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Chinese robovans could generate twice as much revenue in Southeast Asia and the Middle East than in the domestic market, making overseas expansion a must for profitability, according to autonomous driving leader Zelos Technology. The company claims to have built the world’s largest robovan fleet since it was founded in Suzhou in 2021, but scaling up international business was key for survival, sai...
As the US-Israel war on Iran stretches past its 80th day and continues to upend global naval shipping, a growing number of Chinese investors in Iran are turning to railway and overland transport routes to keep their businesses afloat. While disruptions to ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz show little sign of abating, many are hoping that transcontinental freight links across Eurasia could becom...
Russia pounded Kyiv with a massive missile and drone attack that killed four people early on Sunday, authorities said, after President Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation for strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Multiple rounds of explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning, journalists reported, in a barrage the air force said involved 600 dr...
Russia pounded Kyiv with a large missile and drone attack early on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 20, authorities said, after Moscow threatened retaliation for strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Multiple rounds of loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning. “Tonight Kyiv region is once again enduring a mass enemy attack with str...
Hong Kong’s leader has sent his blessings to the first local astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, in a video call ahead of the launch of the Shenzhou-23 space flight on Sunday, calling her participation in the mission a reflection of the country’s trust and support for the city. Payload specialist Lai, in response, recalled her packed, tough training in Beijing, which had “finally come to an end”, while expres...
The owners of a Chinese coal mine where at least 82 people were killed have been accused of “serious violations of the law” by the local government. As search and rescue operations continued through the night, Chen Xiangyang, the deputy party secretary of Changzhi in Shanxi province, said that all four mines operated by the Shanxi Tongzhou Group had been “immediately” ordered to suspend operations...
Ken Mak’s greatest wish before leaving his village in Hong Kong this month is to save the fruit trees planted by his grandfather before the bulldozers arrive. To give the trees in Yick Yuen Tsuen in Tuen Mun a second chance, he hit on an idea: tree adoption. Within a week, Mak had recorded the species, height and girth of 53 fruit trees at his family-run flower farm and a nearby church. He compile...
Population ageing is fast becoming a global phenomenon. Even regions currently enjoying youthful demographics will eventually undergo demographic transition – and this is increasingly relevant for developing countries too. Some Southeast Asian economies, Thailand and Vietnam among them, have already reached the intermediate stages of this transition. It has begun even in younger economies such as ...
Hong Kong is likely to attract more mainland Chinese retail brands, but unlike the previous wave, non food and beverage (F&B) retailers are the ones ramping up their presence, according to analysts. The change in profile of mainland brands coming to Hong Kong is helping the city’s landlords fill vacant spaces amid an uneven recovery in the retail property market, according to JLL. In the first fou...
As I return to China, I do so with an abiding sense of respect for a nation that has become one of Serbia’s most indispensable partners and a defining force of our century. In Europe, discussions about China are too often clouded by suspicion and strategic anxiety. I understand that every major political community must guard its future, but I believe Europe should approach China not with fear and ...
As I return to China, I do so with an abiding sense of respect for a nation that has become one of Serbia’s most indispensable partners and a defining force of our century. In Europe, discussions about China are too often clouded by suspicion and strategic anxiety. I understand that every major political community must guard its future, but I believe Europe should approach China not with fear and ...
Hong Kong’s technology infrastructure is undergoing a major transformation as local government and businesses replace Western products with domestic alternatives, driven by closer integration with mainland China and rising geopolitical risks, according to tech experts. US tech giants like Microsoft have long “served as the bedrock of Hong Kong’s digital landscape”, but that dominance is now being ...
A nine-storey building under construction in a city north of the Philippine capital collapsed before dawn on Sunday, leaving at least one Malaysian tourist dead and at least 21 people, mostly workers, trapped in the rubble, officials said. Two were located alive but could not be immediately extricated. At least 24 workers either managed to dash out of the building, where they mostly slept on the g...
Rescuers clawed through the wreckage of a collapsed Philippines building on Sunday which left 23 people missing, with authorities saying that screams were heard from under the rubble. Two of those feared trapped were communicating with rescuers on Sunday, said an official in Angeles City, about 80km (50 miles) north of Manila. City information officer Jay Pelayo said the nine-storey building’s wal...
Nineteen people are feared trapped after a building under construction near Manila collapsed early on Sunday, a local government official said. Officials in Angeles City, around 80km (50 miles) north of the Philippine capital, said they had received a report at about 3am that an unfinished nine-storey concrete building had given way. City information officer Jay Pelayo said that the building’s wal...
