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A Norwegian chemical tanker was hit by an explosion caused by an unidentified device off the Omani coast early Tuesday, a crisis response company said. MTI Network said in a statement that shipping company Stolt Tankers reported that at approximately 12.40am local time “its tanker vessel Stolt Magnesium while on passage in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman suffered from an explosion of an unid...
The European Union is prepared to introduce emergency measures to combat China’s extraordinary export surge as new figures showed the trade gap had widened dramatically, its top trade enforcer said on Tuesday. Safeguard measures that permit tariffs and quotas to be enforced to combat sudden import surges may “become legitimate on a case-by-case basis”, Denis Redonnet told the European Parliament’s...
The European Union is prepared to introduce emergency measures to combat China’s extraordinary export surge as new figures showed the trade gap had widened dramatically, its top trade enforcer said on Tuesday. Safeguard measures that permit tariffs and quotas to be enforced to combat sudden import surges may “become legitimate on a case-by-case basis”, Denis Redonnet told the European Parliament’s...
Hong Kong authorities have gazetted a new law regulating an upgraded border crossing, between the city and Shenzhen, marking another major step to launch the first joint immigration model that will cut clearance times from the current 30 minutes to five. The Huanggang Port Hong Kong Port Area Bill was gazetted on Tuesday, with a Security Bureau spokesman saying the official opening date of the upg...
In May last year, US President Donald Trump established the Religious Liberty Commission. Last month, timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, it released a 224-page draft report titled, “Americans’ First Freedom”. I gather the current government and its key support base, the religious right, consider American society too secularised – to such an extent that it ...
An American marine biologist was shot and killed by three men who barged into his house in the central Philippines over the weekend and efforts were underway to apprehend the suspects, police said on Tuesday. Police said Kent Carpenter, 73, was with his Filipino companion in a house in the coastal town of Sibulan in Negros Oriental province on Sunday night when three men, whose faces were covered,...
Scientist Lu Yaxiang, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physics, has spent a decade working to make sodium-ion batteries commercially viable. Those years of work on energy storage in April earned Lu a China Youth May Fourth Medal – the nation’s top honour for outstanding achievers under 35. For years, lithium-ion batteries have dominated the market, even though their raw...
A week after a Chinese missile test sparked protests across the Pacific, Beijing has reaffirmed its unconditional support for Honiara and pledged to deepen ties. The commitment came as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Solomon Islands counterpart Rick Houenipwela in Beijing on Tuesday, just days after China test-fired a ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine on July 6. The test,...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Solomon Islands counterpart on Tuesday, pledging to deepen ties and reaffirming Beijing’s unconditional support for Honiara while rejecting “third-party interference”, soon after a Chinese missile test sparked protests across the Pacific. Solomons Foreign Minister Rick Houenipwela’s visit to China began at a sensitive juncture on Friday, coming just days af...
Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs is drafting educational material aimed at discouraging what officials call the spread of “LGBT culture”, after a presidential regulation listed the issue among the country’s non-military security threats. Officials said the content, which was still under discussion, could be included in religious education in regular and Islamic schools, as well as Friday ...
There should be a “youth mode” for children on social media platforms in which addictive features and targeted advertising are turned off, EU lawmakers demanded on Tuesday. The calls are growing louder for the European Union to ensure that social media platforms and others are designed to be safe before children use them. An expert report on Monday also recommended a “safety-by-design” approach in...
A 12-year-old boy in eastern China with a rare disease has graduated from primary school in June, defying doctors who had predicted he would not live beyond the age of three. Zou Weiluo, from Shanghai, was diagnosed at seven months with spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, a condition that progressively weakens the muscles used for movement, swallowing and breathing. Years of devoted care from his fam...
Ten men suffered injuries on Tuesday during the eighth and final bull run of Spain’s famed San Fermin festival, bringing to 57 the total number of daredevils injured during this year’s fiesta. An 18-year-old man suffered a gore wound to the thigh and a 46-year-old man was gored in the chest, while the remaining eight – including an 86-year-old British man – were taken to hospital with bruises of v...
Alibaba Group Holding and Honor are set to deepen their tie-up over an operating system for AI-powered devices, as competition in the nascent “AI phone” genre gains momentum in China. The partnership is expected to be announced at the coming World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), which kicks off on Friday in Shanghai, alongside demonstrations of new agent capabilities developed by both, ...
India summoned Iran’s senior diplomat in New Delhi on Tuesday to protest against attacks on two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz that killed an Indian seafarer and wounded several others. The Indian foreign ministry said it had summoned the deputy chief of mission of the Iranian embassy in the capital to register “a strong protest” against the attacks reported early on Tuesday. The two v...
