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Trump ‘banning’ CNN, MS Now and Politico from White House
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Trump ‘banning’ CNN, MS Now and Politico from White House

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is banning three major news outlets – CNN, MS ‌Now and Politico – from the White House in his latest move to crack down on the independent press. Trump said that, “effective immediately, I am banning” the outlets for allegedly “reporting FAKE NEWS” in a move that is likely to be challenged as conflicting with the US Constitution’s First Amendment pr...

Trump banning CNN, MS Now and Politico from White House
SCMP •

Trump banning CNN, MS Now and Politico from White House

US President ⁠Donald Trump said ⁠on Friday he was ⁠banning three major news outlets – CNN, MS Now and Politico – from the White House, in his latest move to crack down on the independent press. He said that he was banning the outlets for allegedly “reporting FAKE NEWS” in a move that is likely to be challenged as conflicting with the US Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees of free speech and ...

Trump says he is banning CNN, MS Now and Politico from White House
SCMP •

Trump says he is banning CNN, MS Now and Politico from White House

US President ⁠Donald Trump said ⁠on Friday he was ⁠banning three major news outlets – CNN, MS Now and Politico – from the White House, in his latest move to crack down on the independent press. He said that he was banning the outlets for allegedly “reporting FAKE NEWS” in a move that is likely to be challenged as conflicting with the US Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees of free speech and ...

Princess Diana’s ‘revenge dress’ goes on show amid clash between brother and King Charles
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Princess Diana’s ‘revenge dress’ goes on show amid clash between brother and King Charles

Princess Diana’s “revenge dress” went on display in London on Friday, days after new claims about King Charles’s reaction to her death, as the shadow cast over the royal family by the so-called “people’s princess” lingers nearly 30 years on. The dress became a symbol of the rancour between Charles and Diana during the public breakdown of their marriage in the early 1990s, when she made a public ap...

Princess Diana’s ‘revenge dress’ goes on show amid clash between brother and Charles

Princess Diana’s ‘revenge dress’ goes on show amid clash between brother and Charles

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Princess Diana’s “revenge dress” went on display in London on Friday, days after new claims about King Charles’s reaction to her death, as the shadow cast over the royal family by the so-called “people’s princess” lingers nearly 30 years on. The dress became a symbol of the rancour between Charles and Diana during the public breakdown of their marriage in the early 1990s, when she made a public ap...

China hawks join forces in US Congress  to pressure Trump ahead of Xi’s visit

China hawks join forces in US Congress to pressure Trump ahead of Xi’s visit

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US lawmakers critical of China had a busy week on Capitol Hill, stepping up their activity ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to President Donald Trump in Washington next week. China-focused members of Congress and commissions held multiple hearings on issues ranging from human rights to trade and supply chains – an apparent effort to put a range of issues on Trump’s agenda for...

Over 2,000 UK flight cancellations traced to millisecond software defect

Over 2,000 UK flight cancellations traced to millisecond software defect

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A preliminary report on Friday blamed a millisecond-software defect for the cancellation of over 2,000 flights in and out of the United Kingdom last week. NATS, formerly known as National Air Traffic Services, said on Friday that the glitch on September 8 was behind the mayhem at British airports and beyond, rather than any human failings – as many had speculated at the time. It said a software de...

Why China is playing it cool amid Trump’s disruption and churn

Why China is playing it cool amid Trump’s disruption and churn

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When the presidents of the United States and China meet in Washington, the world will be watching to see whether their two countries can make good on their agreement to work towards “constructive strategic stability”. In the first part of a series, Mark Magnier looks at expectations in the US for the summit. Chinese planners have been frustrated for months at the slow speed of decision-making and ...

Patient who needed soft food dies after choking on regular meal at public hospital

Patient who needed soft food dies after choking on regular meal at public hospital

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A Hong Kong patient died after suffering a heart attack when he was fed a regular meal instead of the required soft food and choked at Prince of Wales Hospital. The public hospital in Sha Tin issued a public apology on Friday and said it had appointed an eight-person panel to look into the blunder. A report, along with recommendations for improvement measures, is expected in eight weeks. The 54-ye...

Alibaba open-sources medical AI model that can detect cancer and nearly 150 conditions

Alibaba open-sources medical AI model that can detect cancer and nearly 150 conditions

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Alibaba Group Holding’s research arm, Damo Academy, has open-sourced an artificial intelligence model capable of identifying nearly 150 abdominal conditions – including cancers – by reading computed tomography (CT) scans, marking the latest step in the firm’s growing medical AI efforts. The vision-language model, called Damo Radar, was designed to analyse contrast-enhanced CT scans covering 18 abd...

