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EU won’t ban LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ but will push states to act

So-called conversion “therapies” involve methods that seek to change the sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of members of gay, lesbian, queer and trans people. The EU stopped short of heeding a call by over a million people, who signed a petition last May calling on the 27-country bloc to prohibit such methods. Conversion practices “have no place in our union”, said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, which flew the LGBTQ flag outside its headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Instead, the EU executive said it would issue a recommendation next year for member states to adopt national-level bans.

May 13, 2026

Business

Ex-HKUST professor admits taking HK$40,000 to secure student’s admission

Liu Hongbin, 63, abused authority to help automotive engineering student secure admission into master’s programme in environmental health and safety A Hong Kong court has remanded a former university professor in custody pending sentencing for accepting a HK$40,000 (US$5,109) bribe and offering red packets to two colleagues to help a student gain admission to a postgraduate programme last year. Kwun Tong Court heard on Wednesday that Liu Hongbin, 63, abused his authority as chair professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s (HKUST) department of ocean science to help a mainland Chinese student majoring in automotive service engineering secure admission into the master’s degree programme in environmental health and safety between March and May 2025. As the programme director at the time, Liu was responsible for reviewing applications and interviewing candidates to determine their eligibility for the 2025-26 academic year. He was asked by a friend, insurance agent Priscilla Lam Pui-ling, to help Lin Zhengxi, a final-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree at a Shenzhen university. Lam, 60, reportedly informed Liu that “people connected to Lin” could pay “a few tens of thousands of dollars” in return.

May 13, 2026

Business

France locks down 1,700 on cruise ship after 90-year-old dies

Food poisoning had not been excluded, and health officials say there is no connection with the hantavirus outbreak French authorities on Wednesday confined more than 1,700 passengers and crew on a British cruise ship docked in Bordeaux after an elderly passenger died, said officials, who played down any links to the hantavirus scare. Dozens also suffered from upset stomachs aboard the Ambition – most of whose 1,233 passengers are from Britain or Ireland – which arrived in the western port of Bordeaux on Tuesday, with 514 Indian crew members also on board. But health officials said there was no connection with the hantavirus outbreak, suspected of killing three passengers on the Dutch MV Hondius cruise ship that set sail from Argentina. One 90-year-old passenger on the Ambition, run by the Ambassador Cruise Line company, had died and about 50 people have shown symptoms of stomach issues, the officials said. Initial tests ruled out an outbreak of norovirus, a highly contagious form of gastroenteritis which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, but secondary tests were still underway, they added. Passengers on board the Ambition showed peak symptoms on Monday when the ship was docked in Brest, the officials said.

May 13, 2026

Business

South Asia must make water a top priority

Summer hit South Asia early this year. April saw above average temperatures and the mercury is expected to reach unbearable highs this month. We are also bracing for a “super El Nino”, where a combination of increased heatwaves and highly variable weather patterns are expected to push urban zones, agricultural systems and public health to their limits. South Asia, especially parts of Pakistan, India and Nepal, is likely to receive below average monsoon rainfall during the summer months of...

May 13, 2026

Business

Gunshots fired in stand-off at Philippine Senate over ICC suspect

Chaos mounted in anticipation of an attempt to arrest a top senator wanted by the International Criminal Court Gunshots broke out at the Philippine Senate on Wednesday and people ran for cover after a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court said his arrest was imminent and security forces entered the building. There were no immediate reports of casualties, however, Senate Secretary Mark Llandro Mendoza told reporters following the chaos at the legislature in the capital Manila. Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a former police chief who was the main enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on ‌drugs”, had earlier urged people to mobilise to prevent his arrest and handover to the ICC. The Hague-based court on Monday unsealed an arrest warrant for dela Rosa on charges of crimes against humanity, the same that 81-year-old Duterte is accused of as he awaits trial in the ICC following his transfer last year.

May 13, 2026

Business

Iran war pushes Asia’s Gulf migrants to use stablecoins for remittances

The risk of sanctions has fuelled concerns that monetary transfers from migrant workers via banks or other operators could be disrupted Remittances from these workers account for 3 per cent to 5 per cent of gross domestic product in several emerging markets – in Nepal, it is as high as 10 per cent, according to data from the Global Settlement Network. Concerns over remittance flows have escalated after the US warned against toll payments to Iran for ship passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which has largely been blocked amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries. “There has been a quiet but noticeable informal pivot among South Asian migrant workers, including a significant number from India, towards digital tokens such as stablecoins in the period following the Iran conflict,” said Anndy Lian, a Singapore-based adviser to governments on blockchain and information technology. “Rather than routing everything through traditional dollar-linked banking channels, a slice of remittances is now moving via instruments like USDT,” he said, referring to the Tether stablecoin backed by the US dollar.

