SCMP News Digest
Monday, 26 January 2026
Trump sends border tsar Homan to Minnesota after second fatal ICE shooting
Donald Trump is sending his border tsar Tom Homan to Minnesota later on Monday, the US president said after an outcry over the second fatal shooting of a US citizen by immigration agents over the weekend in Minneapolis.
“Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” he wrote in a social media post.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt separately said on social media that Homan would manage Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the state.
On Sunday, Trump told…
Israel recovers final Gaza hostage remains, key for phase two of ceasefire
Israel says the remains of the final hostage in Gaza have been recovered, clearing the way for the next phase of the ceasefire that paused the Israel-Gaza war.
Monday’s announcement came a day after Israel’s government said the military was conducting a “large-scale operation” in a cemetery in northern Gaza to locate the remains of Ran Gvili.
The return of all remaining hostages, living or dead, has been a key part of the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase, and Gvili’s family had urged Israel’s…
AI mental health app helps Hong Kong students accentuate the positive
The Education University of Hong Kong (EdU) has launched an AI-powered mental health support app for students, with a secondary school principal praising its potential to help teachers track pupils’ emotional well-being.
Named EmoCare and powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the app began a trial run last month, serving around 700 primary, secondary and university students.
A key feature turns students’ diary entries into colourful visualisations of their emotions.
The app’s large language…
Hong Kong expands fight against hepatitis B. But how many hidden cases are there?
A government-subsidised screening and treatment programme set to launch next month is expected to identify about 23,000 hidden cases of chronic hepatitis B in Hong Kong, as part of a bigger plan to eliminate the public health threat within five years.
Health authorities said on Monday that the “Hepatitis B Co-care Scheme” would cover people born in Hong Kong in or before 1988 along with first-degree family members – parents, siblings and children – or sexual partners who had already contracted…
AI video generation: How China’s Kling challenges Google’s Veo, OpenAI’s Sora
As AI video generation has evolved from a curiosity to a productivity tool embraced by serious creators, the Kling platform developed by China’s Kuaishou has landed firmly in the top tier alongside Google’s Veo and OpenAI’s Sora.
Kling has rapidly grown into a meaningful new business line for the company – long a runner-up to TikTok owner ByteDance in China’s short video arena – since its launch in June 2024, reaching about 12 million monthly active users and annual recurring revenue of roughly…
Can this new tech help China’s stealth bomber break the sound barrier?
The old rules said you had to choose: stealth or speed. The US picked stealth. Russia went fast. China is trying to throw away the rule book.
Chinese researchers unveiled a development in aircraft design last month that could propel the nation’s next-generation stealth bombers into supersonic flight, ending the trade-off between speed and stealth that has troubled the American and Russian air forces for decades.
Since the 1930s, scientists have been studying a type of aircraft called the flying…
Taiwan launches firepower hub with US as Beijing steps up military pressure
Taiwan has set up a top-tier firepower coordination hub in partnership with the US to sharpen asymmetric strike integration as military pressure from Beijing intensifies.
The new Joint Firepower Coordination Centre – the highest-level facility of its kind in Taiwan – is designed to coordinate long-range precision strike planning and intelligence-sharing across the island’s military services.
This comes as Taipei ramps up coordination between its US-made weapons systems and locally developed…
Beyond borders: Beijing equips Chinese firms for global stage amid trade jitters
With domestic margins shrinking and global trade risks rising, China’s commerce authorities are unveiling a state-backed business resource aimed at helping companies navigate and accelerate their global expansions.
A national-level service platform will serve as a centralised full-service hub addressing companies’ common needs, including policy consultation, business services, country-specific information, resource matching and risk management, according to Wang Ya, an official heading the…
As the anglosphere fractures, Starmer’s China visit could be historic
Winston Churchill wrote his four-volume masterpiece, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, at the very moment a new era of world history was taking shape: victory over the Nazis, the birth of the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions. All signalled continuity of Anglo-Saxon leadership in world affairs, the baton passing fairly peacefully from Britain to America.
But 80 years on from the end of the second world war, the world is reconfiguring itself once more. And what it means for…
Indonesia begins re-exports of toxic US e-waste in crackdown on illegal imports
Authorities in Batam have begun sending hazardous electronic waste back to the United States, a tentative breakthrough in a case that has clogged one of Indonesia’s busiest ports with hundreds of suspect containers and tested the country’s ability to police such illegal imports.
Four containers of electronic waste classified as hazardous and toxic materials were shipped out last week from Batu Ampar Port under the supervision of Batam Customs, according to Indonesian media reports.
