The Tibetan Plateau, home to the world’s largest expanse of alpine permafrost, is warming at about twice the global average but, counter-intuitively,researchers have found that ice in parts of the Tibet autonomous region is actually thickening. A team from Peking University found that shallow ground ice has unexpectedly increased over the past 20 years, affecting more than a third of the plateau’s permafrost, a phenomenon driven largely by natural climate factors. The authors noted that the...

Follow the SCMP’s live coverage here: High voter turnout as US midterm results test Trump’s grip on Congress The United States’ midterm elections are unlikely to deliver a “disruptive” shock to relations between Beijing and Washington despite potential volatility over the issue of Taiwan, according to a prominent Chinese expert in US studies. Chen Dongxiao, president of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said any shift in the make-up of the US Congress would mainly complicate...

For autonomous vehicles, the hardest lessons to learn are the ones that can test the skills of even the most experienced human drivers: an errant cyclist darting through a red light, or an animal bolting into oncoming traffic from behind a corner. The Chinese tech giant Baidu has developed a new AI-driven simulator to prepare its Apollo robotaxis for just such rare but high-stakes road hazards, as the firm looks to gain an edge in the fast-growing self-driving taxi market. The system, Apollo...

China is willing to work with all parties to do a good job in the final stage of the 2026 APEC "China Year" and contribute to the fruitful results at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.

After spending 12 gruelling hours battling the Tai Po inferno, frontline firefighter Ah Fai* could not have imagined that, barely a year later, his department would find itself under the harsh glare of public scrutiny. The trauma of that night is still raw. He remembers burning debris from the bamboo scaffolding raining down from above, blocking one of the main entrances of Wang Fuk Court. “Our colleagues simply had no chance of getting in,” he said. Those who eventually breached the towers were...

China is helping to train Solomon Islands police to use water cannons as part of an ongoing security partnership that is viewed with scepticism by the West. The Chinese embassy said on Tuesday that six officers from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force took part in a week-long training exercise, without giving dates. The programme helped familiarise officers with the use of crowd control vehicles and different scenarios in which they may be used, the embassy said. The programme cultivated a...

Polls began closing across the United States on Tuesday evening in midterm elections that will decide whether US President Donald Trump’s Republicans keep control of Congress, after a day of voting disrupted by floods and machine glitches but largely free of the problems many had feared. The first polls closed at 6pm Eastern Time (7am Hong Kong time), with most states following over the next several hours. The last state to close polls will be Alaska, at 1am Eastern Time (2pm Hong Kong time)....

Amid continuously escalating tensions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday accused a handful of Philippine politicians of “egregious, irrational and intolerable” conduct, urging Manila to rein in their anti-China rhetoric, state media reported. Wang made the remarks during a phone conversation with Philippine Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro, as China-Philippines relations were currently facing what he described as “malicious interference”, according to Xinhua. “Some Philippine...

Dr. Andreas Wladis, Medical Director of the UN Division of Healthcare Management and Occupational Safety and Health, says technology matters, but proper medical screening, training and established protocols remain essential.

China-Philippines relations are facing malicious interference at present, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday.

Water town vs. internet expo: How tradition and tech intersect

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called for joint efforts to advance the building of a China-Myanmar community with a shared future, expressing China's support for Myanmar's political reconciliation, economic development and improvement of people's livelihoods.

Hongkongers moving to the United Kingdom under the British National (Overseas) visa scheme will be exempt from plans to double the qualifying period for settlement to 10 years, according to an official announcement. But they will still face stricter English-language requirements and tighter rules on criminal records, alongside existing conditions such as completing five years of continuous residence and passing the Life in the UK test. British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday outlined...

China to beef up support for emerging pillar industries

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called for advancing the building of a China-Laos community with a shared future, as the two countries mark the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday met with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow in Beijing, calling for stronger strategic communication and deeper mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.

Ahead of the Global Mayors Dialogue, a group of local government representatives from Morocco and Lebanon were taken on a tour of the host city, Ningbo.

A recent visit by the mayor of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray in northern France to Ningbo Foreign Language School became an occasion for a heart-to-heart exchange on cross-cultural education.

