Israel says ceasefire and aid to resume after wave of strikes kill 26 in Gaza The Israeli military said on Sunday a ceasefire in Gaza had resumed after an attack killed two of its soldiers and prompted a wave of air strikes that Palestinians said killed 26 people, in the most serious test yet of this month’s US-brokered truce. Aid into the enclave was set to resume on Monday following US pressure, an Israeli security source said, shortly after Israel announced a halt in supplies in response to what it said was a “blatant” violation by Hamas of the truce. The Israeli...

South China Morning Post

Israel says ceasefire and aid to resume after wave of strikes kill 26 in Gaza

Ceasefire reactivated following US pressure, but fragile truce faces challenges from armed militants and disputes over the return of hostages’ bo...

Hong Kong exchange sees further growth ahead for record ETF market Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) expects its exchange-traded fund (ETF) market to continue growing after hitting record turnover and new listings this year, according to a senior executive. Average daily turnover in ETFs doubled to a record HK$37.8 billion (US$4.8 billion) in the first nine months, as the exchange’s 225 ETFs drew an increasing number of investors from mainland China, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. ETFs are listed index funds that track the performance...

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Hong Kong exchange sees further growth ahead for record ETF market

Daily turnover doubled to US$4.8 billion and will keep growing amid new asset classes and market connectivity, senior executive says.

Doubts greet Philippines-China coastguard deal to calm disputed waters The Philippines and Beijing are working on a coastguard cooperation pact as part of efforts to manage recurring flashpoints in the disputed South China Sea, but observers say the step may not be enough to prevent conflict or build lasting trust. Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro told the Senate on Tuesday that the proposed plan aimed to “reach a conclusion … an MOU for them [coastguards] on certain issues that involve both sides”. Lazaro hoped that the agreement would...

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Doubts greet Philippines-China coastguard deal to calm disputed waters

Analysts are cautiously optimistic about the proposed pact as past efforts to lower the temperature in the waterway have had limited success.

2 dead after cargo plane slides off Hong Kong runway, partly lands in sea This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Two people were killed after a cargo plane slid off the north runway of Hong Kong International Airport early on Monday morning, apparently striking a ground vehicle and plunging almost entirely into the sea, police have said. At about 3.50am, Emirates flight EK9788 from Dubai veered off the runway while landing, according to police, who said it is...

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2 dead after Emirates plane veers off Hong Kong runway into sea - as it happened

At about 3.50am, cargo flight swerves off Hong Kong airport’s north runway and hits ground patrol vehicle before partially landing in the sea.

1 missing after cargo plane slides off Hong Kong runway, partly lands in sea A person is missing after a cargo plane slid off the northern runway of Hong Kong International Airport early on Monday morning, apparently striking a ground vehicle and plunging partially into the sea, police have said. At about 4.40am, Emirates flight EK9788 from Dubai veered off the runway while landing, according to police, who said it is suspected to have struck a ground service vehicle in the process. The aircraft, a Boeing 777 freighter, failed to stop in time and partly landed in the...

South China Morning Post

2 dead after Emirates plane veers off Hong Kong runway into sea - as it happened

At about 3.50am, cargo flight swerves off Hong Kong airport’s north runway and hits ground patrol vehicle before partially landing in the sea.

Liu Qian on Chinese innovation, the US rivalry and women holding up half the sky Liu Qian is the founder of Wusawa Advisory and formerly the managing director of The Economist Group in Greater China. She is also a prominent advocate for gender equality, and the only Chinese representative in the core working group of the UN Women Leaders Network. In this interview, she discusses how Chinese innovation differs from Western innovation, where the US-China rivalry is headed and the critical role of women’s voices in policymaking. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For...

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Open Questions | Liu Qian on Chinese innovation, the US rivalry and women holding up half the sky

Economist, business executive advocates looking beyond geopolitics, avoiding policy pitfalls and building a culture that celebrates success.

