Category: China

As a political dispute between Beijing and Tokyo continues to inflame relations, Chinese media reports indicate some domestic airlines have cancelled flights on 12 of their routes to Japan – including paths to popular tourism destinations Kyoto and Osaka – with analysts predicting cancellations to rise within the week. As of Monday morning, flights on these routes had been put on hold, according to a report from financial news outlet Yicai that cited Chinese aviation data platform DAST. Domestic… Source link

Amid the climate crisis, China’s quiet leadership in the fight for a sustainable future offers a reason for optimism, particularly for the Global South. After two weeks of contentious negotiations, Cop30 in Brazil concluded with an uneasy deal that sidestepped any mention of fossil fuels, exposing deep divisions and mounting frustrations. Indeed, even as Cop30 convened, the world was already suffering “summit fatigue”. After decades of lofty declarations and limited follow-through, many question… Source link

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday voted to uphold the imprisonment of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was detained over the weekend for tampering with his ankle monitor using a soldering iron. Bolsonaro was taken into custody on Saturday from his home where he had been under house arrest after a judge declared him a flight risk as he appeals a 27-year sentence for plotting a failed coup. The far-right firebrand was convicted in September over a scheme to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da… Source link

As China rapidly ages, the senior-care sector is poised to become a significant source of job creation. Yet, enthusiasm among the nation’s young workforce remains lukewarm. The care-services industry, including care for elderly residents, is projected to generate millions of jobs and become a driver of household consumption in the years to come, as national demographics shift towards an older population, according to He Dan, director of the China Population and Development Research Centre under… Source link

Jimmy Cliff, the legendary Jamaican singer who along with Bob Marley popularised reggae, ska and rocksteady music over a six-decade career, has died, his wife Latifa Chambers announced on Facebook on Monday. The cause was a seizure followed by pneumonia, she said. Born James Chambers on July 30, 1944, during a hurricane in St James Parish, northwestern Jamaica, he moved in the 1950s from the family farm to the country’s capital, Kingston, with his father, determined to succeed in the music… Source link

Eight officials from the Philippines’ Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have been arrested, marking a more assertive phase in President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s response to the sprawling flood control corruption scandal. Analysts, however, have described the step as narrowly focused on minor players, noting that investigators have yet to confront the high-profile lawmakers and contractors accused of driving the scheme, raising doubts about how far the inquiry is prepared to reach. The… Source link

European officials said on Monday they were comforted by the outcome of discussions on US peace proposals for Ukraine that they had viewed as tilted in Russia’s favour, but they didn’t disclose details of the weekend talks and warned of a long road to peace. “The negotiations were a step forward, but there are still major issues which remain to be resolved,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on social media about Sunday’s meeting in Switzerland between US and Ukrainian officials. US… Source link

China has brought online the world’s first commercial supercritical carbon dioxide power generator – a revolutionary clean energy technology pioneered by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). This power generator, which uses carbon dioxide instead of steam to transfer heat, has been connected to the grid from a steel production plant in China’s southwestern province of Guizhou to produce electricity from waste heat, according to a social media post by CNNC’s Nuclear Power Institute of… Source link

Chinese President Xi Jinping and the US President Donald Trump had a phone conversation on Taiwan and Ukraine issues on Monday, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. Xi clarified Beijing’s official position on the Taiwan issue, emphasising that Taiwan’s return to China is an important part of the post-World War II international order. “China supports all efforts committed to peace and hopes that all parties will continue to narrow their differences and reach a fair, lasting, and… Source link

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Beijing blasts Japan’s ‘extremely dangerous’ missile deployment near Taiwan Beijing has blasted Japan’s missile deployment on an island only 110km (68 miles) away from Taiwan as “extremely dangerous”, saying it stokes regional tensions and military confrontation amid deteriorating ties between the two Asian powers. 2. As US-China rivalry redefines economic… Source link

Italian police carried out searches and seizures at two Amazon sites in Italy on Monday as part of an investigation into the alleged smuggling of Chinese goods, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Dozens of officers from the Guardia di Finanza tax police and the customs agency seized around 5,000 products at a logistics hub operated by the e-commerce giant in Cividate al Piano, in the northern province of Bergamo, the sources said. At Amazon’s Italian headquarters in central… Source link

A woman in Thailand shocked temple staff when she started moving in her coffin after being brought in for cremation. Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple in the province of Nonthaburi on the outskirts of Bangkok, posted a video on its Facebook page, showing a woman lying in a white coffin in the back of a pickup truck, slightly moving her arms and head, leaving temple staff bewildered. Pairat Soodthoop, the temple’s general and financial affairs manager, said on Monday that the 65-year-old… Source link

