SCMP News Digest
Daily News • Thursday, 29 January 2026
Pawsitively posh: Hong Kong Pet Show takes luxury to new heights
Private jet holidays, AI-powered cat litter boxes and human-grade fresh dog food inspired by Hong Kong’s char siu rice are all the rage at this year’s Hong Kong Pet Show, as exhibitors express confidence in the purchasing power of the city’s pet owners.
Humans, dogs and cats jostled alongside each other on Thursday, the opening day of the expo at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre, as furry friends decked out in outfits sampled treats like dried alligator and bully sticks.
More than…
Starmer stresses Hong Kong’s stability as key to stronger ties in meeting with Xi
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability are in the shared interests of both China and the United Kingdom in a high-profile meeting during his four-day trip to Beijing.
Starmer, the first British leader to visit China since 2018, confirmed after the meeting, when asked by the media, that he had mentioned the landmark national security case of jailed former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying with Xi.
According to the state…
Why South Korea’s Gen Z steer towards bus driving as job market shifts
At the training centre for KD Transport Group, South Korea’s largest bus operator, in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, boyish-looking men stood out among about 100 drivers gathered for safety training on January 20.
According to the company, 47 of the 460 drivers at its Pangyo branch are in their 20s or 30s, accounting for roughly 10 per cent of the workforce.
“Most of them joined within the last year or two,” a company official said. “It is unusual to see such a sharp increase in young…
Hong Kong cracks down on alleged HK$700 million renovation bid-rigging syndicate
Hong Kong’s competition watchdog has cracked down on a new syndicate suspected of bid-rigging in tenders for building maintenance projects across 17 estates and buildings, with the value of contracts hitting HK$700 million (US$89.7 million).
The two-day operation is the first major enforcement action led by the Competition Commission following the deadly Tai Po blaze last November, which renewed scrutiny over the years-long malpractice of the city’s construction sector.
Codenamed “Hunter”, the…
Alibaba’s T-Head unit unveils details of AI chip designed to rival Nvidia’s GPUs
Alibaba Group Holding’s semiconductor design arm, T-Head, on Thursday unveiled details of its advanced artificial intelligence chip with capabilities said to be on par with Nvidia’s H20, days after the unit was reportedly being prepared for a potential spin-off and public listing.
According to information on T-Head’s website, the Zhenwu 810E was a “fully self-developed” parallel processing unit (PPU), an application-specific integrated circuit designed for both AI training and inference. Alibaba…
EU overtakes US as China’s top source of trade disputes, new data shows
The European Union has surpassed the United States as the economy with the most serious trade disputes with China, driven by conflicts over semiconductor materials, rare earth magnets and other strategic sectors, according to a Chinese trade body.
A monthly index released on Wednesday by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), a semi-official Beijing-based organisation, found that in November 2025 – the last month tracked – the EU ranked as China’s top source of trade…
China woman’s online fame from slaughtering pigs turns soil in nearby land into ‘lucky charm’
Clumps of earth dug up from the front of a Chinese woman’s rural dwelling are being sold for up to 18 yuan (US$3) as a “lucky charm” after she shot to online fame by inviting people to slaughter pigs at her home.
The 23-year-old from southwestern China’s Chongqing municipality, nicknamed Daidai, posted an online invitation on January 9, asking people to help kill two pigs in preparation for a traditional pork feast.
The event on January 11 attracted more than 1,000 visitors. Their cars formed a…
Hong Kong workers lag regional peers in AI use, lose out on pay, security: PwC study
Hong Kong’s workforce lags behind regional peers in the frequent use of AI, a sluggish adoption rate that experts say is limiting pay rewards and job security even as companies prepare to trim entry-level roles.
A 2025 survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released on Thursday found that half of Hong Kong respondents were infrequent users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) at work in the past 12 months, compared with 34 per cent for the Asia-Pacific region.
The data showed…
Are China’s J-20A stealth fighters now updated with high-thrust WS-15 engines?
Beijing has released footage of flight tests of an upgraded J-20A stealth fighter, with signs that the jets have been equipped with long-awaited high-thrust WS-15 engines and better avionics.
Chengdu Aircraft Corporation – the Aviation Industry Corporation of China subsidiary manufacturer of the J-20 stealth fighter – released new imagery and flight footage of its latest test aircraft on Saturday.
According to a social media post by state news agency Xinhua on Wednesday, these aircraft are new…
Hong Kong regains lustre as stocks rally, property picks up
Hong Kong’s financial war chest increased its earnings by 51 per cent to a record last year, fuelled by a rally in local and global stocks as well as bonds.
