SCMP News Digest
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Xpeng targets overseas sales surge in 2026 as China EV battle goes global
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng is aiming to double its overseas sales in 2026, as it battles domestic rivals such as BYD and Leapmotor for a bigger slice of the global market.
The Guangzhou-based company expects to deliver more than 90,000 vehicles to customers outside mainland China this year – about 15 per cent of its targeted annual output – as it accelerates its international expansion amid intensifying competition at home, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Part…
Blackpink lifts mainland Chinese arrivals in Hong Kong to January weekend record
Mainland Chinese tourists coming to Hong Kong on Saturday and Sunday made it a record-breaking weekend for this month, driven by K-pop girl group Blackpink’s shows, while the figure was just 2 per cent below New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day footfall.
Hotel and retail industry leaders said on Monday the three-day concert series had attracted crowds of local and mainland “Blinks” – the nickname for Blackpink fans – to Kai Tak.
They urged authorities to explore more celebrity tie-ups to promote…
25 years on, fears of alcohol-linked accidents in Japan linger despite rail safety upgrades
Twenty-five years after the deaths of two rescuers trying to help a drunk passenger at a Tokyo station shocked Japan and spurred safety upgrades, platform doors and other safeguards have reduced alcohol-linked accidents in the capital, but experts say the problem is far from eliminated.
“The situation has improved and many stations now have automatic barriers on their platforms to stop people falling onto the tracks,” said Masaki Maezono, a social worker specialising in alcoholism at Kurihama…
China’s manufacturing powerhouse cuts 2026 GDP growth target after missing mark
China’s premier manufacturing hub is recalibrating its economic ambitions, with policymakers in the industrial heartland of Guangdong setting a cautious growth target for 2026, signalling a strategic shift amid intensifying external pressures and internal regional imbalances.
The southern province, bordering Hong Kong, expects its gross domestic product to grow between 4.5 and 5 per cent this year, its governor, Meng Fanli, said on Monday while delivering the annual government work report at the…
Trump raises tariffs on South Korea to 25% as country ‘is not living up’ to trade deal
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would raise tariffs on imports from South Korea, accusing the country of “not living up to its deal” with the US. Tariffs had declined to 15 per cent but, assuming his threat is carried out, will jump back to 25 per cent.
“Because the Korean Legislature hasn’t enacted our Historic Trade Agreement, which is their prerogative, I am hereby increasing South Korean TARIFFS on Autos, Lumber, Pharma, and all other Reciprocal TARIFFS,” he wrote on social…
Ex-Olympic snowboarder pleads not guilty to running billion-dollar drug-smuggling ring
A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder pleaded not guilty to running a billion-dollar drug trafficking ring and orchestrating multiple killings, as one of the FBI’s top fugitives made his first US court appearance on Monday since he was arrested in Mexico last week and flown to California.
US authorities say Ryan Wedding, who competed in a single event for his home country in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been hiding in Mexico for more than a decade. He was added to the FBI’s 10…
At the table or on the menu? Europe wakes up to a world without order
If there was a sense of panic gripping European leaders at last week’s conclave of elites at the World Economic Forum, they could be forgiven a moment of relief as they departed the snowy peaks of Davos.
That was not only because US President Donald Trump used a long, rambling speech to rule out taking the Danish territory of Greenland by force.
Nor was it just the meeting on the sidelines with Nato chief Mark Rutte, which produced a formula to defuse immediate tensions by designating US…
Kanye West denies being a Nazi, blames bipolar disorder for antisemitic rants
Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behaviour – which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler – on his bipolar disorder.
The disgraced 48-year-old music star, who has lost fans and business deals in recent years because of his racist or antisemitic outbursts, released his song Heil Hitler last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
The song has been banned on major…
Xi to meet Uruguay’s Orsi in first Latin America-China visit since US capture of Maduro
Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi will travel to China next week, in what is expected to be the first visit by a Latin American leader to Beijing since the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an early January operation. Beijing says the trip will focus on strengthening political dialogue and expanding economic cooperation.
The state visit will run from February 1 to 7, according to China’s foreign ministry, and comes at a tense moment in the western hemisphere following…
Canada’s Carney charts a ‘third path’ for middle powers
Historians may mark January 20, 2026, as a landmark moment. That day, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, during his speech at Davos, declared the terminal decay of the US-led international order and charted a principled, pragmatic path for middle powers caught in the crossfire of great power rivalry.
