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Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed healthcare for hundreds of millions of people in China. AI-powered apps help them manage their health and seek care, while others help doctors better diagnose and treat their patients. AI analysis of routine scans detects cancers and other conditions physicians might have missed. Personalised cancer vaccines built on AI analysis will soon begin rolling ...
Chinese scientists have turned a dandelion-like weed into natural rubber, a step that could help cut China’s heavy reliance on imported rubber. Growing on the salty, alkaline shores at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the plant looks much like an ordinary weed, with small yellow flowers and fluffy seeds. But when its root is broken, it oozes a milky fluid...
Most Indians are unhappy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over its handling of exam scandals that touched off student protests across the country, according to a nationwide survey by one of the country’s largest pollsters. Just over half of Indian adults polled by CVoter last week said they were “not happy” with the government’s handling of recent leaks of the country’s medical exam,...
China’s first high-altitude variant of the C919 narrowbody jet has completed its maiden test flight at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, marking a step forward in the home-grown aircraft’s challenge to Boeing and Airbus. Derived from the standard C919 platform, the specialised variant features a shortened fuselage and enhanced systems engineered for operations in high-altitude regions, the Co...
China’s first high-altitude variant of the C919 narrowbody jet has completed its maiden test flight at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, marking a step forward in the home-grown aircraft’s challenge to Boeing and Airbus. Derived from the standard C919 platform, the specialised variant features a shortened fuselage and enhanced systems engineered for operations in high-altitude regions, the Co...
Forty years ago, John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow was released. The action film is considered to be a turning point in Hong Kong cinema with directors like Quentin Tarantino citing it as an inspiration. In this On This Day article, we look at SCMP’s archive coverage of this modern-day classic. A Better Tomorrow was released on August 2, 1986. Due to its popularity, it ran in theatres for 61 days – un...
Recent arrests in Singapore of young people who succumbed to extremist ideologies and planned attacks, including school stabbings, have sent a chill across the city state, with authorities noting that the speed of radicalisation has doubled. Over three months this year, three teenagers have been detained, sparking public discussion on school security and whether more can be done to protect student...
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has launched an smart helmet for food couriers with features enabled by artificial intelligence technology, following similar roll-outs by rivals Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan as they seek to improve rider safety and boost delivery efficiency. The helmet integrates an AI-driven voice assistant with a camera that can “see” the surrounding environment, JD.com’s fo...
Myanmar’s detained democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi met the nation’s Red Cross representative on Monday, the president’s office said, the first publicised meeting between her and a foreign official since she was ousted in a 2021 coup. The military deposed Suu Kyi in February 2021, jailing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and triggering an ongoing civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people ...
A former Hong Kong prison officer has been sentenced to three years in jail for severely wounding an inmate by repeatedly thrusting a stick into the victim’s rectum after the defendant was sprinkled with baby powder during a game of bingo. District Court Judge Frankie Yiu Fun-che on Monday handed down the punishment to Tam Lik-chung, an ex-assistant officer of the Correctional Services Department,...
In Thailand, the murders of five people – two young Russians and a Thai family of three – allegedly masterminded by a repeat offender just weeks after his release from jail, have stirred criticism of the justice system and raised questions over public protection from violent criminals. The bodies of Russian nationals Diana and Roman Nazimov were found in a shallow grave on Friday in a forested pat...
Scientists in Antarctica have to deal with extreme cold, wind and months of total darkness while they carry out their research. Inland, the temperature can plummet below minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit) during winter, while wind speeds of over 100km/h (62mph) – and even over 200km/h – can be experienced for days at a time. While diesel has long been the main energy source fo...
A policeman from eastern China and his wife saved a family of five from a crashed car dangling over a steep slope during their honeymoon, earning widespread praise for their bravery. The 28-year-old civil policeman from Jiangsu province, Fan Kaiyue, and his wife, social worker Gu Jianing, were enjoying their honeymoon on the southern Chinese island province of Hainan. On July 20, while travelling ...
Cuba’s power grid failed on Sunday, causing another nationwide blackout, a state utility said in a social media post. As the lights suddenly turned off across Havana, residents who were sat outside to get some respite from the summer heat audibly groaned en masse. Cuba has been suffering rolling power cuts due to ageing equipment and a US energy embargo that halted regular deliveries of fuel for p...
Hong Kong sporting event organisers should use technology to better track and monitor athletes, lawmakers have urged after a triathlon swimmer went missing at sea in Tai Po and was later found dead. The death, involving a participant in the city’s Summer Triathlon Challenge on Sunday, has raised concerns over whether safety measures for such races are sufficient, especially amid unstable weather. ...
