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US President Donald Trump and the head of the Secret Service said on Thursday that the federal agent injured during the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had not been hit by friendly fire, as authorities released a video of the incident. Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor for Washington, posted the footage on social media, saying it showed the suspect shooting th...
Hong Kong public hospitals will extend visiting hours at all rehabilitation and palliative wards from five to nine hours a day by the end of July, with those in central Kowloon and New Territories West expected to roll out the arrangement this month. Danny Tong Wah-kun, the Hospital Authority’s chief manager of nursing, said the authority would also enable round-the-clock visits at all paediatric ...
China has built a state-driven campaign to harvest American data and weaponise it as a strategic asset that could prove critical in a conflict with the US, including over Taiwan, a key advisory committee to the US Congress heard. Experts told the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Thursday that Washington was falling short in countering Beijing’s data-collection drive, one that co...
China’s diplomatic strategy has undergone a conspicuous shift, with Beijing conducting far fewer overseas state visits, opting instead to welcome a steady stream of foreign leaders to the capital. According to data compiled by the South China Morning Post, Beijing is placing greater emphasis on neighbourhood diplomacy and engagement with European middle powers. The changing dynamic reflects Beijin...
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was removing certain tariffs on Scotch whisky after this week’s White House visit by the UK’s King Charles and Queen Camilla. “The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” Trump posted on social media. Trump said people had wanted this change, especially with regard to the wooden barrels i...
Brazil’s Congress on Thursday overturned President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s veto of a law dramatically reducing the prison sentence of his arch-rival Jair Bolsonaro, the second major defeat for Lula in as many days. Former president Bolsonaro, 71, was sentenced last year to 27 years behind bars for coup plotting over his attempt to cling to power after losing the 2022 election to Lula. The left...
Brazil’s Congress on Thursday overturned President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s veto of a law dramatically reducing the prison sentence of his arch-rival Jair Bolsonaro, the second major defeat for Lula in as many days. Former president Bolsonaro, 71, was sentenced last year to 27 years behind bars for coup plotting over his attempt to cling to power after losing the 2022 elections to Lula. The lef...
With Congress again failing to curb US President Donald Trump’s authority over Cuba, the centre of gravity in US policy towards the island is shifting decisively back to the White House – and to a narrower, more consequential question: what comes next? Tuesday’s 51-47 Senate vote to block a Democratic-led war powers resolution on Cuba does not change policy on its own. It was widely expected, refl...
The US Congress on Thursday approved funding for most of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ending a record-breaking partial government shutdown that has disrupted critical agencies for more than two months. The House approved the measure, already passed by the Senate, sending it to US President Donald Trump for signature. It will fund key DHS agencies through the end of the financial year...
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to advance a proposal to bar all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the United States. The agency says about 75 per cent of all US electronics are tested in China and plans to adopt a streamlined approval process for devices tested in US labs or labs from countries ...
Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to house arrest, state media reported on Thursday, over five years after the country’s military ousted a civilian government led by the Nobel laureate and imprisoned her. Suu Kyi, 80, has been detained by the junta since and her whereabouts have been unclear amid a deadly civil war that was triggered by the February 2021 coup that h...
The man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at a black-tie press gala in Washington agreed on Thursday to remain in custody while his case moves forward. The suspect, Cole Allen, 31, would not immediately contest prosecutors’ arguments that he was a danger to the community and should remain in jail, his lawyer, Tezira Abe, said during a court hearing. Allen allegedly storm...
The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela departed a bit early on Thursday on its way to the capital of the South American country, seven years after the US Homeland Security Department ordered an indefinite suspension, citing security concerns. The resumption of a commercial flight between the two countries comes months after the US capture of then-president Nicol...
Beijing’s decision to block Meta Platforms’ proposed acquisition of artificial intelligence firm Manus should not be seen as a restriction on foreign investment, Chinese state media said, urging companies in the sector to “go global when ready” and “pursue partnerships where appropriate”. “What stands out from Meta’s Manus deal is that the AI industry is transcending simple commercial logic,” Yuyu...
