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South China Morning Post

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Japan’s Takaichi targets Chinese ‘coercion’, US ties in first speech after landslide win

Highlighting Chinese “coercion”, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s first speech in parliament since her party’s landslide victory indicated that managing Tokyo’s relationship with Washington would be a priority, according to analysts. Takaichi on Friday said Beijing’s growing “coercion” was driving the island nation to be “strong and prosperous” and that “Japan faces its most severe and...
996 goes West: US AI start-ups adopt China tech’s controversial work schedule to get ahead

They are young, intensely competitive, and unapologetic about 80-hour work weeks. Welcome to the United States’ new generation of tech founders. Gen Z’s start-up class is reframing “millennial hustle culture” by shifting from side gigs and personal branding to a more rigid office grind, while looking to China for inspiration. It’s for this reason that US artificial intelligence start-ups are...
Co-founder of British retailer Asos dies after falling from balcony in Thailand

Quentin Griffiths, who co-founded British fast-fashion retailer Asos, has died after a fall from a balcony in Thailand, Thai police said on Friday. Police said that Griffiths, 58, had fallen from the 17th floor of a flat block in the seaside resort city of Pattaya on February 9. The police went to the scene and found the body of a British national, whom they identified as Quentin John Griffiths,...
Germany’s Merz the latest European leader to visit China amid tensions with US

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will visit China from Wednesday, shortly after the Lunar New Year holiday, according to the chancellor’s spokesman. “This date was proposed by the Chinese side,” spokesman Sebastian Hille said on Friday. “We consider this offer to come right at the beginning of the year to be a good omen.” Merz will leave Berlin on Tuesday for his first official China visit since...
Families of Philippine drug war victims seek ICC justice as Duterte trial looms

Mary Ann Pajo watched quietly as cemetery workers opened her son’s tomb in Manila this week and removed his body for examination by a forensic pathologist. Accused of dealing drugs, 30-year-old Joewarski Pajo was shot dead while playing a game on his phone, one of thousands of extrajudicial killings alleged to have taken place under former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. A hearing begins...
China defends WTO’s most-favoured nation principle after US, EU challenge rule

China has defended the World Trade Organization’s non-discrimination principle after the United States and the European Union recently proposed reforms that could weaken it – though analysts say the rule would likely remain despite deepening divisions within the global trading system. Beijing called for “most-favoured nation treatment” to remain the “bedrock” of the WTO, in a new position paper...
CUHK alumni lose legal bid to overturn election ban over ‘scandalous’ conduct

Two Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) graduates have lost a judicial challenge against their disqualifications from an election for the institution’s advisory body, after their pro-independence views or convictions arising from the 2019 anti-government protests were cited as grounds for barring them. Walter Tse Wai-lok and Anthony Suen Ho-yin jointly applied for judicial review in November...
6 European activists held in Turkey while investigating prison conditions

Turkey has arrested six European activists who came to the country to examine prison conditions of political detainees, their lawyer said on Friday. They were detained in Istanbul on Thursday after meeting a legal collective called the Office of People’s Rights (HHB), said Naim Eminoglu, head of the Istanbul section of the Progressive Lawyers Association (CHD), who is defending them. The six...
Pax Sinica vs Pax Silica: how China-US mineral war is taking shape

If 2026 were a chess match, critical minerals would be the opening gambit, and both China and the United States are going all out. On January 28, China’s Zijin Mining announced a US$4 billion takeover of Allied Gold’s three African mines. On February 3, Swiss mining giant Glencore entered talks to sell a 40 per cent stake in its Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) copper and cobalt operations to...
Bangladesh faces daunting post-election challenges in economy, garment sector

The biggest challenges that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has to tackle following its recent victory in the general election are the country’s sluggish economy, high inflation and unemployment. Speaking at a webinar, panellists said voters would judge the new government on its ability to create jobs, tame inflation and steady relations with key partners, even as they commended the...