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Higher typhoon warning possible based on Saudel’s course after rare resurgence
SCMP

Higher typhoon warning possible based on Saudel’s course after rare resurgence

Hong Kong’s weather forecaster could issue a higher typhoon signal closer to the weekend after Tropical Cyclone Saudel experienced a rare resurgence, with the potential to change course over the South China Sea and edge towards the Pearl River Delta. The Observatory said the No 1 typhoon signal would remain in force on Wednesday, as Saudel moved across the northeastern South China Sea. “Under the ...

Higher typhoon signal possible, depending on Saudel’s course after rare resurgence
SCMP

Higher typhoon signal possible, depending on Saudel’s course after rare resurgence

Hong Kong’s weather forecaster may issue a higher typhoon signal closer to the weekend after Tropical Cyclone Saudel experienced a rare resurgence and could change its course over the South China Sea, edging towards the Pearl River Delta. The Observatory said the standby No 1 typhoon signal would remain in force on Wednesday, as Saudel travelled across the northeastern South China Sea. “Under the ...

Netanyahu accuses security officials of intentionally not waking him on October 7
SCMP

Netanyahu accuses security officials of intentionally not waking him on October 7

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused security officials on Tuesday of intentionally failing to wake him on the morning of Hamas’ October 7 attacks, a day after his wife claimed an opposition figure knew of the onslaught in advance. Netanyahu is heading into close-fought elections later this year, and has come in for sustained criticism in the national debate over who is responsible fo...

China’s 2026 moon laser communication speed is slower than Nasa’s in 2013
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China’s 2026 moon laser communication speed is slower than Nasa’s in 2013

China has pulled off two-way laser communication between Earth and the moon, making it only the second nation after the United States to do so. But the data rates it achieved were well behind those recorded by Nasa more than a decade ago, and that has left space experts scratching their heads. Using telescopes in Yunnan province and an experimental satellite that is now orbiting the moon after a l...

Ukraine’s president warns airlines to avoid ‘drone-infested’ Russian airspace

Ukraine’s president warns airlines to avoid ‘drone-infested’ Russian airspace

SCMP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Tuesday that his country’s drones would make Russia’s airspace “completely unsafe” for the duration of the war, drawing accusations of “state terrorism” from Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Both sides have intensified long-range attacks in recent months and diplomatic efforts led by the United States remain stalled more than four years into Russia’s ful...

Joshua Wong admits instigating sanctions against Beijing, Hong Kong governments

Joshua Wong admits instigating sanctions against Beijing, Hong Kong governments

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Jailed Hong Kong opposition activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has admitted instigating international sanctions against central and local authorities six years ago, such as urging foreign businesses to avoid investment in mainland China and petitioning an Israeli forensic tech firm to terminate its services for the city’s police force. The High Court heard on Wednesday that Wong, 29, had conspired with...

US judge rules alleged Charlie Kirk killer to stand trial, could face death penalty

US judge rules alleged Charlie Kirk killer to stand trial, could face death penalty

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The murder case against the Utah man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year is headed for trial, and the defendant could face the death penalty if he is convicted. Utah District Judge Tony Graf on Tuesday sided with prosecutors who said they had “overwhelming” evidence that suspect Tyler Robinson shot Kirk once in the neck as the ally of US President Donald Trump spo...

China approves string of ‘telepathy’ devices amid push to leapfrog Elon Musk

China approves string of ‘telepathy’ devices amid push to leapfrog Elon Musk

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China’s health regulators have granted approvals for a string of brain-technology products this year, as domestic start-ups push to transform the treatment of conditions ranging from paraplegia to Alzheimer’s and depression. The approvals come as Beijing bids to lead the world in brain-computer interfaces – devices that allow patients to control digital devices using thought alone – offering gener...

Singapore jails Indian man who hid US$154,000 diamond in mouth during heist

Singapore jails Indian man who hid US$154,000 diamond in mouth during heist

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A thief was sentenced to 26 months and two weeks’ jail on Tuesday for his role in a Singapore Chinatown diamond heist. He had hidden a custom-made fake gem in his mouth, switched it for the real diamond and concealed the genuine stone the same way. Serasiya Milan Ramnikbhai, a 30-year-old from India, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft with common intention. His accomplice, 41-year-old Mangroliya ...

