Russian President Vladimir Putin dismisses "strange" EU remarks on Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V, after top EU executive Thierry Breton said the bloc had "no need" for the jab.
Russian plans to block parts of the Black Sea would be "unjustified", NATO said Friday, calling on Moscow "to ensure free access to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov, and allow freedom of navigation".
Chinese President Xi Jinping slammed the European Union's plan for a carbon tax system Friday in a call with the leaders of France and Germany, state media reported.
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 34 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore on Friday (16 April), taking the country's total case count to 60,769.
Relations between Taiwan and the United States are "stronger than ever", an envoy for President Joe Biden said Thursday during a visit to the democratic island as it faces increasingly hostile moves by China.
Rafael Nadal's bid for a 12th Monte Carlo Masters title was shattered by Russia's Andrey Rublev, who swept to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 quarter-final win on Friday with the great Spaniard admitting his serve was "a disaster".
The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has come under fire again in China for removing a statement on its website about forced labour in Xinjiang without explanation. The world’s largest cotton sustainability programme, which covers 14 per cent of global cotton production, said it ceased all field-level activities in Xinjiang in October due to allegations of forced labour and human rights issues and had suspended all licensing for the region since March 2020. However, the statement was removed when foreign clothing retailers, many of them BCI members such as H&M and Nike, faced boycotts in China for avoiding cotton produced in Xinjiang in March.Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. The Communist Youth League and Chinese state media publicised the removal of the statement this week, and accused the BCI of being hypocritical and ungrateful. “[Your] face must hurt! BCI secretly removed a statement ‘boycotting Xinjiang cotton’,” the Communist Youth League posted on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, on Thursday. China News Service published a column that said the BCI should acknowledge it made a mistake and apologise. Headquartered in Geneva, the BCI said the statement was removed due to a cyberattack on its website and its policy remained unchanged. The Economist’s China affairs editor Gady Epstein said on Twitter on Thursday that he had asked the BCI about the statement’s disappearance and was told “they took down the statement in response to DDoS attacks and would eventually ‘repost relevant information’”. The BCI told the South China Morning Post it had no comment to make on the issue. Industry bodies in China are stepping up plans to launch a Chinese version of the BCI, which would set national standards for cotton production. Xinjiang court to hear defamation case against German researcher Adrian Zenz over forced labour claims The United Nations and human rights groups have alleged that 1 million Turkic-speaking Muslim Uygur people have been interned in re-education centres and subjected to indoctrination, torture and forced labour. Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations and said its policies were designed to fight terrorism, alleviate poverty and raise people’s standard of living through job training. Western countries, including the US and Canada, said the treatment of the Uygurs constituted genocide and levelled sanctions against Chinese officials and entities. The US banned cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang in January. Beijing has retaliated with its sanctions of its own and propaganda campaigns to drive boycotts of international brands that do not follow its stance on Xinjiang.More from South China Morning Post:Xinjiang: will the West’s sanctions on China force the issue or unravel?Better Cotton Initiative’s fall a cautionary tale of trying to be all things to all peopleChinese branch of Better Cotton Initiative challenges headquarters and says it has found no evidence of Xinjiang forced labourXinjiang cotton: Western companies in China are between a rock and a hard placeHit by Xinjiang cotton backlash, H&M aims to ‘regain trust in China’This article Xinjiang cotton: BCI attacked for removing statement on forced labour first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
Singapore new private home sales doubled to 1,296 last month from 645 units in February, Urban Redevelopment Authority data showed..
Business groups in the Philippines called on China to withdraw its ships from a disputed reef as tensions rise in the South China Sea.
Three years after the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from the West over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, Moscow's representatives in Europe are coming under scrutiny again following a raft of new spy scandals.
Like the old school game of "hantam bola", you can enjoy the Champions League by throwing your support behind someone. Someone like Pep Guardiola.
Montenegro's finance minister on Friday tried to ease concern over a near $1 billion Chinese-backed road project, insisting the country could afford to repay the debt and did not need EU help.
Hong Kong police displayed a cuddly bear mascot and unveiled a new goose-step march Thursday as the financial hub held a "National Security Education Day", part of its push to instil patriotism in a city chafing under China's rule.
Spiraling Covid-19 cases have put Cambodia "on the brink of death", its strongman premier Hun Sen has warned, as the country imposed lockdowns in the capital Phnom Penh and a nearby city.
Myanmar's military opened fire on protesting healthcare workers Thursday, killing at least one bystander as the demonstrators fled for safety to a nearby mosque.
Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday following an "awful performance" in a 6-4, 7-5 defeat by Dan Evans, while 11-time champion Rafael Nadal powered into the quarter-finals.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will join a virtual climate summit with France and Germany, Beijing announced Thursday, as US envoy John Kerry visited Shanghai to drum up support from the world's biggest polluter for America's drive to address environmental challenges.
A Hindu seer has died from coronavirus and 80 other holy men have tested positive after attending a vast Indian religious festival where millions of pilgrims have been ignoring Covid-19 advice despite a national surge in infections.
Israelis will no longer have to wear masks outdoors starting from Sunday as the number of virus infections plummets, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said.
Thai Beverage said on Friday it was postponing the plan to sell a 20% stake in its regional beer business through a $2 billion Singapore listing, citing a volatile and uncertain outlook aggravated by a worsening COVID-19 pandemic. The spin-off by the company, controlled by one of Thailand's richest men, was set to be the largest initial public offering in the city-state in nearly a decade. The current uncertain market conditions and volatile economic outlook, due to the worsening health crisis in Thailand and other countries, were not conducive for the spin-off, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.
China's Coronavac vaccine was 67 percent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and 80 percent at preventing death, according to real-life results unveiled Friday from Chile's inoculation campaign.
