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Young Chinese are choosing healthy relationships over toxic filial piety
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Young Chinese are choosing healthy relationships over toxic filial piety

As the Chinese saying goes, “Even an upright judge finds it hard to settle family matters.” Whenever Chinese TV channels air reality shows that centre on couples or parent-child relationships, controversy is guaranteed. Heated debates ensue over who is right and who is wrong. Viewers examine every facial expression in microscopic detail and overanalyse every word before arriving at their verdict. ...

Singapore open to legal action against errant firms as haze crisis worsens
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Singapore open to legal action against errant firms as haze crisis worsens

Singapore will “keep its options open” on taking legal action against errant companies as air quality in the city state deteriorates to very unhealthy levels. Singapore is collecting data on the haze as it weighs possible action under its Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, the Straits Times reported on Wednesday, citing Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu. The law, enacted in 2...

US and China race to shape AI agenda ahead of Xi-Trump talks in Shenzhen, sources say
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US and China race to shape AI agenda ahead of Xi-Trump talks in Shenzhen, sources say

The United States and China are in regular talks to iron out details of a framework announced last month for handling AI-related incidents and institutionalising bilateral dialogue, multiple sources told the South China Morning Post. The technical teams of the two countries aim to make AI cooperation a potential deliverable when presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump meet on the sidelines of the A...

Chinese scientists use open-source data to spot suspected Israeli electronic warfare units
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Chinese scientists use open-source data to spot suspected Israeli electronic warfare units

Chinese military scientists claim they have developed an algorithm that could help identify electronic warfare units using civil aviation flight data. The researchers said they had located two sources of interference that were spoofing their locations near Israel during the conflict with Iran. The team did not explain why they had focused on the Israeli military. The researchers estimated the loca...

‘Not tailor-made for us’: Hongkong Post staff say transfer scheme too narrow

‘Not tailor-made for us’: Hongkong Post staff say transfer scheme too narrow

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Hong Kong postal workers denied permanent contracts have criticised a special government transfer scheme as too narrow, calling for more pathways into roles that match their experience, such as workman and artisan positions. Several affected workers told the South China Morning Post on Wednesday that the concessions offered insufficient support and failed to reflect their skills or circumstances. ...

AI-armed hackers tear through corporate Japan’s neglected defences

AI-armed hackers tear through corporate Japan’s neglected defences

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Japanese companies have faced a growing wave of cyberattacks in recent weeks, exposing millions of customers’ records as analysts warn that artificial intelligence is helping hackers exploit long-standing security weaknesses and overcome language barriers that once offered some protection. More than 500 breaches of corporate systems were reported in the year to this month, surpassing the total for...

Australia navy probes hidden camera found in women’s showers on ship

Australia navy probes hidden camera found in women’s showers on ship

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Australia’s navy said on Thursday it would audit bathrooms across its fleet after a video recording device was found in the cabin of one of its ships. Navy chief Matt Buckley has vowed a full investigation into the incident aboard the HMAS Leeuwin, a survey ship docked in the northeastern city of Cairns in the state of Queensland. A member of the armed forces has been identified as a “person of in...

Hidden cameras found in women’s showers on Australian navy ship

Hidden cameras found in women’s showers on Australian navy ship

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The Australian defence ministry has launched an investigation into how a video recording device ended up in the cabin of a navy ship. The device was discovered aboard the HMAS Leeuwin, docked in the northeastern city of Cairns in the state of Queensland. Senator Jacqui Lambie – a prominent advocate for the Australian armed forces – said she had received a message from a former member of the navy c...

How Jardine Matheson’s street-shop sale reflects Hong Kong retail property’s struggles

How Jardine Matheson’s street-shop sale reflects Hong Kong retail property’s struggles

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Amid Hong Kong’s commercial property downturn, British conglomerate Jardine Matheson has sold a street shop in Causeway Bay for HK$80 million (US$10.2 million) after holding it for more than 50 years, accepting a price HK$10 million below its earlier valuation. The property, a ground-floor shop in H&S Building at 36 Leighton Road, with a gross floor area of about 11,727 square feet, was acquired b...

