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This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Temperatures on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island and in some rural areas could reach as low as 8 degrees Celsius (46.4 Fahrenheit) on Sunday morning, the local forecaster said. The Hong Kong Observatory said on…
Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog plans to consult lawmakers this year about introducing mandatory data breach reporting and related penalties, the body’s chief has said. Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Ada Chung Lai-ling on Saturday revealed details about the proposed legislative amendments to the city’s privacy ordinance, after authorities stalled the plan in 2024 over concerns…
Hong Kong authorities are tightening crowd control and environmental protection measures at popular hiking and camping spots ahead of the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, with officials estimating that 1.43 million mainland Chinese tourists will visit the city. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said on Saturday that the government was taking…
Funerals will take place on Saturday for some of the victims of a suicide blast at a Shiite mosque in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad that killed at least 31 people and wounded scores more during Friday prayers. The Islamic State group (Isis) has claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott…
As the United States weighs fresh strikes on Iran, the prospect of a wider regional conflict is once again coming into focus. For many of Washington’s allies, the question is no longer whether escalation is possible, but how they would respond if it spiralled into all-out war. Australia faces a familiar challenge. Maintaining regional stability…
The sixteen-day general election campaign enters its final day of campaigning with the country in the throes of heavy snowfall and plunging temperatures. The Japanese Meteorological Agencypredictsthat heavy snowfall will peak on election day, with anuncertainimpact on election day turnout. The snowfall leading up to election day already appears to have depressed early voting in…
Across Europe, demand for Chinese goods is soaring as consumers seek quality products at a lower cost. Some goods – particularly electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels – have been shipped from China at a large enough scale that the continent’s lawmakers have begun taking action against an “overcapacity” they feel could throttle domestic industries….
The United States accused China on Friday of failing to disclose a 2020 nuclear test, violating what a US official suggested was an understanding involving a 1996 nuclear test ban treaty that both countries signed but neither ratified. This came as Washington called this week for a broad new arms-control treaty to include China, Russia…
In 1938, watching the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and the looming shadow of global conflict, Bertrand Russell defined “naked power.” In his seminal work Power: A New Social Analysis he described power that requires no consent, no tradition and no justification other than force itself. It was the raw, unmediated relationship of “the butcher…
TikTok’s “addictive design” has been found to violate EU digital laws – in a move that could land the Chinese-owned company a fine of up to 6 per cent of its global revenue. Preliminary findings of the European Commission investigation, announced on Friday, said the video app’s infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and “highly personalised”…
