Singapore plans to introduce legislation early next year requiring social media platforms to roll out stronger safeguards for teens, including possibly setting a daily time limit, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo has said. If a platform could not or did not want to introduce these stronger safeguards, Singapore intended to raise the minimum age of access to that platform to 18, Teo told journalists in an interview on Friday. The government wanted to know what...

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An executive at a Chinese military trading company has been arrested for leaking sensitive defence information to intelligence agencies from two countries, Beijing’s top spy and anti-espionage agency revealed on Monday. The Ministry of State Security regularly publicises espionage cases to raise public awareness, but the vast majority of these disclosures focus on individuals targeted by a single foreign intelligence service. Public disclosures involving a Chinese national recruited...

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From big banks to fashion brands, tenants are taking advantage of potential lower rents for retail space in Hong Kong’s prime areas as they utilise eye-catching locations to boost visibility towards customers, according to agents. HSBC is unveiling its first flagship branch at the Capitol Centre, which was previously occupied by fashion retailers such as Chanel, Victoria’s Secret and Forever 21, as the bank prepares to close two branches in one of the city’s top shopping areas, Causeway Bay. The...

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Hong Kong’s retail sector recorded growth for a 15th consecutive month in July, with the government reporting a 4.5 per cent increase year on year, although the pace of expansion slowed amid adverse weather and continued outbound travel by residents. Retail sales value for the month reached HK$31 billion (US$4 billion), while sales in the first seven months of the year grew by 8.9 per cent compared with the same period in 2025, according to provisional figures released by the Census and...

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The long-standing rivalry between Asia’s two leading financial centres is heating up. As Hong Kong and Singapore compete harder for investment talent, tax incentives for fund managers have emerged as the new battleground. A government bill working its way through Hong Kong’s Legislative Council would result in sweeping changes to tax rules on carried interest. The legislation, which is expected to be approved later this year, would offer preferential tax treatment to a wider range of alternative...

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With China rolling out a stronger-than-expected package of measures to transition the housing market away from a presales model, analysts said the shift is a double-edged sword for real estate developers: tighter regulations are poised to squeeze cash inflows, even as the reforms aim to stimulate sales and stabilise prices over time. Under new rules released by the People’s Bank of China, presales would remain in effect but down payments and mortgage funds would be disbursed to developers only...

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A South Korean court sentenced the leader of the secretive and powerful Unification Church on Monday to two years in prison on charges of bribing officials, including the then president’s wife. Han Hak-ja, 83, was accused of providing luxury items, including a designer handbag, to former first lady Kim Keon-hee while her husband, Yoon Suk-yeol, was president, in an attempt to secure policy favours. She arrived for sentencing at court on Monday in a wheelchair, wearing pyjamas and a surgical...

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A student has admitted forging a reference letter to secure admission to a doctoral programme at a university in Hong Kong, after repeatedly failing to secure a place despite high hopes for her academic career. Fanling Court heard on Monday that 31-year-old Li Zuer from mainland China pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining services by deception. She commissioned a Shenzhen-based agent to rewrite a reference letter endorsing her academic performance and falsely claimed it had been submitted by...

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Hong Kong police have made an arrest after the gravestone of late movie star Linda Lin Dai was found damaged. Lin’s gravestone at St Michael’s Catholic Cemetery in Happy Valley was previously found damaged, with its marble altar covered in cement. In a reply to the South China Morning Post, the cemetery office said it had referred the case to police and that the suspect had been charged. It declined to comment further. The SCMP has reached out to police for comment. Linda Ching Yuet-chue –...

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Hong Kong school students and other residents deemed at risk can receive their influenza vaccines one week earlier this year, after the government diversified its procurement efforts and streamlined administrative measures. Authorities also said on Monday it would aim to boost the injection rate among people aged 65 or above and those aged six months to two years, adding that they would rely on reminders from doctors during medical encounters as a prioritised measure. Dr Edwin Tsui Lok-kin,...

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Air pollution in Malaysia’s Bornean state of Sarawak has surged into hazardous territory, with the air pollutant index (API) topping 400 in the worst-hit district, as forest fires raging in Indonesia continue to send thick smoke drifting across the border. Serian in Sarawak, closest to the frontier with Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, recorded the highest reading of 476 as of Monday morning. Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman all logged readings above 300 as of 10am, according to Malaysia’s...

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Indonesia, the United States and more than a dozen allies launched annual joint military exercises on Monday to boost defence capabilities and “deter aggression” in the Asia-Pacific region. Jakarta maintains a neutral foreign policy, what it calls “free and active”, as it walks a diplomatic tightrope seeking good relations with both Washington and Beijing. The Southeast Asian giant held a joint navy drill with China this month that was blasted by Taiwan as a “provocation”. Indonesia, the US and...

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