Alerts
Amid intensifying competition in the AI technology race, US authorities have arrested a California technology company owner accused of using Malaysia and Singapore as transit points to circumvent US export controls and send more than US$300 million worth of restricted computer servers to China. Greg...
US Republican Senator Steve Daines, a close aide to President Donald Trump and a key interlocutor between Washington and Beijing, has called on the two capitals to stay engaged and “not retreat” over differences on issues including rare earth supply chains. Daines told the South China Morning Post t...
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva named China as a possible partner in his critical minerals plans, three days before Sunday’s closely fought election. Lula told Flow, one of the country’s most-watched podcasts, on Thursday evening that Brazil should stop shipping out raw ore. “We want t...
Panama’s comptroller general said on Friday that his office would send prosecutors more audit material on former executives of CK Hutchison’s local subsidiary next week, as part of a criminal investigation into the Hong Kong conglomerate’s annulled Panama Canal ports concession. Speaking at the Atla...
A small Singaporean research team has beaten scientists in China and the United States to build the world’s most accurate atomic clock. The clock, built with a single ion of a rare earth metal element known as lutetium, is so precise that it would lose one second every 260 billion years – nearly 20 ...
Zheng Yongnian is a political scientist in China and a government adviser. His academic work is mainly about contemporary China, particularly politics, the country’s transformation and its external relations. SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series. Many have offe...
Not so long ago, Washington’s approach to relations with Beijing was anchored by a single assertive phrase: dealing “from a position of strength”. It was rooted in a unipolar mindset: a belief that the United States could dictate terms, manage competition unilaterally and demand compliance from a di...
Indonesia’s new police chief faces a difficult task to balance growing public demands for accountability and independence as the force seeks to repair its image following a series of scandals in recent years. Even as Suyudi Ario Seto, 53, replaced Listyo Sigit Prabowo on Thursday, the government is ...
Hong Kong’s retail sales rose by 5.6 per cent year on year in August, with the latest figures showing consumer spending picking up after growth eased for two consecutive months. Retail sales value reached HK$32 billion (US$4.1 billion), according to provisional figures released by the Census and Sta...
Large-scale field trials across China show that irrigation water treated with natural minerals radiated by sunlight could dramatically increase the yields of several crops, according to Chinese scientists behind the experiments. The team said the trials, including on rice, wheat, soybeans, peanuts, ...
Hong Kong stock debuts are losing steam as a deluge of initial public offerings (IPOs) overwhelms investor appetite. Seven of September’s 12 IPOs fell on the first day of trading, raising the third-quarter total to 15 flops out of 31, based on Bloomberg data. By contrast, there were only 14 declines...
Hong Kong authorities have raised the minimum wage for domestic helpers by 2.35 per cent to HK$5,220 (US$665) per month, while keeping their food allowance unchanged, citing “more favourable” socioeconomic factors. The government announced on Friday that the minimum wage for domestic workers would r...
