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The fallout from Washington’s fresh import ban on foreign robots appears poised to disrupt the American living room, threatening to lock out market-dominating Chinese smart vacuums. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added foreign-produced “advanced robotic devices” to its so-called Covered List on Tuesday, blocking new models from obtaining the equipment authorisation required for US imp...
The United States could be developing underground warfare powers and China should guard against the potential threat to its national security, Chinese think tanks have warned. As drones and precision-guided weapons increasingly dominate ground combat in conflicts, military theorists are exploring the strategic potential of subterranean space as a possible dimension of future warfare. Palmer Luckey...
Hong Kong should integrate specialised intervention services into its youth suicide response strategy, an NGO has said, as the number of minors taking their own lives reached a 10-year high in 2025. Citing the coroners’ report, the Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong said on Thursday that 1,019 suicides were recorded last year, equivalent to 13.57 per 100,000 population. This was down from the 10-year...
Parts of northern Hong Kong face the highest risk of climate-related disasters, a study by the Hong Kong Red Cross has found, with the charity urging the government to take climate resilience planning into account in developing the area. A report released by the charity on Thursday also said that more than 50 per cent of the city faced high-risk threats from two or three types of hazards, such as ...
Fresh images and footage have emerged of what some observers say may be a fifth prototype of China’s J-36 sixth-generation combat aircraft. If authentic, the images offer new clues about a rapidly evolving design as Beijing races for air superiority in future warfare against rivals such as the United States. The latest footage, circulating since earlier this month, appears to show further changes ...
US economic growth slowed in the second quarter amid a widening in the trade deficit, but an acceleration in consumer spending and robust business investment in equipment related to the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure pointed to underlying strength. Gross domestic product increased at a 1.5 per cent annualised rate last quarter, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Anal...
Hong Kong’s chief executive has met the business and innovation leaders advising him on the city’s strategic direction as part of drafting the first local five-year plan, with one adviser saying he was “inspired” by the high-powered group’s discussions. Speaking after the string of lunch meetings held over the past three days, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Thursday that the members of h...
Hongkong Land will acquire Singapore’s Wheelock Place for about S$1.1 billion (US$900 million) through its Singapore Central Private Real Estate Fund (SCPREF), marking the fund’s first acquisition since its launch in February. The mixed-use commercial property on Orchard Road is being acquired from an entity owned by Hong Kong-listed Wharf Real Estate Investment Company, according to a statement r...
ByteDance has integrated its enterprise collaboration unit into other teams, a move that sharpens its focus on using artificial intelligence to serve corporate clients as annualised AI revenue of US$4 billion pushes it to the front of the pack in China, according to sources. The Beijing-based company decided to integrate the product team of office tool Lark, known as Feishu domestically, into the ...
Over the past 10 years, Washington, Brussels and London have made decreasing economic reliance on China a strategic goal. Western economic plans now stress supply-chain resilience, industrial sovereignty, technological leadership and national security. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted weaknesses in global supply networks. Increasing geostrategic tensions, export restrictions and technological riv...
Best known as Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil started off as a treatment for reduced blood flow but soon saw its value spike after its other effects became clear. The blue pill could have more uses, according to research by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Tel Aviv. The team found indications that it curbs cancer metastasis via a “newly discovered biological mech...
Six people have been injured in a collision between a truck and a minibus on a section of Castle Peak Road near Yuen Long in Hong Kong. Police said they were alerted at 4.27pm on Thursday to the traffic accident involving a 24-tonne truck and a green-topped minibus on the Yuen Long-bound lane of Castle Peak Road-Tam Mi. Six people suffered neck injuries, police said, adding that they would be sent...
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption watchdog has charged three former HSBC relationship managers with allegedly accepting bribes to help customers jump the queue when opening bank accounts. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Thursday that Chan Fu-kwan, 32, Mike Chan Wai-pak, 29, and Bernie Yau Kai-lung, 33, face a total of six bribery charges. All three worked at the bank’s Cause...
Hong Kong’s corruption watchdog has charged three former HSBC relationship managers with allegedly accepting bribes to help customers jump the queue when opening bank accounts. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Thursday that Chan Fu-kwan, 32, along with Mike Chan Wai-pak, 29, and Bernie Yau Kai-lung, 33, all worked at one of the bank’s Causeway Bay branches at the time o...
A boss from central China sparked online controversy after disclosing that he once fired an employee for excluding his mother from his wedding. Cui Peijun, founder and chairman of Henan Kuangshan Crane Co., Ltd. in Xinxiang, Henan province, has gained a reputation online as “China’s most generous boss.” At the annual company gala in February, Cui distributed 60 million yuan (US$8.8 million) in cas...