Foreign carers for elderly to get 10 to 20% more pay than current helpers

Foreign carers for elderly to get 10 to 20% more pay than current helpers

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Foreign domestic carers brought to Hong Kong to look after elderly residents under a proposed government pilot scheme would receive 10 to 20 per cent more pay than existing helpers, the labour minister has said. Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han on Friday revealed additional details about the arrangement for foreign domestic carers, as the government also released a comprehensive ...

Are the doors to German universities closing for China’s STEM researchers?

Are the doors to German universities closing for China’s STEM researchers?

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Chinese AI researcher “Joy” waited more than seven months to hear that his visa application for Germany had been rejected. The 30-year-old had been offered a postdoctoral position at a German technical university but the rejection letter said there was an Ausweisungsinteresse, or public interest in denying him entry. Citing Section 53 of Germany’s Residence Act, the letter said that for applicatio...

Saudi oil pipeline closure puts Asia’s economic resilience to the test

Saudi oil pipeline closure puts Asia’s economic resilience to the test

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Asian economies heavily dependent on imported energy are facing an even sharper squeeze after the shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline removed a key escape route from the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, deepening an energy shock that has already pushed crude oil above US$100 a barrel. Analysts said the loss of that bypass would hit Asian refiners first before feeding through to inflat...

Singapore Airlines takes world’s best carrier crown from Qatar Airways

Singapore Airlines takes world’s best carrier crown from Qatar Airways

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Singapore Airlines was awarded the title of world’s best airline in the annual rankings by Skytrax, taking the top spot from Qatar Airways in a year that saw Middle Eastern carriers come under significant pressure from the ongoing war in Iran. The award, which is based on a survey of almost 25 million travellers, was announced in London on Friday, with a list dominated by Asian carriers. Only one ...

Beijing, Taipei need peace deal before reunification, Taiwanese scholar says

Beijing, Taipei need peace deal before reunification, Taiwanese scholar says

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A formal peace deal between Beijing and Taipei should be signed to build trust before discussions on post-reunification political arrangements, a prominent Taiwanese political scientist has argued at a security conference in Beijing. Chang Ya-chung, who heads the Taiwan-based Sun Yat-sen School advocacy group, said the “one country, two systems” formula, which has been applied to Hong Kong and Mac...

Ant International embeds AI agents  across all platforms in biggest-ever product upgrade

Ant International embeds AI agents across all platforms in biggest-ever product upgrade

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Ant International, the overseas affiliate of China’s Ant Group, is executing an artificial intelligence overhaul across its entire suite of global financial services, introducing AI agents designed to help manage payments, foreign exchange and treasury operations. Described by the company as its largest-ever product upgrade, the initiative embeds AI-native solutions across all platforms: cross-bor...

Tesla auditing Chinese suppliers ahead of Optimus roll-out: sources

Tesla auditing Chinese suppliers ahead of Optimus roll-out: sources

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Tesla officials and engineers have begun auditing part of the firm’s Chinese supply chain, as Elon Musk’s company aims to quickly ramp up production of its Optimus humanoid robot after it hits the global market later this year, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. Chinese companies set to undergo supplier audits included heat-control component manufacturer Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent...

Xi-Trump summit preview: what to watch for as investors brace for best and worst scenarios

Xi-Trump summit preview: what to watch for as investors brace for best and worst scenarios

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President Xi Jinping is scheduled to sit down with US President Donald Trump in Washington next week, and their planned summit looks to be closely watched as an indicator of the current state of ties between the world’s two largest economies. Economic issues appear poised to drive the agenda again, as they did when Trump travelled to Beijing in May with more than a dozen top American CEOs, includi...

Ending the nuclear arms race starts with cities doing their part

Ending the nuclear arms race starts with cities doing their part

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The catastrophic danger posed to cities by nuclear weapons is nothing new. Putting major urban areas at risk across generations is, in fact, the point of these weapons of terror. The practice of doing so is benignly called nuclear deterrence, but it requires holding the cities of adversaries – real and imagined – under constant threat. The use of even the smallest nuclear weapons in today’s arsena...

