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Hong Kong’s media should eliminate falsehoods and expand their global reach, the chief executive has said, urging news workers to serve as “spokespeople” for good stories about mainland China and Hong Kong. Speaking on Tuesday at an event marking the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, city leader John Lee Ka-chiu outlined his two expectations for the industry. He f...
The US and China need to improve communication, work together more closely and more fully embrace technology to stem risks associated with artificial intelligence, the founder of Nvidia said on Monday. “We should recognise that we’re competitors, and competitors are still able to collaborate,” said Jensen Huang, head of the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalisation of about US$5....
Last year, Japan was flooding its rice market with emergency stockpiles in a bid to mollify voters angered by the soaring price of its staple grain. Now, it has the opposite problem: a glut. That is welcome news for shoppers, but the whiplash is hurting people like Hiroshi Asano, 59, who farms a relatively large 38 hectares (93 acres) of rice fields in Chiba, close to Tokyo. He expects to make a l...
We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Bangkok declares flood disaster across city as thousands flee from homes Entire Bangkok neighbourhoods were inundated on Saturday as the city government declared a flood ...
US chip giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire World Labs, the artificial intelligence start-up founded by renowned Chinese-American computer scientist Li Fei-Fei, for US$8.2 billion in an all-stock deal, as the company steps up its rivalry with Nvidia. The acquisition, expected to close by the end of this year, would integrate World Labs’ research team and spatial-intelligence m...
A Hong Kong man who allegedly installed pinhole cameras in the changing rooms of a popular gym chain has been released on bail pending the identification of victims. Construction site foreman Fung Kwok-wang, 34, was not required to answer a count of voyeurism during his first appearance at Sha Tin Court on Tuesday, as prosecutors sought an eight-week adjournment for further police inquiries. Actin...
A Hong Kong man who allegedly installed pinhole cameras in the changing rooms of a popular gym chain has been released on bail pending the identification of victims. Construction site foreman Fung Kwok-wang, 34, was not required to answer a count of voyeurism in his first appearance at Sha Tin Court on Tuesday, as prosecutors sought an eight-week adjournment for further police inquiries. Acting Pr...
The ocean drilling ship Mengxiang has returned from its first expedition in the South China Sea, where it set a national depth record and obtained basalt core samples that could help to unravel the region’s tectonic history. The 30-day expedition organised by the China Geological Survey tested the operational capabilities of the world’s most powerful deep-ocean drilling ship, according to a report...
US prosecutors reopened an investigation Monday into an alleged gang rape at Cornell University following claims the elite college failed to properly punish the men involved. The alleged victim said in a civil lawsuit this month she was drugged with ketamine, assaulted and raped in 2024 by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, a social club for male students. Cornell closed the fraternity and t...
A 77-year-old couple gunned down their son-in-law in a California city park over the weekend, authorities said, and court documents showed the victim had been in a bitter custody dispute with their daughter. Jonathan McKinsey, a 40-year-old gaming engineer for The New York Times, was shot to death Saturday afternoon in the car park of a sports complex in Dublin, east of San Francisco. A police ser...
Hong Kong is set to welcome 1.29 million mainland Chinese visitors over the National Day “golden week” break, fuelling questions online about what locals and tourists can do during the celebrations. On popular mainland social media platform RedNote, many users have recommended a range of activities, such as visiting the countryside, exploring the Unesco Global Geopark in Sai Kung, cycling and watc...
China plans to complete a geological map of Mars by the end of 2028, as the red planet increasingly features in its space rivalry with the United States. Hou Zengqian, chief scientist of China’s next Mars mission known as Tianwen-3, on Monday said the map would cover the entire surface of the planet and it aimed to be the global standard for the Martian geological ages. State news agency Xinhua re...
A young Chinese wife selflessly donated her kidney to her husband suffering from uraemia because she “did not want to lose him,” despite the success rate being less than 10 per cent. In September, Liang, 25, donated her left kidney to her husband, Chung, at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University. Chung, 33, has congenital megaureter, a condition present from birth that invol...
Travel companies in southern Japan are pinning their hopes on a business revival following a planned visit by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to the areas hardest hit by a major earthquake this summer. The imperial couple is scheduled to meet communities in Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday, speaking with families who lost their homes and businesses and are currently living in temporary accommoda...
