes and battered cars entering the city of Pokrovsk, dubbed ‘the gateway to Donetsk’.

Finance student loses HK$1 million as Hong Kong police record 1,700 campus scams A finance postgraduate in Hong Kong has lost more than HK$1 million (US$128,652) in a phone scam, the Post has learned, as police reveal they have received over 1,700 reports involving university students so far this year, with losses reaching HK$180 million. A police source said on Wednesday that the victim, a mainland Chinese student in his first year of a Master of Finance programme at Polytechnic University (PolyU), was duped on August 20. “Recently, a university student let down his guard...

South China Morning Post

Finance student loses HK$1 million as Hong Kong police record 1,700 campus scams

Force says student let down his guard and believed he was involved in fraud after seeing scammer dressed in police uniform during video call.

US$75 million split: China court rules ex-wife of pharma tycoon gets half of firm A divorce case in China that has lasted 15 years has finally reached a judgment, ordering alimony of 536 million yuan (US$75 million), sparking significant attention on social media. The husband, Zhao Bingxian, 63, is often referred to as China’s Warren Buffett due to his remarkable record in financial investments. In early November, the Beijing No 3 Intermediate People’s Court issued a verdict during the second hearing of the divorce case between Zhao and his wife, Lu Juan. The ruling mandates...

South China Morning Post

US$75 million split: China court rules ex-wife of pharma tycoon gets half of firm

With guidance from ex-wife’s grandad, couple ventured into share trading in early 1990s, achieving significant success.

Iraq voters turn out in numbers as region watches on Iraqis voted for a new parliament on Tuesday, with an unexpectedly high turnout of more than 55 per cent, at a pivotal time for the country and the wider region. Iraq, which has long been vulnerable to proxy wars and is closely watched by Iran and the United States, has recently regained a sense of stability. But, even as it tries to move past two decades of war since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, the country of 46 million suffers from poor infrastructure and public services,...

South China Morning Post

Iraq voters turn out in numbers as region watches on

Over 12 million people took part despite influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr calling on his supporters to boycott the election.

Gaddafi’s son released on bail after 10 years in a Lebanon prison Lebanese authorities released the son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday after he paid a US$900,000 bail, ending his 10-year detention for allegedly withholding information about a missing Lebanese cleric, security officials and a member of his defence team said. One of Hannibal Gaddafi’s lawyers, Charbel Milad al-Khoury, told Associated Press that Gaddafi was released on Monday evening after necessary paperwork was finished. Two security officials, speaking on condition of...

South China Morning Post

Gaddafi’s son released on bail after 10 years in a Lebanon prison

Hannibal Gaddafi was released after a Libyan delegation paid a drastically reduced bail, ending his detention over a missing cleric.