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A three-year-old has died after finding himself trapped in a car in the Paris region in extreme heat, a prosecutor said on Thursday, the third such fatality this week. The boy had slipped into the family car while his father thought he was napping, then found himself unable to get out with the child lock in the town of Saint-Gratien, the prosecutor said, after a police source and civil defence als...
Lessons from the Iran war suggest that China’s ageing Dongfeng-15B short-range missiles may be more useful in penetrating modern missile defences than previously thought, according to military analysts. The suggestion surfaced this month in an article published by Ordnance Science and Technology which said that missiles with biconic manoeuvring re-entry vehicles (MRVs) could achieve a penetration ...
HK Electric has announced a nearly 34 per cent rise in its fuel charge, after a double-digit increase last month, as the war in the Middle East contributed to a “significant rise” in global fuel prices. The utility, which mainly serves Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island, also warned on Thursday that the charge was expected to continue rising. HK Electric announced it would adjust its fuel charge fo...
Chinese internet giants are increasingly moving beyond software and into semiconductor design, betting that proprietary chips will give them greater control over computing infrastructure as artificial intelligence workloads surge and geopolitical tensions hamper access to advanced foreign technology. Short video giant Kuaishou is the latest to ride the wave, after its chip spin-off TranStreams rai...
Deep-seated structural rivalry and lingering regulatory barriers are likely to limit any thaw in China-US ties, even though last month’s summit put a temporary floor under the fragile relationship, an expert from China’s top state-affiliated think tank has warned. Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Dalian on Thursday, Zhao Hai, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)...
British hygiene brand Dettol faced significant backlash in China for an advertisement perceived as objectifying women, prompting an apology and the removal of the commercial. Legal experts indicate it may have violated local laws and could face potential penalties. Dettol issued an apology on June 22 regarding its latest advert for laundry sanitiser. The four-minute commercial, presented as a micr...
Hong Kong’s deadliest inferno in decades was a result of a “systemic failure” in public policy, two fire engineering experts have said, citing the lack of strategies to fight flames on the facades of high-rise buildings and the prolonged use of combustible materials in “temporary” works. An independent committee inquiry heard on Thursday that last year’s Wang Fuk Court fire was unprecedented in ma...
There is a one in five chance that a packet of coffee beans sold in Europe contains residues of pesticides thought to have been erased during roasting, and in some cases include banned sprays that cause cancer, according to new research. There is a “systemic pattern” of pesticides showing up again and again in beans from most major production regions, says Coffee Watch, a US-based non-profit organ...
A zoo in Japan has issued a stern warning after a visitor is seen aiming a laser pointer at Punch, the baby macaque who became a viral sensation, in an online video. The Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chiba prefecture told The Japan Times on Thursday that it received a call a day earlier about a YouTube video posted last week showing someone shining a laser on Punch. “It’s unacceptable...
China has identified a rare coral reef blue hole within Scarborough Shoal, a hotly contested feature in the South China Sea that is now a major flashpoint in the region. A marine blue hole is a deep, circular sinkhole in the ocean and is typically bright turquoise or emerald green. Unlike most of the world’s known blue holes – which were once caves on land thousands of years ago during the last ic...
Late Hong Kong actress Barbara Chan Man-yee embodied “unconditional love”, her son said at her memorial service on Thursday, attended by leading figures from the city’s entertainment industry, including director Johnnie To Kei-fung and actress Ada Choi Siu-fun. A private service for the veteran actress was held at St Andrew’s Church in Tsim Sha Tsui, the same venue where her husband, actor Liu Kai...
The Indonesian tourism ministry’s proposal to expand visa-free entry to more countries risks bringing in “low-quality tourists”, its immigration chief has said, asking the government to reconsider the decision. “We do not want visitors who do not contribute positively. When visas are waived, we effectively give up a source of state revenue. We must also protect the dignity of the nation,” Immigrat...
Hong Kong’s equality watchdog is seeking about HK$250,000 (US$31,900) in compensation for the family of a domestic helper who was sacked by her employer in 2019 after being diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer and later died. The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) launched legal proceedings under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance in 2020 against Jamil Bushra for firing Baby Jane Allas i...
The recent bumper growth in Hong Kong exports spilled into May as they expanded by 40.8 per cent year on year, with artificial intelligence-related products continuing to fuel already robust overseas demand. Provisional figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on Thursday showed that the total value of exports rose to HK$611.2 billion (US$77.95 billion) last month, following a near...
In July 2024, India’s weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a leading gauge of stocks in developing economies, hit a record high of 19.99 per cent. At the time, this was less than three percentage points below China’s weight, which at one point was as high as 43 per cent. Between 2022 and 2024, India was the darling of emerging market equity investors. The combination of the country’s fast-gr...
