HSBC, the largest lender in Europe and Hong Kong by assets, has signalled for the first time its intent to engage with the city’s forthcoming stablecoin regime, citing Hong Kong’s sound regulatory environment and its potential to drive innovation in the digital asset space.

“We are interested in every part of Hong Kong’s innovation landscape, and we want to play a role in all of it,” CEO Georges Elhedery said in a small-group interview – in response to a question whether the bank had applied for…

Venezuelan opposition leader and winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize Maria Corina Machado said on Sunday that she will return to Venezuela in the coming weeks and that elections will be held in the South American country.

Machado did not set a date for her return but said one of the objectives will be to prepare “for a new and gigantic electoral victory”.

In a message shared on social media, the politician called on her supporters to “strengthen the unity of Venezuelans that began with the...

Li Yanqing, executive vice-president and secretary general of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi), discusses the impact of US trade policies, global market cycles and China’s strategic pivot towards high-quality manufacturing.

As a shipbuilding veteran who also serves as chairman of the ISO/TC 8 ships and marine technology committee, which oversees international standardisation for shipbuilding and marine operations, Li is a prominent voice for China’s industry on…

Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro demonstrated in cities across the South American nation on Sunday, as organisers hoped to build momentum for a right-wing victory in the coming presidential elections.

Protesters draped in yellow and green – the colours of the national flag – took to the streets in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the capital Brasilia to voice their opposition to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who faces a tough re-election bid in...

As China’s leaders convene for the annual “two sessions” starting this week, the eyes of the world will be fixed on Beijing. This gathering is no ordinary policy meeting. Beyond setting the economic growth target for 2026, it will finalise the 15th five-year plan (2026–2030), a blueprint that will define the nation’s economic and social priorities for the second half of this decade.

In an era of intensifying great-power competition, particularly with the United States, these decisions will shape…

The CIA had been tracking the movements of senior Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for months.

That is according to a person familiar with the operation who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The intelligence was shared with Israeli officials, and the timing of this weekend’s strikes was adjusted in part because of that information, the person said. The New York Times earlier reported on the CIA’s efforts ahead..…

Iran’s football federation president Mehdi Taj has given a bleak outlook regarding the World Cup in summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada the day after the US and Israel started air attacks against his country.

“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Taj told sports portal Varzesh3 on Sunday.

“The US regime has attacked our homeland and this is an incident that will not go unanswered.”

Iran has been drawn into Group.…

Hong Kong’s public airmail services to 24 countries across the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia have been affected after a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran forced flight cancellations to two Gulf states and disrupted transit journeys.

A Hongkong Post spokesman said on Sunday evening that the department’s airmail services to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were suspended with immediate effect until further notice.

“Airmail services transiting through these locations will also be...

China has strongly condemned the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which has left Tehran in turmoil and the Middle East facing a major regional escalation.

However, analysts believe that China’s position as Iran’s top oil buyer and trade partner will endure through any political upheaval.

They also expect Beijing to adopt a pragmatic approach towards Iran’s next leadership, despite the potential threat to Chinese diplomatic and defence ambitions in the Middle East...

A “relatively flexible” legal framework for Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis will be introduced to the Legislative Council later this month to fast-track the megaproject’s development, a minister has said.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho shared the update on the planned framework on Sunday, days after the city’s latest budget sought to allocate HK$30 billion (US$3.8 billion) for the megaproject set to span 30,000 hectares (74,130 acres) in the New Territories.

Authorities will...

Chinese smartphone maker Honor has unveiled a “robot phone” and its first humanoid assistant ahead of MWC Barcelona, alongside its latest foldable handset, in an aggressive bet on artificial intelligence-powered hardware to stand out in the fierce Android competition.

Honor’s AI Robot Phone, which featured a motorised, three-axis gimbal arm, could track motion and interact with users through camera movement, the company said in a preview of the handset on Sunday in Barcelona.

The camera arm and.…

Hong Kong aims to host fairs on robotics, yachts and small jets – events never before held in the city – to cement its status as an international exhibition hub and attract big spenders, the commerce minister has said.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah on Sunday said the push was in response to the HK$100 million (US$12.78 million) budgeted to “attract large international exhibitions with new elements to Hong Kong”.

Yau said the government was brainstorming...

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 China – exemplified by her November 7 speech saying China’s forceful takeover of Taiwan could pose an.…

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 single-letter H plate drew the top bid among the 49 plates sold, going to a man who outbid three rivals in a.…

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 New Territories, for HK$953 million (US$122 million), said Colliers and Knight Frank, which advised on.…

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 been assigned hull numbers, 109 and 110, signalling imminent commissioning into the PLA Navy.

This...