A US plan to build an “AI-native” industrial hub in the Philippines has highlighted the political sensitivities around Washington’s push to secure critical technology supply chains, after Manila rejected proposals for the zone to be governed by US laws or covered by diplomatic protections. Philippine officials said the planned economic security zone under Washington’s Pax Silica initiative would r...
For the first time in a decade, a Hong Kong government task force did not conduct any publicity campaign covering gender identity and sexual orientation in the latest financial year, triggering concerns that authorities are taking a lukewarm attitude towards the local LGBTQ community. Figures from the Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Unit (GISOU), which falls under the Constitutional and Mai...
A boy in central China dreamed of making his own silk quilt, prompting his parents to buy 10,000 silkworm eggs to nurture his curiosity. In May, a mother surnamed Ruan from Wuhan, Hubei province, revealed online that her family was raising silkworms to help realise her six-year-old son’s unusual dream. Ruan told the mainland outlet Chengshi Interactive that the idea came during the silkworm-rearin...
Thailand’s navy has to watch two seas at once. To the east lies the Gulf of Thailand, with its busy shipping lanes, offshore energy interests and long coastal frontier with Cambodia. To the west is the Andaman Sea, a gateway to the Indian Ocean with its own trade routes, chokepoints and strategic pressures. That twin-sea geography has long given the Royal Thai Navy a role larger than its public pr...
A gunman opened fire near the White House on Saturday evening, with US Secret Service agents killing the assailant in a shoot-out during which a bystander was also struck, authorities said. US President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time as he worked to negotiate a deal with Iran, but was not affected by the incident, Secret Service communications chief Anthony Guglielmi said in a sta...
A gunman who opened fire on Secret Service officers outside the White House on Saturday evening has died after being shot, the agency said in a statement provided to US media. A bystander was also shot during the exchange of fire, the agency said, without providing the victim’s condition. After the gunman opened fire on agents at a security checkpoint near the White House, “Secret Service police o...
Police and security forces swarmed the White House on Saturday evening after shots were fired in the area. US President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time as he worked to negotiate a deal with Iran. A person approached the checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House and started shooting at officers, a law enforcement official said. The suspect was “down” a...
Police and security forces swarmed the White House on Saturday evening after shots were fired in the area, authorities said. US President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time as he worked to negotiate a deal with Iran. A suspect approached a checkpoint near the White House and fired at officers, a US law enforcement official said. The suspect was down and had been taken to hospital, the...
Police and security forces swarmed the area around the White House on Saturday evening after reports of shots fired. What appeared to be dozens of gunshots were heard, prompting a lockdown, CNN reported, as armed Secret Service agents moved through the North Lawn area. US President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time as he worked to negotiate a deal with Iran. I was in the middle of t...
Police and security forces swarmed the area around the White House on Saturday evening after reports of shots fired. CNN reported that what appeared to be dozens of gunshots were heard, prompting a lockdown, as armed Secret Service agents moved through the North Lawn area. US President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time as he worked to negotiate a deal with Iran. More to follow …
There was a large police presence around the White House on Saturday after reports of shots being fired. Reporters were told to shelter in place as US Secret Service agents warned of “shots fired”, CNN reported. More to follow …
Bangladesh’s potential purchase of a Sino-Pakistani fighter jet could raise tensions in India’s sensitive northeast, as relations between Dhaka and New Delhi remain tense, analysts said. According to Pakistani media reports, the country has transferred a fully operational simulator of a JF-17 Thunder Block III combat aircraft to Bangladesh. Fighter jet simulators replicate the experience of flying...
More than a decade ago, I argued that Hung Shui Kiu should be conceived as the “northwest stronghold” of Hong Kong, a geographic centre of the New Territories and a hinge point between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Today, that vision is beginning to materialise. Hung Shui Kiu is no longer just a dot on the planning map; it is emerging as a core node of the Northern Metropolis and a testing ground for in...
Cristian Mungiu’s Norway-set drama about political polarisation Fjord has won the Palme d’Or, handing the Cannes Film Festival’s top honour for the second time to Mungiu, the Romanian director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. At a 79th Cannes Film Festival that saw few films break out, Fjord found wide admiration for its engrossing tale of what Mungiu called “left-wing fundamentalism”. It stars Se...
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called India a natural partner and invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, turning the page at least rhetorically on friction despite new-found US warmth towards China. One week after joining US President Donald Trump on a state visit to Beijing, Rubio – visiting both Asian powers for the first time – flew to New Delhi and met Modi for more...