Nearly 2,400 mainland Chinese drivers have applied for 1,700 quotas under a much-awaited special scheme that allows them to drive their cars directly into downtown Hong Kong, according to Guangdong authorities. The Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department said on Sunday that a total of 2,388 drivers had submitted applications earlier this month for the first round of balloting. The 1,700 successful applicants selected by computer ballot on Sunday can expect to set off to Hong Kong as… Source link

North and South Korea are in a “very dangerous situation” where an accidental clash is possible any time and it is crucial for Seoul to engage Pyongyang in dialogue, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Monday. Lee, who has taken several steps to ease tensions since taking office in June, has offered discussions with the North without preconditions, in contrast to his hawkish conservative predecessor. Pyongyang has yet to respond to Lee’s overtures. “Inter-Korean relations have,… Source link

The Venezuelan government on Monday rejected what it called a “ridiculous” US plan to designate the “nonexistent” Cartel de los Soles a terrorist organisation, ahead of Washington’s expected designation later in the day. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month his country would designate the Cartel de los Soles a foreign terrorist organisation for its alleged role in importing illegal drugs into the US. The Trump administration, which alleges the cartel is made up of… Source link

A Democratic senator on Monday asked US President Donald Trump to answer key details about a plan by TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell a majority stake in the short video app’s US assets. Trump signed an executive order on September 25 declaring that a plan to sell TikTok’s US operations to a consortium of US and global investors meets the national security requirements set out in a 2024 law and gave them 120 days to complete the transaction. In doing so, he delayed enforcement of the law banning… Source link

A highly anticipated animated crossover between a Chinese mythological hero and American pop culture icons will debut early next month, marking a significant collaborative release as bilateral tensions continue to ease. Many see My Ne Zha and Transformers – a 52-episode co-production between China’s CCTV Animation and US toy giant Hasbro – as the latest sign of stabilising relations amid soft-power diplomacy. The series features the popular boy deity joining forces with the Autobots in a rare… Source link

Israel’s military announced the dismissal of three generals and disciplinary actions against several other senior officers over their failure to prevent the October 2023 assault by Hamas, the deadliest attack in the country’s history. The move comes two weeks after Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir called for a “systemic investigation” into the failures that led to the onslaught, even as the government dragged its feet on establishing a state commission of inquiry despite public pressure. The… Source link

Taiwan’s main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) has launched a drive to change the law so that people born on the Chinese mainland and who are married to Taiwanese citizens can hold public office. The move – almost certain to clear the opposition-controlled legislature – has triggered an intense debate over the island’s security and identity. At the centre is a KMT proposal to amend both the Nationality Act and the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland… Source link

India’s hugely popular star Dharmendra was lovingly known as the “He-Man” of Bollywood, thanks to his roles in a string of action films that cemented his legacy spanning more than six decades and 250 films. Born Dharam Singh Deol on December 8, 1935, in Punjab, he also served as a member of parliament and was honoured with one of India’s highest civilian awards. He struck stardom after becoming the first Bollywood actor to bare his chest on screen, prompting a flood of love letters from female… Source link

A Singapore court has cleared the way for a US$2.7 billion lawsuit against Standard Chartered Bank over its alleged role in 1MDB fraud, liquidators seeking to recover the funds said on Monday. Singapore High Court dismissed an application by the bank to strike out a suit filed against it by liquidators, the liquidators said in a press release, calling it “a significant legal victory” allowing the case to continue. Liquidators trying to recover money from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB… Source link

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by deadly floods sweeping across Thailand and Vietnam, a crisis that has killed scores and stranded entire communities as meteorologists and climate analysts warn of heavier rains driven by La Nina and long-term warming. The scale of the inundation has highlighted how a late-season monsoon surge, layered onto fragile flood-management systems, is overwhelming towns and cities from southern Thailand to Vietnam’s central coast, with Malaysia… Source link

A businesswoman from central China who once lived a life of luxury is rebuilding her future by digging up and selling lotus roots to repay five million yuan (US$700,000) of debt. According to the mainland media outlet, Changjiang Daily, 44-year-old Hu Qin from Hunan province and her husband launched a fruit business in 2012 that grew to have more than 30 shops nationwide. At its peak, Hu’s assets reportedly topped 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million). The couple lived in a villa by the Xiang River,… Source link

Alibaba Group Holding’s new multipurpose artificial intelligence app, Qwen, recorded more than 10 million downloads in the first week of its public beta launch, faster than OpenAI’s ChatGPT or DeepSeek, the company said on Monday. The strong debut of Qwen, launched last week, augured well for the Chinese tech conglomerate’s efforts to establish a major AI assistant that would rival the performance of Google’s Gemini chatbot and ChatGPT, both of which are not available in mainland China. The Hong… Source link