https://www.scmp.com/rss/326480/feed A journalist and editor since 2005, James joined the Post as the senior digital production editor in its New York bureau in 2017. He has previously worked in Beijing, Dubai and his native UK on a variety of publications, including DailyMail.com and Time Out. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com New York has finally cottoned on to the threat posed by the coronavirus.  On Friday, my wife and I went to stock up on tinned food and enough hand sanitizer to make Howard Hughes call an intervention, and business was proceeding as normal. Since then, Covid-19 has caused six deaths on US soil, and stores across the city are packed out with folks – mostly white and black – preparing for what will either be the apocalypse or an excellent opportunity to catch up on Netflix (my wife, who is Chinese,... https://www.scmp.com/health/americas-initial-coronavirus-response-does-not-inspire-confidence/article/3064958?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/health/americas-initial-coronavirus-response-does-not-inspire-confidence/article/3064958?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2020 10:21:04 +0000 New York has finally cottoned on to the threat posed by the coronavirus. On Friday my wife and I went to stock up on tinned food and enough hand sanitiser to make Howard Hughes call an intervention, and business was proceeding as normal. Since then, Covid-19 has caused six deaths on US soil, and stores across the city are packed out with folks – mostly white and black – preparing for what will either be the apocalypse or an excellent opportunity to catch up on Netflix (my wife, who is Chinese,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3064847/americas-battle-coronavirus-looks-grim-thanks-working-conditions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3064847/americas-battle-coronavirus-looks-grim-thanks-working-conditions?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2020 19:00:13 +0000 This is it. After eight seasons of sword fights, zombies, dragon fire, political skulduggery and uncomfortably close family relations, HBO’s Game of Thrones has finally come to the end of its run. That’s big news for fans – the network says a whopping 18.4 million people watched the penultimate episode of the show – but this moment marks something bigger than just the end of an epic fantasy story; it’s the end of TV as we know it. For decades, broadcast television has been the connective tissue... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3010652/how-netflixs-rise-and-game-thrones-finale-mark-end-tv-we?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3010652/how-netflixs-rise-and-game-thrones-finale-mark-end-tv-we?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 May 2019 02:45:15 +0000 China has hit back at the US for its “unreasonable” decision to slap punitive sanctions on a unit of the Chinese military, after it purchased Russian fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles. “The US has seriously violated the basic norms of international relations and disturbed the relationship between China and the US,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in response to the sanctions. “We strongly call on the US to remedy the mistake and cancel the sanctions. Otherwise, the US... https://www.scmp.com/china/china-protests-after-washington-sanctions-chinese-military-buying-russian-jets-and-missiles/article/2165193?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china/china-protests-after-washington-sanctions-chinese-military-buying-russian-jets-and-missiles/article/2165193?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Sep 2018 09:38:55 +0000 The US government has slapped punitive sanctions on a key unit of the Chinese military for buying Russian fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles. Washington said that the purchases by the Equipment Development Department (EDD) of China’s Ministry of Defence violated US sanctions on Russia. Both the EDD and its director, Li Shangfu, have been named in Thursday’s sanctions. Henry Kissinger ‘didn’t press Trump to work with Russia’ to box in China The action is “aimed at imposing costs on Russia... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2165111/us-slaps-sanctions-chinese-military-unit-buying-russian-jets-missiles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2165111/us-slaps-sanctions-chinese-military-unit-buying-russian-jets-missiles?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Sep 2018 17:59:16 +0000 Actor George Takei has slammed US President Donald Trump’s policy of separating migrant families, including asylum seekers, and putting their children in holding camps, saying that the system is worse than the internment camps for Japanese-Americans he experienced as a child. The 81-year-old, best known for playing helmsman Sulu in the 1960s Star Trek series, wrote in an editorial for Foreign Policy  that “it is hard to describe the terror and anxiety” created by a “capricious” government, as... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2151528/worse-internment-camps-star-trek-actor-george-takei?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2151528/worse-internment-camps-star-trek-actor-george-takei?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jun 2018 16:01:42 +0000 James Wilkinson James Wilkinson More US citizens have been evacuated from a US consulate in Guangzhou, China, after suffering what appears to be the same strange, sound-related illness that befell Cuba consulate workers in 2016, it emerged on Wednesday. Consulate worker Mark Lenzi and his wife heard strange noises over the course of several months before falling ill with what they described as neurological symptoms, The New York Times reported. On Wednesday night they were flown to the US with their children, including a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2149626/least-two-more-americans-leave-us-consulate-guangzhou?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2149626/least-two-more-americans-leave-us-consulate-guangzhou?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jun 2018 21:30:00 +0000 China has offered to buy almost US$70 billion of US products in exchange for the removal of tariffs placed by the Trump administration against Chinese products, it was reported on Tuesday. Chinese vice-premier and lead negotiator Liu He told his Washington counterpart in the discussions, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, that Beijing would buy American agricultural and energy products including soybeans, corn, natural gas, crude oil and coal, The Wall Street Journal said. Why White House approach... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2149427/china-offered-buy-us70-billion-american-products-remove?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2149427/china-offered-buy-us70-billion-american-products-remove?