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SCMP

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. ‘Very freak’ incident: probe into Singapore Airlines SQ321 could last 9 months

Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 encountered “very freak” turbulence and investigation findings are expected to take up to nine months, but the goal is not to “apportion blame”, industry experts say.
2. Who was Matthew Trickett? Death of Hong Kong spying suspect sparks questions

The death of a British security consultant charged as part of Hong Kong’s spying row with the UK has sparked questions about his past and connections to the city. Ex-Royal Marine Matthew Trickett, 37, was found dead on Sunday in a public park in Maidenhead, Berkshire, only a kilometre (0.6 miles) away from the registered address of one of his companies.
3. Lai pledges to keep Taiwan Strait status quo in first speech as Taiwanese leader
In his first speech as president, Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te has promised to uphold the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and called on Beijing to work jointly for peace. “Cross-strait peace and stability is key to the world,” said Lai, who was sworn in on Monday at a ceremony in Taipei – succeeding his independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party colleague Tsai Ing-wen.
4. Chinese scientists propose tunnels to ease crowding in South China Sea islands

An overcrowding problem on China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea could be solved with tunnels, according to a Chinese ocean engineering project team that says it has developed an excavation method to overcome the limitations of the soft coral sand.
5. Noodle seller’s outburst sparks calls to improve Hong Kong restaurant service
At a small family-run eatery in Hong Kong’s Tuen Mun, co-owner Monkey Lo has found himself dealing with overnight notoriety and an outraged online crowd who wants his shop to close down. A video clip shared widely last month showed the Yat Bun Noodle Restaurant’s chef – Lo’s younger brother Wai-keung – hurling abuse at a young woman who demanded to know why he had denied her boyfriend a student discount when the couple dined there the day before.
6. China’s top Covid expert is already preparing for the next pandemic. Here’s why

Although new Covid-19 variants are continuing to emerge around the world, scientists and doctors have already started preparing for the next pandemic to arrive. And as experts learn more about how climate change can affect the mutation and spread of infectious diseases, it might not be a question of if another will emerge – but when.
7. Indonesian wife, 24, surprised husband, 62, was groom at event she attended at 9
In a strange twist of fate, an Indonesian woman has discovered that the man she married was a groom she had met at a wedding when she was a child. Renata Fadhea, 24, from Bangka Island, Indonesia, realised after marrying her husband, who is 38 years her senior, that she had met him 15 years before.


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Chinese carmakers race Tesla on humanoid robots; BYD launches ‘God’s Eye’: 7 EV reads

Philippines’ deadly quake, India’s rise in critical minerals: 7 Asia highlights

SCMP Highlights

Singapore Airlines turbulence probe, Hong Kong restaurant service, Indonesian couple’s twist of fate: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

The interior of Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 after it landed at Bangkok in Thailand following severe turbulence that left a British man dead and several others hurt. Photo: Reuters

Passengers of Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, which made an emergency landing in Bangkok on its flight from London to Singapore, greet family members upon arrival at Changi Airport in Singapore on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Matthew Trickett covers his face as he leaves Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 13. Photo: AP

Yongshu, also known as Fiery Cross, is one of China’s artificial Islands in the South China Sea. Photo: PLA

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

China tests rail gun, Lawrence Wong ‘pride of Hainan’, Cathay bosses’ hefty pay rise:  SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

Singapore’s new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong speaks during a swearing-in ceremony held at the Istana on Wednesday. Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore/Handout via Xinhua

The Chinese team’s method reduces the costs of making wafers. Photo: Shutterstock

The Type 072 destroyer (pictured) was spotted in 2018, carrying what military experts believed to be the PLA Navy’s first electromagnetic rail gun. Photo: Handout

China’s Comac has already begun design work on the next generation of domestically produced airliners after its success with the narrowbody C919. Photo: CAAC

Famous China film producer, Zhang Jizhong, 72, is about to have his fifth child with his wife who is 30 years younger, and the age gap between them has sparked a social media debate. Photo: SCMP composite/Douyin

Hong Kong rail upgrade, Japan’s friendship marriages, China military’s ‘wake-up’ call: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

illustration by Lau Ka-kuen

A Chinese national flag flutters near China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian. Photo: AP

The CERN president has weighed in on the debate around China’s proposed particle accelerator which would dwarf Europe’s Large Hadron Collider (pictured). Photo: Keystone via AP

A new relationship trend called “friendship marriage” in which young people embrace union without love or sex has hit Japan. The Post finds out why, and what it is. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock

Jin Xing, China’s first publicly recognised transgender woman, who was forced to divorce her German husband 18 years ago, has remarried the love of her life. Photo: SCMP composite/Weibo

Cathay Pacific’s stormy flight, Malaysia’s Forest City casino, Japan’s armpit onigiri: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

Cathay Pacific planes at Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

The fireworks were set to the music of the daily “Symphony of Lights” multimedia show. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

A classic Japanese snack, the rice ball, has taken on a new culinary form, which bizarrely involves the underarm sweat of the women who prepare it. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/QQ.com

Taiwan to tear down Chiang Kai-shek statues, Hong Kong’s sushi packaging guessing game: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

There are hundreds of statues of late president Chiang Kai-shek in public spaces across Taiwan. Photo: Shutterstock

China’s JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile makes its debut during a military parade in Beijing in 2019. Photo: Xinhua

A Japanese supermarket in Tsim Sha Tsui replaced transparent plastic boxes for takeaway with paper packaging. Photo: Jelly Tse

Women use portable fans to cool off while walking around Tokyo in the summer of 2023. Photo: AFP

A woman tourist from China has died after she plunged off a cliff at a famous volcano site in Indonesia as her husband took her photo. Photo: SCMP composite/Baidu/Sohu

Israel ‘unhappy’ with China’s response to Iran, more Hongkongers seek divorce: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

An anti-missile system in Ashkelon, Israel following the launch of Iranian drones and missiles. Photo: Reuters

An increasing number of couples aged in their late thirties to late forties filed for divorce in the past five years, a lawyer said. Photo: Shutterstock

A man reacts during a ‘Free Palestine’ rally near the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, December 22, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE

Carrie Lam’s five-year term as chief executive ended in 2022. Photo: Robert Ng

The Tsimané indigenous people of the Bolivian Amazon have some of the healthiest hearts on the planet and very low rates of dementia, giving clues as to how to prevent it. Photo: Instagram/unesco

News

World

From severe turbulence hitting a Singapore Airlines flight to an Indonesian couple’s strange twist of fate, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent reporting


From severe turbulence hitting a Singapore Airlines flight to an Indonesian couple’s strange twist of fate, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent reporting.


Singapore Airlines turbulence probe, Hong Kong restaurant service, Indonesian couple’s twist of fate: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}From severe turbulence hitting a Singapore Airlines flight to an Indonesian couple’s strange twist of fate, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent reporting

1. ‘Very freak’ incident: probe into Singapore Airlines SQ321 could last 9 months

From severe turbulence hitting a Singapore Airlines flight to an Indonesian couple’s strange twist of fate, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent reporting