How China cracked US ‘super code’, health benefits of lard: 7 science highlights We have put together stories from our coverage on science from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. How China cracked US ‘super code’ that controls most power grids in the world China is no longer using American software to run its power grid. The Southern Regional Electricity Market (SREM) – the world’s largest unified power market – has switched fully to Tianquan, a solver developed by Chinese engineers...

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How China cracked US ‘super code’, health benefits of lard: 7 science highlights

From China building world’s largest smart transformer to health benefits of lard, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting.

CIA behind drone strike on drug boat loading facility in Venezuela: sources The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter. The first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September marked a significant escalation in the administration’s months-long pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The strike has not been...

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CIA behind drone strike on ‘big facility’ in Venezuela: sources

Sources divulge details of a US strike mentioned by Trump, as Colombia’s president says US bombed a suspected cocaine factory.

Hiker dies after falling off cliff into sea at Hong Kong’s Po Pin Chau island A hiker has died after falling off a cliff at Po Pin Chau island in Hong Kong, according to police. The force received a report at 10.18am on Wednesday that a 30-year-old man had fallen into the sea at Po Pin Chau, off the High Island Reservoir East Dam in Sai Kung. Rescuers brought the man to a nearby Fire Services Department base, while officers investigated at the scene. The man was later certified dead. Po Pin Chau, which falls within Hong Kong’s Unesco Global Geopark, offers views of...

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Tourist killed after fall from 70-metre cliff while taking photos in Hong Kong

Post learns victim was tourist from Guangzhou who was hiking on Po Pin Chau with three friends.

‘Cycle of goodwill’: ex-China soldier saves woman from river where he was rescued decades ago A retired soldier from eastern China has saved an elderly woman from the same river where he was rescued 35 years ago. According to the mainland’s CCTV News, 40-year-old Huang Daoxian from Zhejiang province was cleaning his parents’ house when he heard noises coming from the river. He ran out and saw a woman struggling in the middle of the river, her hands frantically slapping the water as she sank. A skilled swimmer, Huang immediately jumped in, lifted her chin and dragged her towards the...

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‘Cycle of goodwill’: Chinese ex-soldier saves woman from river where he was once rescued

‘Superhero’ dad with bleeding feet drags drowning elderly woman to safety; tells her grateful, tearful daughter of amazing coincidence.

Junta leader declared winner of Guinea’s presidential election Junta leader General Mamady Doumbouya was declared the winner of Guinea’s presidential election held over the weekend, according to incomplete results released late on Tuesday, the country’s first election since a 2021 coup. Doumbouya won 86.72 per cent of the votes counted so far, according to the General Directorate of Elections. Ahead of the vote on Sunday, analysts had predicted that a weakened opposition would result in Doumbouya’s win. The election was widely seen as a means to legitimise...

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Junta leader declared winner of Guinea’s presidential election

Mamady Doumbouya claims a landslide victory in the west African nation after sidelining major rivals.

Cosco executive Zhang Yong appointed deputy in Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong Beijing has appointed Zhang Yong, a senior staff member from a state-owned shipping and logistics services group, to serve as a deputy director in the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced on Wednesday. Zhang, executive vice-president of Chinese shipping conglomerate Cosco Shipping Group and also its news spokesman, will replace Qi Bin, who was appointed last November, according to the ministry’s announcement. The liaison...

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Ex-shipping leader joins Hong Kong liaison office amid stalled ports deal

Former executive of Chinese shipping giant Cosco will replace Qi Bin, who is set to take up role in top national advisory body.

Airbus scores major win in China with orders for 145 A320 aircraft European aviation giant Airbus won another two major orders from Chinese clients for a total of 90 A320neo aircraft on Tuesday, just a day after receiving orders for 55 passenger jets of the same model from two other Chinese airlines. The orders came weeks after Airbus’ CEO accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron on a state visit to China and mark a big win for the European manufacturer over its American competitor Boeing in one of the world’s biggest aviation markets. Air China, Beijing’s...

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Airbus scores major win in China with orders for 148 A320 aircraft

The flurry of orders, worth billions of US dollars, marks a big victory for the European aviation firm over US rival Boeing in a key market.

