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Hong Kong should draft a five-year plan that includes an artificial intelligence (AI) focus that is not too broad, makes the most of its core strengths and attracts the best talent to develop the sector, industry leaders have said. At the South China Morning Post’s China Conference on Tuesday, speakers at a panel discussion titled “Intelligence at Scale: Hong Kong’s AI-Powered Future” considered h...
The coming World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) is set to feature major new product releases, such as Huawei Technologies’ next-generation computing cluster, as China doubles down on AI in the global technology race. This year’s WAIC, the ninth since 2018 and running from July 17 to 20 in Shanghai, would include the first physical display of Huawei’s Atlas 950 SuperPoD, Tang Wenkan, dir...
Hong Kong will substantially increase its yuan facilities for banks from this Friday, while the city will also introduce a new electronic fixed income and currency (FIC) trading system as part of its latest efforts to promote yuan trading, according to local market regulators on Tuesday. Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) would increase the quota of its RMB Business Facility for banks by 1.5 time...
Nato chief Mark Rutte said the alliance “cannot be naive” about China’s military build-up, after the nation conducted its first known launch of a strategic missile from a nuclear submarine. “What happens in the Indo-Pacific is relevant to what is happening in the transatlantic,” Rutte told a news conference on Monday, ahead of the military alliance’s annual summit in Ankara, Turkey. The Indo-Pacif...
Malaysia’s former economy minister Rafizi Ramli and his breakaway party, Bersama, are unlikely to emerge as a credible third force in the country’s political landscape, but they could still siphon votes away from the reformist Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Bersama’s first electoral test, in Johor on Saturday, will be watched less for the number of seats it win...
Sri Lanka launched an investigation on Tuesday into its deadliest prison riot in years, as the death toll from clashes between rival drug gangs rose to 27. Armed police and commandos were not sent into the prison but were deployed to guard the perimeter of Negombo prison, as authorities tightened security following the clashes on Monday that also wounded more than 100. Justice Minister Harshana Na...
Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led a business delegation to New Delhi for the 16th India-Japan annual summit. During last year’s summit in Tokyo, Takaichi’s predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined the Japan-India Joint Vision for the next decade – during which period India may see up to 10 trillion yen (US$62 billion) in investment from Japa...
Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France’s president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit, wounding at least 18 people, Syria’s Interior Ministry said. It was the second blast to rock the capital in a few days, and a setback for the country’s new president as he welcomed his first visit from a western leader since ousting long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad. Syria’s new rulers...
Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France’s president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit. Emmanuel Macron had entered the presidential palace to meet Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa when the explosions happened near the Four Seasons Hotel. Syrian authorities did not immediately comment on the incident. Syrian media reported that Macron was staying at the Four Seasons. The F...
Beijing has staged a special screening of a blockbuster film that sparked a debate about propaganda in Southeast Asia, inviting 150 foreign diplomats and their families to the event to help them “better understand China”. Diplomats from 74 embassies, including Indonesia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Peru, attended Monday’s screening of the film Dear You, which was organised by the Chines...
Beijing has staged a special screening of a blockbuster film that sparked a debate about propaganda in Southeast Asia for 150 foreign diplomats and their families to help them “better understand China”. Diplomats from 74 embassies, including Indonesia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Peru, attended Monday’s screening of the film Dear You, which was organised by the Chinese foreign ministry....
South Korea’s Incheon International Airport achieved a historic milestone in global aviation by recording 1 billion cumulative passengers in the shortest period among the world’s major hub airports, the airport operator said on Tuesday. According to Incheon International Airport Corp (IIAC), the airport crossed the 1 billion passenger mark just 25 years and three months after its opening in March ...
Hong Kong’s stock market could face sell-off pressure amid a torrent of new share supply in coming days as the six-month lock-up period ends for hot artificial intelligence and semiconductor picks including Zhipu AI and MiniMax. Meanwhile analysts warned of rising fears of a drain on liquidity as many of the same companies were eyeing large secondary share placements. The market was facing dual se...
China’s last surviving female Red Army veteran has marked her 105th birthday, as her extraordinary wartime story stirred admiration across mainland social media. On June 27, Wang Quanying, from Sichuan province in southwestern China, sat in a wheelchair in military uniform, her chest adorned with medals, as relatives, volunteers and well-wishers gathered to celebrate the milestone. Although Wang n...
Vietnam has introduced a raft of incentives to encourage couples to have more children as the Southeast Asian nation seeks to reverse a fast-declining fertility rate. Gone is the country’s long-standing two-child policy, scrapped last year. In its place is a new population law, which took effect on July 1, offering a suite of sweeteners designed to nudge Vietnamese couples towards larger families....