Japan’s deadliest delicacy is getting more dangerous

Japan’s deadliest delicacy is getting more dangerous

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Japan’s most dangerous delicacy is getting harder to prepare safely as warming seas push different pufferfish species into the same waters, where they are inbreeding to produce hybrids whose lethal toxins are not yet fully understood. Fugu – the collective Japanese name for several species of edible pufferfish – is prized as much for the danger surrounding its preparation as for its subtle flavour...

China’s multipolar world order must prove it can be peaceful

China’s multipolar world order must prove it can be peaceful

SCMP

China has spent years articulating its preferred principles for the world order. In June, it went a step further, bringing many of them together in a white paper on global governance and setting out how its Global Governance Initiative should translate principles into practice. Two ambitions sat side by side: an “equal and orderly multipolar world” and a “universally beneficial and inclusive econo...

Chinese workers use parasols and sunscreen indoors to combat ‘office ageing’

Chinese workers use parasols and sunscreen indoors to combat ‘office ageing’

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A growing number of Chinese workers are sharing tips on social media to combat “office ageing.” Suggestions range from applying sunscreen and using full-face masks to setting up parasols at their desks. Recently, a RedNote user with the handle @lelehangmu from Jiangsu province in eastern China shared that just one month into his job, his complexion had noticeably darkened, and his eyes frequently ...

Beyond coal: China’s installed solar power capacity crosses historic threshold

Beyond coal: China’s installed solar power capacity crosses historic threshold

SCMP

Solar power has overtaken coal as China’s largest source of installed power generation capacity for the first time, marking a landmark shift in the world’s largest energy market, according to government data. By the end of July, China’s installed photovoltaic capacity had reached 1,286 gigawatts, accounting for 31.5 per cent of the total, the National Energy Administration (NEA) reported on Tuesda...

Tanker, transporter, controller: China’s Y-20 family expands its Pacific reach

Tanker, transporter, controller: China’s Y-20 family expands its Pacific reach

SCMP

When six Chinese heavy transport planes entered European airspace in April 2022, it was not just their cargo that drew international attention. Bound for Serbia, the Y-20 aircraft had flown thousands of kilometres from China carrying components of the Chinese-made FK-3 surface-to-air missile system. A second wave of six aircraft followed, bringing the operation to 12 sorties in what was then China...

HKU partners with tech giants to offer AI labs at expanded Shanghai campus

HKU partners with tech giants to offer AI labs at expanded Shanghai campus

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The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is partnering with tech giants to offer on-site artificial intelligence (AI) laboratories at its expanded Shanghai campus, which welcomed more than 300 students for the new term earlier this week. The campus in Zhangjiang Science City is also expected to expand its intake next year, when the university’s medicine and engineering programmes launch there. Its comput...

Enflame’s US$900m IPO tests appetite for China’s ‘little dragon’ AI chipmakers

Enflame’s US$900m IPO tests appetite for China’s ‘little dragon’ AI chipmakers

SCMP

As Enflame Technology gears up for a 6.12 billion yuan (US$910.3 million) initial public offering on Shanghai’s Star Market, the Chinese artificial intelligence chipmaker must convince investors that its specialised chip strategy can withstand fierce competition from Huawei Technologies and other domestic rivals, while reducing its heavy revenue dependence on major backer Tencent Holdings. Online ...

North Korea’s next ruler? Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Seoul’s spies say

North Korea’s next ruler? Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Seoul’s spies say

SCMP

North Korea has never named her, confirmed her age or acknowledged her as Kim Jong-un’s heir. Yet South Korea’s spy agency says the evidence is now unmistakable: his daughter Kim Ju-ae has “effectively” become the successor-in-waiting. The assessment, delivered in a closed-door briefing to the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, was shared with journalists by Youn Kun-young of the ruling D...

Xi, Trump and Putin may hold trilateral meeting at next Apec forum, Kremlin says

Xi, Trump and Putin may hold trilateral meeting at next Apec forum, Kremlin says

SCMP

A senior Russian aide suggested on Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold a trilateral meeting at the next Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. Leaders of the 21-member grouping are scheduled to meet in Shenzhen, the Chinese economic powerhouse in southern China, on November 18 and 19, setting up the possibil...

