69 m. ago Oxford's Ian Goldin on why globalisation is ‘alive and well’ in Asia

Ian Goldin is a professor of globalisation and development at the University of Oxford. Before his time in academia, he worked at several development lenders, including the World Bank, where he served as director of development policy and vice-president. His latest book, The Shortest History of Migration, was published in July 2024. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. Where do you think globalisation is heading? Is...

Politics

13 h. ago China’s Xin Zhilei creates history with Venice Film Festival best actress gong

China’s Xin Zhilei has won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, becoming the first Chinese woman to receive the honour in 14 years. The 39-year-old actress brought the Golden Lion trophy home on Saturday for her role in The Sun Rises on Us All, directed by Cai Shangjun. The film sees Xin play the harassed owner of a fashion retail business who is trying to reconcile with her former lover, who served time in prison for a crime she had committed. “I feel like I am dreaming,” Xin...

Culture

16 h. ago Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigns after election defeat

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced on Sunday that he will resign, following growing calls from his party to take responsibility for a historic defeat in July’s parliamentary election. Ishiba, who took office in October, said he was stepping down as prime minister and as the head of his conservative Liberal Democratic Party. The 68-year-old centrist had resisted demands from opponents further to the right within his own party to resign. Ishiba argued that he wanted to avoid a...

Politics

38 h. ago Shanghai spirit for new world order needs to be matched by the West

This time, it was not America’s Franklin D. Roosevelt, Britain’s Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin meeting in the Crimean city of Yalta to carve up a defeated Germany and reshape the post-war European order. Instead, it was China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and India’s Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin to consider the implications of a new and non-US-dominated global order. It was a historic occasion...

Politics

46 h. ago ‘It’s tough, but good luck’: China eatery refunds meal payment to job

A street snack eatery in Shenzhen refunded 13 yuan (US$2) to uplift two young university graduates new to the city, and the gesture moved many people online. The two young women, Liu and Song, hailing from Hunan and Jiangxi provinces respectively, travelled to Guangdong in southern China for better job opportunities on August 15. On August 16, they visited a branch of Shaxian Delicacies, a well-known street snack chain in Longgang District, where they ordered food totalling 13 yuan and discussed...

Politics

46 h. ago Reflections | After Fan Bingbing’s Malaysia award, a history of Chinese official honours

Reflections | After Fan Bingbing’s Malaysia award, a history of Chinese official honours  South China Morning Post

Politics

55 h. ago Europe should stand with China in upholding correct historical perspective on WWII: Global Times editorial

Europe should stand with China in upholding correct historical perspective on WWII: Global Times editorial  Global Times

Events

59 h. ago Tesla to award Musk an unparalleled $1 trillion depending on performance

Tesla’s board has proposed a US$1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk in what would be the largest corporate pay package in history, underscoring the hold Musk has over the carmaker as it attempts to transform into an AI and robotics powerhouse. The world’s richest person has consistently said he needs more of a stake in the company, even as a legal battle over his 2018 pay package – then valued at a mere US$56 billion – continues. The regulatory filing puts Musk on a different plane...

Events

59 h. ago Tesla to award Musk an unparalleled US$1 trillion depending on performance

Tesla’s board has proposed a US$1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk in what would be the largest corporate pay package in history, underscoring the hold Musk has over the carmaker as it attempts to transform into an AI and robotics powerhouse. The world’s richest person has consistently said he needs more of a stake in the company, even as a legal battle over his 2018 pay package – then valued at a mere US$56 billion – continues. The regulatory filing puts Musk on a different plane...

Events

61 h. ago ‘Better than being killed’: Japan’s women turn to pepper spray – at legal risk

As dusk falls across Japan’s cities, a sense of unease falls upon many women on their journeys home. Reports of brutal femicides have struck a deep chord, fuelling a surge in the purchase of self-defence items – even as legal experts warn that arming oneself may come at a cost. The recent killing of Megumi Katayama, 24, who was stabbed multiple times by a stranger in a Kobe residential lift last month, has stoked public concern. Social media platforms buzzed with messages urging women to take...

Events

67 h. ago Europe power guru Wang Xiongfei brings grid stability expertise home to China

One of the European Union’s top power systems experts, Wang Xiongfei, has come full circle after returning to China to take a leading academic role at Tsinghua University. As the newly appointed Xinghua chair professor and doctoral supervisor, Wang brings years of knowledge and experience in European power electronics and grid stability. He has led more than 40 research projects funded by the EU, Denmark, Sweden and various corporations. He has collaborated with grid companies in Germany, the...