A decade after a South China Sea ruling, analysts said Beijing should continue engaging in good-faith diplomacy and explore international mediation, arguing that the unenforced ruling had failed to curb rising regional maritime tensions. The observations came after a weekend of fresh accusations over the 2016 decision by an international tribunal in The Hague ruling that most of China’s claims to ...
Hong Kong’s national security laws must be continually improved to address risks and close loopholes amid geopolitical tensions, a former senior mainland Chinese official overseeing the city’s affairs has said, while insisting they are less stringent than those in the United States and the United Kingdom. Wang Zhenmin, former bureau chief of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Office (HKMAO), ...
Hong Kong’s national security laws must be constantly improved to address risks and close loopholes amid geopolitical tensions, a former senior mainland official overseeing the city’s affairs has said, while insisting that the local pieces of legislation were less draconian compared with equivalent laws in the United States and United Kingdom. Wang Zhenmin, former bureau chief of the State Council...
Asia’s economies are once again staring down the barrel of the Strait of Hormuz as the latest breakdown of the US-Iran ceasefire and Washington’s decision to impose a blockade-cum-toll threaten to keep energy costs elevated and shipping flows under strain. But economists and shipping analysts say the region is better placed to absorb the blow this time round. Oil prices jumped to a one-month high ...
Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s first state visit to Malaysia this week comes amid strengthening ties between the neighbours and a greater willingness by both sides to let go of historical “baggage”, analysts say. Observers add that the new generation of Southeast Asian leaders also possesses a heightened awareness of mutual needs in an increasingly fragmented world order. Tharman, wh...
A Hong Kong woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for assisting in robbing three people as a teenager by luring them to a deserted location before her fellow gang members attacked them and took nude photos for extortion. The High Court sentenced 23-year-old Hau Yan-ki on Tuesday after a jury rejected her assertion that she had mistakenly believed she was just helping her friends to collec...
The High Court in Singapore has awarded two cabinet ministers S$230,000 (US$177,860) each in damages following a defamation trial involving financial news outlet Bloomberg and one of its reporters over the officials’ property transactions. In January last year, K. Shanmugam, the coordinating minister for national security, and Tan See Leng, the manpower chief, filed separate suits against Bloomber...
An independent Hong Kong bookshop founded by journalists has announced that it will close on August 30, citing financial losses and “hard-to-grasp red lines”. In a statement posted on social media on Tuesday, the bookstore Have a Nice Stay said its decision was driven by the broader social environment, financial strain, staff development considerations, and the mental and physical well-being of it...
Great leadership doesn’t start with what you do but who you are. There are generally two leadership styles: loud and quiet. Loud leadership considers visibility for effectiveness and often focuses on showing dominance to drive results. Quiet leadership focuses on depth rather than volume. It is marked by clarity and consistency. If the West favours highly visible, charismatic leaders, in the East,...
France’s Emmanuel Macron is overseeing his 10th and last national day parade as president on Tuesday. The annual military procession – which marks the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille fortress in Paris during the French Revolution – will rev up the crowds before France plays Spain in World Cup semi-finals at the end of the day. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the celebrat...
China’s chip exports nearly doubled in the first half of the year, customs data shows, as a global AI boom cemented computing hardware’s place as a key economic growth engine. In the first six months of this year, China exported 179.44 billion integrated circuits (ICs) worth a total of US$177.28 billion – up more than 96 per cent year on year – according to data released by the General Administrat...
A record 24 students from 15 schools have scored perfect marks in Hong Kong’s university entrance exams, but the proportion of day-school candidates meeting the minimum admission requirements fell slightly to 36.8 per cent, a drop an education consultant attributed to weaker performance in the two core language subjects. The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority released the candidates’ ...
A record 24 students from 15 schools have scored perfect marks in Hong Kong’s university entrance exams, up from 17 last year, with 36.8 per cent of day-school candidates meeting the minimum admission requirement. The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority released the results of the Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) on Tuesday. Most DSE subjects are graded on a seven-level scale from ...
A young Chinese man has been dubbed “Yunnan’s strongest matchmaker” for his funny matchmaking videos that turn clients’ flaws into advantages. The 24-year-old man from southwestern China’s Yunnan province, who goes by the nickname Panlong, has amassed nearly three million online followers. He went viral for a series called “A matchmaker’s language skills”, in which he boasted about his clients in ...
Rosmah Mansor has slapped Malaysian comedian Harith Iskander with a defamation lawsuit over a stand-up comedy routine that allegedly mocked and insulted her. Rosmah, the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, filed the writ of summons at the High Court on June 9. According to her statement of claim, the alleged defamation occurred during Harith’s performance, titled “Harith Iskander:...