Will Ocean Infinity finally solve the flight MH370 mystery in Indian Ocean? Nearly 12 years after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board, the search for answers to one of aviation’s most haunting riddles resumed on Tuesday in the remote southern Indian Ocean. Armed with cutting-edge deep-sea robots and smarter data, US investigators are scouring the seabed for clues that have eluded governments, experts and grieving families for more than a decade. MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur just after midnight on March 8, 2014, bound for Beijing on what...

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Will Ocean Infinity finally solve the flight MH370 mystery in Indian Ocean?

A new deep-sea search, armed with advanced tech and drones, restarts to find the Malaysia Airlines plane that vanished nearly 12 years ago.

X-rays free, A&E to cost more: the Post breaks down Hong Kong’s new hospital fees Hong Kong will overhaul public hospital fees from January 1 to ensure the sustainable development of its healthcare system amid challenges from an ageing population. Authorities estimate the increased fees could generate an additional HK$3 billion (US$385 million) a year, with the extra revenue earmarked to support patients facing financial hardship or critical illnesses. The government also plans to gradually reduce the public healthcare subsidy rate from 97.6 per cent to 90 per cent by...

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Explainer | X-rays free, A&E to cost more: the Post breaks down Hong Kong’s new hospital fees

As revamped public healthcare charges kick in on January 1, we take a look at how patients’ wallets will be affected by the new fees.

JFK’s granddaughter, journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, dies at 35 American environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of late president John F. Kennedy, has died from cancer at the age of 35, her family announced on Tuesday. “Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts,” the family wrote in a statement posted on the JFK Library Foundation’s Instagram account. Schlossberg, a science and climate reporter for The New York Times, wrote movingly about her diagnosis with acute myeloid leukaemia in an essay...

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Tatiana Schlossberg, journalist and JFK’s granddaughter, dead at 35

Schlossberg, who wrote about her battle with cancer, was critical of her relative Robert F Kennedy Jnr, the US health secretary.

Russia’s nuclear-capable Oreshnik missiles enter service amid Trump-Zelensky peace talks Russia’s nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system has entered active service in Belarus, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday, as the US efforts to broker a deal to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine have entered a pivotal stage. The ministry released a video showing combat vehicles that are part of the mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile system driving across a forest as part of combat training. The ministry’s announcement followed a statement from Belarusian President...

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Russia’s nuclear-capable missiles enter service, heightening Ukraine tensions

After Trump-Zelensky talks, Putin projects power by deploying nuclear-ready Oreshnik missiles to Belarus as a warning to the West.

Hong Kong policeman jailed for pretending to be trainer, claiming sick leave in 2019 A Hong Kong court has sentenced a suspended policeman to six months in prison for fraudulently persuading a doctor to give him 54 days of additional sick leave during the 2019 social unrest, when he pretended to be a personal trainer who was unfit for work. Jeffrey Tam Shun-wai, 32, was convicted on Tuesday at West Kowloon Court on a count of fraud, despite denying that he had intentionally deceived surgeon Wilson Tsang Wen-chieng during medical appointments between September and October 2019 to...

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Hong Kong policeman jailed for posing as trainer to claim sick leave in 2019

Court rejects Jeffrey Tam Shun-wai’s denials and rules he had lied to his doctor to avoid frontline police work during the 2019 social unrest.

Malaysia’s Najib Razak challenges 15-year jail term in 1MDB case Jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has filed an appeal against his conviction last week on ‌corruption charges related to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, which saw him ‍sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Najib, 72, has been in jail since 2022 on corruption offences linked to allegations that about US$4.5 billion was stolen from 1Malaysia ⁠Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund he co-founded while serving as prime minister in 2009. US...

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Malaysia’s Najib Razak challenges 15-year jail term in 1MDB case

A court last week ordered Najib to begin ‍serving the additional sentence after his current six-year prison term ends in 2028.

US approves sale of patrol planes to Denmark despite Greenland rift The United States said on Monday it had approved a US$1.8 billion sale of patrol aircraft to Denmark, despite renewed tension after an envoy of US President Donald Trump called again for seizing Greenland. The State Department said it approved a request from Denmark to buy the P-8A patrol and reconnaissance system from Boeing, which will include up to three aircraft. The sale will “support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of...

