Defiant Hegseth tells US Democrats their impeachment push ‘won’t work’

South China Morning Post - Nov 5, 2026

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said he will “not back down” against a “lame duck” US Congress, and that the calls for his impeachment will “not work” in his first reaction after the Democrats’ landslide victory in Tuesday’s midterm elections. In a video uploaded by the Pentagon on Thursday, Hegseth said that “a disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies”, have been submitting “sham” bills for his impeachment, resembling that of the similar attempt against US...

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US sanctions Chinese firms over alleged military supplies to Cuba

US sanctions Chinese firms over alleged military supplies to Cuba

The United States has imposed sanctions on two Chinese companies it accuses of supplying equipment and components to Cuba’s military, as Washington intensifies pressure on Havana’s foreign suppliers and expands its authority to target businesses operating on the island. The US State Department said on Thursday that China National Electronic Import and Export Company, or CEIEC, and Beijing H&C Technologies had worked with Cuban arms procurement company Sociedad Mercantil Duna to supply...

Chinese scientists chill atoms to record low on Tiangong space station

Chinese scientists chill atoms to record low on Tiangong space station

Chinese scientists have chilled atoms aboard the Tiangong space station to the lowest temperature ever measured, smashing US and German records and paving the way for ultra-precise space sensors that could find hidden minerals, track climate change and test Einstein’s theory of gravity. Researchers from Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences brought thousands of rubidium atoms, packed into a cloud smaller than a grain of sand, to less than 10 trillionths of a degree above absolute...

Hong Kong police arrest operator of prisoner support group over allegedly seditious books

Hong Kong police arrest operator of prisoner support group over allegedly seditious books

Hong Kong national security police have arrested an operator of a local prisoner support group on suspicion of importing seditious publications, days after the group revealed that customs had seized dozens of books it had ordered from Taiwan. Police said officers carried out an enforcement operation in Mong Kok on Thursday morning, arresting a local man, 34, on suspicion of “importing a publication that has a seditious intention”, an offence under the Safeguarding National Security...

Domestic helper arrested after 5-month-old baby found unconscious at Yuen Long home

Domestic helper arrested after 5-month-old baby found unconscious at Yuen Long home

Hong Kong police have arrested a domestic helper for suspected child abuse after a five-month-old baby girl was found unconscious at her Yuen Long home. The force received a report from the girl’s mother at about 7.20pm on Thursday that the infant was unconscious at a residence at Ha San Wai along Castle Peak Road. Paramedics rushed to the scene and transported the baby girl to Pok Oi Hospital in Yuen Long for emergency resuscitation. She was subsequently transferred to Tuen Mun Hospital for...

Why the next US House speaker won’t follow Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan playbook

Why the next US House speaker won’t follow Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan playbook

The Democrat expected to become US House speaker has met Taiwan’s former leader and backed legislation supporting the island, yet is unlikely to follow Nancy Pelosi’s example in pursuing high-profile engagement with Taipei, analysts said. Hakeem Jeffries, the House’s top-ranking Democrat, announced his bid for the speakership on Wednesday after Democrats won a majority of seats in the US midterm elections. He is poised to officially become House speaker following a floor vote on the first day of...

Lithuania builds world’s biggest ultra-fast laser factory amid China tensions

Lithuania builds world’s biggest ultra-fast laser factory amid China tensions

Amid tensions with China, a small European country is anchoring itself at the centre of the global semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) hardware supply chain as a laser powerhouse. The latest sign of Lithuania’s growing footprint in the sector came last month, when laser maker Litilit launched a new factory in the capital, Vilnius. The company’s expansion unfolds as the Baltic nation of fewer than 3 million people navigates fraught ties with Beijing, which has targeted Lithuania with a...

The US-China tech contest has moved – to the gatekeeping product testers

The US-China tech contest has moved – to the gatekeeping product testers

The latest front in the US-China technology contest is not advanced chips, artificial intelligence (AI) or telecommunications equipment. It is the laboratories that certify whether an electronic product may enter the American market. On October 29, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to stop recognising testing laboratories, telecoms certification bodies and accreditation organisations in China and in other economies that lack a “mutual recognition agreement” or comparable...

Hong Kong grandmother gets 20 days for slapping 5-year-old girl at play area

Hong Kong grandmother gets 20 days for slapping 5-year-old girl at play area

A Hong Kong grandmother has been sentenced to 20 days in jail for slapping a five-year-old girl who squabbled over a basketball with her grandson in a play area at the atrium of APM shopping centre in Kwun Tong. Leung Lai-ha, 68, on Thursday pleaded guilty to assaulting the girl on August 26, admitting that she hit the girl on impulse. A video of the brawl showed three adults were involved – Leung, her 34-year-old daughter Ng Ka-wun and Xu Yang, 34, the girl’s mother. The physical altercation...

Hong Kong medical watchdog to hold by-election after member quits over conflict risk

Hong Kong medical watchdog to hold by-election after member quits over conflict risk

Hong Kong’s medical watchdog will hold a by-election after a prominent patients’ rights advocate resigned over concerns that his plan to represent the father of a girl who died after an alleged medical blunder at her inquest could create a conflict of interest. The Medical Council announced on Thursday that it will process matters related to the by-election for the vacancy created by the departure of Alex Lam Chi-yau, who submitted his written resignation as a lay member a day earlier. His...

Abby Choi could have been hit on head 7 times with hammer, murder trial told

Abby Choi could have been hit on head 7 times with hammer, murder trial told

Warning: graphic content follows. Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung could have been struck on the head seven times with a hammer when she was allegedly murdered three years ago, a court has heard. Forensic pathologist Dr Kwok Ka-ki said on Thursday that Choi was fatally struck on the head with a blunt object, leaving a large hole on the right side of her head and causing extensive bleeding in her brain and skull. Testifying in the High Court as the murder trial entered its sixth week,...

Facing 2 years as a lame duck, what can Trump do to stay in control?

Facing 2 years as a lame duck, what can Trump do to stay in control?

Following disastrous midterm elections that cost Republicans congressional control, US President Donald Trump could spend the rest of his term as a “lame duck” and battling constant resistance to his agenda. The loss is expected to steer the White House towards a more aggressive foreign policy and even greater reliance on executive orders. Trump has already suggested he could brandish his veto pen for “a month or two” before negotiating agreements with Democratic leaders. Here, we explain how...

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