Turkish Cypriots elect new leader; hopes for talks to heal Cyprus’ ethnic rift Hopes for a resumption of long-stalled talks to heal Cyprus’ decades-old ethnic rift were buoyed on Sunday when Turkish Cypriots elected a leader who campaigned on getting back to negotiating a two-zone federation with rival Greek Cypriots after an eight-year stalemate. Tufan Erhurman, 55, won by a landslide, receiving 62.76 per cent of the vote, against incumbent Ersin Tatar’s 35.81 per cent, according to unofficial figures broadcast on BRT TV. Nearly 65 per cent of 218,000 registered voters...

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Turkish Cypriots elect pro-talks leader, renewing hope for Cyprus unity

Tufan Erhurman wins in a landslide, campaigning on a return to negotiating a two-zone federation after an eight-year stalemate.

Bolivia holds a tight run-off as voters seek a president to lift them from crisis Bolivians voted on Sunday in an unprecedented presidential run-off between two conservative, capitalist candidates, ushering in a new political era after almost 20 years of one-party rule by the Movement Toward Socialism party. Voters are choosing between former right-wing president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga and centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz as they look for a leader to lift them out of their country’s worst economic crisis in decades. Since 2023, the Andean nation has been crippled by a shortage of...

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Bolivia elects centrist Paz as president, ending 2 decades of socialism

In his victory address, Rodrigo Paz said Bolivia was ‘reclaiming its place on the international stage’.

Trump urged Zelensky to cut a deal with Putin or risk facing destruction US President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia’s terms for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine in a White House meeting on Friday, warning that President Vladimir Putin threatened to “destroy” Ukraine if it did not comply, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. During the meeting, Trump insisted Zelensky surrender the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, repeatedly echoing talking points the Russian president had made in their call a day...

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Trump urged Zelensky to make concessions to Russia in tense meeting: sources

US president reportedly pushed the Ukrainian leader to accept Russia’s current battle lines as a permanent ceasefire deal.

UK’s Prince Andrew asked police to help smear sex abuse accuser, newspaper says Britain’s Prince Andrew asked police in 2011 to dig up personal information about Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused him of sexually abusing her as a teenager, a British newspaper reported on Sunday, days after the royal gave up his Duke of York title. London’s Metropolitan Police said it was “actively looking” into the allegations in the Mail on Sunday report. Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles, said on Friday...

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UK’s Prince Andrew asked police to help smear sex abuse accuser: report

Royal allegedly tasked a personal protection officer in 2011 with finding information on Virginia Giuffre, including a purported criminal record.

No major PLA activities near Taiwan after ‘troublemaker’ Lai’s policy speech The People’s Liberation Army has refrained from conducting a large-scale drill near Taiwan following its leader’s annual policy speech – an address seen as less provocative than last year’s, which drew sabre-rattling from Beijing. Figures released by Taiwan’s defence ministry showed there was no increase in the number of PLA warplanes and warships detected near the island following William Lai Ching-te’s Double Tenth address on October 10. According to the Taiwanese figures, the PLA conducted...

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No major PLA activity near Taiwan after ‘troublemaker’ Lai’s policy speech

Taiwanese defence ministry figures show no increase in the number of warplanes and warships near the island since October 10.

North Korean soldier crosses DMZ, defects to South: Seoul A North Korean soldier was taken into custody by the South after he voluntarily crossed the heavily fortified land border separating the two Koreas on Sunday, Seoul’s military said. The soldier was seeking “to defect to the South,” a defence ministry official said. Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s, with most going overland to neighbouring China first, then entering a third country such as Thailand before finally...

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North Korean soldier crosses DMZ, defects to South: Seoul

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Why Hong Kong must not be hasty in seeing off its ‘silver’ officials I think we should be bracing ourselves for a wave of disgruntled legislative councillors, and it might not end there. If a Legislative Council stalwart goes out the door, could an Executive Council heavyweight be far behind? Every day seems to bring news of another of our 89 legislative councillors not seeking re-election this year, with more than a dozen already pulling out of the race. In some instances, the legislator claims plausibly to wish to pursue other career or life objectives. That...

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Opinion | Why Hong Kong must not be hasty in seeing off its ‘silver’ officials

There is a case for refreshing stock by having a reasonable turnover, but it needs to be tempered by the benefits of retaining experience.