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Denmark to buy US patrol planes despite rift over Greenland

Denmark finalises a deal for three P-8A aircraft amid diplomatic tensions over Trump’s bid for Arctic island.

Typhoon-hit Philippines learns disaster preparations with a board game In a library in the Philippines, dice rattle on the surface of a board before coming to a stop, putting one of its players straight into the path of a powerful typhoon. The teenagers huddled around the table leap into action, shouting instructions and acting out the correct strategies for just one of the potential catastrophes laid out in the board game called Master of Disaster. With fewer than half of Filipinos estimated to have undertaken disaster drills or to own a first aid kit, the game...

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‘Master of Disaster’: Can a board game help Philippines face next catastrophe?

From typhoons to earthquakes, ‘Master of Disaster’ turns a roll of the dice into a life-saving lesson for the world’s most vulnerable.

Fire at Indonesia retirement home kills 16 elderly residents A fire at an Indonesian retirement home killed 16 older people on Sunday evening, police said. The fire in the single-storey house in Manado in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi Province started while the residents were asleep, police said on Monday. “The team on the ground has confirmed that the death toll currently is 16,” North Sulawesi police spokesperson Alamsyah Hasibuan said. “Fifteen of them were burned to death, while one victim’s body remains intact.” There were 15 survivors who were treated...

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Fire at Indonesia retirement home kills 16 elderly residents

Fast-moving blaze engulfed facility on the island of Sulawesi as residents were sleeping, police said.

China to power up the world’s largest ‘super-cold air battery’ in the Gobi Desert In the Gobi Desert outside Golmud, Qinghai, a row of white tanks stands tall in the open wilderness. Inside, air is compressed and cooled to -194 degrees Celsius (-317 degrees Fahrenheit), and then it becomes liquid. When released, it expands over 750 times, drives turbines and generates electricity. This is the world’s largest liquid-air energy storage plant. Also known as the Super Air Power Bank, it is built by China Green Development Investment Group and developed with the Technical...

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China to power up world’s largest ‘super-cold air battery’ in the Gobi Desert

Facility runs for 10 hours straight and will produce 180 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, powering 30,000 homes.

Ex-rapper Balendra Shah to run for Nepal PM after youth-led protests Two popular leaders have formed an alliance ahead of March parliamentary elections in Nepal that will challenge the older parties which have dominated the Himalayan nation’s politics for over three decades, party officials and analysts said on Monday. Rapper turned-Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, known as Balen, a popular ⁠elected official, joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) or national independent party, led by a former TV host-turned politician Rabi Lamichhane on Sunday, party officials...

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Ex-rapper to run for Nepal PM after youth-led protests

Two popular leaders form an alliance ahead of Nepal’s March 5 elections.

Hongkongers head to East Coast Boardwalk as ‘final piece of puzzle’ opens People are flocking to a new boardwalk extension described as the “final piece of the puzzle” linking Hong Kong Island’s 13km (8-mile) promenade, marking the end of 16 years of planning and construction. A glass observatory deck was among the features of the new 1.1km North Point extension that drew the most attention on Monday, but some visitors said they wished the new attraction were larger. Ivan Ho Man-yiu, chairman of the Harbourfront Commission, said that the opening of the eastern section...

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Hongkongers head to East Coast Boardwalk as ‘final piece of puzzle’ opens

Boardwalk’s eastern section, from North Point Promenade to Quarry Bay’s Hoi Yu Street, injects vitality into harbourfront, official says.

Nepal probes illegal matchmaking as China cautions citizens over ‘bride buying’ Nepal is stepping up scrutiny of illegal cross-border matchmaking after authorities uncovered cases in which brokers and online intermediaries were marketing Nepali women as prospective brides for Chinese nationals, prompting increased enforcement and official warnings. The Chinese Embassy in Nepal issued a New Year’s travel advisory cautioning its citizens against what it described as “bride buying” in the country, urging them not to trust matchmaking agencies and brokers blindly and stressing...

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Nepal probes illegal matchmaking as China cautions citizens over ‘bride buying’

Officials say online brokers are promoting Nepali women to Chinese men, prompting detentions and official warnings.