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Malaysia’s durian lovers are in for a treat as prices for the “king of fruits” will remain low from now until August. This is due to a bumper harvest, leading to a situation known as “durian tsunami” where an oversupply in the market causes prices to tumble. Administrative executive Lim Mei Ling, 34, said the price drop is a welcome surprise. “Normally, I would think twice before buying Musang Kin...
“Hong Kong is the only city in the world with five universities ranked among the global top 100.” This talking point has become one of the Hong Kong government’s favourite slogans. It has appeared in government press releases and official speeches, including Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s policy address last year. Though pleasing to the ear, this distorts our education priorities. Hong Kong is...
A 12-year-old boy from southern China was detained after driving solo for six hours on the highway, claiming to have adult dwarfism, which shocked social media. The boy, surnamed Luo and hailing from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was discovered by a highway toll collector on June 15 due to his unusually short stature. He insisted he was an adult with dwarfism, but the toll collector was sc...
As China moves towards becoming one of the world’s fastest-ageing economies – a trend causing worry over future productivity and a widening gulf between the country’s working and retired populations – Goldman Sachs said the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors could end up the biggest winners from the demographic divide, while carmakers and technology hardware manufacturers may see fiercer hea...
Lithuania’s decision to suspend negotiations on an economic cooperation plan with Taiwan has cast fresh doubt over one of Taipei’s most celebrated foreign relations breakthroughs as the Baltic state’s incoming government seeks more pragmatic ties with Beijing. Lithuania’s foreign ministry said on Monday that negotiations on an economic cooperation action plan with Taiwan had been temporarily suspe...
Medical AI from China has reached new milestones, with a teleoperated surgical robot gaining access to the European Union market and a clinical-grade model topping a major healthcare benchmark developed by OpenAI. Shanghai MicroPort MedBot said its Toumai Remote robot, which allowed surgeons to remotely conduct laparoscopic surgeries, had received the “CE mark” from the European Union, a mandatory...
As Hong Kong marks the 29th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule on July 1, the South China Morning Post talks to the city’s senior officials about the administration’s achievements so far and what may lie ahead. A new piece of subsidiary legislation that allows Hong Kong’s leader to certify a case as involving national security is unlikely to affect appeals, as the reclassification will not ...
As Hong Kong marks the 29th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule on July 1, the South China Morning Post talks to the city’s senior officials about the administration’s achievements so far and what may lie ahead. A new piece of subsidiary legislation that allows Hong Kong’s leader to certify a case as involving national security is unlikely to affect appeals, as the reclassification will not ...
As Hong Kong marks the 29th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule on July 1, the South China Morning Post talks to the city’s senior officials about the administration’s achievements so far and what may lie ahead. A new piece of subsidiary legislation that allows Hong Kong’s leader to certify a case as involving national security is unlikely to affect appeals, as the reclassification will not ...
As Hong Kong marks the 29th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule on July 1, the South China Morning Post talks to the city’s senior officials about the administration’s achievements so far and what may lie ahead. A new piece of subsidiary legislation that allows Hong Kong’s leader to certify a case as involving national security is unlikely to affect appeals, as the reclassification will not ...
Receivers and agents of the Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung Hotel and the Four Points by Sheraton have expressed confidence in finally finding a buyer for the dual-branded complex – which together make up Hong Kong’s third-largest hotel by room count – as creditors move to dispose of the asset. Sole agent Savills is holding a formal tender that is expected to close on August 31 for the 1,219-room pr...
Receivers and agents of the Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung Hotel and the Four Points by Sheraton have expressed confidence in finally finding a buyer for the dual-branded complex – which together make up Hong Kong’s third-largest hotel by room numbers – as creditors move to dispose of the asset. Sole agent Savills is holding a formal tender that is expected to close on August 31 for the 1,219-room ...
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country was “equipping the Navy with nuclear weapons,” state media reported Wednesday, as he also unveiled plans to build 10,000-ton (9,000-tonne) warships. The remarks came at the commissioning of the Choe Hyon – one of two 5,000-ton (4,500-tonne) class warships the nuclear-armed state launched last year – in the port city of Nampo on Tuesday, the official...
Leading immigration lawyers and activists say the US government has intensified its crackdown on Chinese scientists and researchers – a campaign they argue is even more aggressive than the controversial “China Initiative” launched during US President Donald Trump’s first term. “I think now we are clearly in an era of China Initiative 2.0,” said Robert Fisher, a former Assistant US Attorney and a p...