CUHK instructor triggers backlash over WeChat attendance registration policy

CUHK instructor triggers backlash over WeChat attendance registration policy

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An instructor at Hong Kong’s second-oldest university has faced a backlash over asking students to use mainland Chinese messaging app WeChat to register their attendance and keep its location services enabled, before later saying the arrangement was optional. The policy was revealed after a screenshot of an email from a teaching staff member in the information engineering department at the Chinese...

Australian man pleads not guilty to murder of Thai teen girl found in suitcase

Australian man pleads not guilty to murder of Thai teen girl found in suitcase

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An Australian accused of murdering a teenage girl in Thailand and abandoning her body in a suitcase pleaded not guilty in court on Friday, citing self-defence. Simon Peter Carman, 45, was arrested at a Bangkok airport in June as he prepared to take a flight back to Australia after the 17-year-old victim’s friend had reported her missing. The young woman’s body was found in a suitcase near a railwa...

CUHK department triggers backlash over WeChat attendance registration policy

CUHK department triggers backlash over WeChat attendance registration policy

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A department at Hong Kong’s second-oldest university has faced a backlash over asking students to use mainland Chinese messaging app WeChat to register their attendance and keep its location services enabled, later saying the decision was optional. The new policy was revealed after a screenshot of an email from the information engineering department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) wa...

Could China’s sixth-generation fighter carry a laser to defend against incoming missiles?

Could China’s sixth-generation fighter carry a laser to defend against incoming missiles?

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China may be aiming to equip its sixth-generation fighter jets with laser weapons that experts say could help defend them against incoming missiles. At the 14th China International Defence Electronics Exhibition, held in Beijing from September 15 to 17, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) Beijing Precision Engineering Institute for Aircraft Industry presented details of a “fighter ai...

Howard replaces his father, Warren Buffett, as Berkshire Hathaway chairman

Howard replaces his father, Warren Buffett, as Berkshire Hathaway chairman

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Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway after serving in the role at the conglomerate for more than 50 years. Buffett, 96, will become chairman emeritus and will take on his new role immediately, the company said on Friday. His son, Howard, will become Berkshire Hathaway’s new chairman, part of a long-planned succession. Howard Buffett has been on the Berkshire Hathaway b...

Hong Kong to recruit AI chief by mid-2027, with confidence in local talent pool

Hong Kong to recruit AI chief by mid-2027, with confidence in local talent pool

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Hong Kong will begin recruitment for an artificial intelligence (AI) commissioner in the second quarter of next year to assist in drafting policies for the technology and risk governance, with authorities confident the city does not lack suitable talent. Tech authorities on Friday revealed details of the new post under the Digital Policy Office, which will pay between HK$262,125 and HK$278,200 (US...

Singapore minister Chan Chun Sing’s Mandarin diplomacy strikes China chord

Singapore minister Chan Chun Sing’s Mandarin diplomacy strikes China chord

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Singapore Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing’s use of Mandarin and Chinese philosophy in his speech at a major security forum in Beijing has won him praise on Chinese social media, while shedding light on how cultural familiarity and language can be diplomatic tools for the city state. Videos of Chan at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum quoting ancient philosopher Mencius, or Mengzi in Mandarin, have gone ...

Thailand makes weight-loss pens prescription-only to counter glut of illegal medicines

Thailand makes weight-loss pens prescription-only to counter glut of illegal medicines

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Thailand has moved to make weight-loss pens prescription-only, as a glut of the GLP-1 medicines – which mimic the hormones released once someone is full – floods the black market and influencers swarm TikTok to extol the quick wins of the simple injections. The Southeast Asian nation, which is never far behind wellness or aesthetic trends and has a notorious black market in counterfeit drugs, has ...

3 Jellycat, Labubu plushie thieves jailed for up to 2 years and 2 months

3 Jellycat, Labubu plushie thieves jailed for up to 2 years and 2 months

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Three repeat offenders have been sentenced to up to two years and two months behind bars for stealing 83 Jellycat and Labubu plushies worth a total of HK$115,200 (US$14,770) from a Hong Kong shopping centre last year. The District Court heard on Friday that the three men had stolen the popular merchandise from two claw machine shops at Kwai Chung Plaza on the instructions of other suspects who rem...

Hong Kong’s metal storage hits 30,000 tonnes in push to become global commodity hub

Hong Kong’s metal storage hits 30,000 tonnes in push to become global commodity hub

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Hong Kong’s push to develop into a premier gold and commodity trading hub has gained momentum, with local metal storage surpassing 30,000 tonnes, a minister has said, as the administration positions the city as the destination of choice for global capital. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu also said on Friday the government would expand renminbi settlement ...