India’s invitation to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend a Brics summit in New Delhi in September is being seen as a chance to repair ties after one of the most turbulent periods in relations between the neighbours in years. If Rahman accepts, he will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly for the first time since becoming Bangladesh’s leader after elections in February...
Beijing accused Manila of “flagrantly infringing” on Chinese sovereignty and undermining regional peace after the Philippines formally presented its bid to the United Nations this week for extended seabed rights in the South China Sea. The rebuttal, issued by China’s mission to the UN on Thursday, followed Manila’s presentation before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on...
Beijing accused Manila of “flagrantly infringing” on Chinese sovereignty and undermining regional peace after the Philippines formally presented its bid to the United Nations this week for extended seabed rights in the South China Sea. The rebuttal, issued by China’s mission to the UN on Thursday, followed Manila’s presentation before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) on...
David Cifaldi and his two hiking companions were crossing Montana’s ominous Froze-to-Death Plateau and approaching the top of the state’s highest peak when their adventure took a bizarre and dangerous turn: Cifaldi slipped and impaled himself on his trekking pole as he fell. The 44-inch (112-centimetre) steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath Cifaldi’s left arm, missing any vital organs...
A former consultant doctor at a Hong Kong public hospital has been spared jail for prescribing excessive medication to his patients and misappropriating the drugs for personal use. The District Court on Thursday sentenced Lee Chi-leung, an ear, nose and throat specialist, to 160 hours of community service and ordered him to compensate the Hospital Authority HK$20,000 (US$2,550) for two counts of m...
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has seized on the release of a long-delayed inquiry into the country’s Islamic pilgrimage fund to revive his anti-corruption message just days before the state of Negeri Sembilan holds an election. The move is seen as a calculated bid by Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to turn a governance issue against state rival Umno, although observers are divided ...
Japan’s Aeon Mall Kumamoto was rebuilt to withstand earthquakes after it was damaged in strong quakes in April 2016. Its June reopening was meant to be a fresh start, the gleaming building a symbol of rebirth for the mall and residents of Kashima town. Then Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook this new-found confidence. “When this quake hit, I immediately knew the epicentre was close,” 30-year...
Malaysia’s claim that Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya has raised hopes of easing pressure on the country’s strained refugee system but also drawn alarm from activists over the risks of returning members of the persecuted minority to a place still engulfed by conflict. Rights groups say any movement of refugees into Myanmar – where the military is fighting multiple conflicts and most...
As US tech giants face growing market scrutiny over their swelling artificial intelligence budgets, China’s top technology firms are confronting a similar reckoning: proving that billions of dollars spent on AI infrastructure will yield sustainable profits. Here is a run down on how Chinese tech giants are navigating the AI monetisation challenge. Why are global investors nervous about ‘big tech’ ...
For Singaporeans who grew up stirring Marmite into hot water, spreading it on toast or eating it in local dishes, the famously divisive yeast extract is easy to love, but now it is much harder to buy. Unilever International, the Singapore distributor of Marmite, has stopped supplying the spread locally, according to CNA, sending prices of the thick, dark yeast extract soaring to more than seven ti...
Zhou Bo is a retired senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army, a senior fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy, and the author of the book Should the World Fear China? SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is approaching its 2027 centenary, a major benchmark set by Beijing to ach...
Electric vehicle giant BYD plans to unveil its first humanoid robots within the next few weeks, as China’s electric car makers accelerate their push into the embodied artificial intelligence market. The Shenzhen-based company told the South China Morning Post in a statement that its long-anticipated first humanoid robots would debut in August at the firm’s Di Space experience centres. The robots w...
A Chinese-led team has analysed a 240 million-year-old fossil with the oldest known preserved stomach, liver and intestinal soft tissue in reptiles. The complete skeleton fossil has highly specialised body features that indicate it lived in the water, suggesting the marine colonisation of archosaurs was earlier and more extensive than previously believed. The fossil of the Austronaga minuta from t...
India’s West Bengal state will bring back eggs to free school meals after a backlash against a decision by its Hindu nationalist government to replace them with vegetarian alternatives, officials have said. The reversal follows criticism from teachers, nutritionists and parents who argued that removing eggs from school lunches could deprive children from poor families of a key source of protein. T...
India’s West Bengal state will bring back eggs to free school meals after a backlash against a decision by its Hindu nationalist government to replace them with vegetarian alternatives, officials have said. The reversal follows criticism from teachers, nutritionists and parents who argued that removing eggs from school lunches could deprive children from poor families of a key source of protein. T...
