A wanted member of the overseas opposition group “Hong Kong Parliament” has been arrested in Thailand for overstaying her visa, and is reportedly set to be deported to mainland China. The opposition group said on Friday that Zhang Xinyan, who took part in what it called a parliamentary election and was sworn in as a member last year, was recently arrested in Thailand for overstaying her visa. It was not immediately clear what type of visa Zhang held. In a reply to the South China Morning Post on...

China has built the world’s first dual-core quantum computer, a development that could “significantly enhance” efficiency, official media has reported. The breakthrough signalled that Chinese quantum computing technology was “entering a new stage”, according to the official newspaper Science and Technology Daily. While other quantum computers rely on high energy consumption and need to be run in temperatures close to absolute zero, the design of this computer uses neutral atoms – which consume...

An exclusive Hong Kong sports club will press ahead with an imminent change of operator for its Central clubhouse despite objections by some of its members about unfair access and incompatibility of their client profiles, the South China Morning Post has learned. The controversy began about a fortnight ago after private members’ club Carlyle & Co announced it would take over the operation of the Town Club of the Hong Kong Golf & Tennis Academy (HKGTA). Some HKGTA members told the SCMP that the...

Hongkongers packed the aisles of supermarkets with carts full of daily necessities as the city’s major grocery chains engaged in what some were calling a “price war” ahead of Mother’s Day. Hong Kong’s two major supermarket chains, CK Hutchison Holdings-backed ParknShop and Jardine Matheson’s Wellcome, each offered 12 per cent off everything in their stores for those who bought a certain amount of goods on Saturday. HKTVmall, the city’s popular online shopping platform, entered the fray and...

As US President Donald Trump prepares to visit Beijing next week after a six-week delay, the cause of the delay – the war on Iran and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz – risks becoming a fresh point of friction in his summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. While both China and the US stand to benefit from the reopening of the strait and a permanent end to the war, Beijing and Washington have viewed the crisis through different lenses and sharply diverged over how to achieve...

Competition among Hong Kong florists heated up on the day before Mother’s Day as stores slashed bouquet prices and offered more innovative products, with some vendors reporting weaker business and lower profit margins compared with last year. Despite the wet weather on Saturday, vendors at the Mong Kok Flower Market touted colourful bouquets of carnations, roses and other fresh flowers. The price of a medium-sized bouquet at the market ranged from HK$300 to HK$400 (US$38.32 to US$51.10), at...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday oversaw a military parade commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II on Red Square. Security was tight in Moscow as Putin spoke at the event, even as a US-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities. Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of Nato”. The president did not...