Oct 22, 2026
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday called out the Chinese Embassy in Manila for its recent social media posts, which the agency said affect mutual trust and confidence and severely undermine efforts to stabilize bilateral relations between the Philippines and China.
Bimby Aquino said he will only marry a girl who wholeheartedly accepts his brother Josh.
Receivers of the Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung Hotel and the Four Points by Sheraton have agreed to sell the dual-branded complex, which together comprise the city’s third-largest hotel by room count, for HK$2.7 billion (US$344 million), Shimao Group announced on Thursday. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the distressed mainland Chinese developer said the buyer was Oceanfront Hong Kong Limited. Oceanfront is owned by, among others, investment vehicles associated with ParkCity Group,...
Hong Kong has been ranked 24th in the latest global rule of law index, despite slipping slightly in the fundamental rights and criminal justice categories. The index, released by the World Justice Project on Wednesday, showed the city remained among the world’s top 10 for “absence of corruption” and “order and security”, rising to seventh in the latter category. The organisation said the global erosion of the rule of law slowed in 2026, but the overall decline continued, with 62 per cent of the...
This is the sixth in a series of factsheets about Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and the 2026 policy address. Click here to view the other factsheets. The series has been produced with support from the Hong Kong SAR government. To see the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the five-year plan, click here. This Factsheet will appear in the SCMP print edition on October 26. You can find the newspaper at newsstands and convenience stores. For inquiries, contact [email protected].
This is the fifth in a series of factsheets about Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and the 2026 policy address. Click here to view the other factsheets. The series has been produced with support from the Hong Kong SAR government. To see the South China Morning Post’s coverage of the five-year plan, click here. This factsheet will appear in the SCMP print edition on October 26. You can find the newspaper at newsstands and convenience stores. For inquiries, contact [email protected].
For many of us, artificial intelligence (AI) started out as something to play with. We asked it to write poems and arrange our calendars; we shared its more entertaining mistakes. Then it became something to believe in: an escape from drudgery, an assistant to every profession, even perhaps the start of a new industrial revolution. Now it is something to fear. The progression has been astonishing. Governments are scrambling to draw up AI strategies, companies are reorganising operations and...
A fresh dispute has erupted between Beijing and Taipei over commemorations for Sun Yat-sen, a Chinese revolutionary hero who is revered on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Beijing on Wednesday lashed out at Taipei’s move to ban Taiwanese officials from attending events in the mainland Chinese capital marking the 160th anniversary of Sun’s birth on November 12. Sun brought an end to more than 2,000 years of imperial rule when he founded the Republic of China (ROC) in 1912, and he also founded the...
Indonesia’s president railed against “countries that like to insult” his nation over wildfires that have razed vast areas, spewing toxic haze into neighbouring countries. The Southeast Asian giant has for months struggled to contain fires that Nusantara Atlas, an independent monitor analysing satellite data, said had consumed more than 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) in the nine months to September. The haze has sent air pollution levels surging to dangerous levels not only at home, but...
Experts have warned of the infection risks associated with an anti-ageing beauty treatment known as “cadaver-derived skin injection” amid growing interest in the treatment, as authorities crack down on beauty premises offering services with unregistered products. The warnings came a day after the Department of Health revealed it had seized vials of an injectable product called Elravie Re20, which claims to contain human tissue, following raids on four beauty premises in the city on Friday and...
Representatives from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Laos will not participate in the 75th Miss Universe Competition amid an ongoing dispute over franchise rights.
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has marked one year in office still riding relatively high in public opinion polls – a heady position that few political analysts anticipated despite geopolitical tensions and persistent inflation. A poll by the conservative-leaning Yomiuri newspaper published on Monday indicated that Takaichi’s cabinet retains the support of 57 per cent of the Japanese public, down two percentage points from the previous survey on September 18 and significantly lower than...