‘China shock 3.0’ to be driven by AI, biotech and robot exports, economist says

‘China shock 3.0’ to be driven by AI, biotech and robot exports, economist says

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The world is on the cusp of a “China shock 3.0” driven by exports of artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology and robots, which could hit harder than the current wave, a leading economist on China has said. “We are already at the starting point of the China shock 3.0,” Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a senior fellow at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel and chief economist for Asia-Pacific at investment ...

Susan Thornton on US-China ties, post-midterms and averting a new balloon crisis

Susan Thornton on US-China ties, post-midterms and averting a new balloon crisis

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Susan Thornton is a former American diplomat who for decades worked on US policy in Eurasia in the State Department before becoming acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs during the first Trump presidency. She is the director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a senior fellow at the Paul Tsai China Centre, ...

Hegseth calls US$1.5 trillion defence budget ‘critical’ to counter China

Hegseth calls US$1.5 trillion defence budget ‘critical’ to counter China

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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has called a nearly US$1.5 trillion defence budget request “absolutely critical”, warning that whoever falls behind in autonomy, robotics and AI will fall “even further behind” as Washington eyes China’s rapid military modernisation. Speaking at a panel discussion during the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition on Wednesday, H...

Can China’s coal industry ride to the rescue of a world in oil shock?

Can China’s coal industry ride to the rescue of a world in oil shock?

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Be warned. The global economy is likely to experience a recession next year. War across the Middle East is set to escalate, wrecking energy supplies for many years, even as the artificial intelligence (AI) bubble is ripe to burst. This, however, would also create an energy leadership opportunity for China. High energy prices already fuel demand for Chinese renewable energy products and electric ve...

‘Time for Zelensky to go’: Musk escalates satellite slowdown row

‘Time for Zelensky to go’: Musk escalates satellite slowdown row

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Tech billionaire Elon Musk called on Wednesday for Volodymyr Zelensky to “go” as Ukraine’s leader, after insisting any disruption to the war-torn country’s use of his satellite communications system was the fault of the US government, not his company. The comments came as Kyiv raised doubts over US support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, accusing Washington this week of helping Moscow by faili...

Musk points to US military, Trump over Starshield disruptions in Ukraine

Musk points to US military, Trump over Starshield disruptions in Ukraine

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SpaceX boss Elon Musk said Wednesday that any disruptions reported by Ukraine in using the Starshield satellite communications system would be the responsibility of the US government, not his company. “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk said, referring to US President Donald Trump...

Musk suggests US government behind any slowdown in Ukraine’s Starshield

Musk suggests US government behind any slowdown in Ukraine’s Starshield

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SpaceX boss Elon Musk said on Wednesday that any disruptions reported by Ukraine in using the Starshield satellite communications system would be the responsibility of the US government, not his company. “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk said, referring to US President Donald Tr...

US stocks drop to their worst day since July as inflation worsens

US stocks drop to their worst day since July as inflation worsens

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US stocks dropped to their worst day since July on Wednesday, following the latest signal that inflation is getting worse. The S&P 500 sank 1.1 per cent for a fifth loss in the six days since setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points, or 0.1 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.9 per cent as stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry led the way lower. Sto...

Bank of America fined US$1.21 billion as US flags suspected Chinese money laundering

Bank of America fined US$1.21 billion as US flags suspected Chinese money laundering

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Bank of America, the second-largest US bank, failed to promptly report hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions bearing signs of Chinese money-laundering networks, US regulators said on Tuesday, announcing more than US$1.21 billion in penalties for broader anti-money-laundering and sanctions failures. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, said the activity included...

Yemen government says it raised Houthis’ alleged use of Chinese tech with Beijing

Yemen government says it raised Houthis’ alleged use of Chinese tech with Beijing

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The Yemeni government has spoken with Beijing about the Houthis’ alleged attempts to utilise Chinese-made technology for weapons, a Yemeni minister said on Wednesday, as the two sides’ long-running civil war escalates. “The Chinese are partners and we have discussed with them about, you know, the use of dual products,” Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba said in response to an Agence France-Presse que...

Sally Rooney books can’t be sold in UK amid Palestine Action ban, publisher says

Sally Rooney books can’t be sold in UK amid Palestine Action ban, publisher says

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Irish author Sally Rooney can no longer sell her books in the UK because of her support for the activist group Palestine Action, her publisher Faber said on Wednesday. Rooney has previously expressed her support for the group, which was banned as a “terrorist” organisation by the UK government in July 2025. It is not banned in Ireland, where Rooney lives. The proscription, which the organisation i...

