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DeepSeek has finally released its much-anticipated next-generation open-source foundational AI model, V4, which it said was competitive with leading US closed-source models from the likes of OpenAI and Google DeepMind. DeepSeek released two versions of the model on Friday, with the V4-pro model boasting 1.6 trillion parameters, making it the Hangzhou start-up’s biggest ever model, while the smalle...
Taiwanese analysts have broadly welcomed a new US Navy plan to deploy thousands of uncrewed surface vessels across the Indo-Pacific by 2030, saying it could complicate Beijing’s military planning and strengthen deterrence. But they also warned that unless Taipei pressed ahead with its own stalled drone fleet ambitions, the approach might offer Taiwan only limited direct benefit, given Washington’s...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The head of the Fire Services Department (FSD) testified on the 19th day of evidential hearings looking at Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades – the most senior official to appear before the investigating committee so far. Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The head of the Fire Services Department (FSD) will give evidence on the 19th day of evidential hearings into Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, becoming the most senior official to testify to date. Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung Yan-kin appeared befo...
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. The head of the Fire Services Department will give evidence on the 19th day of evidential hearings into Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, becoming the most senior official to testify to date. Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung Yan-kin will appear before ...
The job ads posted on several Philippine military forums on Facebook in 2023 looked enticing. “We are hiring regional security researcher,” said a notice bearing the emblem of Janes – the well-known international aerospace and military technology publisher. It came with an eye-watering offer: “US$1,000-US$5,000.” “Send us your CV,” the ad urged, giving Viber and WhatsApp numbers as well as an emai...
Fifteen years after one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters, this part of the Fukushima coast feels stuck in the aftermath. Empty lots where homes once stood. Signs warning of restricted access. Convoys of construction trucks carrying radioactive dirt and materials. And then, improbably, a tour bus. Visitors are flowing into barely inhabited towns, attracted for the most part by the very catast...
An overhaul of listing and trading rules has driven a 16-year-old board for start-ups on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to an all-time high, and traders believe the listed companies’ above-average earnings growth and exposure to renewable energy will extend the record-setting run. The ChiNext 50 Index of the board’s 50 biggest stocks and the ChiNext Composite Index both broke highs set in 2015 this w...
A 51-year-old cancer patient who collapsed on a Cathay Pacific Airways flight to Hong Kong from the United Kingdom was pronounced dead on Friday morning. Flight CX216 took off from Manchester and landed at Hong Kong International Airport at 6.52am on Friday, with police receiving a report about the man’s condition at 6.16am. The passenger, Shum Chung-lai, had suffered from pancreatic cancer since ...
A 51-year-old man who fainted on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong from the UK was pronounced dead on Friday morning. Flight CX216 took off from Manchester and landed at Hong Kong International Airport at 6.35am on Friday. Police said they received a report about the man’s collapse at 6.16am, adding that the deceased had a history of illness. The South China Morning Post has reached out to the ...
Albert*, a 68-year-old retiree in the Philippines, was struggling to log into the country’s Social Security System app in August last year when a man rang to offer help. The caller said he worked for the government pension fund, the website was down for maintenance and a new app had just been rolled out. To prove he was genuine, he sent Albert his full name, Social Security number, and home addres...
The signal is clear. In the first quarter of this year, just three C919 aircraft were delivered – two to China Southern Airlines and one to Air China. For a Chinese programme expected to deliver more than 30 of these home-grown narrowbody airliners this year, the gap between ambition and reality has opened up quickly. Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) delivered 15 C919s last year, f...
A Shanghai grandmother has been nicknamed the “telephone booth princess” for persisting in her post as a public phone booth manager for 33 years. Shen Yuxiu, who is in her 80s, manages the city’s last staffed booth. She looks after two very old landline phones. Everyday she arrives at 9am and stays until 8pm. Despite the fact that the booth is located on Fuzhou Road, which connects Shanghai’s two ...
Hongkonger Dominique Li and his wife spent a two-day break earlier this month in Shenzhen to soak up the cultural vibe, a short getaway they said would not be their last. The 45-year-old engineer, who lives in Tin Shui Wai in the northwestern New Territories, was particularly drawn to a new landmark, Shenzhen Bay Culture Square in Nanshan district. He treated his visit to Shenzhen like a trip to H...
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers and supply-chain vendors, from Tesla rivals Xpeng to Nio and lidar sensor producer Hesai Group, will display their technological advances on a new front – in-car chips – at the Auto China show in Beijing as the country’s automotive industry makes rapid progress. Carmakers and vendors are designing and developing chips to power autonomous driving and in-car ente...
