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1. Japan’s rightward shift puts it on a collision course with China

   I underestimated Japan’s determination to ruffle China’s feathers. In a November 2023 column, I argued that the apparently cordial meeting between President Xi Jinping and then US president Joe Biden in the US unsettled Japan, which wanted to attain its goal of becoming a “normal country” again. In a column last December, I said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s hardened position against...

2. ‘H’ races to riches: car plate fetches HK$20 million at Hong Kong auction

   A personalised car number plate featuring the letter “H” has fetched HK$20 million (US$2.55 million) at a government auction, the fourth-most-expensive one sold in Hong Kong at 4,000 times its reserve price. Other high bids at Sunday’s Chinese New Year auction of vehicle registration marks included the plates “30” at HK$4.55 million, “101” at HK$1.01 million and “2288” at HK$470,000. The...

3. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: defiant Iranian leader’s rule ended by his enemies

   Iran has announced 40 days of state-mandated mourning for its Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose life and 36-year rule ended abruptly during the opening salvo of US-Israeli strikes against his country. Satellite imagery captured the aftermath of a devastating strike on Saturday that killed the 86-year-old cleric: black smoke and heavy damage at his central Tehran compound. Khamenei’s...

4. China Resources subsidiary acquires Hong Kong hotel for student housing project

   A subsidiary of state-owned conglomerate China Resources (Holdings) has acquired a Hong Kong hotel and plans to convert it into student housing amid a wave of investments driven by rising demand after the city raised the cap on non-local students. CR Longdation signed an agreement to buy four-star hotel Hotel Cozi Oasis in Kwai Chung, a major industrial and residential area in the southwestern...

5. What will first Type 055 destroyers for PLA East China Fleet mean for Taiwan?

   Beijing is expected to intensify naval operations beyond Taiwan and the first island chain, military observers say, citing the possible commissioning of Type 055 “super destroyers” into the East Sea Fleet. Photographs circulating on social media in late January showed two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers moored at a naval base in Zhoushan, located on the East China Sea coast. They had also...

6. 131 Hongkongers stranded in Middle East safe as attacks escalate

   Hong Kong authorities have received 131 inquiries from residents stranded in the Middle East amid a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, which forced flight cancellations and left some seeking refuge in local hotels. The Immigration Department confirmed to the South China Morning Post that all residents who inquired about the situation and flight arrangements were in safe locations as of 8am on...

7. Cathay passengers bemoan refund policies as US, Israel exchange strikes with Iran

   Passengers flying with Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways have criticised the flag carrier over its compensation and rebooking policies after flights to the Middle East were cancelled due to the joint United States-Israeli attack on Iran. Cathay Pacific said on Sunday that it was “waiving rebooking and re-routing charges for the affected customers” to give them “greater flexibility”, but did not...

8. Will Iran collapse without Khamenei or can its regime endure?

   The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the latest US-Israeli strikes on the country has triggered not only a leadership vacuum but also a high-stakes test of whether the Islamic Republic’s system can endure without the man who dominated it for nearly four decades. Analysts said the immediate signs point less to collapse than to hardening continuity, at least for now, as...

9. Belgium special forces seize Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker

   Belgium’s special forces boarded and seized an oil tanker from the ‘shadow fleet’ Russia uses to circumvent Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine, the government said on Sunday. Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the vessel was intercepted in the North Sea during an overnight operation. “Today, a vessel from Russia’s shadow fleet was intercepted in the North Sea,” Prevot wrote on social...

10. More than 40,000 Hong Kong cabbies register to accept Octopus payments

    More than 40,000 Hong Kong taxi drivers have registered to accept Octopus payments, ahead of an electronic payment mandate that will take effect next month, with a sector representative urging authorities to exercise discretion during the initial phase of the roll-out. On April 1, all cabbies will be required to offer at least two electronic payment options to passengers as part of a broader...