The Exchange Fund’s investment income surged to HK$331 billion (US$42 billion), the most since its creation in 1993, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s de facto central bank uses the fund’s holdings to help defend the city’s currency peg to the US dollar.
All of the fund’s main investment categories were…
Hong Kong’s first dog-friendly restaurants could be opening sooner than you think
Hong Kong’s environment minister has said that the city’s first batch of dog-friendly restaurants is expected to be approved by the middle of 2026, marking a significant shift in local dining regulations to bolster the “pet economy”.
Appearing before the Legislative Council’s food safety and environmental hygiene panel on Thursday, Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan outlined a series of measures from the latest policy address that aim to revitalise the catering sector.
Under the…
Why Trump’s Georgia election raid escalates his 2020 obsession into a warning for 2026
Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election in 2020. But for more than five years, he has been trying to convince Americans the opposite is true by falsely saying the election was marred by widespread fraud.
Now that he is president again, Trump is pushing the federal government to back up those bogus claims.
On Wednesday, the FBI served a search warrant at the election headquarters of Fulton County, Georgia, which includes most of Atlanta, seeking ballots from the 2020 election. That follows…
Nvidia wins approval for Taiwan headquarters to secure AI chip supply
The Taiwan government has cleared Nvidia to establish a NT$3.3 billion (US$105 million) headquarters on the island that produces most of the world’s advanced semiconductors, which the Silicon Valley chip designer will need to feed the red-hot global artificial intelligence sector.
Nvidia would use the Taipei site for a “commercial office” building and the acquisition of land for a “comprehensive business park”, the island’s Ministry of Economic Affairs announced on Wednesday.
The approval came a…
Bangladesh’s cricket boycott exposes deepening cracks in South Asian diplomacy
Bangladesh’s recent pull-out over perceived security concerns for the showpiece T20 World Cup cricket hosted by India and Sri Lanka next month has underscored the unprecedented way regional political tensions have spilled over into sports.
Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland in the 20-team event on Saturday after the International Cricket Council rejected Dhaka’s request to move its matches to Sri Lanka, saying it was not feasible to change the schedule so close to the February 7 start.
The…
Asean cautioned against legitimising Myanmar junta as ministers meet on peace plan
As foreign ministers from Asean member states gathered in the Philippine city of Cebu this week, the bloc faced a familiar dilemma: how to keep pushing for peace in Myanmar without sliding into what critics warn could become “de facto acceptance” of its military regime.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, held on Wednesday and Thursday, is the first major gathering hosted by the Philippines since it assumed the bloc’s chairship this year. Much of its…
What ruptured globalisation means for international finance
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney does not mince his words. Writing for The Economist last November, Carney argued the post-Cold War had collapsed and said the world was “entering an era of ‘variable geometry’” involving “pragmatic coalitions, built around shared interests, and occasionally shared values, rather than shared institutions”.
The essay, it turns out, was the prelude to a hard-hitting speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20. Carney told attendees…
Hong Kong teachers required to renew practising certificates every 3 years
All teachers in Hong Kong will be required to renew a newly proposed practising certificate every three years to continue teaching, with the plan to take effect as early as the 2027-28 academic year, the South China Morning Post has learned.
Sources also said on Thursday that substitute teachers would have to obtain these certificates through special arrangements. The measure is expected to affect more than 70,000 teachers in Hong Kong.
According to the Education Bureau, the move is to ensure…
Tussles over furniture at China Ikea clearance sale days before 7 stores set to close
A widely shared video on Chinese social media shows customers scrambling to get furniture and even fighting over items during what appears to be a clearance sale at an Ikea outlet in the country.
The multinational furniture retailer has announced plans to close seven of its stores in China from February 2. The move is part of a strategy to shift Ikea’s focus from scale expansion to targeted growth. China’s weak property market and sluggish consumer spending have dampened demand for Ikea goods.
Jewellery store heists sweep South Korea amid soaring gold prices
Thefts at jewellery stores are on the rise in South Korea amid gold’s record-breaking rally, market watchers said on Thursday.
International gold prices recently surpassed US$5,300 per ounce for the first time, driven by weakening confidence in US dollar assets amid geopolitical tensions and recent remarks by US President Donald Trump advocating a weaker dollar.
Police reports of attempted gold thefts have risen sharply. The suspects tried to quickly convert the stolen items into cash, police…
Singapore court rules man, 97, mentally fit to marry mistress, dismisses son’s suit
A Singapore court has dismissed a man’s attempt to have his 97-year-old father declared mentally incapable for wanting to marry his long-time mistress, with the judge saying that mental capacity should not be determined solely by age or appearance.
The elderly man, who is still chairman of the chemical company he founded in the 1960s, had been conducting an extramarital affair with his secretary since 1971, Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported on Tuesday, citing court…