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We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. UN bloated, costly, but China fears to keep US involved, House committee told The United Nations is bloated, costly, badly in need of reform, and too often works against US interests, but pull...
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Quad summit plan turns uneasy as India pushes ahead without top leaders: sources A stretch of awkward diplomacy was unfolding in the Indo-Pacific in April: New Delhi was planning to host a forei...
US technology companies should stay in China, despite persistent political pressure for their exit, to capitalise on revenue potential and stifle local competition while monitoring consumer trends, according to a Washington-based policy think tank. Sales generated by American firms within China can be reinvested in research and development back in the United States, thereby helping “sustain US inn...
Hong Kong recorded a 4.8 per cent increase in mainland Chinese visitors in the first three days of the Labour Day “Golden Week” holiday, but industry players warned that uneven spending and more flexible travel patterns could weigh on business despite hotel occupancy rates potentially reaching 90 per cent. Immigration Department data showed mainlanders made 714,765 visits into the city between May...
The US stock market is holding tentatively near its record heights on Monday, while oil prices climb with uncertainty about when oil tankers can resume crossing the Strait of Hormuz and restore the world’s flow of crude. Duelling claims about a possible Iranian strike on a US Navy vessel in the strait heightened the tensions. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent, coming off its latest all-time high. T...
Wall Street dipped and oil prices jumped early on Monday on conflicting reports of a strike by Iran on a US Navy vessel outside the Strait of Hormuz. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.2 per cent before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 per cent. Nasdaq futures dipped 0.1 per cent. Oil prices initially jumped 5 per cent on the news that a US ship had be...
A couple in their late eighties have been found dead in a To Kwa Wan flat, prompting Hong Kong police to launch an investigation. A security guard at Lok Seen Lau, a residential block in Lok Man Sun Chuen estate on Kau Pui Lung Road, reported a strange smell coming from the flat at around 4.15pm. Firefighters forced entry into the flat and discovered the couple, an 89-year-old man and his 87-year-...
Amid the trade war with the United States, the last thing China needs is an economic confrontation with the European Union – Beijing’s major export destination. But with the EU seemingly determined to protect its market by introducing measures that many see as controversial, an economic stand-off appears inevitable. When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen blamed China last June for...
A green group has spotted people landing on an uninhabited island in the southern Hong Kong waters known to be a regular breeding site for a seabird species during mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday, which coincides with its breeding season. Terns, known as “sea swallows”, are seabirds with typically white or light grey streamlined bodies, long pointed bills and forked tails. While ...
A green group has spotted people landing on an uninhabited island in the southern Hong Kong waters known to be a regular breeding site for a seabird species during mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday, which coincides with its breeding season. Terns, known as “sea swallows”, are seabirds with typically white or light grey streamlined bodies, long pointed bills and forked tails. While ...
A lift technician has died after being struck by a large piece of falling metal while carrying out maintenance work inside a shaft at a luxury estate in Hong Kong, according to an initial police investigation. The 26-year-old man was working inside the shaft on the eight floor of Block 4 of Pacific View on Tai Tam Road in Stanley while three other colleagues were on the upper floor on Monday, a fo...
A worker died after falling 10 metres (33 feet) down a lift shaft he was repairing at a luxury estate in Hong Kong on Monday. A security guard at Block 4 of Pacific View on Tai Tam Road in Stanley reported the accident to police at 2.40pm. Rescue personnel pulled the unconscious 26-year-old worker from the shaft, but he had suffered head injuries and was certified dead at the scene. Police said th...
Austria declared three Russian diplomats personae non gratae over an “antenna forest” on the roofs of diplomatic buildings that could be used for spying, the government said on Monday. Numerous satellite dishes placed on buildings used by the Russian state in Vienna, particularly a residential complex for diplomatic staff, have long attracted the attention of Austria’s main domestic intelligen...
Internal splits over defence spending are widening within Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, ahead of this year’s local elections. The party is facing growing pressure from the United States over its response to a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special defence budget put forward by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to fund the purchase of arms from the US and the deve...
A Hong Kong government-backed artificial intelligence lab is preparing to launch a new model built on DeepSeek that can run entirely on Chinese-made chips. The Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Centre (HKGAI) plans to unveil its HKGAI-V3 model in the first half of this year as it looks to export its “sovereign AI” capabilities to overseas markets. The system was based on DeepSeek V4...
Yan Huichang will step down as the artistic director of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in July 2027 after three decades at the helm, the group has announced. But the 70-year-old Shanxi province native would stay on as the orchestra’s honorary artistic director and conductor for life, as well as chairman of its artistic committee and head of its orchestral academy, the group said on Monday. “This ...