A landmark warship deal between Australia and Japan is expected to drive further defence technology cooperation between the two Asia-Pacific nations, comparable in scope to Canberra’s security arrangements with Washington. Analysts say the agreement with Tokyo will also help Canberra address navy shortfalls and reduce its overreliance on the US at a time of great volatility. Australian Defence Min...
US President Donald Trump’s “gold card” visa, where a foreigner can shell out at least US$1 million to legally live and work in the US, has been approved for one person, said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday – appearing to fall a bit short of an earlier claim. After it launched in December, Lutnick said that the government had sold US$1.3 billion “worth” in just several days, as Trump st...
China has launched a bond-market-connect scheme with Brazil, Chinese media outlets reported this week, marking the first such link among emerging markets. Schemes such as this one, often dubbed “connects” between Chinese bond or stock markets and their offshore counterparts, typically allow investors to bypass special permits or capital-flow controls when trading on either side’s exchanges. China ...
A US special forces soldier involved in the military operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has been charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than US$400,000 in an online betting market, federal officials announced Thursday. Gannon Ken Van Dyke was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified informatio...
A US soldier has been charged with using inside information to win US$400,000 in an online betting market on Venezuelan President Maduro’s capture, federal officials announced on Thursday. Gannon Ken Van Dyk was part of the work to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New Y...
US President Donald Trump’s close ally, Senator Steve Daines, will lead a bipartisan delegation to China next week, according to sources, even as Washington steps up pressure on Beijing over trade, technological competition, and its ties to Iran, ahead of a closely watched leaders’ summit on May 14-15. According to people familiar who requested anonymity, the five-member delegation led by Daines, ...
US President Donald Trump’s close ally, Senator Steve Daines, will lead a bipartisan delegation to China next week, according to sources, even as Washington steps up pressure on Beijing over trade, technological competition, and its ties to Iran, ahead of a closely watched leaders’ summit on May 14-15. According to people familiar who requested anonymity, the five-member delegation led by Daines, ...
US President Donald Trump reposted a video and comments from a conservative pundit calling India a “hellhole”, prompting the South Asian country on Thursday to criticise the remarks as “inappropriate”. The comments come ahead of a planned visit next month to India by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who would seek to turn the page on recent tensions between the normally friendly powers. Trump la...
US confrontations with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz point to future American attempts to contain China via maritime chokepoints, a Chinese policy adviser has warned, suggesting that Beijing boost its naval presence in the region. In a policy recommendation addressed to Beijing, Gu Dingguo, an East China Normal University research fellow in neighbourhood diplomacy and security, said the Iran war ...
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to extend their ceasefire by three weeks after a second round of negotiations between their envoys in Washington, despite reports of violations of the truce from both sides. US President Donald Trump announced the extension on social media, saying Washington “is going to work with Lebanon in order to protect itself from Hezbollah”. “The Ceasefire between Israe...
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to extend their ceasefire by three weeks after a second round of negotiations between their envoys in Washington, despite reports of violations of the truce from both sides. US President Donald Trump announced the extension on social media, saying Washington “is going to work with Lebanon in order to protect itself from Hezbollah”. “The Ceasefire between Israe...
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire would be extended by three weeks, despite sporadic fighting on the ground. “The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” Trump said in a social media post as he met envoys of Israel and Lebanon. He added that he saw a “great chance” of an Israel-Lebanon peace deal this year. With Trump st...
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire would be extended by three weeks, despite sporadic fighting on the ground. “The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” Trump said in a social media post as he met envoys of Israel and Lebanon. He added that he saw a “great chance” of a Israel-Lebanon peace deal this year With Trump stru...
US President Donald Trump will meet Lebanese and Israeli envoys at a new round of peace talks on Thursday, with Beirut seeking a one-month extension of a shaky ceasefire set to expire. With Trump struggling to push Iran into a deal on the wider regional war, the US is hoping for progress on Lebanon, which Israel has pounded in response to Hezbollah fire. The talks, previously planned at the State ...
US President Donald Trump told the BBC on Thursday that British King Charles’ coming state visit to the United States could “absolutely” help rebuild strained ties between the two countries. Charles heads to the US on Monday for a four-day trip, with transatlantic tensions over the Iran war and scandals linked to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatening to intrude on the landmark visit...