May 13, 2026

Business

Netherlands protests US proposal to further bar chip giant ASML from China market

While the chipmaking-gear giant is already banned from selling advanced kit to China, new rule would make low-end products off-limits too “Given the possible impact of the Match Act on the Netherlands if adopted in its current form, the Netherlands has communicated its objections, particularly regarding the extraterritorial aspects, to both members of Congress and the US government,” Dutch Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said in written answers to lawmakers published on Tuesday. The Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware (Match) Act, introduced into the US Congress by a bipartisan group of lawmakers last month, would ban ASML from shipping lower-end deep ultraviolet lithography machines to Chinese buyers, and also prevent it from servicing existing customers there. Currently, the company is banned from selling its most advanced extreme ultraviolet machines to China, as a result of sweeping US export controls designed to hobble Beijing’s efforts to catch up with the West in chipmaking.

May 13, 2026

Business

UK PM faces biggest challenge yet as resignation threat overshadows King’s Speech

According to reports, Health Minister Wes Streeting was preparing to resign as early as Thursday to challenge Starmer The report in the Times newspaper that Health Minister Wes Streeting was preparing to resign as early as Thursday to mount a formal leadership challenge could mean the Starmer government’s agenda, outlined by Charles amid much pomp and ceremony, might never be implemented. Streeting’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. British government bond futures fell sharply on the report, erasing their day’s gains, as did 20- and 30-year government bonds, while the pound weakened against the euro. Earlier, Streeting had briefly met Starmer at the prime minister’s Downing Street office but the health minister’s team said he would not comment on that meeting to make sure he did not distract from the King’s Speech.

May 13, 2026

Business

Hong Kong Airport Authority takes over 11 Skies retail from New World: sources

Ahead of Terminal 2’s opening, sources tell SCMP that the authority has assumed control of 70 per cent of the troubled project The authority managing Hong Kong International Airport has taken over the retail operations of 11 Skies from New World Development ahead of the opening of Terminal 2, the South China Morning Post has learned. Multiple sources said the Airport Authority had assumed control of key components of the 2.66 million sq ft retail and dining space, representing 70 per cent of the entire project. But it remains unclear whether the authority has also taken over the rest of 570,000 sq ft of experiential entertainment space and 570,000 sq ft of grade A offices. The move marks a significantly reduced role for New World, which in 2018 won the rights to design, build and operate the HK$20 billion (US$2.5 billion) project. During an SCMP reporter’s visit to 11 Skies on Wednesday, a five-minute walk from the AsiaWorld-Expo station on the MTR’s Airport Express line, only two restaurants were operating, including one coffee shop. The restaurants served mainly staff working at offices upstairs.

May 13, 2026

Business

Donald Trump’s red-carpet welcome in Beijing before Xi summit – as it happened

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below. Unrivalled Xi-Trump summit analysis: get real-time updates and exclusive boots-on-the-ground reporting from our Beijing and Washington bureaus. Subscribe now with great savings to stay ahead. US President Donald Trump has arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The state visit is the first by an American president in almost nine years. It...

May 13, 2026

Business

Are those flying ants or termites? How to protect your home from the winged pests

‘Flying ant’ sightings have risen across Hong Kong as the summer season approaches, raising concerns over termite infestations As the early summer season approaches after weeks of heavy rain, reports of “flying ants” have emerged across Hong Kong, sparking concerns that the insects could cause a nuisance and even damage homes. Social media users also shared photos of the insects circling street lights in the evening or of their carcasses scattered across toilet sinks, with some questioning whether they are in fact termites. The South China Morning Post looks into these flying insects and how to prevent termites from entering homes. The massive swarms of winged insects appearing during rainy days in homes are essentially termites. Although commonly referred to as “flying ants” in Chinese, there are differences between the two. While both termites and ants live in colonies, ants are close relatives of bees and wasps, while termites are not, according to a pest control newsletter by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. Despite sharing some resemblance, termites have straight antennae and broad waists, while ants have elbowed antennae and constricted waists. Termites subsist on wood, but ants feed on a variety of food.

May 13, 2026

Business

Marco Rubio dons ‘Maduro look’ as he heads to China, sparking internet frenzy

In the hours before Donald Trump’s arrival in Beijing to begin his state visit, an unexpected detail caught the internet’s attention: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s choice of travel attire. Instead of the tailored formalwear typically expected of a top diplomat, Rubio appeared in a grey Nike tracksuit on the Beijing-bound Air Force One – an ensemble social media users quickly recognised as the “Maduro arrest look”. White House communications director Steven Cheung posted a photo of the top...

May 13, 2026