Mainland China revises criteria for settling in Hong Kong, Macau

National Immigration Administration announces new criteria to take effect Wednesday and replace current points-based system

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Travellers arrive at a border crossing connecting Hong Kong and Shenzhen in April. Photo: Sun Yeung

Mainland Chinese immigration authorities are standardising their assessment regime for approving residents to settle in Hong Kong and Macau by replacing the previous points-based system with unified criteria, offering applicants more certainty.

The National Immigration Administration announced the new criteria on Tuesday


Thai beer dynasty heir opens up about abuse, being sued by his mother: ‘at least I’m free’

Siranudh “Psi” Scott, a fourth-generation member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the Singha beer brand, pictured in Bangkok last month. Photo: AFP

For most of his adult life, Siranudh “Psi” Scott kept a dark secret.

Allegedly abused by his older brother as a teenager, he buried the trauma, chose to remain silent and – outwardly at least – carried on as a scion of one of Thailand ’s most powerful families.
Then, last month , he shared a raw, emotionally exposed confession with his hundreds of thousands of social media followers.

Psi, 29,


After triggering price war, DeepSeek reverses course with surcharge on peak-hour API use

DeepSeek triggered a price war in May when it announced a permanent 75 per cent discount on V4 API access

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Peak hour costs for DeepSeek’s V4 Pro will be charged at US$1.77 for every million output tokens. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Chinese artificial intelligence unicorn DeepSeek is introducing peak-hour surcharges for its API services, bucking a fierce domestic price war it helped start, in which rivals have been aggressively undercutting each other to capture market share.

The Chinese AI champion will double the price for access to its V4 AI models

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Fewer children, more singles in Singapore, new data shows

The increase in proportion of singles was highest among women aged 25 to 29 and men aged 30 to 34

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People take pictures of roses created with Lego blocks at the Jewel Complex at Singapore Changi Airport on June 23. Photo: AFP

More Singapore residents aged below 40 had never married in 2025 than in 2020, government data released on Tuesday showed, with the sharpest increases among those aged 25 to 34.

The findings come from the Department of Statistics’ General Household Survey


East Timor targets closer Asean-Greater Bay Area ties to spur economic growth

This Week in Asia Economics

Asean’s newest member says cooperation between the two regions should be based on a commitment to inclusive growth and trust

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East Timor’s Deputy Prime Minister Francisco Kalbuadi Lay speaks at SCMP’s GBA-Asean Summit 2026 on Tuesday. Photo: Handout

East Timor is seeking to turn closer ties between Asean and China’s Greater Bay Area into investment and technology opportunities, even as the bloc’s newest member faces a major challenge of building capacity to benefit from regional integration.
While collaboration between the two regions could

Ex-prosecutor loses judicial challenge against sacking for emails flouting neutrality

Court rules civil service had grounds to dismiss him over remarks questioning police integrity and inviting coworkers to 2020 Tiananmen Square vigil

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Former prosecutor William Wong has lost a judicial challenge against his dismissal for remarks he made in emails that accused police of lying and invited colleagues to attend the Tiananmen Square vigil in 2020. Photo: Brian Wong
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Malaysia enlists military veterans to boot bullies out of schools: ‘you touch, you go’

Malaysian soldiers march in formation during National Day celebrations in Kuala Lumpur in 2022. Photo: AP

Malaysia will deploy military veterans as full-time hostel wardens at a group of elite boarding schools from Wednesday, in a new push to curb bullying after a series of abuse cases stirred widespread public anger over student safety.
The first 16 former Malaysian Armed Forces personnel will report for duty at eight Mara Junior Science Colleges, in a move reminiscent of Netflix’s
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Indian officials said to be in talks to allow reporters from China to return

Last Chinese journalist left India after being denied visa extension in 2023 and sources say both sides are working to restore reciprocity

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Beijing is said to be pressing New Delhi to allow its reporters back as a confidence-building measure. Photo: Xinhua

India has stepped up engagement with Chinese media as Beijing presses New Delhi to issue visas to its journalists ahead of a possible visit by President Xi Jinping later this year, though any breakthrough on the issue
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In 2011, Shanghai–Beijing high-speed rail link officially began operations – SCMP archive

The landmark Shanghai–to–Beijing rail link marks a new era for Chinese transit

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A train driver sits in a new high-speed train before it departs from the Beijing-South railway station for Shanghai as part of an official trip for members of the media June 27, 2011. Photo: Reuters

This article was first published on July 1, 2011

Plane beats train, but winning isn’t everything

by Will Clem, Shi Jiangtao

Two South China Morning Post reporters yesterday pitted the new high-speed Shanghai–to–Beijing train against an airliner and discovered that although taking to the skies had the edge

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China-EU joint statement on trade

China and the European Union released a joint statement on Monday following talks between China’s Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, and the EU’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, in Brussels. During the meeting, the two sides agreed to establish a joint platform to monitor trade flows and to set up working groups to ease bilateral economic tensions.EU-China Joint Statement by scmp