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China’s robotics firms have run into a fresh obstacle in their global expansion, after the United States banned imports of new foreign-made models. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added foreign-produced “advanced robotic devices” to its Covered List on Tuesday, blocking new models from obtaining the authorisation required to be imported and sold in the US. The ban will cover all new hu...
Over the past few decades, people in many countries have witnessed extraordinary technological progress. Transport is becoming smarter, robots and drones are entering everyday life, infrastructure is growing more complex, buildings are reaching ever higher into the sky and expanding cities are drawing in millions of new residents. The number of megacities – urban areas with populations of at least...
Chinese scientists have used detailed satellite imagery analysis to examine damage to US military bases in the Middle East, uncovering discrepancies in both Washington and Tehran’s claims over the scale of the conflict. Using advanced remote sensing and image-processing techniques, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) also identified damage patterns that exposed vulnerabilities i...
Google on Wednesday launched its artificial intelligence agent Gemini Spark in the Hong Kong market, giving local users direct access to a smart assistant to manage complex digital workflows. The launch came months after the American tech giant’s decision in March to lift regional geofences for generative AI services, starting with the Gemini chatbot. Hong Kong users can now access Gemini without ...
Malaysia is tightening controls on high-risk hiking routes after officials linked a growing rescue burden to poor preparation, unauthorised trails and social media-driven summit attempts. The push is aimed partly at curbing gruelling “compressed hikes”, in which climbers try to complete long or technically demanding routes within a single day, often combining an ascent and descent that would usual...
More than 90 per cent of mainland Chinese enterprises plan to expand overseas within the next two years, with over 80 per cent aiming to use Hong Kong as their launch pad into Southeast Asia, a survey has found. The research findings, published by the Trade Development Council on Wednesday, indicate that mainland firms are actively pursuing diversified footprints across Asean markets. The survey, ...
The United States is pitching billions of dollars in investment to become Southeast Asia’s energy partner of choice, offering gas, grid technology and nuclear expertise as ongoing turmoil from the Iran war sharpens fears of future supply shocks. Analysts say the push serves American strategic and commercial interests – from opening markets for US liquefied natural gas to countering China’s dominan...
China’s increasing clout in the global semiconductor supply chain is accelerating the unravelling of the artificial-intelligence trade, as expectations grow that the Asian nation will challenge foreign tech juggernauts by supplying the world with cheaper alternative products. The US$9.8 billion stock offering of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) in Shanghai provided the Chinese maker of dynamic ...
To offset an ageing agricultural workforce and boost sustainable yields, China is aggressively accelerating the adoption of farm drones – a trend that analysts say could spread to more emerging markets despite trade restrictions imposed by the United States. Industry leader DJI said its global sales of agricultural drones had exceeded 700,000 units across China and more than 100 other countries an...
The uprooting of numerous trees across Hong Kong during Typhoon Noul last weekend has sparked safety concerns among residents, with an expert warning that restrictive planting methods had left some unable to withstand strong winds. Two government hotlines received a total of 331 reports of fallen trees during the typhoon, which triggered No 8 and No 9 signals on Saturday and Sunday. Of the fallen ...
The uprooting of numerous trees across Hong Kong during Typhoon Noul last weekend has sparked safety concerns among residents, with an expert warning that restrictive planting methods had left some unable to withstand strong winds. Two government hotlines received a total of 331 reports of fallen trees during the typhoon, which triggered No 8 and No 9 signals on Saturday and Sunday. Of the fallen ...
Chinese state media has shown the country’s first Type 076 amphibious assault ship, the Sichuan, computer-generated footage of how it launches GJ-21 stealth fighter drones and quotes from a military commentator who said the vessel was in the final stages of commissioning. The 40,000-tonne ship, featuring a 250-metre-long and 62-metre-wide (820 feet by 203 feet) flight deck, recently completed deck...
Indonesia’s attempt to lure back its native talent scattered around the world through limited dual citizenship has highlighted a long-held demand of the diaspora for such a scheme before they would consider returning home. The proposed revision to the citizenship law would mark a major shift for a country that has largely allowed only single citizenship since independence in 1945. Currently, child...
A former Hong Kong teacher has been remanded in custody pending sentencing for twice molesting a student six years ago. A District Court judge sitting at Tsuen Wan Court found Cheng Hon-sze guilty of two counts of indecent assault on Wednesday, for groping his then 15-year-old pupil and making her perform an obscene act on him between May and October 2020. However, Cheng was cleared of seven other...
