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Hong Kong domestic helper arrested for alleged murder of 93-year-old employer
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Hong Kong domestic helper arrested for alleged murder of 93-year-old employer

Hong Kong police have arrested a domestic helper on suspicion of murdering her 93-year-old employer, a cancer survivor who lived alone, with an investigation suggesting she was repeatedly assaulted in the hours before her death. The elderly woman was found unresponsive in her flat in Long Yiu House at Tak Long Estate in Ngau Tau Kok on Sunday morning, police said. The 52-year-old helper, hired to ...

Former HSBC executive launches wealth platform powered by team of AI agents
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Former HSBC executive launches wealth platform powered by team of AI agents

A former top executive at HSBC has launched an artificial intelligence-driven wealth management start-up, setting her sights on a billion-dollar valuation and betting that AI can transform how individuals manage their investments and finances. Trista Sun, formerly a managing director in the international wealth and premier banking division at HSBC, said in an interview last week that her venture E...

Smokescreen politics? Malaysians mock Indonesian official’s ‘we send oxygen’ haze defence
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Smokescreen politics? Malaysians mock Indonesian official’s ‘we send oxygen’ haze defence

Malaysians have reacted with sarcasm and disbelief to an Indonesian official’s claim that his country provides the region’s oxygen, as toxic smoke from forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan chokes neighbouring nations. Syahganda Nainggolan, head of Indonesia’s government communications agency, prompted the backlash after invoking his country’s forests when questioned on Saturday about the severe ...

China bets on molten salt and CO2 to help meet its power needs
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China bets on molten salt and CO2 to help meet its power needs

China has begun building the world’s first utility-scale power plant combining two emerging technologies: supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) generation and large-scale molten salt energy storage. The Ruitan project, under construction at a coal-fired power station in Yantai in eastern China’s Shandong province, is intended to demonstrate how combining these technologies can reduce energy wastage a...

Malaysian PM Anwar’s new budget tackles corruption, but critics ask: is it too late?

Malaysian PM Anwar’s new budget tackles corruption, but critics ask: is it too late?

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With his reformist credentials battered by coalition compromises and a looming general election, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has used his 2027 budget to launch a fresh wave of anti-corruption measures. But as his government nears its four-year mark, analysts warn that restoring public confidence will require more than additional funding and tighter legislative oversight. The measures, a...

Malaysian PM Anwar’s new budget tackles graft, but critics ask: is it too late?

Malaysian PM Anwar’s new budget tackles graft, but critics ask: is it too late?

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With his reformist credentials battered by coalition compromises and a looming general election, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has used his 2027 budget to launch a fresh wave of anti-corruption measures. But as his government nears its four-year mark, analysts warn that restoring public confidence will require more than additional funding and tighter legislative oversight. The measures, a...

How China harnesses AI microdramas to shape public opinion at home and abroad

How China harnesses AI microdramas to shape public opinion at home and abroad

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Beijing is rapidly scaling up the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to produce short-form videos and microdramas in its publicity campaigns, aligning with directives stressing technology’s role in strengthening ideological work and guiding public opinion. In contrast to sensational tropes dominating AI content across Chinese media platforms – such as Cinderella romance, rebirth for revenge and p...

Brake-pedal failures in luxury EV put Chinese cars’ quality in regulatory spotlight

Brake-pedal failures in luxury EV put Chinese cars’ quality in regulatory spotlight

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A safety failure spotted in tests of a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) made by a Huawei Technologies-backed luxury brand has raised doubts about the cars many consumers view as a source of national pride, while prompting regulators to step up policing of quality and reliability. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), along with three other ministry-level authorities, published d...

‘A pack of lies’: Abby Choi’s mother rejects claims Kwong family repaid her debts

‘A pack of lies’: Abby Choi’s mother rejects claims Kwong family repaid her debts

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The mother of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung has denied in court that she was repeatedly in debt because of gambling, calling her former son-in-law’s claim that he had financially supported her “a pack of lies”. Cheung Yin-fa accused Alex Kwong Kong-chi on Monday of acting unscrupulously by demanding the return of HK$150,000 (US$19,113) in shopping expenses she owed him, while failin...

Singapore tops global air pollution ranks again, rolls out haze subsidies

Singapore tops global air pollution ranks again, rolls out haze subsidies

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Singapore again ranked as the world’s most polluted city on Monday, according to Swiss-based air quality monitor IQAir, as the fires on Borneo and Sumatra islands – intensified by a turbocharged El Nino weather phenomenon – keep emitting toxic haze. The city state has rolled out subsidies for haze-related medical treatment and schools were closed in parts of neighbouring Malaysia, as both countrie...