Chinese minister calls out US ‘protectionism’ in shipping industry China’s Minister of Transport Liu Wei has called on shipping companies and port operators worldwide to promote free trade in a “concerted effort” to combat “protectionism” after the US administration slapped port fees on Chinese vessels. “All the companies dealing with shipping businesses should work together to promote a fair, just and open environment and safeguard the common interests of global economic and trade development,” he said at the North Bund Summit, a shipping industry ­conference,...

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Chinese minister calls out US ‘protectionism’ in shipping industry

After US slaps port fees on Chinese ships, transport minister asks shipping companies and ports to stand up for free trade.

Nexperia China tells employees to ignore orders from Dutch head office Nexperia China, the local unit of the Dutch chipmaker, has told its employees to follow orders from local management and ignore instructions from the Dutch head office, according to a letter issued to employees over the weekend. In open revolt against the headquarters in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Nexperia China said in a Chinese-language statement on its official social media channel on Saturday that it was an “independent” Chinese entity and that Nexperia employees in China “should continue to...

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Nexperia China tells employees to ignore orders from Dutch head office

Letter to employees of company owned by China’s Wingtech asserts that ‘independent’ mainland entity is the one that pays workers’ salaries.

Businesses in Hong Kong’s Central count costs after Chinachem Tower fire Small businesses around the Chinachem Tower in Hong Kong’s Central were dealt a blow after the building was engulfed in flames, with some stores remaining shut on Sunday morning as the investigation into the cause of the fire entered its second day. Some shop operators described the fire as a rarity in the central business district and a source of concern. Saturday’s blaze took more than four hours to snuff out and enveloped the entire building, which was undergoing renovations. A government...

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Businesses in Hong Kong’s Central count costs after Chinachem Tower fire

Chinachem Group is ‘deeply concerned’ about the fire and is working with authorities to find out the cause, company spokeswoman says.

Flu’s spread across Asia prompts Hong Kong groups to join vaccination appeal Medical organisations and politicians in Hong Kong, Macau and other parts of Asia have issued a joint appeal to take preventive steps against the spread of influenza across the continent, with a local expert calling on residents to get vaccinated early. Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah, president of the Asian Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday that influenza was spreading not only in Hong Kong, but in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. “After the Covid-19...

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Flu’s spread across Asia prompts Hong Kong groups to join vaccination appeal

Paediatric infectious diseases specialist Dr Mike Kwan says ‘timings of flu outbreaks have changed’ after Covid-19 pandemic.

US business leaders eye Hong Kong as ‘springboard’ to mainland China, Asia American business leaders are looking to use Hong Kong as a “springboard” for tapping markets in China and Asia despite geopolitical tensions amid a wider reassessment of the mainland’s technological innovation, the city’s finance chief has said. Reflecting on his trip to New York and Washington last week, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said on Sunday that his exchanges would “lay the foundation” for further cooperation with the United States, even as Hong Kong got caught up in the...

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US business leaders eye Hong Kong as ‘springboard’ to mainland China, Asia

Following his US trip, finance chief Paul Chan also says American partners are reassessing Chinese technology given its leapfrogging ability.

China accuses US of carrying out cyberattacks on national time centre China’s top counter-espionage agency has accused the United States of conducting cyberattacks against the country’s national time centre, which it said could have had a severe impact on the orderly functioning of society. In a social media post on Sunday, the Ministry of State Security said the US National Security Agency was behind a number of cyberattacks against China’s National Time Service Centre. The centre – affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and based in Xian, Shaanxi...

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China accuses US of carrying out cyberattacks on national time centre

Ministry of State Security claims American intelligence agency stole sensitive data and attacked the centre’s internal networks.

Hong Kong TCM hospital to collect data on Chinese, Western medicine interactions Hong Kong’s first traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital aims to co-develop the world’s first clinical database on interactions between its healing practices and Western treatments to help provide evidence-based therapy guidelines. Dr Cheung Wai-lun, project director of the Health Bureau’s Chinese Medicine Hospital Project Office, said on Sunday that no such database currently existed and hoped the launch of the institute would help to fill that gap. The Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong...

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Hong Kong TCM hospital to collect data on Chinese, Western medicine interactions

Chinese Medicine Hospital of Hong Kong will open on December 11 and is intended to showcase TCM’s capabilities.