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More areas within the Northern Metropolis development could benefit from new measures to ease cross-border flows of data, materials and capital, with pilot initiatives set to launch this year in Hong Kong’s innovation zone with Shenzhen. The details were revealed on Saturday in a paper submitted to the Legislative Council by the Development Bureau, which provided an update on drafting dedicated le...
More areas within the Northern Metropolis development could benefit from new measures to ease cross-border flows of data, materials and capital, with pilot initiatives set to launch this year in Hong Kong’s innovation zone with Shenzhen. The details were revealed on Saturday in a paper submitted to the Legislative Council by the Development Bureau, which provided an update on drafting dedicated le...
More areas within the Northern Metropolis development could benefit from new measures to ease cross-border flows of data, materials and capital, with pilot initiatives set to launch this year in Hong Kong’s innovation zone with Shenzhen. The details were revealed on Saturday in a paper submitted to the Legislative Council by the Development Bureau, which provided an update on drafting dedicated le...
Thousands of residents have flocked to a military base of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Hong Kong Garrison as it opened its barracks to the public to celebrate the coming 29th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule. The Ngong Shuen Chau Barracks opened to visitors at 9am on Saturday, with hundreds of people queuing early and waiting in excitement to enter the facilities. Among them ...
As Southeast Asia grapples with energy supply uncertainty, fallout from the Iran conflict and intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, Russia appears to be presenting itself as a viable “third power” option for the region, analysts say. Moscow’s pitch was on display at the Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit in Kazan on Thursday, where Russian leader Vladimir Putin met regional coun...
US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi were both headed to Switzerland for talks, Axios said on Friday, as a ceasefire in Lebanon appeared to revive efforts to turn an interim Iran war pact into a lasting regional deal. Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after escalating fighting cast doubt over US-Iran talks critical to reopening the Strai...
Hong Kong should do more to leverage its traditional festivals to draw international visitors and build its competitive advantage in cultural tourism, Shangri-La Group chairman and group CEO Kuok Hui Kwong has said. Kuok, the daughter of Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok, said Hong Kong had done well since the Covid-19 pandemic to entice international visitors back to the city, but could go even furthe...
Hong Kong should do more to leverage its traditional festivals to draw international visitors and build its competitive advantage in cultural tourism, Shangri-La Group chairman and CEO Kuok Hui Kwong has said. Kuok, the daughter of Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok, said Hong Kong had done well since the Covid-19 pandemic to entice international visitors back to the city, but could go even further in t...
Celty arrives at a cosplay venue in Kuala Lumpur and does not look the part yet, dressed in jeans and a plain t-shirt. He finds a toilet, locks a cubicle door, transforms his looks and is ready to turn heads – dressed from head to toe in a helmet, boots, choker, corset and a glossy black latex catsuit. The Kuala Lumpur-based latex enthusiast has rehearsed the worst-case scenario in his head. If pe...
China has tested what it calls the world’s first intelligent squid fishing robot that can mimic the motions performed by humans to attract the deep-water creatures to the surface. The smart machine is currently undergoing sea trials aboard the Song Hang scientific research vessel, which is expected to conduct a survey in the northwestern Pacific Ocean until September. The robot – which can adapt i...
Everyone knows the story: when Spanish conquistadors rode into the New World, Native Americans were stunned by a towering, four-legged creature they had never seen before. Horses, the theory goes, were a European import to the Americas. But a new fossil DNA study indicates that horses actually originated in North America millions of years ago and only reached Europe thanks to an unexpected genetic...
Scientists have detected the H5 strain of bird flu in Australia for the first time, meaning the highly contagious variant has now spread to every continent. Australian Agriculture Minister Julie Collins told a press conference on Saturday that the disease had been found in a migratory sea bird, a brown skua, in remote Western Australia, and the result was confirmed by the national science agency. ...
The runway at Clark International Airport was built to launch American air power across Asia. Now, it is being repurposed to project German industrial ambition. Analysts say the multimillion-dollar deal to develop the former US military base in the Philippines illustrates how economic investment has become the new language of strategic power. The deal, struck last week during German President Fran...
South Korean e-commerce companies are increasingly turning to Chinese platforms to help sellers tap rising demand for Korean products, offering a lower-cost route into China and other overseas markets without building local operations. 11street, one of South Korea’s major online marketplaces, recently opened a storefront on JD Worldwide, JD.com’s cross-border e-commerce platform, where about 700 m...
Carl Jung was a big fan of the I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes. He was also a close friend of Richard Wilhelm, whose German translation was probably the most influential Western version of the ancient Chinese text in the last century. But over the years, I have become convinced that the great Jung didn’t really get it. A red flag is that he thinks it is very difficult for the Western mi...
