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The man accused of attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump at a White House reporters’ gala last month pleaded not guilty to all charges on Monday. Cole Allen, 31, did not speak in court as his lawyer entered the plea on his behalf. The charges include attempted assassination of the president, assault on a federal officer and firearms offences. Prosecutors allege Allen fired a shot...
Chinese technology companies and researchers turned out in force at a leading global artificial intelligence conference, despite mounting questions over whether they might avoid the event as a consequence of tense relations between Beijing and Washington. Papers with contributors from mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for over 51 per cent of accepted submissions, compared with just under 32 p...
A US congressional commission is pressing President Donald Trump to confront his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping over detained Americans when the leaders meet this week, warning that silence would leave Beijing free to “use human beings as bargaining chips”. The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), in a letter to Trump dated May 7, aired concerns over the growing threat arising from ...
Hong Kong authorities have prepared 50,000 sandbags and several water-filled flood barriers to brace for the coming typhoon season, while enhancement works at the high-risk Tseung Kwan O promenade are set to be completed by the end of this year. The Civil Engineering and Development Department on Monday also introduced new guidelines on shoreline management for communities, property managers and b...
The ruling Labour Party’s dire results in local and regional elections in the UK late last week had damaged Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s authority and could lead to policy shifts, Chinese experts said. While some in Starmer’s might push for changes in policy towards China, a U-turn on the government’s pro-engagement strategy was unlikely, the observers said, arguing that Britain’s economic positi...
The next round of US-China trade talks appears to be a rushed precursor intended to set the stage for President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing, according to analysts who expect only modest deliverables from the negotiations. Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng will meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in South Korea this week, both sides have confirmed, marking the latest in a series of dipl...
Hong Kong restaurants applying for a licence that allows dogs to enter their premises will have to remove hotpot from their menus or change their eatery layouts to comply with regulations and ensure food and pet safety, authorities have said. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) also said on Monday that officers would patrol the 1,000 licensed premises every day in the first month ...
A former Polish justice minister sought in his homeland for alleged abuse of power says he has travelled from Hungary to the US, prompting prosecutors in Poland to say on Monday that they are investigating whether he was assisted in evading liability. Zbigniew Ziobro was a key figure in the government led by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party that ran Poland between 2015 and 2023. ...
In the Johor palace where Malaysia’s once-dominant ruling party was born, Umno’s leaders posed on Monday with the country’s king in a carefully staged reminder of the power they commanded for six decades – and the influence they now hope to reclaim. The United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the Malay nationalist party that led Malaysia from independence until its shock election defeat eight ...
Huawei Technologies’ little-known chip research lab has been thrust into the national spotlight as Beijing flexes its technology muscles ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China later this week. The Chip Fundamental Technology Research Laboratory was featured for the first time on national television on Friday, when Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei hosted Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang a...
China’s position in Latin America is far from collapsing, looking at the number of countries in the region that have switched diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing. But in parts of the continent, governments are increasingly reassessing what their relationships with Beijing are delivering economically and politically. The shift is becoming visible in countries such as Honduras, Venezuela and Cuba...
The pace of electrification on western Europe’s roads is likely to fire up sales of Chinese-developed smart cars, where they could command a 20 per cent share of the regional market in 2028 at the expense of local peers, according to a JPMorgan forecast. Chinese carmakers from BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) builder, to Stallentis-backed Leapmotor, were expected to deliver 2.5 milli...
A Hong Kong electric commercial vehicle solutions company has teamed up with a mainland Chinese manufacturer to launch an electric minibus tailored for the city’s roads, as the government works towards phasing out fossil-fuel commercial vehicles by 2035. Home-grown Wai Lik New Energy unveiled the new models on Monday, with founder Ng Chi-wai saying the vehicles were engineered specifically for the...
The relationship between mainland China and Taiwan is not one of state-to-state relations, Chang Rong-kung, vice-chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), the island’s main opposition party, told Beijing’s top official on Taiwan affairs on Monday. Chang met Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the Communist Party’s No 4 official, at the opening day of the thi...