Hong Kong authorities have received 194 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 5pm on Sunday.

It said authorities had been coordinating with the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of..…

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 clarify whether the measures included financial compensation for conflict-related cancellations or...

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 security institutions close ranks, the battlefield expands and signs of internal rupture remain...

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 media, thanking Belgian special forces for their “exceptional professionalism and courage.”

Belgian...

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 plan to enhance the quality and image of taxi services.

Hong Kong has about 46,000 active taxi drivers,..…

For a book on performance appraisals, it contained some surprising language – especially given its author, President Xi Jinping.

The volume, published by the Central Party Literature Press, coincided with the launch of an overhaul of the Communist Party’s promotion system that will continue in the run-up to next year’s leadership transition.

Among the raft of speeches and instructions from Xi since November 2012 is a blunt warning to cadres about pursuing debt-laden white elephant...

China’s major sportswear makers have shrugged off soft consumer spending and a warm winter, according to analysts.

Retail sales in China’s sportswear sector picked up in the first two months of 2026 and beat expectations, helped by fresh policy support and Chinese New Year demand, analysts said. Separately, Chinese households also tuned into the Winter Olympics, where domestic sportswear giants Li Ning and Anta had high visibility.

“We are turning more positive on the China sportswear industry..…

In China, during the Lantern Festival, a unique folk custom involves the worship of a Toilet Goddess.

The unlikely ritual sees people create life-size straw portraits of the goddess and hold ceremonies near toilets, pigpens and kitchens to honour her and seek predictions for the coming year.

The Lantern Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month, is the first major festival after the Chinese Spring Festival.

On this day, people admire decorative lanterns, watch dragon and lion…

Explosions were heard in the Afghan capital Kabul Sunday, Agence France-Presse journalists said, with the Taliban government saying they were responding to aerial Pakistan attacks.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s defence ministry said “air defence strikes were carried out against Pakistani aircraft in Kabul”.

Months of cross-border clashes have flared since Thursday when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, with Pakistani forces hitting back on the border and from the skies.

The..…

The Hong Kong government is prepared for greater global market volatility and risks, higher trade costs, and fluctuating commodity prices stemming from the joint US-Israel attack on Iran, according to the city’s finance chief

Shortly after Iranian state media confirmed the death of Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the air strikes, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday that the conflict created “significant global uncertainty” in the world economy.

“I expect increased...

Chinese companies are primed to capitalise on a vast global wave of investment in clean energy infrastructure in the coming decades, as they are able to deploy solutions at a scale and cost that few can match, analysts said.

With China already rolling out green technologies – from wind and solar power to electric cars and batteries – at a massive scale domestically, its firms have the resources and know-how that other countries need to reduce their reliance on coal-fired power plants and...

The killing of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli air strikes has prompted governments across Muslim-majority South and Southeast Asia to reiterate calls for restraint as protests flared in several cities, with some religious and political movements hailing the cleric as a “martyr”.

Iranian state media confirmed Khamenei’s death on Sunday and declared a 40-day mourning period, casting the assassination as a pivotal moment for the Islamic Republic he had led since...

The top executive of Wuliangye Yibin – China’s second-largest liquor producer – has come under investigation for suspected corruption.

Zeng Congqin, 57, chairman and party secretary of the state-owned liquor giant, is suspected of serious violations of party discipline and law – a typical reference to corruption – the provincial anti-corruption body, Sichuan Discipline Inspection Commission, announced on Saturday night.

Zeng is being investigated by authorities in Yibin, a major city in the...

Chinese scientists have developed a flexible and safe organic lithium-ion battery that could be suitable for use in wearable electronics and in extreme conditions.

The breakthrough stems from an innovative organic cathode material that enables efficient and stable performance across an extreme temperature range, from far below freezing to as hot as 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit).

Conventional lithium-ion batteries typically use inorganic minerals such as lithium cobalt oxide or...

When Malaysian rapper Zamaera hit send on an email to South by Southwest’s (SXSW) music team in mid-December, she had already been told she was returning to Austin as a showcasing artist.

What she wanted was bigger: a stage for Malaysia, the kind Japan, Taiwan and Britain already had at the US music festival.

“They have a stage … for Japan. Taiwan already has a stage … even the UK and Germany,” the 31-year-old rapper, born Sharifah Zamaera, told This Week in Asia in an exclusive interview.



She.…

A Chinese employee became the envy of social media after she won a surprise prize of 10 days’ paid leave on the first day she returned to work from the Spring Festival holiday.

On February 24, the first workday following the nine-day holiday during the Chinese New Year, a video showing the employees’ lucky draw went viral, attracting 120,000 likes and 9,000 comments.



