SCMP World·Tuesday, January 13, 2026

SCMP World - Tuesday, January 13, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Former US Navy sailor jailed for 16 years for selling ship secrets to Chinese contact

A former US Navy sailor convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to an intelligence officer working for China was sentenced Monday to more than 16 years in prison, prosecutors said. A federal judge in San Diego sentenced Jinchao Wei, 25, to 200 months. A federal jury convicted Wei in August of six crimes, including espionage. He was paid more than US$12,000 for the information he sold, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. Wei, an engineer.

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Exiled shah’s son emerges as a rallying figure as Iranians protest

Reza Pahlavi, who as a boy was groomed to be the next shah of imperial Iran but has spent nearly five decades in exile, has emerged as a rallying figure in the protests shaking the Islamic Republic. The chant of “Pahlavi will come back!” has become a mantra for many of the protesters, while the US-based 65-year-old has urged nightly actions in video messages. Pahlavi’s prominence in the protest movement has surprised some observers. Pahlavi has during the latest protest wave shown an “ability to

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Why the US will fail to use Taiwan to counter China

Last month, the United States announced its decision to sell advanced weapons amounting to US$11.1 billion to China’s Taiwan region. The authorisation of the largest ever arms package to Taiwan since China and the US established diplomatic relations has seriously violated the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, severely undermined Chinese sovereignty and security interests, gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs and sent the wrong signals to “Taiwan...

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China’s weight-loss drug war: prices slashed up to 80% as obesity crisis worsens

Foreign and mainland Chinese drug makers are fighting for a multibillion-dollar slice of the domestic weight-loss market by slashing prices by as much as 80 per cent, as China faces a worsening obesity crisis. Competition in the sector, dominated by global pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, intensified after both secured obesity-drug approvals in China in 2024. The landscape is set to shift further when the patent on Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide expires in March in China, opening...

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Mexico’s Sheinbaum tells Trump US military intervention against cartels ‘unnecessary’

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had “a very good conversation” with US President Donald Trump on Monday and that their two governments will continue working together on security issues without the need for US intervention against drug cartels. The roughly 15-minute call came after Sheinbaum said on Friday she had requested dialogue with the Trump administration at the end of a week in which he had said he was ready to confront drug cartels on the ground and repeated the accusation.

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The US has played its hand in Latin America. Will China’s firms there cash out?

With domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. In the days since Washington’s ousting and abduction of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro – an event that sent shock waves through global markets – some...

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US Senator Mark Kelly sues Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth over demotion threats

US Senator Mark Kelly sued Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday, saying Pentagon ‌proceedings to demote the Arizona Democrat from his retired US Navy captain ‍rank violated Kelly’s free speech rights because he urged troops to reject unlawful orders. Kelly, also a former astronaut, said in his lawsuit in federal court in ⁠Washington that the Defence Department’s actions were retaliatory and violated the US Constitution’s First Amendment protection of free speech. The lawsuit asked the court.

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Why timing may be right for China to press North Korea on denuclearisation

The Ukraine war and Donald Trump’s return to the White House have significantly altered northeast Asia’s geopolitical landscape. North Korea’s defence treaty with Russia and leader Kim Jong-un’s decision to deploy troops to support Moscow have shattered any remaining illusions of strategic restraint. While Russia is believed to be supplying North Korea with finance and technology, Japan and South Korea are accelerating military spending and preparing for long-term confrontation, potentially –...

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Mattel adds an autistic Barbie to doll line devoted to showcasing diversity and inclusion

Mattel is introducing an autistic Barbie on Monday as the newest member of its line intended to celebrate diversity, joining a collection that already includes Barbies with Down syndrome, a blind Barbie, a Barbie and a Ken with vitiligo, and other models the toymaker added to make its fashion dolls more inclusive. Mattel said it developed the autistic doll over more than 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a charity that advocates for the rights and better media...

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Trump sets meeting with Machado as Venezuela frees more prisoners

Washington announced on Monday that Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado will meet US President Donald Trump this week as pressure grew on the interim leadership in Caracas to speed up the release of political prisoners. Machado has been sidelined by Washington since US forces seized long-term authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3 and the Trump administration announced it would be “running” Venezuela. Disregarding Machado and her understudy Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, Trump

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