Albanese vows to cut Australian migration after rise fuels support for populist One Nation

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 8:35 AM

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday migration levels were reducing, responding to an opinion poll showing a right-wing populist party ahead of governing Labor. Support for One Nation party was 31 per cent, ahead of Labor on 30 per cent, a Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper on Monday showed. Albanese’s net approval rating has sunk to its lowest level since the 2022 election at minus 24, with 36 per cent of Australians satisfied with his performance, 60 per cent...

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Lantau reclamation plans should be revived, property tycoon Gordon Wu says

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 8:30 AM

Hong Kong should revive plans for large-scale reclamation off Lantau Island to run in parallel with the Northern Metropolis project, property magnate Gordon Wu Ying-sheung has said, warning that a lack of urban land will hold back the city’s development as the population grows. The 90-year-old founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings also described it as “too early to say” whether his property empire would follow its peers and commit to investing in the mega development near the city’s border...

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China’s Xi Jinping arrives in North Korea after hailing everlasting friendship

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 8:17 AM

Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Pyongyang on Monday for a two-day visit, his first to North Korea since 2019. In an article published by Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, on Monday morning, Xi said the combat friendship “forged in blood” and comradely bond of mutual trust between the two countries stood the test of time and the changing international landscape. Xi pledged to deepen strategic communication and interact frequently...

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Cambodia’s ‘performative’ crackdowns fail to stop scam centres: Amnesty

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 7:11 AM

Cambodia has failed to dismantle much of its online scam industry despite a year-long crackdown that authorities said would eliminate it, according to an Amnesty International report that challenges official claims of success. The London-based rights group said it identified 86 scam compounds operating across Cambodia as of April, up from 53 a year earlier, and found evidence of state intervention at only 24 sites during the government’s campaign. That contrasts with official statements that...

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Tibet quartz discovery boosts China’s self-sufficiency push for hi-tech materials

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 7:00 AM

China has discovered a new source of high-purity quartz in its western Tibet autonomous region, potentially reducing its reliance on imports of the critical material to make solar panels and semiconductors. High-purity quartz is a gold standard manufacturing material for numerous hi-tech items, including some whose global market is dominated by China. China has relied on imports to obtain the important material, with most coming from the United States, because of a lack of domestic sources for...

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Japan museum under fire for ‘rewriting history’ with Nanking ‘incident’ label

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 7:00 AM

A museum in Japan is facing accusations of “rewriting history” for replacing the Nanking massacre with the word “incident”, drawing criticism and reviving anger over the country’s wartime aggression. The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which previously resisted revisionist attempts, appears to have capitulated to a civic group’s pressure campaign following Thursday’s release of proposed exhibit changes by its operations council. Other amendments announced by the museum, which opened in 1996,...

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Hong Kong seeks to define scope of national security cases ‘as soon as possible’

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 6:50 AM

The Hong Kong government has sought to clarify what constitutes national security cases in a new round of proposed subsidiary legislation. Security and justice authorities submitted the proposed amendments under the city’s national security laws to the Legislative Council on Monday. The proposal introduces a classification mechanism for “other offences endangering national security”, under which any case accompanied by a certificate from the chief executive confirming it involved national...

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Teachers behaving badly should prompt reflection in Hong Kong

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 6:30 AM

Educators have received quite a bit of unwanted attention lately. First came a Hong Kong school principal losing his temper during a study trip in Singapore over parking a coach bus. The man was caught on camera hurling abusive language at security guards in the presence of a busload of students. That lapse of judgment was met with a stern response. The principal eventually tendered his resignation and apologised, admitting his error and trying to use it as his last lesson to his students. The...

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Israel strikes Iran, defying Trump after ‘I call the shots’ claim

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 6:03 AM

As Monday morning broke over a Middle East bracing for renewed conflict, a fragile regional ceasefire appeared to have collapsed after an exchange of direct strikes between Iran and Israel. The latest developments came as US President Donald Trump said Israel would have no choice but to accept a potential deal, following an interview walkout when pressed on his campaign pledge of “no new wars”. Some experts said Trump’s credibility was being called into question as Israel defied his warnings...

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China cleaner inspired by university students gets into graduate school after year of self-study

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 6:00 AM

A university cleaner in southwestern China has secured a place in a master’s programme after a year of self-study while raising two children. Li Jia, 33, from Chengdu in Sichuan province, works full-time as a cleaner at Chengdu University of Technology. She and her husband once ran a restaurant near the campus, but it closed after struggling to stay afloat, according to local reports. Li later took a sanitation job at the university, valuing its stability, proximity to home and fixed hours,...

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Hong Kong tycoon bets China will overtake US economy ‘in next decade or so’

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 5:30 AM

Hong Kong property tycoon Gordon Wu Ying-sheung has predicted that China will overtake the US as the world’s largest economy in the next decade or so, propelled by rapid technological advances while Washington is weighed down by massive defence expenditure and national debt. Yet the 90-year-old founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings, who rarely speaks to the press, said Hong Kong should look past geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington to build closer ties with the United States,...

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Magnitude 7.8 quake strikes Philippines with 3 killed, ‘many buildings’ damaged

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 5:26 AM

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least three people, collapsing buildings and sparking tsunami warnings across the region. Philippine authorities urged people in affected coastal regions to move to higher ground after the offshore quake hit south of General Santos, a city of about 720,000. A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake hit at 7.37am, according to the United States Geological Survey...

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Japan prepares to drop its pacifist mask as the right rises

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM

Japan appears to be edging ever closer to a referendum on its pacifist constitution, after a realignment of parliamentary forces delivered the supermajority needed to put the change to a public vote. For nearly eight decades, Article 9 of the 1947 constitution – drafted under Allied occupation and long treated as untouchable – has prevented Tokyo from formally maintaining a military with “war potential”. That article has outlasted every previous attempt to change it. But Japanese conservatives...

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Christian Eriksen ‘conscious’ after another on-field collapse in Denmark match

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 4:24 AM

Christian Eriksen was conscious and undergoing further tests in hospital after collapsing on the field again while playing for Denmark’s national team on Sunday in a scary scene that had echoes of his cardiac arrest at the European Championship five years ago. Television footage showed the 34-year-old midfielder clutching his chest with both hands in an off-the-ball action in the 65th minute of Denmark’s international friendly against Ukraine at Nature Energy Park in Odense, Denmark. In the next...

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Hong Kong police warn World Cup fans against using overseas betting sites

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 4:00 AM

Hong Kong police have warned football fans that using overseas betting websites could breach local gambling laws even if the platforms claim to be legally registered abroad, as authorities prepare for a predicted surge in wagering over the Fifa World Cup that begins on June 11. Police issued the warning after Fifa named its first prediction market partner for the World Cup. The force stressed that anyone in Hong Kong who placed bets with a local or overseas bookmaker outside authorised channels...

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European powers back Zelensky’s call for summit with Putin

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 3:22 AM

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received the backing of the leaders of the UK, France and Germany in calling for direct ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to a joint statement issued following defence talks in London on Sunday. Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at 10 Downing Street for talks as Russia’s war has stretched into its fifth year. The leaders “supported the proposal for...

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China adds warheads as nuclear powers ‘walk away’ from disarmament: SIPRI

South China Morning Post June 8, 2026 at 3:01 AM

China expanded its nuclear warhead stockpile over the past year and might have increased the number deployed with operational forces, a Swedish think tank report said, warning that major powers were “walking away” from disarmament commitments. According to the report released on Monday as part of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) latest yearbook, China added 20 warheads to its nuclear stockpile as of January 2026, bringing the total to 620, up from 600 a year...

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