DeepSeek’s cost-saving AI may lead to inaccuracy in model performance: research

DeepSeek’s cost-saving AI may lead to inaccuracy in model performance: research

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New research has exposed a potential flaw in the memory-saving technology underpinning DeepSeek’s models, marking a rare challenge to a breakthrough that has helped the Chinese artificial intelligence lab close the gap with US rivals OpenAI and Anthropic with its low-cost approach. The findings were published late last month in a paper led by researchers from ByteDance and co-authors affiliated wi...

Beijing sanctions Paraguayan and Belizean ministers over support for Taiwan

Beijing sanctions Paraguayan and Belizean ministers over support for Taiwan

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Beijing on Monday sanctioned Paraguayan and Belizean government ministers over the Taiwan issue, after the two nations sealed deals with Taipei in recent months. Gustavo Villate, Paraguay’s minister of information and communication technologies, and Francis Fonseca, Belize’s minister of foreign affairs, foreign trade, education, culture, science and technology were sanctioned, effective from Monda...

Australian man rejects UAE links to Flydubai cockpit attack: ‘false accusations’

Australian man rejects UAE links to Flydubai cockpit attack: ‘false accusations’

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A Melbourne man whose Islamic community centre has been linked by prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates to the co-pilot who allegedly attacked the captain of a Flydubai jet has hit out at “false accusations”. The Omani co-pilot, now in custody in the UAE, had drawn inspiration from al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 suicide attacks, and carried out his attempt “with the aim of causing the greatest po...

Australian man rejects UAE links to Flydubai cockpit attack

Australian man rejects UAE links to Flydubai cockpit attack

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A Melbourne man whose Islamic community centre has been linked by prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates to the co-pilot who allegedly attacked the captain of a Flydubai jet has hit out at “false accusations”. The Omani co-pilot, now in custody in the UAE, had drawn inspiration from al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 suicide attacks, and carried out his attempt “with the aim of causing the greatest po...

Goldman Sachs president urges market reforms to boost Shanghai as financial hub

Goldman Sachs president urges market reforms to boost Shanghai as financial hub

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Goldman Sachs president John Waldron has called on China to loosen foreign exchange rules, ease cross-border data restrictions and improve regulatory transparency as the country’s policymakers seek to strengthen Shanghai’s role as an international financial centre. Waldron, also the investment bank’s chief operating officer and widely seen as a front runner to succeed its current CEO David Solomon...

Goldman Sachs president urges market reforms to boost Shanghai’s financial hub role

Goldman Sachs president urges market reforms to boost Shanghai’s financial hub role

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Goldman Sachs president John Waldron has called on China to loosen foreign exchange rules, ease cross-border data restrictions and improve regulatory transparency as the country’s policymakers seek to strengthen Shanghai’s role as an international financial centre. Waldron, also the investment bank’s chief operating officer and widely seen as a front runner to succeed its current CEO David Solomon...

US can choose to deport Hongkongers under Deferred Enforced Departure scheme

US can choose to deport Hongkongers under Deferred Enforced Departure scheme

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United States authorities could deport Hong Kong residents granted extended stay under the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) programme and have not ruled out the option of doing so after a dozen were reportedly detained at local airports. “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is not precluded from placing aliens with such temporary administrative designation into removal proceedings, nor is i...

Minibus driver hospitalised, 18 others injured, after collision with goods truck

Minibus driver hospitalised, 18 others injured, after collision with goods truck

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A minibus driver has been hospitalised after her vehicle collided with a medium goods truck in Hong Kong, causing injuries to 18 others. Police said the accident occurred at around 9.22am on Monday, when a green minibus and a medium goods truck collided on San Tin Highway on the Yuen Long-bound side of the road near Fairview Park. According to police, a total of nine men and 10 women were injured ...

Chinese desalination plant cuts 60% energy use, turns waste brine into industrial salt

Chinese desalination plant cuts 60% energy use, turns waste brine into industrial salt

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A large desalination plant on Bohai Bay has achieved an energy efficiency breakthrough, slashing electricity consumption by more than half while converting millions of tonnes of toxic waste brine into high-value chemical salt. Situated in the Caofeidian industrial zone of Tangshan, Hebei province, the facility recently entered its trial production stage, the state-run Science and Technology Daily ...

