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Twenty-six US semiconductor firms, from Qualcomm to Nvidia, saw their China revenue climb by an average of 20 per cent last year, despite trade tensions, according to a new analysis. The data, featured in the latest “Hurun Top 100 US Enterprises in China 2026” report released by the Hurun Research Institute on Monday, tracks the performance of 100 publicly listed American companies based on their ...
China and Serbia agreed to deepen security and economic cooperation, with the leaders of the two nations hailing the “ironclad friendship” and strategic bonds between their countries during Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s first state visit to Beijing. In a comprehensive joint statement issued on Monday, the two sides said they would deepen cooperation in counterterrorism, preventing colour re...
Films generated by ByteDance’s AI technology made headlines at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as the TikTok owner accelerates efforts to commercialise its flagship Seedance 2.0 model. Two short films, The Golden Tomb Seeker and Series Tower, created by Chinese platform Chushou AI using Seedance 2.0, were among 21 works selected from more than 1,000 submissions spanning 120 countries at Marché d...
Hong Kong should harness the excitement sparked by the city’s first astronaut to set up a dedicated office to foster local aerospace technology and development, experts and a top government adviser have said. Professor Zhang Peng, programme leader for aerospace engineering at City University, urged the government to expand funding for programmes, create dedicated internships and establish a local ...
Hong Kong should harness the excitement sparked by the city’s first astronaut to set up a dedicated office to foster local aerospace technology and development, experts and a top government adviser have said. Professor Zhang Peng, programme leader for aerospace engineering at City University, urged the government to expand funding for programmes, create dedicated internships and establish a local ...
The era when the three joint communiques set the terms of US-China relations may have “completely come to an end”, a prominent Chinese analyst has warned. Zhu Feng, dean of Nanjing University’s School of International Studies, also said that it might be “unrealistic” to expect Beijing and Washington to reach a comprehensive political understanding on Taiwan, given US domestic politics. Following C...
African leaders and financiers gathered for the African Development Bank’s annual meeting on Monday as the continent faces shrinking aid flows, with this week’s event in Congo Republic overshadowed by an Ebola outbreak across the border. Overseas development aid from the world’s richest nations to poorer countries dropped by nearly a quarter last year to US$174.3 billion. The US led the cuts, inc...
A major diplomatic breakthrough between Washington and Tehran could signal sanctions relief for Iran, a development analysts say bodes well for China, the primary buyer of Iranian oil. Negotiations have advanced on a proposed 60-day ceasefire extension, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the US side issuing temporary sanctions waivers that would allow Iran to sell oil freely, Axios reported...
High on the list of deliverables agreed following the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump was the establishment of a board of trade, albeit with little detail on its mission, responsibilities or operations. The White House expects the board “to manage bilateral trade across non-sensitive goods” while China’s Ministry of Commerce says the board “will discuss is...
Israel’s two far-right ministers on Monday called for an escalation of military operations in Lebanon, with one advocating strikes on Beirut in response to Hezbollah’s drone attacks. “It is time for the prime minister to take a firm stand with Donald Trump and tell him that Israel is returning to war in Lebanon,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on social media. Ben Gvir leads the f...
Inside the cluttered, silent flat at Wang Fuk Court, time seems to have stood still. On the bathroom door, a calendar remains on the page for November 2025 – the month a deadly fire broke out at the Tai Po estate in Hong Kong. On what was believed to be their final visit to the undamaged flat, resident Joe* and his wife Annie* took photos of each room. Every room reeked of a mixture of sweat and m...
Inside the cluttered, silent flat at Wang Fuk Court, time seems to stand still. On the bathroom door, a calendar remains frozen on the page of November 2025 – the month a deadly fire broke out at the Tai Po estate in Hong Kong. On what was believed to be their final visit to the undamaged flat, resident Joe* and his wife Annie* took photos of every room. Each room reeked of a mixture of sweat and ...
A Chinese chip pioneer who made his name in Japan – sweeping its top awards and developing the core components of the world’s most advanced production line – has returned to China, along with his team of researchers. Da Bo, a semiconductor prodigy whose research underpins TSMC’s 3-nanometre chip production line in Japan, is listed on the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) website...
Jardine Matheson, an investment company headquartered in Hong Kong, announced on Monday the A$3.4 billion (US$2.4 billion) acquisition of the entire stake of an Australian diagnostic and teleradiology group. The acquisition of I-MED Radiology Network, which spans 215 diagnostic imaging clinics across metropolitan and regional communities in Australia and New Zealand, is one of Jardine Matheson’s l...
India’s ruling Hindu-nationalist party has ordered detention centres for undocumented Bangladeshis and Rohingyas in West Bengal state, sparking fear among minorities that it could lead to arbitrary expulsions. The directive comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power in the eastern state for the first time since the country’s independence in 1947. Th...
