Live headlines from trusted global sources. Click any story to open it on the original website.
The US State Department has backed a potential sale of AGM-114R Hellfire missiles to Singapore, valued at US$22.3 million, in a deal it said would strengthen the city state’s defences, a key US strategic partner in Asia. The department on Tuesday said the sale would include 67 Hellfire missiles – a type of precision-guided, air-to-ground missile – as well as spare parts and support equipment. Lock...
The US State Department has backed a potential sale of AGM-114R Hellfire missiles to Singapore, valued at US$22.3 million, in a deal it said would strengthen the city state’s defences, a key US strategic partner in Asia. The department on Tuesday said the sale would include 67 Hellfire missiles – a type of precision-guided, air-to-ground missile – as well as spare parts and support equipment. Lock...
The United States is expected to formally decline to extend its free-trade agreement with Mexico and Canada on Wednesday, starting a years-long process that could wind down the trade zone unless the three governments agree on sweeping changes. Trade chiefs from the three countries are due to meet virtually on the sixth anniversary of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, with Washington widel...
US President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to formally declare on Wednesday that it will not extend the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, starting a decade-long clock to wind down the 32-year-old North American free-trade zone as the three countries haggle over proposed changes. That declaration will kick off a six-year review session, part of a “sunset clause” negotiated by Trump’s...
Blake Lively is seeking US$8 million in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni after resolving their dispute over the acrimonious production of their 2024 film It Ends With Us. Lively’s lawyers disclosed the amount, covering nearly US$7.5 million in lawyers’ fees from two law firms that represented her and about US$500,000 in other expenses, in a court filing on Tuesday. Lively and Bal...
Blake Lively is seeking US$8 million in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni after resolving their dispute over the acrimonious production of their 2024 film It Ends With Us. Lively’s lawyers disclosed the amount, covering nearly US$7.5 million in lawyers’ fees from two law firms that represented her and about US$500,000 in other expenses, in a court filing on Tuesday. Lively and Bal...
Blake Lively is seeking US$8 million in legal costs from actor and director Justin Baldoni after resolving their dispute over the acrimonious production of their 2024 film It Ends With Us. Lively’s lawyers disclosed the amount, covering nearly $7.5 million in lawyers’ fees from two law firms that represented her and about $500,000 in other expenses, in a court filing on Tuesday. Lively and Baldoni...
French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday against a renewed debate in favour of the death penalty and said he was appalled by the rising number of executions around the world. Addressing the ninth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, Macron said opposition to capital punishment is needed “because today this debate is resurfacing in our societies”. “Because today many in our ...
French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday against a renewed debate in favour of the death penalty and said he was appalled by the rising number of executions around the world. Addressing the ninth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, Macron said opposition to capital punishment is needed “because today this debate is resurfacing in our societies”. “Because today many in our ...
French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday against a renewed debate in favour of the death penalty and said he was appalled by the rising number of executions around the world. Addressing the ninth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, Macron said opposition to capital punishment is needed “because today this debate is resurfacing in our societies. Because today many in our so...
Almost 1,700 British investors are suing Binance and founder Zhao Changpeng for at least £150 million (US$200 million), alleging the crypto trading platform sold them risky, complex derivative products without regulatory authorisation. The claimants, some of whom said they had lost tens of thousands of pounds, allege Binance entities knowingly sold investments such as leveraged products, which...
Britain said on Tuesday it could intervene in Paramount Skydance’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, potentially holding up the US$110 billion deal after the US and China gave it the green light. The move could see the deal referred to the UK’s antitrust regulator, which made headlines in 2023 when it blocked Microsoft’s US$69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard...
A roof collapse at a tutoring centre under construction in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday killed at least 14 schoolchildren, police and rescue officials said. Eight other children were also injured and were being treated at a hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said, adding that the owner of the tutoring centre and another person have been arrested. Kamran said rescuers we...
Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong has expressed confidence in the city’s ability to achieve greater development by further integrating into the country, while the chief executive has said authorities are moving “at full speed” to draw up the first five-year plan to align with the national blueprint. Speaking at a cultural gala marking the 29th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese so...
The US Supreme Court has again struck down campaign spending limits, this time rejecting federal restrictions on coordinated spending between political parties and their candidates on free speech grounds. The ruling on Tuesday comes as major Republican committees head towards the November midterm elections with a significant cash advantage over their Democratic counterparts. Siding with Vice-Pres...