Chinese desalination plant cuts 60% energy use by turning waste brine into industrial salt

Chinese desalination plant cuts 60% energy use by turning waste brine into industrial salt

SCMP •

A large desalination plant on Bohai Bay has achieved an energy efficiency breakthrough, slashing electricity consumption by more than half while converting millions of tonnes of toxic waste brine into high-value chemical salt. Situated in the Caofeidian industrial zone of Tangshan, Hebei province, the facility recently entered its trial production stage, the state-run Science and Technology Daily ...

Chinese desalination plant cuts 60% energy use by turning waste brine to industrial salt

Chinese desalination plant cuts 60% energy use by turning waste brine to industrial salt

SCMP •

A large desalination plant on Bohai Bay has achieved an energy efficiency breakthrough, slashing electricity consumption by more than half while converting millions of tonnes of toxic waste brine into high-value chemical salt. Situated in the Caofeidian industrial zone of Tangshan, Hebei province, the facility recently entered its trial production stage, the state-run Science and Technology Daily ...

Trump’s China-savvy spokeswoman, Hong Kong trail emergencies: 5 weekend reads you missed

Trump’s China-savvy spokeswoman, Hong Kong trail emergencies: 5 weekend reads you missed

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We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump’s new spokeswoman is a ‘devoted fan’ who lived in Beijing and speaks Chinese 2. Hong Kong hiker dies, Singaporean teen discharged after 2 trail emergencies 3. How a museum masterpiece’s life-...

Shares in Malaysia’s Genting tumble by most in 28 years

Shares in Malaysia’s Genting tumble by most in 28 years

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Share in Genting plunged by the most in 28 years after the leisure group controlled by Malaysian billionaire Lim Kok Thay announced plans to raise about 1.25 billion ringgit (US$306 million) through a renounceable rights issue. The stock fell as much as 17 per cent to 1.56 ringgit, the biggest decline since 1998. The issue price would be fixed at a discount ranging between 25 and 30 per cent, Gent...

‘Just a little spark’: disability advocate on inclusion, belonging in Hong Kong

‘Just a little spark’: disability advocate on inclusion, belonging in Hong Kong

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Greater awareness of disability in Hong Kong has not necessarily made it easier for people with disabilities to find work, according to advocate Faride Shroff, who says tighter corporate budgets and a difficult job market have made the next stage of inclusion more challenging. Shroff, founder of SENsational Foundation, said employers that recruit people with disabilities also need to provide guida...

AirAsia founder denies state bailout talks despite insiders’ claims

AirAsia founder denies state bailout talks despite insiders’ claims

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AirAsia co-founder Tony Fernandes met with officials from Malaysia’s finance ministry two weeks ago to discuss potential government support for Southeast Asia’s largest low-cost airline, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The talks reflect growing government concerns about the financial health of the country’s largest domestic carrier following a spike in jet fuel prices, the ...

Hong Kong’s ‘AI city brain’ could undergo testing next typhoon season: Eric Chan

Hong Kong’s ‘AI city brain’ could undergo testing next typhoon season: Eric Chan

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Hong Kong’s artificial intelligence management system could take shape and be tested as early as the typhoon season next year, the government’s No 2 official has said, adding that the project will give authorities a “full picture” of the city once it is in full swing. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said the “AI city brain” system aime...

Indonesia finds orangutans saved from wildfires a new home

Indonesia finds orangutans saved from wildfires a new home

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Indonesian authorities and conservation workers have successfully moved eight ⁠orangutans to a safe ⁠location after the endangered ⁠primates’ homes were destroyed by wildfires in the forests of Borneo. The Southeast Asian nation is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, mainly on Sumatra and Borneo islands, and the ‌government has warned the blazes could continue until November, aggravat...

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: educator who removes death’s stigma through culture

Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: educator who removes death’s stigma through culture

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Joseph Lau Yui-yip has taken students to cemeteries, funeral parlours and heritage exhibitions because he believes some parts of Hong Kong culture are best understood outside the classroom. Lau heads the student affairs department of Polytechnic University’s college of professional and continuing education and has spent years researching subjects ranging from funeral customs to a little-known Hakk...

China grass-roots singer shoots to fame after saving delayed Hacken Lee concert with 2-hour set

China grass-roots singer shoots to fame after saving delayed Hacken Lee concert with 2-hour set

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A grassroots singer in China rose to fame after standing in for Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee, giving an impromptu two-hour set after Lee was delayed. On the evening of September 26, the touring concert Hear Yourself, featuring six acclaimed singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, was held in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, in northern China, Shenzhen TV reported. Lee was scheduled to give the grand finale perfo...