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After years of strain, China-Australia ties have reached a “good enough” baseline for Canberra, though still short of Beijing’s broader ambitions, according to a former top Australian diplomat. The relationship had taken a significant downturn since 2017, but was now on “a more realistic footing”, Graham Fletcher, a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think tank, wrote in a r...
Japan’s 610-page 2026 defence white paper cements a strategic shift: Tokyo has labelled China an “unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge” for the fourth straight year, a framing dating back to 2014, when a Japanese white paper first flagged Beijing’s East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone as risking unintended incidents. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has not altered th...
Myanmar’s military-backed government has rejected the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ renewed call for the unconditional release of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and dismissed the need for the organisation’s special envoy on Myanmar, according to the foreign affairs ministry. President Min Aung Hlaing, the former army chief who had originally seized power in 2021 from Suu Kyi’s c...
Rescuers continued searching on Sunday for a nine-year-old boy who has been missing since he was swept away by a giant wave in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. The incident, in the coastal town of Shitang, happened on Friday afternoon – a time when a typhoon warning was already in place as Typhoon Dolphin headed towards the province. Local officials warned that high tides, rapid currents ...
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) chip developer Moore Threads plans to seek a listing in Hong Kong after reporting a 147 per cent jump in first-half revenue, as the Nvidia challenger seeks fresh capital amid booming demand for home-grown computing power. The Shanghai-listed company said on Sunday that its board had approved a plan to issue H shares and list on the main board of the Hong Kong s...
At a night market in Shenzhen, Sasa Xu finishes her day with passion fruit tea. It costs US$2.40, bringing her total spend for the day to US$9.40 – details that close out her video “What low-income life in China really looks like”. The video has drawn more than 470,000 views since it was posted to YouTube in April. It includes footage of Xu at a traditional wet market and walking through a densely...
In the final instalment of a five-part Health Matters wellness series on ageing in Hong Kong, Emily Hung looks at how living funerals, advance directives and family mediation are helping older residents plan for death, as experts warn low death literacy can leave families facing conflict and emotional debt. When Hongkonger Regina Luk Sau-ying was 65, she invited 20 friends to watch her climb into ...
A hiker died on a country trail in Tai Po on Sunday afternoon as Hong Kong endured its hottest temperatures since records began 142 years ago. Police said they received a report at 2.17pm that a man, 64, had been discovered unconscious on the Plover Cove Reservoir Country Trail by other hikers. Firefighters and rescue teams assembled at the reservoir dam before heading up the mountain, with the Go...
A hiker collapsed and died in the Tai Po countryside on Sunday afternoon as Hong Kong endured its hottest temperatures since records began 142 years ago. Police said they received a report at 2.17pm that a man in his sixties had been discovered unconscious on the Plover Cove Reservoir Country Trail. Firefighters and rescue teams assembled at the reservoir dam before heading up the mountain, with t...
About eight per cent of homeowners at the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong have yet to accept the government’s buy-back offer, which is set to expire at the end of this month. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Sunday that 91.9 per cent of owners had submitted acceptance letters, while 65.7 per cent of owners had already signed sale and purchase agreements with the government. Speaki...
The international physics community has hailed a Chinese-led discovery as a “triumph” after researchers presented the strongest evidence yet for the existence of the “glueball” – a mysterious particle made of pure force. On Chinese social media, the conversation centred on whether the research could lead to a Nobel Prize. The announcement was made last week at the International Conference on High ...
Chinese start-ups and researchers are racing to bring brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to market that can be implanted in just a few minutes, as Beijing pushes to nurture home-grown players in the sector to compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink. The Chinese devices – which enable patients to control digital technology using their thoughts alone – can be inserted via a vein like a stent, unlike conven...
Breakthroughs in cheap Chinese open-weight artificial intelligence models have spooked US investors, but analysts argue plummeting model costs will benefit the AI industry in the long run by supercharging global demand for AI systems. Companies across the AI industry have slashed prices in recent weeks, with large-language model (LLM) inference prices per million tokens falling from above US$2 at ...
A fire has broken out at a flat in a Hong Kong housing estate, resulting in 16 people feeling unwell from the effects of smoke and residents fleeing to the rooftop for safety. The blaze erupted at Begonia Mansion in Taikoo Shing’s Harbour View Gardens on Sunday afternoon, with smoke pouring from a flat. Police received multiple emergency calls at 2.50pm, with some reporting that the fire might hav...
A fire has broken out at a flat in a Hong Kong housing estate, resulting in at least 12 people feeling unwell from the effects of smoke and residents fleeing to the rooftop for safety. The blaze erupted at Begonia Mansion in Taikoo Shing’s Harbour View Gardens on Sunday afternoon, with smoke pouring from a flat. Police received multiple emergency calls at 2.50pm, with some reporting that the fire ...