A problem with a communications system forced Germany’s railway network to halt all trains late Tuesday, leaving passengers stranded across the country. Trains were held at stations and would-be travellers stood in long queues at information desks as they tried to figure out how to get to their destinations. The main national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said shortly before 1am – nearly 2½ hou...
A problem with a communications system forced Germany’s railway system to halt all trains late Tuesday, leaving passengers stranded across the country. The main national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, said all trains were being held at stations because of a nationwide problem with the GSM-R digital communication system, which is used for internal communication on the railway network. Deutsche Ba...
Bankers working for JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong must have been miffed when they were shut off from using artificial intelligence (AI) models from Anthropic, a pioneering American firm in the field. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase pulled the plug in April and last week respectively, based on a strict interpretation of Anthropic’s terms of use, which reflect Washington’s stringent...
Wall Street got a reality check as a bruising sell-off in several technology giants fuelled concern the artificial intelligence frenzy that has powered the equity bull market might be overblown. The tech rout engulfed global stocks as worries about frothy valuations ignited a fresh bout of volatility after a nearly three-month surge in riskier assets. The S&P fell 1.4 per cent. The benchmark index...
Chinese technology and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has sued the US Department of Defence, seeking to be removed from a blacklist of companies deemed to support China’s military. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in a district court in San Jose, California, the Hangzhou-based company said the Pentagon had added Alibaba to a list of companies that allegedly aid the People’s Liberation Army wi...
The Trump administration expanded its sanctions campaign against Cuba on Tuesday, targeting a state-owned mining company and other key economic entities in a move that comes as Washington seeks to build alternative supply chains for critical minerals and reduce reliance on geopolitical rivals. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against five entities and one individual, including...
The US Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to let a Rastafarian man sue state prison officials in Louisiana after guards held him down and shaved him bald in violation of his religious beliefs in a case brought under a federal law protecting incarcerated people from religious discrimination. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a lower court’s decision to di...
Today show host Savannah Guthrie made an emotional appeal to viewers on Tuesday to come forward with any information about her missing mother, a day after news organisations said a ransom note received months ago had indicated that she was dead. “We are in agony, and we cannot be at peace … We love our mum. We’ll never stop looking for her,” Guthrie said at the Today desk in New York, holding a ti...
Russia has accused the US of failing to deliver on “understandings” reached between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska last August, a shift that suggests growing frustration in Moscow. In the space of three days, three senior Russian officials have said, without providing specifics, that Washington has not followed through. Their comments follow an intensification of...
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that Iran has agreed to “highest level” nuclear inspections even as Iranian officials disputed his claim, exposing how much remains contested even with a tentative agreement in place. “Despite their protestations and false statements to the contrary … Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infini...
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted that Iran has agreed to “highest level” nuclear inspections even as Iranian officials disputed his claim, exposing how much remains contested even with a tentative agreement in place. “Despite their protestations and false statements to the contrary … Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infini...
China has reclaimed the world’s fastest supercomputer crown for the first time since 2017, according to the latest TOP500 rankings released at the International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany, on Tuesday. LineShine, built by the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen, achieved 2.198 exaflops of performance – nearly 2.2 quintillion calculations per second – surpassing the previou...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Hong Kong’s construction industry and the broader building sector will be presented with a range of AI systems and robotics capable of automating parts of building sites and improving worker safety and efficiency when the Construction Industry Council (CIC) hosts a new industry event this week. Scheduled for June 24 and 25...
Joseph McGrail-Bateup, an Australian professional air conditioner cleaner and honorary town crier, has been recognised as the world’s loudest person. Guinness World Records last week acknowledged the 58-year-old Canberra resident recorded the loudest ever shout by an individual. He yelled “now” at 122.4 decibels. That broke the previous record of 121.7 dB set by Northern Ireland teacher Annalisa F...
The United States’ top envoy in Hong Kong has expressed optimism about US-China relations and pledged to continue seeking pragmatic and constructive ways to engage with the city’s officials. US Consul General Julie Eadeh made the remarks at her first media briefing since assuming the post last August, held during an American Independence Day event on Tuesday. The reception, marking the 250th anniv...
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s likely replacement could continue the outgoing leader’s pragmatic approach towards China, though addressing economic challenges at home would remain the most immediate priority, observers say. Clearing the way for the selection of the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade, Starmer announced on Monday his intention to step down, succumbing to mounting pressur...