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jun 2018 17:08:38 +0000 Embattled Chinese telecoms company ZTE hired one of Donald Trump’s former election campaign staff a day after the president first mused about easing sanctions against it, a new report has revealed. And two weeks after it hired Bryan Lanza, an account manager at lobbying giant Mercury Public Affairs on May 14, the White House announced that a tentative deal had been struck with ZTE to relieve the crippling restrictions, The Daily Beast reported on Friday. ZTE ‘may be fined US$1.7 billion by Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2148942/zte-hired-trump-campaign-veteran-one-day-after-us-president-said?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2148942/zte-hired-trump-campaign-veteran-one-day-after-us-president-said?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jun 2018 23:08:56 +0000 US President Donald Trump has announced that he will “let [ZTE] reopen” provided the Chinese telecom company pays a fine, and consents to staffing changes and other restrictions. In tweets on Friday night, Trump said: “I closed [ZTE] down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine.” He also complained about political opponents, saying “[Democrat] Senator [Chuck] Schumer and Obama Administration let... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2147891/us-government-will-put-zte-back-business-after-it-pays?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2147891/us-government-will-put-zte-back-business-after-it-pays?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 May 2018 16:59:01 +0000 The announcement by US President Donald Trump that he has called off planned talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 has been received with, alternately, confusion, horror and admiration both within the US and abroad. Trump said in an open letter on Thursday that the “tremendous anger and hostility” expressed by North Korea in recent days had caused him to scuttle the talks, which were to have taken place in Singapore. He later said in a statement that their cancellation was “a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2147698/perplexing-right-call-embarrassing-how-world-viewed-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2147698/perplexing-right-call-embarrassing-how-world-viewed-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 May 2018 20:32:43 +0000 On Saturday, May 19 2018 the British royal family took a step into the modern day when they welcomed Meghan Markle, a biracial American actress, into their family. Here’s how her wedding to Prince Harry happened, minute by minute. Chinese divorce themselves from royal wedding https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2146889/royal-wedding-big-day-here-and-windsor-bursting-excitement-harry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2146889/royal-wedding-big-day-here-and-windsor-bursting-excitement-harry?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 May 2018 07:30:30 +0000 A company linked to the Qatari government looks set to bail out White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family after they have spent years struggling to sell a stake in their flagship New York property, it has been reported. Charles Kushner, Jared’s father, is in “advanced talks” with Brookfield Properties to create a partnership that will take over the 41-storey tower at 666 Fifth Avenue, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two unidentified property agents who had knowledge of the deal... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2146664/kushner-family-likely-be-bailed-out-qatari?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2146664/kushner-family-likely-be-bailed-out-qatari?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 May 2018 18:04:28 +0000 US Defence Secretary James Mattis has nominated a US Navy four-star admiral specialising in anti-submarine and electronic warfare to be the new US commander in the Pacific, a move that could be seen as countering the rising Chinese naval force. Admiral Phil Davidson will be assigned to head the US Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii. The admiral’s new role was announced by the US Department of Defence on Wednesday, and sees him taking over from Admiral Harry Harris, who was last week nominated... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/2141343/admiral-phil-davidson-poised-become-new-head-us-pacific-command-jim-mattis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/2141343/admiral-phil-davidson-poised-become-new-head-us-pacific-command-jim-mattis?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Apr 2018 17:02:54 +0000 An attack at YouTube’s headquarters near San Francisco ended with the shooter - a woman - turning the gun on herself and committing suicide, police said. Police later identified the suspect as Nasim Aghdam of Southern California, but did not say what might have motivated the shooting rampage Tuesday at YouTube, a video-sharing service owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google. But senior law enforcement officials believe the shooting stemmed from a domestic dispute, US media reported. A US government... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2140180/shots-are-reported-youtube-headquarters-california?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2140180/shots-are-reported-youtube-headquarters-california?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Apr 2018 20:15:30 +0000 A former Playboy Playmate has claimed that she had an affair with Donald Trump when he was less than two years into his marriage to Melania - and claims to reveal how he and his people covered it up. Karen McDougal, 46, began a nine-month affair with the now-US president after meeting him at a pool party in the Playboy mansion in 2006 and going on a date with him, according to The New Yorker. In the piece, Ronan Farrow - son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, and one of the key figures in exposing... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2133627/ex-playboy-model-claims-trump-had-affair-her-while?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2133627/ex-playboy-model-claims-trump-had-affair-her-while?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Feb 2018 16:00:30 +0000 A comedy sketch on China’s biggest Lunar New Year television show has caused anger online for using a Chinese actress in blackface and giant fake buttocks to depict an African character. The skit, which was apparently intended to celebrate China’s relationship with African countries, came during the 2018 edition of the CCTV New Year’s Gala – also known as the Spring Festival Gala – an annual variety show broadcast for the Lunar New Year that gets as many as 800 million viewers. The scene – which... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133558/racist-chinese-spring-festival-gala-tv-show-causes-consternation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2133558/racist-chinese-spring-festival-gala-tv-show-causes-consternation?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Feb 2018 18:30:00 +0000