The official opening of the Pinglu Canal on September 16 is a milestone in modern Chinese history. More than an infrastructural feat, it signals a strategic recalibration of how China’s inland economies connect with the sea and Southeast Asia, and augurs the next phase of regional growth. Designed for vessels of up to 5,000 tonnes, the 134.2km (83.4 mile) waterway stretches from the Xijin reservoi...
Australian industrial property developer Goodman Group has withdrawn an application to develop a 24-hour data centre on Sydney’s north shore following public push back. Goodman said it would not proceed with its Project Mars development application after considering evolving federal and state policy and community feedback. Policy and regulation around large artificial intelligence data centres had...
A Chinese team has set a world record for the most autonomous underwater drones operating at the same time, deploying more than a hundred of the small robots in a swimming pool test. The Guinness World Record for “most autonomous underwater vehicles operating simultaneously” was set by a team from Northwestern Polytechnical University in collaboration with Xian Tianhe Maritime Technologies. The tr...
Hong Kong is bracing for a surge of mainland Chinese visitors to its eco-sensitive areas during the National Day “golden week” holiday, as strong interest in countryside attractions raises questions over whether the city can absorb crowds without overwhelming popular sites. A review of discussions on Chinese social media platform RedNote on Monday by the South China Morning Post found Po Pin Chau,...
Japan risks being pulled into a spiral of online disinformation about foreign crime that is stoking xenophobia and playing into the hands of the far-right, researchers warn. The trend is reportedly deepening divisions within Japanese society and creating a feedback loop that experts say will be difficult to break. In August, Constella Security Japan, a Tokyo-based cybersecurity firm commissioned b...
A US judge blocked the Trump administration on Monday from conditioning counterterrorism funds to state and local governments on changes to election administration. The decision by Washington-based US District Judge Amir Ali marks the latest defeat for US President Donald Trump in his bid to increase the federal government’s authority over elections ahead of the November 3 midterms, when his Repu...
US soybean farmers have described the exclusion of US soybeans from China’s import list under the newly announced Board of Trade mechanism as a “missed opportunity”, even as Beijing ramped up purchases of the crop ahead of last week’s summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. The trade forum, unveiled by both sides on Sunday, covered a range of US agricultural prod...
Israel’s domestic security service filed a complaint against a television channel that reported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UAE, his office said on Monday, the government’s first acknowledgement of the trip despite not naming the destination. “This evening the Shin Bet filed a complaint with the Chief Military Censor, demanding that Channel 12 be prosecuted to the fullest extent ...
Israel’s domestic security service filed a complaint against a television channel that reported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UAE, his office said on Monday, the government’s first acknowledgement of the trip despite not naming the destination. “This evening the Shin Bet filed a complaint with the Chief Military Censor, demanding that Channel 12 be prosecuted to the fullest extent ...
Pope Leo on Monday said concerns that artificial intelligence could destroy the world are not “fake news” and should be taken seriously, in an apparent rebuke of US President Donald Trump. The first US pope, who has warned of the dangers of AI throughout his 16-month papacy, also directly criticised technology CEOs who argued there should be no guardrails on the technology. “I do think that the...
Pope Leo on Monday said concerns that artificial intelligence could destroy the world are not “fake news” and should be taken seriously, in an apparent rebuke of US President Donald Trump. The first US pope, who has warned of the dangers of AI throughout his 16-month papacy, also directly criticised technology CEOs who argued there should be no guardrails on the technology. “I do think that the...
The US-China AI competition faces a dilemma. Both countries see artificial intelligence as a source of economic, scientific and strategic power, so neither has much incentive to slow down. Yet the more capable and autonomous AI becomes, the more important the question of human control. Last week’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping brought that tension into t...
China will stand by Cuba in defending its sovereignty and resisting outside interference, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday as Washington stepped up its campaign to force political change in Havana. Guo made the remarks at a regular press briefing in Beijing on the 66th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. “No matter how the international landscape evol...
The Trump administration is revoking the visas of 27 Latin American officials, former officials and their families, including Bolivia’s attorney general, over accusations of corruption. The officials and their families come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – all nations with right-leaning leaders friendly with President Donald Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador...
The Trump administration is revoking the visas of 27 Latin American officials, former officials and their families, including Bolivia’s attorney general, over accusations of corruption. The officials and their families come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – all nations with right-leaning leaders friendly with President Donald Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador...
The Trump administration is revoking the visas of 27 Latin American officials, former officials and their families, including Bolivia’s attorney general, over accusations of corruption. The officials and their families come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – all nations with right-leaning leaders friendly with President Donald Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador...