Firefighter Ho Wai-ho, who was killed in Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades, has been recognised for his bravery in this year’s Honours List, while eminent economist Lawrence Lau Juen-yee is among three recipients of the city’s highest award. Fencer Ryan Choi Chun-yin and cyclist Lee Sze-wing were also among the 466 individuals named in the 2026 Honours List on Wednesday, with the pair recogni...
The US Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for states to impose restrictions on transgender student athletes, upholding laws in West Virginia and Idaho banning them from female sports teams. It delivered a major victory to conservatives in one of the country’s most fiercely contested culture-war battles. The justices overturned decisions by lower courts siding with transgender students who c...
An engineer who spent decades in Norway’s energy industry has returned as distinguished professor at the China University of Petroleum-Beijing, a post he says will build a bridge with Europe to help create sustainable energy solutions. In a ceremony on June 13, university president Jin Yan handed a letter of appointment to Yang Tao, a member of both the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences ...
In a historic ruling, the US Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a Trump administration executive order targeting birthright citizenship, preserving a defining principle of what it means to be born an American. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara, holding that children born in the United States to undocumented parents or parents on temporary visas are entitled to US citizenship. Restr...
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr faced a stern challenge on Tuesday after the influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) religious movement staged a protest on Metro Manila’s busiest highway to demand that the presidential palace stop going after one of its members, Senator Rodante Marcoleta. The rally at Edsa – the highway where a 1986 people power uprising helped topple Marcos’ father, who was...
US chip giant Nvidia is ramping up a talent drive for its robotics team in China, a market whose vendors account for the lion’s share of global shipments. The Silicon Valley firm is recruiting for more than a dozen roles across Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, according to a post on its official WeChat account on Monday. The positions span four key domains: embodied intelligence, simulation, implem...
Almost a week after two devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela, survivors were still being found alive by rescuers that have come from abroad to help. Salvadorean rescuers reached a 44-year-old man trapped under the rubble of a shopping centre in the coastal city of Maiquetía in the early hours of Tuesday, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele wrote on the platform X. The man had been supplied wi...
Ro Khanna, the ranking member of the US House Select Committee on China, has defended calling a witness “racist” during testimony last week over comments on Chinese-Americans who obtain US citizenship through birthright. The heated exchange took place during a June 25 hearing on economic espionage and subnational influence, where Khanna confronted Michael Lucci, founder of the Texas-based State Ar...
Indonesia’s former education minister Nadiem Makarim, one of the country’s best-known tech founders, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after a Jakarta court found him guilty of abusing his authority in a corruption case linked to US$87 million in state losses. The verdict against the Gojek co-founder could unsettle business sentiment and dampen foreign investment appetite in Southeast Asia’...
The Russian luxury yacht Graceful, said to be the personal vessel of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has appeared on radar for the first time in almost four years, Danish public broadcaster DR reported. According to data from Marinetraffic.com, the vessel sailed along the northern coast of Denmark on Monday. DR reported that from Sunday morning it had been accompanied by two Russian warships as ...
Hong Kong’s 15 private sports clubs must either pay one-third of their land premium, ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, or open their doors to the public when their leases expire at the end of the year, authorities have confirmed. The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said on Tuesday that it has begun notifying the clubs and outlining lease renewal procedures, including premium...
When people talk about the race for artificial intelligence, they usually focus on software. Headlines revolve around ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek or the latest breakthrough model. Governments announce AI strategies and investors pour billions into start-ups promising to transform everything from medicine to education. Nonetheless, the most consequential battle in the AI age may not be over algorithm...
Asean countries are looking to deepen supply chain integration with the Greater Bay Area to tap expertise in the region’s advanced technologies and manufacturing, with Hong Kong also poised to benefit, industry leaders and officials have said. Panellists at the South China Morning Post’s GBA-Asean Summit 2026 highlighted artificial intelligence (AI) and green technology as key areas for cooperatio...
China’s top leadership has warned of the dangers of extreme weather and urged advances in forecast accuracy, rapid emergency rescue and local capabilities for disaster relief in its first meeting for the year on flood and drought prevention, according to state media. The meeting, held in Beijing on Tuesday by the Politburo, was chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Politburo urged local gov...
China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said it had noted the 30-year prison sentence given to self-exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, who was convicted in a US court for orchestrating a fraud scheme that bilked his followers out of more than US$1 billion. “Guo Wengui is a fugitive wanted under an Interpol red notice issued at the request of the Chinese government, and we have noted the relevant r...