We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. From property to portfolios: why Chinese families are walking away from homes While Chinese families grow cautious, South Korean retail investors use record leverage to chase tech ETFs despite mounti...
Two women who died in an explosion at an Aeon shopping centre following a powerful earthquake in Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture last week were instructed by their employer to return inside to put sales proceeds in a safe, according to the company. Two executives of Habita, which operates the variety store where the women died, said on Sunday they apologised to the family of one of the victims, 22-yea...
In China’s arid northwest, local state media in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region are celebrating a surge of rainfall in an area that usually averages 300mm (about 12 inches) per year. The rain belt moving northwards would bring “climate dividends”, the Ningxia Broadcasting News Centre said last month, promising that “loess soil will turn green and farming area will expand”. Reporting on a northwa...
Ho Chi Minh City’s bustling jewellery quarter has fallen unusually quiet. Customers are not browsing for engagement rings or necklaces any more – instead they are clutching old receipts and certificates, hoping to sell diamonds they no longer trust. The discovery of what appears to be Vietnam’s biggest-ever diamond smuggling network has rippled through the industry. Investigators allege more than ...
Alibaba Group Holding has made its next-generation flagship artificial intelligence model Qwen3.8-Max widely accessible to global users ahead of an open-weights release next week. The move marks Alibaba’s return to open-sourcing its top-tier AI models after keeping several recent flagship releases proprietary earlier this year. It also signals the firm’s entry into a recent round of powerful relea...
A surgical procedure for Alzheimer’s disease being tested in Hong Kong has the potential to improve patients’ ability to take care of their basic needs such as getting dressed and remaining socially engaged. The ongoing clinical trial, launched by researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), involves an operation that drains an abnormal build-up of two protein types in the brain. The...
A potential US ban on Chinese open-weight artificial intelligence (AI) models could cost American businesses up to US$12 billion per year, according to calculations by a US-based academic, as technology firms increasingly turn to cost-efficient Chinese solutions. While the exact economic toll of a ban remains difficult to quantify, usage data from New York-based OpenRouter – a large language model...
When Japanese entrepreneur Moe Kasugai was a student at Seoul’s Yonsei University, she was struck by how some of the prestigious South Korean college’s brightest graduates struggled to land a job. So in 2019 she launched a service to connect South Korean jobseekers with Japanese employers. “I was surprised that they couldn’t find a job because they were so smart,” the 35-year-old said in Seoul at ...
Turkey’s ascension to Asean dialogue partner marks the west Asian country’s bid to position itself as a middle power, according to analysts. The upgrade on July 21 breaks an Association of Southeast Asian Nations moratorium in place since the UK’s admission in 2021. Turkey joins the US, China, Russia, Britain, Australia, Japan and South Korea. In a social media post on the same day, Turkish Foreig...
On a cloudy evening in late April, a tech event hosted at Beijing’s National Convention Centre by Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) drew nearly 1,000 people eager for a glimpse of next-generation electric vehicle (EV) batteries that could reshape the global automotive landscape. Gao Huan, chief technology officer for the auto business at CATL, the world’s largest producer of EV batteries,...
Hong Kong can expect sunnier but very hot weather later this week, the city’s forecaster has said, as residents woke to an amber rainstorm warning for the second consecutive morning. The Hong Kong Observatory on Monday issued the amber rainstorm warning signal at 6.40am, following a similar alert on Sunday morning that remained in place for more than six hours. The warning was cancelled at 8.45am....
Playing a musical instrument helps medical students perform surgical tasks 10 per cent faster and more skilfully, according to a study by the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The results showed that students with musical experience completed surgical tasks in an average time of 223.5 seconds, compared with 249.3 seconds for those without, making them nearly 26 seconds faster. The experience of Sien ...
Playing a musical instrument helps medical students perform surgical tasks 10 per cent faster and more skilfully, according to a new study by the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The results showed that students with musical experience completed surgical tasks in an average time of 223.5 seconds, compared with 249.3 seconds for those without, making them nearly 26 seconds faster. The experience of S...
Chinese officials tend to report only good news and bury bad news for propaganda purposes and career advancement. That is why it came as a genuine surprise when, on July 22, Zhang Enhui, the party chief of Changchun, an industrial powerhouse known for its automobile sector and technological research, publicly broke with that tradition. He warned of “unprecedented difficulties and challenges” facin...
The Malaysian ruling coalition’s poor showing in the Negeri Sembilan poll on Saturday marks its third straight defeat in eight months – an embarrassing run that is forcing its largest party to confront the cost of governing with former rivals. Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 11 of the state’s 36 seats on Saturday, down from 17 in 2023, while Barisan Nasional (BN) secured 18 and its electoral partner, Per...