An American woman has died after plunging from a Hong Kong hotel’s 29th-floor pool deck, injuring seven people on the ground floor, one seriously. The 69-year-old, a US passport holder who had reportedly suffered from depression and stopped taking medication in March, was staying at Hotel Indigo on Queen’s Road East in Wan Chai with her husband, a police source said. Her husband reportedly left th...
A weekend shooting at a lakeside park in Oklahoma that left nearly two dozen people injured erupted when a group began arguing at an unsanctioned party packed with young adults, a witness said on Monday. Authorities were continuing to search for suspects on Monday in the shooting that critically injured at least three of those hurt. No arrests have been made. It was not clear how many of the injur...
A shooting on Sunday night at a party at a lake near Oklahoma City sent least 13 people to hospitals, according to police and hospital officials. Edmond police spokesperson Emily Ward said authorities received reports of shots being fired at about 9pm at a gathering of young people near Arcadia Lake. She said on late Sunday that no arrests had been made yet. “This is obviously a very terrifying si...
A shooting on Sunday night at a party at a lake near Oklahoma City sent least 12 people to hospitals, according to police and hospital officials. Edmond police spokesperson Emily Ward said authorities received reports of shots being fired at about 9pm at a gathering of young people near Arcadia Lake. She said on late Sunday that no arrests had been made yet. “This is obviously a very terrifying si...
Hong Kong authorities have proposed amending gambling laws to tighten oversight of claw machines and other amusement games with prizes by issuing individual licences for each device to prevent addiction. In a document released by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau on Monday, officials called for a mandatory regime for internet cafes, requiring operators to apply for a licence or an exemption rather...
A Bangladeshi man who jumped onto the train tracks to shield his baby with his body as a train ran over them has gained kudos but also criticism from social media users after a video went viral. The family had been travelling on the Dhaka-bound Titas commuter train at Bhairab Railway Station, according to a report by Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Sun. When the train, which was delayed by about 1½ ho...
North Korean athletes are set to step onto South Korean soil for the first time in eight years, raising hopes that sports could again help ease bilateral tensions even as Pyongyang continues to define Seoul as a hostile state. Naegohyang Women’s FC of North Korea have confirmed their participation in the 2025–2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League (AWCL). “We have been in...
North Korean athletes are set to step onto South Korean soil for the first time in eight years, raising hopes that sports could again help ease bilateral tensions even as Pyongyang continues to define Seoul as a hostile state. Naegohyang Women’s FC of North Korea have confirmed their participation in the 2025–2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League (AWCL). “We have been in...
A transgender student has taken a Hong Kong school to court, alleging “discriminatory” policies requiring short hair in line with her sex assigned at birth. Lawyers for Oscar Fung King-ho on Thursday sought unspecified damages from the incorporated management committee of Lung Kong World Federation School Limited, Lau Wong Fat Secondary School in Tai Kok Tsui. They said she had faced “public humil...
In an abandoned Norwegian mine last year, an unusual experiment produced results that drew scrutiny in boardrooms and government offices across Europe and helped to spark new regulations pouring fuel on already fiery EU-China relations. Ruter, the public transport authority for greater Oslo, drove new and used electric buses made by Chinese manufacturing conglomerate Yutong into a decommissioned m...
An innovator in China has successfully launched a self-developed low-cost rocket, proving the feasibility of budget space exploration to the world. In February, the 12m Shenzhen Pioneer rocket made local history in China’s remote northeastern Qinghai province, reaching a record altitude of 3,700m and setting a new regional benchmark for liquid rocket launches. Built by a five-person team led by 31...
Hong Kong’s property market is poised for a broad-based recovery as a strong upturn in the residential segment spills over to the struggling office and retail sectors, according to analysts. Morgan Stanley upgraded its forecast for the city’s home prices to a 12 per cent increase this year from 10 per cent previously and anticipated another 5 per cent rise in 2027, it said in a report on Monday. L...
China ordered companies to ignore US sanctions against five oil refiners accused of buying Iranian crude, an unprecedented pushback against American financial measures less than two weeks before a presidential summit. The US action “violates international law and the basic norms of international relations”, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Saturday. The sanctions cover a refinery in Dalian own...
Malaysia’s Umno is making a heady gamble by planning to strike out on its own, experts say, as the former ruling party looks to rally support from among the country’s Malay-Muslim majority in preparation for national polls that must be called in less than two years from now. Umno President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Sunday said the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that the party led was “almost certain”...