EU leaders to ‘urgently’ call for new trade weapons to tackle China shock

EU leaders to ‘urgently’ call for new trade weapons to tackle China shock

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Leaders of the EU’s 27 member states will instruct Brussels to “urgently” come up with new weapons to counter the imbalances they believe are caused by China’s economic policies, at a meeting in the Belgian capital on Thursday. The instruction – part of a draft statement being negotiated ahead of this week’s European Council summit – comes after the European Union and China reached a surprise deal...

Hong Kong extends smart fire alarm scheme to another 6,000 old buildings

Hong Kong extends smart fire alarm scheme to another 6,000 old buildings

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Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department has extended a scheme allowing property owners to install smart fire alarm systems rather than traditional safety equipment to another 6,000 old buildings, but conceded that no installations had been completed although the policy was rolled out over five months ago for 3,600 blocks. Lai Kin-mo, acting deputy chief fire officer for building improvement, said on ...

ASML’s chip equipment sales to China soar 109% despite US export curb push

ASML’s chip equipment sales to China soar 109% despite US export curb push

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Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML expects China to account for about 20 per cent of its total sales this year, after seeing shipments to the market more than double during the previous quarter despite mounting US pressure for tighter export restrictions on less advanced chipmaking machinery. The company’s sales to China surged 109 per cent in the third quarter compared with the previous thr...

How a new US Army unit could challenge the PLA’s area-denial strategy in a Taiwan conflict

How a new US Army unit could challenge the PLA’s area-denial strategy in a Taiwan conflict

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The United States Army has launched a new task force aimed at countering Chinese efforts to block American and allied warships and aircraft in a potential conflict. The 4th Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) – established at Fort Carson, Colorado on October 8 – is the latest addition to a series of specialised formations developed for operations in the western Pacific. Those formations were earlier ac...

Nord Stream trial: Russia used pipelines as ‘weapon’, defence says

Nord Stream trial: Russia used pipelines as ‘weapon’, defence says

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A lawyer for a Ukrainian accused of blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines supplying Russian gas to western Europe said on Wednesday that Moscow used the network to exert political and economic pressure, as the former military officer’s trial opened in Germany. Sergiy Kuznietsov is the first person to go on trial over the 2022 sabotage. The 50-year-old is accused of leading a Ukrainian team of diver...

Ukrainian accused of Nord Stream pipeline sabotage goes on trial in Germany

Ukrainian accused of Nord Stream pipeline sabotage goes on trial in Germany

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A Ukrainian man accused of helping to mastermind the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines four years ago went on trial for war crimes in Germany on Wednesday, with his defence calling for the case to be dismissed. The closely watched trial – the first involving one of the alleged perpetrators of the 2022 attacks in the Baltic Sea – opened at the Higher Regional Court in the northern city of Hambur...

China’s Li Qiang vows more high-value imports as trade surplus faces scrutiny

China’s Li Qiang vows more high-value imports as trade surplus faces scrutiny

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Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday that China stands ready to import more high-quality goods, particularly high-value-added products, as part of efforts to promote more balanced trade. Li made the pledge at a symposium for the autumn session of the biannual Canton Fair, China’s largest foreign trade exhibition. The nearly three-week-long event officially opens on Thursday, with more than 32,000 ex...

Trump claims ‘massive’ resource exploration set to begin in Greenland

Trump claims ‘massive’ resource exploration set to begin in Greenland

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US President Donald Trump said that “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to begin in “our new and beautiful Greenland”, though it was not clear what developments he was referring to on an island where resource extraction has stymied companies for decades. Despite Trump’s optimism, the harsh climate of Greenland – a self-governing territory of Denmark, rather than a part of the United ...

Trump says ‘massive’ oil, gas and mineral exploration to begin in Greenland

Trump says ‘massive’ oil, gas and mineral exploration to begin in Greenland

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US President Donald Trump said “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is set to begin in “our new and beautiful Greenland” early on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear what exploration or developments the US president was referring to in his post, and Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, rather than a part of the United States. Trump posted on social media following a campai...