China opened a top-level optical computing laboratory in Shanghai in June after a string of breakthroughs in the field that could help get around US curbs on its development of artificial intelligence (AI). A decade after optical computing and next-generation photonics were made national priorities, China last year began limited production of locally designed photonic chips. These transmit and pro...
Chinese chip suppliers led by Huawei Technologies and Cambricon Technologies, together with tech giants developing their own silicon, are set to capture nearly 80 per cent of the domestic AI server market this year, further squeezing global rivals such as Nvidia, according to TrendForce. Geopolitical tensions continue to erode the position of Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and other foreign suppli...
Japan and South Korea should build a stronger security alliance to anchor regional stability as US commitment to East Asia becomes less certain, former Japanese foreign and defence minister Taro Kono said on Wednesday. “I think it is indispensable for peace and stability for East Asia that Japan and Korea create a very strong security alliance, not just the economy. Japan and Korea need to sit dow...
New Zealand has seen a surge in Chinese tourists since it began testing an easier pathway for visitors via Australia. The government began a 12-month trial in November that exempted Chinese and Pacific people from visa requirements if they were travelling from Australia. Officials estimated that after six months the new option has resulted in a 40 per cent increase in Chinese visitor arrivals, Tou...
Philippine authorities successfully foiled another possible school attack in Leyte province just two days after Monday’s deadly shooting in Tacloban City, thanks to a timely tip from Senator Bam Aquino. The senator, nephew of former president Corazon Aquino, informed Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla of the threat on Wednesday night. “At 8 o’clock last night, Senator Bam Aquino called me up and ga...
A lawmaker and an expert have called for stronger monitoring of wildlife trafficking in Hong Kong after police arrested a woman upon discovering a crocodile on the balcony of her flat and another 63 animals inside. Kenis Yang, chief operating officer of the non-governmental organisation Hong Kong Society of Herpetology Foundation, said on Thursday that authorities should increase inspections and p...
A lawmaker and an expert have called for stronger monitoring of wildlife trafficking in Hong Kong after police arrested a woman upon discovering a crocodile on the balcony of her flat and another 63 reptiles inside. Kenis Yang, chief operating officer of the non-governmental organisation Hong Kong Society of Herpetology Foundation, said on Thursday that authorities should increase inspections and ...
Hong Kong police have arrested a woman after the discovery of a 1.5-metre-long (4.9 feet) crocodile on her balcony led to authorities finding about 100 more reptiles in her home, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said police officers and staff from the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) returned to the flat at midnight on Thursday after finding the crocodil...
A financially strained, unemployed man in China who ordered a set of fried rice on a food delivery platform not only received a larger portion of rice but also an apprenticeship offer from the restaurant. The young man, surnamed Wan, shared his experience on social media in mid-June, with the video attracting 40 million views and nearly four million likes as internet users praised the restaurant o...
A man in Singapore posed as his ex-girlfriend and shared her nude photos in a sex chat group with a religious theme, but was exposed when the victim caught wind of it and went undercover to investigate. The victim, who was a teenager when she shared the photos with the culprit, was horrified to discover that the chat group contained many obscene images and videos of women clad in religious garb, i...
The number of China-Japan flights scheduled by airlines for the coming summer travel period – the peak months of July and August – has dropped by 57 per cent versus a year ago following a political flap and a price hike in Japanese visas, according to industry data. A total of 2,629 round-trip flights were expected next month between the two Asian countries, down from 6,317 in July last year. In A...
The number of China-Japan flights scheduled by airlines for the upcoming summer travel period – the peak months of July and August – has dropped by 57 per cent versus a year ago following a political flap and a price hike in Japanese visas, according to industry data. A total of 2,629 round-trip flights were expected next month between the two Asian countries, down from 6,317 in July last year. In...
Robin Zeng Yuqun, head of the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery maker, has played down expectations for the much-hyped solid-state battery technology, predicting an inflection point would not take place until 2030. The founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) also warned on Tuesday that commercial viability of the next-generation batteries was yet to be establ...
Last October, at a Gaza peace summit in Egypt, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto leaned towards his US counterpart Donald Trump and asked, “Can I meet Eric?” Prabowo was referring to the American president’s son. Trump responded warmly in the exchange that was picked up on a hot microphone. “I’ll have Eric call. He’s such a good boy.” Eric and his brother Donald Trump Jnr both serve as executi...
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it may never be known who was at fault for a deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran on February 28, the first day of the Iran war, that killed scores of children. Reuters first reported in March that an initial internal US military investigation showed US forces were likely responsible for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran. The Pentagon has si...