The video was taken in the renowned spicy gluten latiao company Mala Prince in central China’s Hunan province and was posted by..…

Thunderous blasts ⁠and towering fireballs from Iranian missiles streaking across Gulf states vindicated their ⁠leaders’ long-held fears that Tehran can bring war to their doorstep, likely to harden Arab rulers’ support for US-Israeli strikes.

Even in The Palm, Dubai’s swankiest resort, explosions rattled buildings and hit a luxury hotel, sending panicked residents running for cover as missiles and interceptors tore across the sky.

Dubai’s landmark ⁠Burj Al Arab hotel and the airport, which...

At least 35 flights from Hong Kong to the Middle East originally scheduled for Sunday and Monday have been disrupted following the joint United States-Israeli attack on Iran, with further cancellations and delays likely to follow.

Sunday morning also saw hundreds of passengers pack Hong Kong International Airport to inquire about the suspended departures of flights initially scheduled for the previous day.

The flights were primarily to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Doha in Qatar and Dubai in the...

At least five Hong Kong universities have backed the government’s proposal to launch study tours aimed at attracting non-local secondary students to pursue higher education in the city, with programmes featuring topics such as AI.

The University of Hong Kong (HKU), the city’s oldest tertiary institution, said it would offer up to 35 programmes this summer, giving outstanding non-local students a chance to earn full scholarships.

In this year’s government budget, education authorities said they..…

Hong Kong-listed mainland Chinese pharmaceutical companies are on track to deliver full-year profits, as surging drug sales and lucrative out-licensing deals with global partners start to pay off after years of research and development outlay.

“Despite domestic challenges, particularly drug pricing pressure, the earnings performance of innovative drugs should still fare well in China in 2025,” said Tony Ren, head of Asia Healthcare Research at Macquarie Capital.

Innovent Biologics, the first...

The death of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after almost 37 years in power raises paramount questions about the country’s future. The contours of a complex succession process began to take shape the morning after Khamenei’s assassination.

Here is what to know:

A temporary leadership council assumes duties

As outlined in its constitution, Iran on Sunday formed a council to assume leadership duties and govern the country.

The council is made up of Iran’s sitting president, the head..…

The Philippines cannot afford an aircraft carrier, could not sustain one if it had it and, according to most analysts, does not need one.

What it needs is messier, cheaper and harder to photograph, they say: a web of missiles, patrol boats, frigates and surveillance assets designed not to project power, but to deny it.

Two recent developments have made that choice harder to ignore. Last month, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr openly mused that an aircraft carrier with “accompanying...

Ahead of China’s annual legislative meetings – typically a window into Beijing’s top-level policy agenda – this is the third entry in a series examining the complex economic recalibration driving China’s growth philosophy and its wide-ranging implications for local governments, financial investors and private enterprises.

In China’s eastern province of Zhejiang, a sprawling laboratory for Beijing’s “common prosperity” campaign to reduce income inequality, statistics suggest success: between 2021…

Hong Kong sees itself as a modern, well-governed, global city that moves with the times. On finance, education, legal services and logistics, that self-image holds. But when considering the green transition, particularly transport electrification, the gap between rhetoric and reality is increasingly hard to ignore.

Nowhere is this more evident than in electrifying the taxi fleet, where the quarter-century timeline floated bears little resemblance to what is standard practice in neighbouring...

A social media ban on a stand-up comic for joking about marriage has triggered an online backlash in China.

Authorities said the Weibo account of Uygur stand-up comedian Xiao Pa was suspended as part of a cyberspace clean-up campaign during the Chinese New Year.

Xiao Pa, whose real name is Paziliyaer Paerhati, was banned from posting online, a verified Weibo community manager posted on Friday.

“Xiao Pa had posted information that stirred up gender conflicts and created anxiety over marriage and.…

A businesswoman from central China who was raised in a family that prized sons over daughters has built her own e-commerce fashion empire.

Huang Xuanni, 44, grew up in a rural family in Binzhou, Hunan province, where she was the overlooked sixth daughter among seven children.

Her parents, who lavished attention on their only son, left Huang to eat alone on the doorstep and rarely remembered her name.

Mainland reports recount a heartbreaking moment in her childhood when her parents abandoned her.…

Hongkonger Chan Sai-chiu considers the 60 sq ft subdivided flat he rents to be home, going out of his way to make the cramped space in Sham Shui Po’s ageing Yee Wa Building more liveable by repainting the walls and setting up his own kitchen.

The 72-year-old considers the flat’s HK$3,000 (US$383) rent to be a perfect fit for his tight budget, as he lives off about HK$5,000 from social security payments and receives a rental subsidy of HK$2,500.

The building also suits the retiree, who is...