Last week, Somaliland, a breakaway region that declared independence from Somalia in 1991, welcomed its first ambassador from Israel. Diplomat Michael Lotem presented his credentials in Hargeisa, while officials laid the cornerstone for an Israeli embassy. The ceremony, announced by Israel’s foreign ministry on Sunday, formalised a relationship that began with mutual recognition in December. Somalia, the African Union, Arab states and China strongly oppose the move, reaffirming Somaliland as...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China warns EU not to ‘fantasise’ on trade approach after ‘kill switch’ threat Beijing warned Brussels not to “fantasise” that taking a hard line will force it into concessions, as the bloc confirmed plans for a gung-ho new “kill switch” that would allow Brussels to “immediately” kick China...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering Latin American relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Air China scrambles to fly stranded passengers out of fuel-starved Cuba As a US oil embargo deepened Cuba’s energy crisis, dozens of Air China passengers found themselves stranded on the island. Read the full story here. 2. Paraguay tech minister defies Beijing sanctions, vows to...

Zhang Shengmin, China’s most senior uniformed general, met Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov in Beijing on Tuesday in his first publicly reported meeting with a foreign official since he became a member of the Politburo. Zhang, the vice-chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), pledged to deepen military cooperation and strategic coordination with Russia during the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. He was elected to the Politburo last week at a key Communist Party...

Hong Kong could be in store for its first real taste of autumn early next week, with temperatures forecast to dip below 20 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) as a strong northeast monsoon approaches the Guangdong coast. The Hong Kong Observatory said the monsoon would bring windy conditions to the region over the weekend, with offshore areas and high ground expected to experience strong winds at times on Saturday. Temperatures across southern China were expected to fall between early and midweek...

A Chinese court has begun hearings in a defamation case filed by authorities and institutes in Beijing and Wuhan against the US state of Missouri over accusations tied to Covid-19. In a notice on Monday, the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court said it held a hearing on Friday and legal proceedings were continuing. The case was jointly filed on April 30, 2025 by the Wuhan government in Hubei province, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and its subordinate entity, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV),...

US artificial intelligence giant Anthropic’s initial public offering prospectus has exposed a vast profitability gap between it and rivals Z.ai and MiniMax, highlighting the challenges facing China’s AI model developers in turning technological advances into sustainable businesses. The Claude developer’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week revealed a significant financial advantage over its most direct Chinese counterparts, despite the latter’s continued...

China appears to be testing a stealthy new trimaran at sea, according to a photograph circulating on social media, in what could be a further effort to develop unconventional naval platforms. The image first emerged on Weibo on Sunday and appears to show a vessel featuring an inverted wave-piercing bow, three-hull design and angular superstructure surfaces that could be intended to reduce its radar signature. The vessel, which is fitted with a prominent antenna mast and multiple dome-shaped...

Five Hong Kong universities have been ranked among Asia’s top 10, with three of them in the top five for the first time in more than a decade and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) retaining its No 1 spot, according to an annual UK survey. Meanwhile, three universities in mainland China were ranked in the top 10. Peking University held on to second place, Tsinghua University leapt from ninth to third and Fudan University dropped from fifth to sixth, giving the mainland two universities in the top...

The body of Liu Yandong, a former Chinese vice premier and state councilor, was cremated in Beijing on Tuesday. She died of illness in Beijing on October 28 at age 81.

Think you can steer a drone using nothing more than your own concentrated thoughts? It may sound like science fiction, but mind-controlled drone-flying is one of the free activities the public can take part in at the upcoming Being Human Festival in Hong Kong. Running from November 5 to 15, the festival is the first Hong Kong edition of the UK’s national festival of the humanities, which was founded in 2014. Organised by the University of Hong Kong (HKU)’s Faculty of Arts under the theme...

China has pledged to work with Pakistan to advance “high-level security cooperation” and ensure the safety of a joint flagship infrastructure project that has become a target for terrorists. That was the message Liu Haixing, head of the Communist Party’s International Department, conveyed in talks with Pakistan defence forces chief Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday, as part of his first official visit to the South Asian country since taking office just over a year ago. In...