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In a homecoming for Hong Kong’s artificial intelligence community, Cao Liangliang – former principal engineer and director at Google DeepMind, IEEE Fellow and architect of foundational AI systems at Google, Apple and IBM – has returned to the city after a two-decade absence. His appointment as Chair Professor of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) l...
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has broken his silence on China’s sanctions against his defence chief, in remarks seen as a closing of ranks that could complicate diplomacy between Manila and Beijing in the near term. Observers say the president’s public backing of outspoken Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro amounts to a “good cop, bad cop” approach that signals Manila’s resolve and may...
Hong Kong fertility clinics should be required to report serious incidents within 24 hours to the regulator for in vitro fertilisation (IVF), lawmakers have said, following a specimens mix-up at a centre that went undisclosed for weeks. They urged the government on Wednesday to close the regulatory gap, a day after it emerged that Heal Fertility in Central had mishandled embryo biopsy specimens fr...
Hong Kong fertility clinics should be required to report serious incidents within 24 hours to both the regulator for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and health authorities, lawmakers have said, following an embryo sample mix-up at a centre that went undisclosed for weeks. They urged the government on Wednesday to close the regulatory gap, a day after it emerged that Heal Fertility in Central had mish...
Hong Kong fertility clinics should be required to report serious incidents within 24 hours to both the regulator for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and health authorities, lawmakers have said, following an embryo mix-up at a centre that went undisclosed for weeks. They urged the government on Wednesday to close the regulatory gap, a day after it emerged that HEAL Fertility in Central had mishandled ...
Workers have started making emergency repairs to stabilise a Manhattan high-rise after buckled columns and sagging floors forced evacuations in and around the midtown construction site. The scene unfolded throughout Tuesday after the precarious conditions were spotted in the morning at the 1970s-era building, which is being converted into luxury flats. Construction workers at the site and people i...
Workers have started making emergency repairs to stabilise a Manhattan high-rise after buckled columns and sagging floors forced evacuations in and around the midtown construction site. The scene unfolded throughout Tuesday after the precarious conditions were spotted in the morning at the 1970s-era building, which is being converted into luxury flats. Construction workers at the site and people i...
Hong Kong stocks extended their gains on Wednesday afternoon as concerns over a wave of lock-up expiries, long seen as a major headwind for the city’s equities, showed early signs of easing, while surging rallies in tech heavyweights lifted broader market sentiment. The Hang Seng Index, which entered the noon break up 2.4 per cent, continued to climb in the afternoon session as of 1.30pm. The Hang...
Hong Kong stocks rebounded on Wednesday as concerns over a wave of lock-up expiries, long seen as a major headwind for the city’s equities, showed early signs of easing, while continued strength in technology stocks lifted broader market sentiment. The Hang Seng Index rose 2.4 per cent to 24,057 at the noon break, with technology shares leading broad-based gains despite renewed geopolitical tensio...
Joab Jorge runs Dream Latte Cafe, a speciality coffee shop and small-batch roastery, with his mother Ces out of their old ancestral home in Pilar, a town in Bataan province some 180km (112 miles) northwest of Manila. Rising electricity costs and frequent blackouts have put a strain on the business, which has already had to raise prices by 10 per cent to cover higher costs for goods and imported co...
A Google executive has told an Australian inquiry that a YouTube video falsely claiming a wounded survivor of an antisemitic massacre in Sydney was a crisis actor bloodied with make-up had met the platform’s standards and would remain online. Google Australia manager Rachel Lord was testifying on Tuesday at a government inquiry into the spread of antisemitism in Australia, including an attack by t...
A mainland Chinese court has claimed jurisdiction over an investor lawsuit against a Hong Kong-listed firm for the first time, with the move likely to increase scrutiny of corporate disclosures. Mainland investors filed the lawsuit with the Beijing Financial Court, alleging that an overseas-incorporated company had failed to disclose irregular loans, unauthorised guarantees and related-party trans...
Taiwan’s flagship “T-Dome” air defence programme is facing delays, after budget disputes left one of its critical indigenous missile systems without a clear funding source. The island’s opposition-controlled legislature approved a reduced NT$780 billion (over US$24 billion) special defence budget in May, rejecting a larger NT$1.25 trillion package proposed by the government. Among the excluded pro...
Taiwan’s flagship “T-Dome” air defence programme is facing possible delays to 2028 after budget disputes left one of its critical indigenous missile systems without a clear funding source. The island’s opposition-controlled legislature approved a reduced NT$780 billion (over US$24 billion) special defence budget in May, rejecting a larger NT$1.25 trillion package proposed by the government. Among ...