The move…
Tencent’s Pony Ma flags new AI social feature for Yuanbao app
Pony Ma Huateng, founder and CEO of Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, has teased a new artificial intelligence-powered social feature in the company’s latest push to keep pace in China’s intensifying AI race.
In an internal address to staff, Ma said Tencent was beta testing a new social tool inside its AI assistant app Yuanbao, and encouraged employees to try it out and help debug the feature, according to Tencent staff who attended the meeting.
The feature, known in Chinese as Yuanbao Pai,…
Why India’s focus on Middle East is on trade despite defence ties with UAE
India’s increasing engagement with Gulf nations is driven more by trade and energy security, even as it seeks to forge a defence partnership with the United Arab Emirates amid deepening rivalries in the region, according to analysts.
Last week, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan made a brief stop in New Delhi, where both sides pledged to deepen trade ties and defence cooperation.
The trip has fuelled speculation that the UAE is seeking to diversify its strategic partnerships amid…
EU opens probe into Elon Musk’s Grok over sexual AI deepfakes
The EU on Monday hit Elon Musk’s X with an investigation over AI chatbot Grok’s generation of sexualised deepfake images of women and minors, in the latest step of an international backlash against the tool.
Grok faces an outcry after it emerged that users could sexualise images of women and children using simple text prompts such as “put her in a bikini” or “remove her clothes”.
“In Europe, we will not tolerate unthinkable behaviour, such as digital undressing of women and children,” said…
Digital finance forum: AI, data must link ‘digital islands’ to smooth trade finance
The use of technology in trade finance is advancing from digitising existing paperwork to re-engineering entire processes with artificial intelligence and shared data, according to bank executives at the Development & Innovation of AI for Digital Finance forum on Monday in Hong Kong.
“When we are talking about digitalisation, we are actually making the current process digital,” said Raluca Popa, head of global trade solutions, commercial banking, Hong Kong, HSBC. “The future will require a…
Beijing issues new Japan travel warning as row over Takaichi’s Taiwan comments rumbles on
The foreign ministry in Beijing has urged citizens to avoid travelling to Japan ahead of Lunar New Year as the row over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November comments about Taiwan rumbles on.
A statement issued on Monday said: “With the Lunar New Year approaching, the foreign ministry and the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urge citizens to avoid travelling to Japan and advise those already there to stay alert to crime and disaster warnings.
“In recent weeks, public security in Japan has…
43 months’ jail for vocal instructor who molested 7 male students
A Hong Kong court has sentenced a vocal instructor to 43 months in prison after convicting him of molesting seven male students over a period of several years, with the judge condemning him for a serious breach of trust.
Deputy District Judge Bernard Chung Wai-keung handed down Drawson Lam Chun-yat’s sentence on Monday, after he was earlier convicted of nine counts of indecent assault and two of common assault.
Lam is known for being a contestant in the debut season of Midlife, Sing & Shine, a…
Philippines’ Duterte to face ICC hearing next month as judges toss out health defence
Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte will face a hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) next month, judges ruled on Monday, rejecting arguments the 80-year-old was unfit to take part.
Duterte will face a so-called “confirmation of charges” hearing starting on February 23, where judges decide whether the prosecution’s allegations are strong enough to proceed to trial.
“Having regard to the relevant legal principles, the medical assessment of the independent experts … and all of…
Shandong’s use of newest PLA dry dock near South China Sea suggests carrier milestone
China’s new dry dock near the South China Sea could help it avoid having an aircraft carrier “gap” in the disputed waterway and pave the way for military outreach to the Indian Ocean, analysts said.
According to a report by American geospatial intelligence company AllSource Analysis, satellite imagery on January 21 showed the first use of a new dry dock at Yulin Naval Base in the southern Chinese province of Hainan, for the likely maintenance of PLA Navy aircraft carriers.
The report said…
Hong Kong prosecutors say case against anti-China activists not a political trial
Hong Kong prosecutors have argued that the national security trial of a now-disbanded alliance behind the Tiananmen Square vigil is neither politically motivated nor intended to punish dissidents, stressing that they will not ask the court to determine the merits of any campaign or criticism against Beijing.
In his opening speech on Monday at West Kowloon Court, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Ned Lai Ka-yee said the high-profile case against the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic…
Xi Jinping calls AI ‘epoch-making’ as China pushes innovation strategy – but flags risks
President Xi Jinping has stressed the need to advance indigenous technology – particularly artificial intelligence (AI) – in his first formal meeting of the year with ministers and provincial officials, as the world’s second-largest economy pushes innovation-led growth.
His message was clear: Beijing would redouble efforts to break development bottlenecks through a “whole-of-nation” approach – a year after start-ups like DeepSeek stunned the world and shone a spotlight on China’s tech…