A Ugandan-American man was sentenced to death on Thursday over the murders of four young children he stabbed to death at a kindergarten in Uganda’s capital. Christopher Okello Onyum was arrested on April 2 as he tried to flee the day care centre in Kampala where he murdered the children aged 15 months to two-and-a-half years. Prosecutors said Onyum, who holds Ugandan and US citizenship, confessed ...
Artificial intelligence investments by US tech giants continue to soar, dwarfing those of Chinese AI firms, but China’s rising appetite for AI applications will compel its tech companies to increase their AI spending this year, according to analysts. The largest US tech companies are on track for more than US$700 billion in AI capital expenditures this year, driven in part by rising memory costs a...
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into a 15-year-old, suspected of having hacked the country’s ID agency and trying to sell the data of millions of French people on the dark web this month, it said on Thursday. The teenager, whose identity was not revealed, was detained on April 25 and held in police custody for questioning after he was suspected of hiding behind the ni...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described Taipei as “the biggest risk factor” in US-China relations during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Wang said that Beijing and Washington “must safeguard the hard-won stability and make thorough preparations for the coming high-level engagements”, CCTV reported. This appears to refer to po...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Taiwan is “the biggest risk factor in China-US relations” during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The call laid the groundwork for a highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing in mid-May. According to CCTV, Wang said th...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Taiwan is “the biggest risk factor in China-US relations” during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The call laid the groundwork for a highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing in mid-May. According to CCTV, Wang said th...
Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng held a video meeting on Thursday with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. During the call, the Chinese and US sides “engaged in candid, in-depth, and constructive discussions” on “further properly addressing economic and trade issues of mutual concern and expanding practical coop...
Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng held a video meeting on Thursday with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. During the call, the Chinese and US sides “engaged in candid, in-depth, and constructive discussions” on “further properly addressing economic and trade issues of mutual concern and expanding practical coop...
The row between China and Japan has ratcheted up a notch, with Beijing issuing a strongly worded position paper warning that Tokyo would soon be able to produce nuclear weapons. In the document released on Thursday, China called on the United Nations to make Japan’s potential pursuit of nuclear arms an “important agenda item” at an ongoing convention at the organisation’s New York headquarters. Ch...
The US economy accelerated at the start of 2026, expanding at a modest 2 per cent pace from January through March after recovering from last fall’s 43-day federal government shutdown. But the outlook is clouded by the Iran war. The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that gross domestic product – the nation’s output of goods and services – rebounded from a lacklustre 0.5 per cent expansion th...
An official tendering system designed to curb anti-competitive conduct is powerless to combat engineering firms colluding to manipulate Hong Kong’s lucrative building maintenance market, a public inquiry into the city’s deadliest fire in decades has heard. Testifying on the 21st day of an independent committee’s hearing, three Urban Renewal Authority (URA) officials said on Thursday that the statu...
Roblox, a gaming platform popular with kids, announced Thursday that children under 16 in Indonesia will be required to undergo facial scans to verify their age to comply with new restrictions on minors’ use of social media and digital platforms in the country. Nicky Jackson Colaco, Roblox’s vice-president and global head of public policy, announced the changes in a press conference in Jakarta, de...
China has confirmed plans to expand its space station, potentially more than doubling in size to meet growing scientific demand and expand international cooperation. The Tiangong and the International Space Station (ISS) are the only space stations operating in low Earth orbit. The ISS, led by Nasa and built with contributions from 15 countries, is the biggest structure in space and has been a lab...
Chinese investment in the US is unlikely to recover meaningfully from its mid-2010s collapse even if President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump reach a bilateral deal when they meet in Beijing next month, according to a report released on Thursday. Rhodium Group, an American research firm that tracks China’s cross-border investment, said Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Unite...
Hong Kong homebuyers snapped up most of the new flats released on Thursday, with developers beginning to ramp up new construction amid sustained housing demand. All 120 units at the One Victoria Cove I in Hung Hom, jointly developed by Henderson Land Development, Hysan Development and Empire Group, were sold by 5.20pm, according to agents. Meanwhile, New World Development (NWD) and MTR Corp’s Pavi...
The international order is under mounting strain. In recent years, unilateralism, protectionism and the selective application of international law have eroded confidence in the rules-based frameworks that once underpinned global cooperation. The return of Donald Trump to the centre of American politics, along with the policy instincts the US president represents, has only reinforced concerns that ...