Politics

68 h. ago Hong Kong consumer watchdog receives 9 complaints after balloon festival fiasco

Hong Kong’s hot-air balloon festival has been forced to deflate all its balloons on display due to the scorching weather, a day after failing to secure a licence for a tethered ride and suspending the attraction, which led to at least nine complaints to the city’s consumer watchdog. The Consumer Council said it had received nine complaints totalling HK$16,933 (US$2,171) regarding the AIA International Hot Air Balloon Fest Hong Kong as of noon on Friday, with one case involving HK$4,956. The...

Politics

68 h. ago Refund calls mount over Hong Kong festival’s suspension of hot

The organiser of a hot-air balloon festival in Hong Kong is facing mounting calls for refunds from affected participants and the consumer watchdog after failing to secure a licence for tethered rides and suspending the activity on Thursday. Staff from the AIA International Hot Air Balloon Fest Hong Kong were also forced to deflate all its balloons on display at the Central Harbourfront on Friday morning, with a broadcast announcement citing hot weather as the reason. The balloons were...

Politics

2 d. ago Top China athlete praised for looks, talent says she embodies strength, beauty

Rising Chinese high jump star, Shao Yuqi, has gone viral for her athletic performance and striking appearance. The athlete has also attracted attention and praise for challenging traditional beauty stereotypes in sport. On August 1, Shao, 23, from the Hubei provincial track and field team based in central China, claimed the women’s high jump title at the 2025 Chinese National Athletics Championships with a leap of 1.90 metres. Following her victory, Shao went viral on mainland social media for...

Events

3 d. ago Alarm as ‘dangerous’ Madeleine McCann suspect set to be freed in Germany

German law enforcement authorities have voiced alarm that the “dangerous” chief suspect in the 2007 disappearance of British three-year-old Madeleine McCann will soon leave prison and could flee the country. Prosecutors believe Christian Brueckner, 48, killed the girl in a Portuguese resort in a missing persons case that has captivated the world and remains unsolved. But lacking sufficient evidence to lay charges, they are helpless as Brueckner – who has a history of violent sex crimes – is due...

Events

3 d. ago 8 visitors arrested in Hong Kong for providing illegal photo, make

Hong Kong immigration authorities have arrested eight mainland Chinese visitors for allegedly providing illegal make-up and photography services at popular tourist attractions. The Immigration Department on Thursday said enforcement officers arrested one man and seven women, aged between 19 and 39, in the last two weeks. Four of them worked illegally as photographers and four as make-up artists. According to Deputy Commander Chun Yuk-tung, another two local women, aged 20 and 27, who partnered...

Events

3 d. ago Son of British POW urges Japan to be less ‘touchy’ about WWII criticisms

The son of a British soldier who endured three years as a prisoner of war has expressed deep disappointment that senior Japanese politicians ignored invitations to a commemorative event on Tuesday to mark 80 years since Tokyo’s formal surrender in the second world war and the liberation of thousands of Allied prisoners of war. Terry Smyth, a fellow in the history department at the University of Essex, said it would have been particularly appropriate if Yoshimasa Hayashi, the chief cabinet...

Events

4 d. ago Famed streetcar in Portugal’s capital Lisbon derails and crashes, killing 15

A picturesque electric streetcar that is one of Lisbon’s big tourist attractions derailed and crashed on Wednesday, killing 15 people and injuring 18 others, emergency services said. Five of the injured were in serious condition and a child was among the injured, Portugal’s National Institute for Medical Emergencies said in a statement, adding that an unknown number of foreigners were among the injured. Authorities called it an accident, the worst in the city’s recent history, and it cast a pall...

Events

4 d. ago Trump offers more US troops to Poland’s new nationalist president

US President Donald Trump offered Wednesday to send more troops to Poland as he welcomed the country’s new nationalist president Karol Nawrocki to the White House with a military flyover. Trump also hinted at taking stronger action against Russia if it fails to end its war with Ukraine, which has put Nato ally Poland on edge since Moscow’s invasion in 2022. Nawrocki, a conservative historian and fervent Trump supporter, visited the White House during Poland’s election campaign and is now making...

Politics

4 d. ago Photos show wildfire burning through historic California Gold Rush town settled by Chinese miners

Photos show wildfire burning through historic California Gold Rush town settled by Chinese miners  CBS News

Events