Norway is imposing a near ban on the use of generative AI tools by elementary school pupils while also restricting their use in the education of older children to prevent a negative impact on learning, the country’s prime minister has said. Facing a broad decline in education test scores, the government in 2024 banned smartphones from schools and has given teachers back more powers to enforce ...
In the second of a two-part series tracing new trends in illegal betting in Hong Kong amid excitement over the football World Cup, Connor Mycroft looks at the rise of prediction markets and the risks. Read part one here. When 25-year-old Jean Pierre* started betting on Polymarket last year, his reasoning was simple: “I was just looking to see if I could make some money easily,” he told the South C...
A three-month-old infant in China suffering from poisoning had to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) after his parents fed him with baby milk formula prepared with vegetable juice. The baby boy was rushed to Zhongshan Women and Children’s Hospital in southern Guangdong province when his body turned purple, his mouth turned purplish-blue and he was short of breath, Zonglan News reported. H...
A three-month-old infant in China suffering from poisoning had to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) after his parents fed him with baby milk formula prepared with vegetable juice. The baby boy was rushed to Zhongshan Women and Children’s Hospital in southern Guangdong province when his body turned purple, his mouth turned purplish-blue and he was short of breath, Zonglan News reported. H...
In the mist-wrapped hills of northern Thailand, where cacao trees erupt from the rich, nutrient-dense soil, three little words are spreading fear through a community of farmers. “There is no way to know for certain,” Koranut Rattanayanyong told This Week in Asia. “But it could be a total wipeout.” The weather event Koranut is dreading? A “super” El Nino. Earlier this month, the climate phenomenon ...
For much of the 20th century, many were accustomed to thinking of people as an ever-expanding resource. As the number of people grew, so did labour markets, consumer markets, scientific communities, production systems and armies. In 1950, the world’s population was about 2.5 billion. In 2026, it is reaching 8.3 billion. In just 75 years, the population has increased more than 3.3 times. In this se...
Nine people were in critical condition on Saturday after a collision between two passenger trains in central England the night before killed the driver of one of the locomotives, police said. British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said more than 80 people were treated in hospitals after the crash late Friday afternoon, and 28 remained hospitalised a day later. Buckingham Palace said ...
Emergency services rushed to the scene of a collision between two trains north of London on Friday afternoon that killed at least one person. A passenger reported that he was thrown forward by the impact then saw fellow travellers with broken bones and bloody injuries. Both trains were travelling south to London St Pancras station when they collided outside the town of Bedford around 5.15pm, accor...
Emergency services rushed to the scene of a collision between two trains north of London on Friday afternoon that killed at least one person. A passenger reported that he was thrown forward by the impact then saw fellow travellers with broken bones and bloody injuries. Both trains were travelling south to London St Pancras station when they collided outside the town of Bedford around 5.15pm, accor...
A new Air Force One gifted by Qatar as a replacement aircraft for ferrying US presidents was unveiled Friday by the US Air Force. “The Air Force’s VC-25B Bridge aircraft has officially arrived at the Presidential Airlift Group and will commence its initial commissioning flights, marking the successful delivery of a secure, modified executive platform,” the Air Force said. “The workmanship of this ...
A new Air Force One gifted by Qatar as a replacement aircraft for ferrying US presidents was unveiled Friday by the US Air Force. “The Air Force’s VC-25B Bridge aircraft has officially arrived at the Presidential Airlift Group and will commence its initial commissioning flights, marking the successful delivery of a secure, modified executive platform,” the Air Force said. Qatar’s gift of the aircr...
Poland’s nationalist president Karol Nawrocki announced on Friday he was stripping Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky of the country’s top award, escalating a row between the neighbours and allies over World War II massacres. Relations between Warsaw and Kyiv have been tense for days over Zelensky’s naming of a Ukrainian army unit after a WWII nationalist insurgent army that took part in massacres again...
A clear majority of Keir Starmer’s cabinet believe it is now inevitable Andy Burnham will take over as prime minister, according to people familiar with the thinking of more than 15 cabinet ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday. However, as of late in the afternoon, most remained unwilling to do anything about it. Most the cabinet was still not ready to tell Starmer to set out a...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that a week should be enough for Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko to remove equipment from his country used by Russia in its attacks on Ukraine, adding a threat of Ukrainian action if Lukashenko did not do so. Zelensky said signal relay stations were located in two Belarusian regions bordering Ukraine that were used by Russian forces ...
Iran sought to assert control over Strait of Hormuz by saying that ships need its permission and mandatory insurance to cross, even as the US said that 20 ships sailed through overnight via a route it recommends along Oman’s coast. The conflicting signals come as the shipping industry tries to assess whether it is safe to transit the world’s most important energy chokepoint and what sort of system...