Trump puts pressure on squeezed US oil refiners to ease pump prices

Trump puts pressure on squeezed US oil refiners to ease pump prices

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President Donald Trump pressed US oil refiners to boost domestic production of petrol and diesel during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, as he contends with high prices and mounting cost-of-living concerns before November’s midterm elections. Trump made clear he wanted lower prices at the pump for Americans and asked executives how to increase refining capacity, according to a White House officia...

US Congress seeks to identify foreign countries behind scam calls

US Congress seeks to identify foreign countries behind scam calls

SCMP

US lawmakers are trying to identify which foreign countries are the biggest sources of unlawful robocalls targeting Americans, as Congress steps up efforts to combat a surge in phone scams. The inquiry follows a string of US government reports tying much of the financial damage from scams to Chinese criminal networks based in Southeast Asia. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Communications...

Mainland China stepping up preparations for Taiwan blockade, report says

Mainland China stepping up preparations for Taiwan blockade, report says

SCMP

Taiwan’s defence ministry has warned that the People’s Liberation Army is stepping up its preparations for a blockade of the island, adding that it is sharpening its plans to break such a cordon in response. The assessment was made in the ministry’s “2026 China Military Power Report”, which was submitted to the legislature this week along with its five-year force development plan and next year’s p...

Nepal-China floods highlight a growing front of the climate change crisis

Nepal-China floods highlight a growing front of the climate change crisis

SCMP

On August 26, a section of glacier collapsed at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres on the Nepalese side of the Himalayas. The falling ice and rock accelerated down a steep valley at about 50 metres per second, scouring debris and transforming into a high-speed mudslide that slammed into Gyirong Port on the Chinese side just seven minutes later. The force of the flow largely buried and obliterat...

Congress advances new bill to give US edge in open-source AI race with China

Congress advances new bill to give US edge in open-source AI race with China

SCMP

The US Congress on Tuesday advanced a new bill that seeks to establish American global leadership in open-source artificial intelligence, an area where China currently dominates, by promoting adoption of US open-source models and publicising risks associated with using their Chinese counterparts. The legislation was one of several proposals marked up in the US House of Representatives targeting Ch...

UK’s Burnham pledges to restore hope as he makes House of Commons debut as PM

UK’s Burnham pledges to restore hope as he makes House of Commons debut as PM

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Prime Minister Andy Burnham faced lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday for the first time since becoming UK leader six weeks ago, with wars in Europe and the Middle East weighing on his promise to kick-start the economy, ease the cost of living and oversee a radical redistribution of power from London to Britain’s regions. On the day parliament returned from its summer break, Burnham said ...

UN report confirms Syria was building nuclear reactor during Assad rule

UN report confirms Syria was building nuclear reactor during Assad rule

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Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the leadership of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, according to a UN report seen Tuesday by Associated Press. Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work that confirmed the existence of a long-suspected nuclear site, according to the confidential report circ...

Syria was building nuclear reactor during Assad rule, UN report confirms

Syria was building nuclear reactor during Assad rule, UN report confirms

SCMP

Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the leadership of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, according to a UN report seen Tuesday by Associated Press. Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work that confirmed the existence of a long-suspected nuclear site, according to the confidential report circ...

Syria was building nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under Assad, UN report finds

Syria was building nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under Assad, UN report finds

SCMP

Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work, according to a confidential report circulated to member states and seen Tuesday by Associated Press. Based on this visit, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that it is “able to establish that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities...

US military carries out new strikes on Iranian targets as hostilities flare

US military carries out new strikes on Iranian targets as hostilities flare

SCMP

US President Donald Trump launched new air strikes on Iran on Tuesday, the latest chapter as the president has swung in recent weeks between economic and military pressure tactics, all the while claiming that Tehran was on its heels. US Military Central Command announced on social media that the attacks were in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s recent attempted attacks on commerc...

Carney fires back at Trump as US-Canada trade fight escalates: ‘stop trying to be tough’

Carney fires back at Trump as US-Canada trade fight escalates: ‘stop trying to be tough’

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Trump administration on Tuesday to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough”, as he pushed back against a fresh wave of attacks from Washington. Carney said US-Canada trade talks could resume if Washington became serious about negotiations, but he also accused the US of pursuing terms that he said could leave Canadian industrie...