The significance lies in the fact that this bold critique came from Canada – a nation deeply intertwined with the United States through an alliance, as well as proximity and economic ties.
US…
At least 6 dead after private plane crashes in Maine as US hit by winter storm
At least six people have died after a private plane crashed while taking off from Bangor International Airport in Maine on Sunday evening, local authorities said.
There were six people on the plane according to the flight manifest, the statement from Bangor police said. “No one from the incident was transported to the hospital, and all on the flight are presumed to be deceased.”
The US Federal Aviation Administration said in an earlier statement that the plane was carrying eight people. In a…
Trump does not want people killed in US but won’t back down on deportations: White House
The White House said on Monday that US President Donald Trump does not want to see people getting hurt or killed on the streets of the United States but will not back down from efforts to deport “violent criminal illegal aliens” from Minnesota.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt briefed journalists after the killing of 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday by federal officers drew outrage from Americans. It was the second fatal shooting of a US citizen in Minnesota this…
China’s Sinochem says it has proposed a ‘solution’ to end governance dispute over Pirelli
Pirelli’s Chinese shareholder Sinochem said on Monday it had put forward a “structured solution” to end a governance dispute with the tyre maker’s Italian investor Camfin.
The announcement was made as the Italian government assesses options to limit Sinochem’s influence over Pirelli, or even turn it into a passive shareholder, in a bid to ease the tyre maker’s US expansion.
Beijing-controlled Sinochem is Pirelli’s largest shareholder with a 34.1 per cent stake while Camfin, the vehicle of…
EU lawmakers divided over resuming work on US trade deal after Greenland crisis
The European Parliament has put off until next week a decision on whether to resume work on the EU’s trade deal with the United States, which it had suspended in protest against US President Donald Trump’s demands to acquire Greenland and threats of tariffs.
The parliament’s trade committee had been expected to set its position in votes on Monday and Tuesday, and the assembly’s president, Roberta Metsola, said last week discussions could resume soon to get the process back on track.
But German…
Carney links Trump’s new tariff threat to North America trade deal review
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday downplayed US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada, saying the comments should be viewed with an eye towards a coming trade deal review.
Asked about Trump’s threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports should Ottawa finalise a new trade deal with China, Carney told reporters that the North American free trade deal is up for review this year and “the president is a strong negotiator”.
“I think some of these…
US aircraft carrier arrives in the Middle East amid tensions with Iran
A US aircraft carrier and supporting warships have arrived in the Middle East, two US officials told Reuters on Monday, expanding US President Donald Trump’s capabilities to defend US forces, or potentially take military action against Iran.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers have crossed into the Middle East region, which comes under the US military’s Central Command, the officials told Reuters.
Trump said on Thursday the United States had an…
Ex-Conservative lawmaker Suella Braverman defects to right-wing Reform UK
British lawmaker Suella Braverman, a former home secretary, became the latest prominent Conservative to join Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK on Monday, and she accused her former party of lying to voters over immigration.
Opinion polls put Reform UK ahead of both Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives, the two parties that have dominated British politics for more than a century, though a national election is not expected until 2029.
For now, the…
Boy, 11, takes the wheel after dad faints while driving car in Hong Kong
An 11-year-old boy was forced to take the wheel after his father lost consciousness while driving in Hong Kong, with the car only coming to a halt after it collided with another vehicle and a railing.
Police said the boy’s father, 47, fainted while driving westbound along Shing Sai Road and turning into Sands Street in Kennedy Town at about 6.20pm on Monday.
The boy, who was seated next to him, grabbed the wheel in an attempt to stop the car.
But the vehicle collided with another car before…
2 women arrested as hawkers cash in on Blackpink merchandise craze at concerts
Hong Kong authorities have arrested two women for hawking and received four complaints about unauthorised vendors selling merchandise for K-pop group Blackpink near a concert venue over the past few days.
Hours ahead of the final night of the three-concert series of the popular Korean girl band on Monday, a Post reporter spotted about a dozen hawkers near Kai Tak Stadium, selling merchandise without official approval.
Since the concerts began on Saturday, photos shared on Threads have shown…
Universal Design Award Scheme inspires a more inclusive Hong Kong
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Universal design is fast becoming a new measure of good urban living in Hong Kong. As the city’s population grows older and more diverse, the way spaces are planned, built and managed now matters as much as what they contain.
That shift – from compliance to inclusivity – is what the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) hopes to accelerate through its Universal Design Award Scheme (UDAS), which recognises organisations…