An outlying island ferry struck a barrier at a typhoon shelter in Hong Kong shortly after midnight on Monday, with passengers recalling being jolted and struggling to retrieve life jackets as they were stranded on the vessel for more than an hour. The small crowd was returning home on Mother’s Day on Sunday and caught the last ferry to Mui Wo at 12.30am the next day from Central ferry pier No 6. B...
Keir Starmer came under renewed pressure on Monday when four ministerial aides stepped down and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly called for the British prime minister’s resignation after his appeal for another chance seemingly fell on deaf ears. At an address to the party faithful in London, Starmer had made an impassioned plea to both his party and voters to stick with him and avoid a lead...
Keir Starmer came under renewed pressure on Monday when four ministerial aides stepped down and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly called for the British prime minister’s resignation after his appeal for another chance seemingly fell on deaf ears. At an address to the party faithful in London, Starmer had made an impassioned plea to both his party and voters to stick with him and avoid a lead...
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been told by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and other senior cabinet ministers to consider setting out a timeline for his departure, the Times newspaper reported on Monday. The newspaper reported that Mahmood was one of at least three cabinet ministers to suggest that the prime minister needs to consider his position. Starmer came under renewe...
Embattled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Monday to prove his “doubters” wrong, as he sought to quell a growing threat to his leadership following disastrous local and regional polls. Starmer pledged his ruling Labour party would do “better” as he tried to convince angry and restless lawmakers to back him in a crunch speech designed to reset his flagging premiership. “I know that peop...
Chinese youth are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) for fortune-telling, discovering that AI models are cheaper, faster, and equally effective compared to traditional human soothsayers. On a popular Chinese social media platform, the hashtag #deepseeksuanming, or DeepSeek fortune-telling, has amassed over 55 million views. DeepSeek is a family of Chinese AI models launched in 20...
A leading Chinese aviation engineer has set out a detailed blueprint for building a fully self-sufficient supply chain for large passenger jets. The paper, written by Zhang Yanzhong, a senior academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the former chief scientist of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, acknowledged there was a very real risk that the country could be cut off ...
A leading Chinese aviation engineer has set out a detailed blueprint for building a fully self-sufficient supply chain for large passenger jets. The paper, written by Zhang Yanzhong, a senior academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the former chief scientist of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, acknowledged there was a very real risk that the country could be cut off entire...
Hong Kong is expected to play a greater role in major national clinical research projects and scientific breakthroughs, a mainland health official has said, pledging stronger support for local researchers at an annual medical conference. The remarks were made by a National Health Commission official at the Hospital Authority Convention on Monday, where the authority’s chief also pledged to introdu...
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives on Monday, but her immediate Senate trial was thrown into uncertainty after a surprise leadership coup in the upper chamber. Analysts told This Week in Asia that the “razor-thin” majority of Alan Peter Cayetano – the newly installed Senate president and a long-time Duterte ally – could s...
Philippine lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly backed the impeachment of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, setting the stage for a trial in the Senate that could end her hopes for a presidential run in 2028. The petition was backed by 255 of 318 lawmakers on Monday, surpassing the one-third threshold required. A House justice committee had last month found probable cause for her impeachment in...
Philippine lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly backed the impeachment of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, setting the stage for a trial in the Senate that could end her hopes for a presidential run in 2028. The petition was backed by 255 of 318 lawmakers on Monday, surpassing the one-third threshold required. A House justice committee had last month found probable cause for her impeachment in...
Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet for trade talks in Seoul on Wednesday, probably to iron out final details before a presidential summit in Beijing the following day. The discussions would focus on “economic and trade issues of mutual concern”, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday. The country also confirmed that US President Donald Trump will ...
A report from Canada’s spy agency that identifies Khalistani extremism as a national security threat may accelerate a diplomatic reset with India, even as analysts say allegations of interference by New Delhi continue to cloud the relationship. Delhi has long complained that a small number of Sikh separatist extremists have used Canadian soil to organise, raise funds and support violence connected...
An American national and a French woman evacuated from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, officials said Monday, as the complex operation to repatriate those on board continued. The French woman, one of five passengers from France flown back from the MV Hondius and placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back posi...
An American national and a French woman evacuated from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, officials said Monday, as the complex operation to repatriate those on board continued. The French woman, one of five passengers from France flown back from the MV Hondius and placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back posi...