A gas explosion that killed at least 82 people in central China – the country’s worst mining disaster in more than a decade – was the result of systemic safety failures across multiple parts of the production chain, according to miners and industry insiders. The Friday blast at the Liushenyu Coal Mine in Shanxi province also left two people missing and 128 survivors in hospital, including two in c...
A suspected tear gas incident at Tokyo’s Ginza Six luxury shopping centre left 26 people feeling unwell on Monday, prompting a large emergency response in one of Japan’s most famous commercial districts. The incident took place around noon at the mall in Tokyo’s Chuo ward after police received an emergency call reporting an irritating smell and people coughing inside it, Japanese media reported. N...
On the first leg of his four-day China visit, Pakistan’s prime minister – famed for “Sharif speed”, a term describing his swift execution of development projects – met his match in a leading AI tool. Shehbaz Sharif, keen on accelerating his nation’s digital economy with the help of Chinese firms, issued a surprise request during his visit to Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou on Sunday afternoon. ...
China has praised Pakistan’s role as a mediator in the US-Iran conflict and pledged continuing support for its efforts amid signs that Washington and Tehran are moving towards a peace deal. Chinese President Xi Jinping has thanked visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the country’s “proactive role” as a peace broker. Monday’s meeting came as the two countries marked the 75th anniver...
Chinese President Xi Jinping has thanked visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the country’s “proactive role” in mediating between Iran and the United States. Monday’s meeting came as the two countries marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, with both sides pledging to maintain close communication and coordination to promote peace and stability in the Mi...
Taiwan’s defence minister said on Monday he remained “cautiously optimistic” about US approval of an arms package for the island, even as a senior Pentagon official said Washington would put the sale on hold. The reassurance by Wellington Koo Li-hsiung came after acting US Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said Washington was pausing the proposed deal to ensure the US military had sufficient ammuniti...
In a bustling Hong Kong commercial district, some internet cafes are shifting beyond serving as gaming hubs for young people looking to spend a few hours hunched over a computer playing video games. Inside one such venue in Mong Kok, gamers can rent one of two private booths for about HK$200 (US$25.52) a night. With a look that can only be described as “emergency bunker”, the metal-walled rooms co...
Leaving her family behind was the toughest part for Hong Kong’s first astronaut Lai Ka-ying as she blasted off on Sunday for her six-month mission, according to her elder sister. Lai Ka-man recalled that when the 43-year-old Hong Kong police superintendent was selected as a payload specialist in 2024, her three children were still in primary school, and are now being cared for by both sets of gran...
A new US immigration policy could force many green card applicants to leave the country and apply from abroad, disrupting families, careers and long-term settlement plans for Asian migrants already facing years-long visa backlogs. US Citizenship and Immigration Services said on May 22 that it would grant “adjustment of status” only in “extraordinary circumstances”, referring to the previous proces...
Pope Leo called for the “disarming” of artificial intelligence in his long-awaited manifesto on the rapidly developing technology on Monday, and warned of “new forms of slavery” behind its rise. The “just war” theory – espoused recently by the Trump administration – was “outdated”, Pope Leo XIV wrote in his first encyclical, which he presented in person at the Vatican, alongside AI experts includi...
European automotive suppliers are set to benefit from an influx of Chinese carmakers, thanks to growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and persistent local protectionism, according to Vulcan Energy Resources, a lithium and renewable energy producer in Germany. Chinese EV makers – from BYD to Xpeng – are planning to aggressively expand into Europe in search of higher profit margins, even as Bru...
The founder of a fast-rising Chinese tech firm has become known as China’s “crazy boss” after a string of online stunts. Yu Hao, 39, from Jiangsu province in eastern China, is the founder and CEO of Dreame Technology, a smart home appliance maker best known for high-end robot vacuum cleaners. Founded in 2017, Dreame has grown rapidly in China’s crowded smart appliance sector. Public records show t...
The manager of a Hong Kong secondary school whose principal swore at security guards during a student trip to Singapore has said the incident will be investigated, but it is too early to decide whether any disciplinary action will be taken. Edmund Wong Chun-sek, a former lawmaker and school manager of San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun, added that the school wanted to ensure s...
The manager of a Hong Kong secondary school whose principal swore at security guards during a trip with students to Singapore will investigate the incident, but said it is too early to decide whether he should face any disciplinary action. Edmund Wong Chun-sek, a former lawmaker and school manager of San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun, added that the school wanted to ensure st...
Philippine rescuers were racing against time on Monday in a search for possible signs of life more than 24 hours after the collapse of a building under construction in the city of Angeles, with crews carefully removing rocks and surrounding debris by hand. The painstaking manual operation around 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital Manila underscored the difficulty of the rescue effort, carried ...