Just outside the Nigerian capital Abuja, where Green Agriculture West Africa Limited (Gawal) is based, locals do not refer to the company by name, instead as the place where the Chinese supply “magic” rice seeds. Ahmed Yusuf, 42, credits the seeds with turning around his rice business for good. Before Gawal, Yusuf’s yields averaged just 2 tonnes per hectare, putting him on the verge of forsaking f...
A 1991 black-and-white portrait photograph has become an iconic symbol of impoverished Chinese students’ yearning for knowledge, profoundly altering the life of its subject. The photograph, titled “I Want to Go to School,” captures a poignant moment of an eight-year-old Primary One girl studying at a rural school in central China’s Anhui province. Her bright eyes gaze ahead, radiating an insatiabl...
A defence pact among Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan appears to be aimed at deterring Iran and Israel from tearing up the Middle East with their conflict amid Washington’s inability to guarantee regional security, observers say. Under the terms of the deal signed on Friday in Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Sheh...
Restaurateur Ken Chu Ka-chun recorded a 20 per cent boost in business at one of his restaurants at Kai Tak Sports Park over the past month, thanks to pet owners dining in under a government scheme allowing dogs into nearly 1,000 Hong Kong establishments since July 9. “We saw more dog owners coming in because people frequently walk their dogs around here,” said Chu, owner of Asura group, which has ...
Visitors to major events in Hong Kong have spent HK$5.8 billion (US$739 million) during in the first half of the year, averaging HK$3,314 per head, the city’s finance chief has said. In his weekly blog on Sunday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said about 1.75 million visitors were drawn to more than 130 events between January and June, generating around HK$5.8 billion in spending and contribu...
Hong Kong visitors spent HK$5.8 billion (US$739 million) during major events in the first half of the year, averaging HK$3,314 per traveller, the city’s finance chief said. In his weekly blog on Sunday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said about 1.75 million visitors were drawn to the city’s more than 130 events between January and June, generating around HK$5.8 billion in spending and contrib...
Hong Kong police have arrested 147 people after uncovering a triad syndicate suspected of setting up centres to coordinate bank accounts and handle HK$600 million (US$76 million) in allegedly illicit proceeds. Police said on Sunday that they had conducted a citywide operation code-named “Rapidhorse” over the previous two days against the syndicate allegedly operating drug and illegal gambling dens...
The Maldives recently called to revive a South Asian grouping, which has been suspended for over a decade. But given the tensions between two of the most influential countries in that region – India and Pakistan – that request is likely to go unheeded, according to observers. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu said on July 26 that his country was ready to help resume the South Asian Association for...
Hong Kong families sought relief from the scorching heat on Sunday, with some cooling off at a snow park, while domestic helpers said they had little choice but to remain outdoors as the city endured its hottest temperatures in 142 years. The city recorded the highest temperature since records began in 1884 in the afternoon under the influence of Severe Typhoon Dolphin. The Hong Kong Observatory s...
Hong Kong has recorded the highest temperature since records began in 1884 on Sunday afternoon under the impact of Severe Typhoon Dolphin. According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the outer subsiding air associated with Dolphin brought generally fine and extremely hot weather to Guangdong province. By 1.30pm, the maximum temperature at the Observatory reached 36.8 degrees Celsius (98 Fahrenheit), t...
Hong Kong has broken its record for the hottest day of the year with the city’s temperature reaching 36 degrees Celsius (96.8 Fahrenheit) on Sunday afternoon under the impact of Severe Typhoon Dolphin. According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the outer subsiding air associated with Dolphin brought generally fine and extremely hot weather to Guangdong province. By 1pm, the temperature recorded by th...
The head of German arms giant Rheinmetall is refusing to be intimidated despite round-the-clock security due to a litany of threats to his safety. On Sunday, Armin Papperger said “chickening out” was not an option in his field. “These jobs must be done and anyone that can’t take the pressure doesn’t belong in this job,” Papperger said. The 63-year-old is under police protection due to alleged Russ...
Typhoon Dolphin made landfall at Yuhuan, a city in Zhejiang province, around 5.30pm on Sunday, with maximum sustained winds of 151km/h (94mph) near its centre, according to China’s National Meteorological Centre. The typhoon is projected to move towards the west and northwest, gradually weakening. Wang Hao, Communist Party secretary of Zhejiang province, stressed on Sunday morning that public safe...
Typhoon Dolphin is expected to make landfall along the coast of Zhejiang province around dusk on Sunday, prompting Shanghai to cancel over 80 per cent of flights to and from the metropolis on Sunday. The typhoon is expected to make landfall around the cities of Yuhuan and Wenling in Zhejiang, according to state broadcaster CCTV. China’s National Meteorological Centre issued a red alert for Typhoon...
Typhoon Dolphin is expected to make landfall along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces between Sunday night and Monday morning, prompting Shanghai to cancel nearly 60 per cent of flights to and from the metropolis on Sunday. China’s National Meteorological Centre issued a red alert for Typhoon Dolphin at 10am on Sunday, when the centre of the storm was over the southern East China Sea, abou...