A former Hong Kong school teacher has been remanded in custody pending sentencing for twice molesting a student six years ago. A District Court judge sitting at Tsuen Wan Court found Cheng Hon-sze guilty of two counts of indecent assault on Wednesday, for groping his then 15-year-old pupil and making her perform an obscene act on him between May and October 2020. However, Cheng was cleared of seve...
A wartime grain loan certificate discovered within an old family home in eastern China has been donated to local authorities nearly eight decades later, illuminating a villager’s remarkable faith in the troops. In 1947, a major People’s Liberation Army (PLA) unit entered the Dabie Mountains, which stretch across the borders of three provinces in central China, during a counteroffensive against Kuo...
A wartime grain loan certificate discovered within an old family home in eastern China has been donated to local authorities nearly eight decades later, illuminating a villager’s remarkable faith in the troops. In 1947, a major People’s Liberation Army (PLA) unit entered the Dabie Mountains, which stretch across the borders of three provinces in central China, during a counteroffensive against Kuo...
China’s unaddressed economic structural problems are swallowing profits and leaving its multinationals falling far behind their US peers in the latest Fortune Global 500 list, despite its firms remaining strong in terms of revenue. The profit gap between Chinese and US companies has continued to widen. Chinese companies posted an average profit of US$4.5 billion in 2025, or some 40 per cent of the...
Hong Kong’s hygiene authorities have arrested 14 people during a citywide crackdown on unlicensed hawkers and seized 600kg (1,320lbs) of food, some of which was expired. Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Chief Health Inspector Chan Sze-man, responsible for hawkers, said on Wednesday that the suspects, aged 38 to 76, were arrested in various districts between July 17 and 28. All of the susp...
Employers in China anticipate a slightly higher median salary increase next year as they push to retain top-tier talent despite financial pressures following a soft 2026, according to data published by a global advisory. Companies were budgeting for a median increase of 4.5 per cent in 2027, following 4.3 per cent growth in 2026 and 4.5 per cent in 2025, the advisory and broking firm WTW said in a...
China’s Moonshot AI, whose recently released Kimi K3 model stunned with performance close to American frontier systems, is seeking ambassadors to elevate its global influence. The Beijing-based start-up on Tuesday launched the “Kimi Ambassador Program”, aimed at “passionate Kimi users to build up communities and the future of AI”, according to its website. The move comes as Moonshot seeks to turn ...
China has overtaken the United States in terms of positive perceptions among young Africans, though Washington is still seen as more influential than Beijing, according to a survey published on Wednesday. The African Youth Survey polled 4,901 respondents aged 18 to 24 and split equally between males and females, in 16 of Africa’s 54 countries, asking them which foreign powers had influence on thei...
Zhongji Innolight’s buy-back plan – worth as much as 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in the run-up to its offshore listing in Hong Kong – may give global investors an anchor for pricing, as the Chinese supplier of US hyperscalers seeks to pre-empt a shaky start to trading in the city. The Chinese maker of optical transceivers used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centres said it would repurcha...
If South Korea wants to unlock access to South American trade, it will need to prove it is not a competitor interested only in extracting natural resources but a trustworthy partner committed to revitalising manufacturing industries, according to observers. On Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed to revive negotiations on a free-trad...
China’s emerging advantage in artificial intelligence (AI) is not that it already has the world’s best chips or strongest frontier models. It is that Chinese companies are increasingly providing capable intelligence at a price the global market can afford. AI is fast becoming everyday infrastructure. It is metered by usage and embedded in businesses, public services and devices, much like electric...
Advanced technologies now account for around one in every six valid invention patents in China, according to official data. By the end of last month, valid invention patents in fields such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data made up 16.5 per cent of the country’s total valid patents, the China National Intellectual Property Administration said on Wednesday. “The accelerated ac...
The venture capital arm of Lenovo Group is doubling down on artificial intelligence for the next industrial cycle, expanding its focus beyond foundational models into robotics, computing infrastructure and AI agents, according to a senior executive. Lenovo Capital has made long-term bets on more than 100 AI companies across the value chain, ranging from chips and hardware infrastructure to models ...
An American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is set to dock in Da Nang this week, in a visit analysts say shows the durability of US-Vietnam relations despite trade tensions and global upheaval. The USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class carrier currently deployed with the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet out of Yokosuka, Japan, is expected to call at the central Vietnamese port from Thursday to Monday, tho...
We have put together stories from our coverage on science from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Chinese scientists have bad news on having babies in space If the future of humanity lies in the vast expanse of space, could humans actually perpetuate the species beyond Earth? As a team of Chinese scientists ...
Russia’s main domestic security agency said Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list. The charges against Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, come as the Russian authorities restrict Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. It is pa...