As soaring temperatures fuel demand for cooling in Europe, Thailand is pitching itself as a source of relief, promoting rainy-season holidays while exporting more air conditioners. With tourism and outbound shipments two of the Southeast Asian economy’s biggest drivers, Europe’s heatwaves are creating opportunities on both fronts. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has launched a campaign encouragi...
Indonesian authorities are widening their investigation into a case of suspected identity and research fraud at an overseas medical conference, which has exposed gaps in academic oversight and revived concerns about abuses in the nation’s system of publication-driven promotion for academia. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology has set up a team to examine papers previously publ...
China has called for shelters to stock up with at least three days’ worth of supplies and rolling weather forecasts to be issued, with rescue teams on 24-hour call as Super Typhoon Bavi is predicted to land on the eastern coast between Saturday night and Sunday morning. In a statement on Tuesday evening, the government of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said all departments should be “highly alert” a...
China has called for shelters to stock up with at least three days’ worth of supplies and rolling weather forecasts to be issued, with rescue teams on 24-hour call as Super Typhoon Bavi is predicted to land on the eastern coast between Saturday night and Sunday morning. In a statement on Tuesday evening, the government of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province said all departments should be “highly alert” an...
China has called for shelters to stock up with at least three days’ worth of supplies and rolling weather forecasts to be issued, with rescue teams on 24-hour call as super typhoon Bavi is predicted to land on the eastern coast between Saturday night and Sunday morning. In a statement on Tuesday evening, the government of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province said all departments should be “highly alert” an...
A total of 21 people out of 33 have died and seven injured in a landslide in northwestern China, as typhoon, flooding and other geological disasters continue to ravage the country. The victims, who were mostly woodworkers hired to trim trees in Longnan, Gansu province, were buried on Tuesday. Local government said in a press conference that as of Wednesday morning, everyone involved in the inciden...
Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke says success in Johor’s state polls will be measured by how many seats can be clawed away from Barisan Nasional (BN), imploring voters to seek a better power balance if they want a surer footing with Singapore, the economic powerhouse across the causeway that has soaked up its workers and industry. Loke leads the Chinese-majority Democratic Action Party (D...
Who would have thought that Leon Trotsky inadvertently offered a theory to explain China’s economic leapfrog into the 21st century after bouncing back from history’s worst famine and the Cultural Revolution? In recent decades, some people thought China was done for and would eventually collapse. They might have done better if they had read at least the first chapter of Trotsky’s The History of the...
A girl from a disadvantaged rural family in central China topped this year’s gaokao, attracting numerous live-streamers eager to finance her education, which she declined. The home of 18-year-old secondary school graduate Han Yaping in a Henan province village was recently bustling with live-streamers. This attention came after Han achieved an impressive score of 699 out of 750 in the gaokao, Chin...
A Chinese military magazine has highlighted a spate of non-combat losses across the US Navy, claiming they have eroded the fleet’s capabilities and exposed “systemic pressure and shortcomings”. The report in Naval & Merchant Ships pointed to fires, electrical failures and propulsion issues on America’s most advanced warships in recent months. They include the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, t...
At least six universities in Hong Kong have moved into office buildings or shopping centres over the past three years as classroom space has tightened amid rising non-local enrolment, according to the latest data. Among them is the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), which spent HK$345.4 million (US$44 million) in 2025 to acquire a 31,410 sq ft campus in Admiralty for its busin...
South Korea may have lost Canada’s multibillion-dollar submarine order, but analysts say its close-run contest with Germany has handed Seoul a different prize: proof that it can challenge one of the world’s traditional undersea warfare powers on a stage watched closely by defence buyers. Canada chose Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) as the preferred bidder for a programme worth about U...
All charges against a radiologist accused of trying to kill his family in 2023 by driving his car off a cliff along the Northern California coast have been dismissed by a judge following his completion of a mental health programme. Prosecutors charged Dharmesh Patel, 45, with attempted murder after he drove his Tesla off a 276-metre cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway known as “Devil’s Slide”, i...
All charges against a radiologist accused of trying to kill his family in 2023 by driving his car off a cliff along the Northern California coast have been dismissed by a judge following his completion of a mental health programme. Prosecutors charged Dharmesh Patel, 45, with attempted murder after he drove his Tesla off a 276-metre (50ft) cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway known as “Devil’s Sl...
Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight killed at least two people and wounded several more, as Moscow sustained its attacks ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky at a Nato summit. A first large blast in Kyiv was heard even before the city’s air alert sirens sounded, followed by a barrage of four more. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said warehouses were on...
A series of explosions rocked Kyiv early on Wednesday as Russia keeps up its barrage of attacks on the Ukrainian capital while Nato leaders meet for a summit in Turkey. A first large blast was heard even before the city’s air alert sirens sounded, followed by four more, Agence France-Presse journalists in the city said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said warehouses were on fire in one district becau...
