Chinese AI chips fall short on coding, forcing firms to stretch scarce Nvidia supply
SCMP

Chinese AI chips fall short on coding, forcing firms to stretch scarce Nvidia supply

Chinese AI companies are optimising software to cope with surging demand for inference, as part of that workload still relies on computing power from a limited pool of high-end chips amid restricted access to Nvidia processors. Compared with training an artificial intelligence model, which relies on high-end chips, inference – a later phase in which the trained model applies its knowledge to proce...

China’s falling gaokao numbers offer a revealing snapshot
SCMP

China’s falling gaokao numbers offer a revealing snapshot

Every summer, China’s gaokao, the national higher education entrance examination, provides an unusually revealing snapshot of household expectations. The critical metrics are not average scores or admission volumes. They are the choices families make about how their children will spend four years of their lives. The 2026 examination attracted 12.9 million registered candidates. This is a decline f...

America’s favourite vegetable could be hit by California drought: Over 90% of fresh broccoli comes from the state

America’s favourite vegetable could be hit by California drought: Over 90% of fresh broccoli comes from the state

Times of India

The ongoing drought in California threatens the broccoli supply of the entire nation. Estimates indicate that shipment reductions could exceed twenty percent if conditions worsen. Experts propose that by growing more broccoli on the East Coast, costs related to supply chains could decrease and food miles reduced, leading to a more robust and dependable broccoli market across the country.

GCSE results: girls still ahead but gender gap narrows as hundreds of thousands of pupils receive grades – as it happened

GCSE results: girls still ahead but gender gap narrows as hundreds of thousands of pupils receive grades – as it happened

The Guardian

Nearly a quarter of girls’ entries received one of the higher grades against around a fifth of those from boysAlmost one in four boys in England get top grades in mathsMyles McGinley, managing director of the Cambridge OCR exam board, said more pupils are taking GCSE business studies than in previous years, describing this generation of young people as “increasingly entrepreneurial”.He said busine...

Hong Kong’s rare plot incentive will help resurrect decaying districts, analysts say

Hong Kong’s rare plot incentive will help resurrect decaying districts, analysts say

SCMP

A rare Hong Kong government incentive for developers will help revive old neighbourhoods such as Sham Shui Po, where more redevelopment projects have stalled amid a sluggish property market, analysts have said. They said on Thursday that the bonus plot ratio pilot scheme, due to launch next month, would provide private developers with a financial incentive to redevelop the city’s older neighbourho...

‘You have got to go’: former NSW minister tells Icac ‘something strange at play’ when she was sacked by Perrottet

‘You have got to go’: former NSW minister tells Icac ‘something strange at play’ when she was sacked by Perrottet

The Guardian

Eleni Petinos tells inquiry her sacking as a minister in Dominic Perrottet’s government was potentially motivated by her reluctance to get rid of the building commissionerGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe former New South Wales fair trading minister Eleni Petinos has given evidence at a corruption inquiry that she may have been used by fellow Liberals to try to get rid...

Malaysia’s Anwar to visit China next month with an eye on building trade ties

Malaysia’s Anwar to visit China next month with an eye on building trade ties

SCMP

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is planning a visit to China next month – his first in over a year – as the Southeast Asian country looks to deepen trade ties with Beijing. According to people familiar with the planning, Anwar is slated to make a three-day visit to China in late September at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang, with stops in Shanghai and Hangzhou. The trip does not include a...

Henderson Land posts 66% profit surge after run of strong sales

Henderson Land posts 66% profit surge after run of strong sales

SCMP

Henderson Land Development, one of Hong Kong’s largest developers, reported a 66 per cent rise in its interim profit for the first half of the year following a strong run of property sales, according to its filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. The developer, controlled by the family of its late founder Lee Shau-kee, said its unaudited underlying profit attributable to equity share...

EU’s von der Leyen warns of ‘escalating campaign of threats’ as Romania destroys naval drone – Europe live

EU’s von der Leyen warns of ‘escalating campaign of threats’ as Romania destroys naval drone – Europe live

The Guardian

Device was near country’s Neptun Deep gas platform in the Black SeaRomania’s military has destroyed a marine drone spotted just “a few hundred meters” from the Neptun Deep platform, a major offshore gas project in the Black Sea.The drone, spotted just “a few hundreds of meters” from the gas extraction works at the Neptun Deep platform located some 80 miles east of the city of Constanța, was destro...

Why do hard-sell beauty tactics persist in Hong Kong – and when can consumers fight back?

Why do hard-sell beauty tactics persist in Hong Kong – and when can consumers fight back?

SCMP

From arrests linked to the Hong Kong operations of beauty chain Opatra London to a surge in online complaints against other skincare brands, high-pressure sales tactics remain widespread and continue to take a toll on consumers. Why do such malpractices remain widespread despite the city’s Trade Descriptions Ordinance, which criminalises aggressive commercial practices that significantly impair a ...

Como mayor bans bikes in city centre after being hit ‘by one of these beasts’

Como mayor bans bikes in city centre after being hit ‘by one of these beasts’

The Guardian

Alessandro Rapinese denies accusation he is waging personal vendetta against cyclists amid a public backlashThe mayor of Como set the wheels of controversy in motion for banning bikes in the walled historic centre of the lakeside city after being hit by one.Alessandro Rapinese’s ban, which comes into force in September, targets about 30 streets and means cyclists, whether it be those on e-bikes or...

Founder of China’s Evergrande jailed for life after pleading guilty to fraud

Founder of China’s Evergrande jailed for life after pleading guilty to fraud

The Guardian

Hui Ka Yan also forfeits all his personal property and the company he set up is given hefty finesBusiness live – latest updatesThe founder of Evergrande, one of China’s largest property developers, has been sentenced to life in prison and had all of his personal property confiscated.Hui Ka Yan, 67 and once named by Forbes as China’s richest man, with a net worth of $42.5bn (£31.2bn) in 2017, plead...

How China can turn its ‘blue cradle’ into a bridge with Southeast Asia

How China can turn its ‘blue cradle’ into a bridge with Southeast Asia

SCMP

China has spent 80 years building formidable marine science capabilities. The harder test now is whether it can build rules for ocean data that its neighbours trust – and share. When China’s first department of oceanography was established in 1946, the country had only a modest capacity to study the seas around it. China now commands one of the world’s most extensive marine science enterprises, wi...

More than a dozen killed as Kyiv comes under intense Russian bombardment

More than a dozen killed as Kyiv comes under intense Russian bombardment

The Guardian

Missile and drone attack one of heaviest since war began, with children’s hospital and residential areas hitEurope live – latest updatesA heavy Russian missile and drone bombardment has killed at least 15 people in and around Kyiv in one of the most intense aerial attacks on Ukraine’s capital since the start of the war.Vitali Klitschko, the city’s mayor, said homes, a school and a children’s medic...

Brazilian mother and daughter create seven-bedroom home from more than 8,000 glass bottles

Brazilian mother and daughter create seven-bedroom home from more than 8,000 glass bottles

Times of India

A visionary mother and daughter duo transformed sustainability into an art form, building a seven-room home out of more than 8,000 recycled glass bottles. Incorporating elements like reclaimed wood and toothpaste tubes, this remarkable endeavor addresses the dual challenges of beach pollution and housing shortages in Brazil. Named the Salt House, it stands as a sustainable residence and an inspiri...