China’s semiconductor equipment industry is heading into the first-half earnings season under intense scrutiny, as a broad stock rally turns one of the tech sector’s least visible niches into a crowded investor trade. The rally has swept across makers of etching, thin-film deposition, cleaning and testing machines, among others, reflecting bets that China’s next round of chip spending will benefit...
China’s crude oil demand is expected to peak this year, according to executives from the country’s largest oil firm, a scenario set to further reshape the global energy market following the Strait of Hormuz crisis. The world’s top oil importer would record slowing demand as reductions in the use of transport fuel outweighed gains in petrochemical demand, said Zhang Changbao, vice-president of Chin...
Hong Kong jailed activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung has indicated he will plead guilty to conspiring with a fugitive former lawmaker to collude with foreign forces six years ago. The High Court has scheduled a plea and sentencing hearing for the 29-year-old on September 2, according to the judiciary’s website on Tuesday, signalling his intention to admit the charge, which carries a maximum penalty of l...
Democratic Party leaders on Monday called on Graham Platner to withdraw as their nominee to run against Republican US Senator Susan Collins of Maine, after media reports that a woman accused him of forcibly having sex with her nearly five years ago. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a ...
A video showing a Chinese tourist berating hotel staff in Malaysia for not flying China’s flag has gone viral after viewers pointed out the flags belonged to the nations competing in the Fifa World Cup finals. The man, who was reportedly in Kuala Lumpur on business, confronted a staff member at his hotel’s breakfast restaurant after noticing flags from dozens of countries but not China’s. In the ...
No further action was necessary by Singapore’s parliament against Workers’ Party (WP) politicians Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap over their lying under oath, as the case fell outside a legal time bar, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah said on Tuesday. “Had the timelines been different, I would have proposed a different course of action,” she told parliament while delivering a ministerial statement o...
Hong Kong police have arrested a 74-year-old minibus driver on suspicion of dangerous driving after he allegedly ran over a 90-year-old man crossing a road in Kwai Chung. Police said the accident was reported at about 7.24am on Tuesday on 188 Hing Fong Road. The driver, surnamed Yan, was driving a public light bus towards Kwai Fong when he allegedly struck the elderly pedestrian, surnamed Leung, w...
Cuba on Monday suffered its third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, causing mounting despair in the face of an energy collapse precipitated by a US fuel blockade. The communist island was already struggling to keep the lights on before US President Donald Trump in January cut off its oil supplies, depleting the dwindling supply of fuel for its power plants. Union Electrica (UNE)...
We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. US touts regional ‘balance’ in missile sale to Singapore. What does it mean? Washington has recently approved a proposed US$22.3 million sale of additional Hellfire missi...
Hong Kong’s Primary Six students received their secondary school results on Tuesday after years of hard work, with many elated and some already deciding what subject to major in at university or considering pathways to studying overseas. Tears of joy and relief filled the school hall at Yaumati Catholic Primary School (Hoi Wang Road) as students and parents received their long-awaited secondary sc...
Japan is facing mounting calls to decide whether its long-frozen development aid to Myanmar should stay that way, as rights advocates warn that any resumption could ease pressure on a regime accused of widespread abuses. The decision is a delicate one for Tokyo, which has tried to retain influence in Myanmar without appearing to legitimise the junta that seized power in 2021 – all while watching C...
Landslides, floods, strong rainstorms and tornadoes have led to multiple deaths across China, with meteorologists warning the country faces “complex” disaster prevention challenges this year. The annual flood season, which officially began on July 1, would be affected by global warming and El Nino, they said. President Xi Jinping ordered “all-out” emergency rescue and relief efforts, medical treat...
Landslides, floods, strong rainstorms and tornadoes have led to multiple deaths across China, with people still missing as meteorologists warn the country faces “complex” disaster prevention challenges this year. The annual flood season, which officially began on July 1, would be affected by global warming and El Nino, they said. President Xi Jinping has instructed that “all-out efforts” must be m...
Landslides, floods, strong rainstorms and tornadoes have led to multiple deaths across China, with people still missing as meteorologists warn the country faces “complex” disaster prevention challenges this year. The annual flood season, which officially began on July 1, will be affected by global warming and El Nino, they said. President Xi Jinping has instructed that “all-out efforts” must be ma...
Landslides, floods, strong rainstorms and tornadoes have led to multiple deaths across China, with people still missing as meteorologists warn the country faces “complex” disaster prevention challenges this year. The annual flood season, which officially began on July 1, will be affected by global warming and El Nino, they said. President Xi Jinping has instructed that “all-out efforts” must be ma...
