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At least 111 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake
SCMP

At least 111 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake

A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people, injuring 87 and damaging hundreds of buildings, President Abelardo de la Espriella said. The president declared an emergency, which will expedite funding for the earthquake recovery, and said he would visit the disaster zone, centred around the rural region of Choco. “The national government has ⁠al...

At least 79 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake
SCMP

At least 79 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake

A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 79 people, trapping residents under debris of collapsed buildings and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far as the capital of Bogota. The epicentre was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 400km (250 miles) west of Bogota, the US Geological Survey and Colom...

At least 69 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake
SCMP

At least 69 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake

A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 69 people, trapping residents under debris of collapsed buildings and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far as the capital of Bogota. The epicentre was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 400km (250 miles) west of Bogota, the US Geological Survey and Colom...

At least 47 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake
SCMP

At least 47 dead in Colombia after magnitude 7.4 earthquake

A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 47 people, trapping residents under debris of collapsed buildings and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far as the capital of Bogota. The epicentre was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 400km (250 miles) west of Bogota, the US Geological Survey and Colom...

At least 20 dead in Colombia after 7.4-magnitude earthquake

At least 20 dead in Colombia after 7.4-magnitude earthquake

SCMP

A fatal earthquake hit western Colombia on Monday morning, burying people in the South American nation under rubble and causing severe destruction to buildings and infrastructure in the Pacific region and the central Andes. At least 18 people died in the western city of Pereira - about 300 km (190 miles) from the capital Bogota - in the 7.4 magnitude quake, Mayor Mauricio Salazar said. “The situat...

At least 18 dead in Colombia after 7.4-magnitude earthquake

At least 18 dead in Colombia after 7.4-magnitude earthquake

SCMP

A fatal earthquake hit western Colombia on Monday morning, burying people in the South American nation under rubble and causing severe destruction to buildings and infrastructure in the Pacific region and the central Andes. At least 18 people died in the western city of Pereira in the 7.4 magnitude quake, Mayor Mauricio Salazar said. “The situation is critical,” Salazar told Caracol Radio. The ear...

Colombia hit by 7.4-magnitude earthquake

Colombia hit by 7.4-magnitude earthquake

SCMP

A major earthquake hit western Colombia on Monday morning, burying people in the South American nation under rubble and causing severe destruction to buildings and infrastructure in the Pacific region and the central Andes. The magnitude 7.4 tremor struck at 7:34 am local time near the town of San José del Palmar in Choco province, according to the US Geological Survey. There was at least one afte...

Colombia, Ecuador hit by 7.4-magnitude earthquake

Colombia, Ecuador hit by 7.4-magnitude earthquake

SCMP

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, shaking the South American nation and neighbouring Ecuador and prompting people to evacuate homes and buildings. The epicentre was in San Jose Del Palmar, a municipality in the Choco region about 400km (250 miles) west of Colombia’s capital, Bogota, the US Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart reported. The USGS said it ...

China, India and Pakistan’s dangerous nuclear triangle just became more complicated

China, India and Pakistan’s dangerous nuclear triangle just became more complicated

SCMP

The China-India-Pakistan triangle has never been short on danger, but Islamabad’s new defensive alliance has added another variable to an already volatile situation. Last week, Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia signed a pact in Mecca in which they agreed to treat an armed attack on one as an attack on all. The three governments have described it as defensive and not directed at any particular stat...

UK water firm gives US$1.35 million payout to finance boss despite massive debt

UK water firm gives US$1.35 million payout to finance boss despite massive debt

SCMP

Thames Water has handed a delayed £1 million (US$1.35 million) “golden handshake” payment to its chief financial officer and agreed controversial retention payouts to top bosses despite its battle to secure its financial future. The stricken supplier, which is sinking under a debt pile of more than £20 billion, disclosed in a letter to the Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that it ha...

Enterprise AI costs hit 2026 low driven by price wars, Chinese open-source models: research

Enterprise AI costs hit 2026 low driven by price wars, Chinese open-source models: research

SCMP

The cost for businesses to run AI models has fallen to a yearly low, according to research by investment bank Jefferies, driven by a heated global price war and a surge in adoption of low-cost Chinese open-source tools, such as those from DeepSeek. Average inference prices – measured per million tokens, or chunks of data handled by a model – ranged between US$1.16 and US$1.18 from August 6 to 8. T...

Uber partners with Hong Kong firm to launch its first premium service outside US

Uber partners with Hong Kong firm to launch its first premium service outside US

SCMP

Uber has partnered with a Hong Kong transport operator to launch its first premium service outside the United States, but local lawmakers have stressed the move is unrelated to the firm’s push for a larger licence quota under a coming regulatory regime. The US-based company partnered with Kwoon Chung Bus to introduce Uber Elite, which offers pre-booked rides in Mercedes-Benz vehicles for up to six...

Powerful anti-drone laser spotted on PLA amphibious ship in South China Sea

Powerful anti-drone laser spotted on PLA amphibious ship in South China Sea

SCMP

China’s most advanced laser weapon has been spotted aboard a Type 071 amphibious landing ship in the South China Sea, adding near-shore anti-drone capabilities to a family of warships vital for potential conflicts in sensitive waters, according to analysts. In a People’s Liberation Army joint air and naval drill at Scarborough Shoal on August 1, a shipborne laser weapon believed to be the Liaoyuan...

Lululemon rival Alo Yoga enters China market with online store on Alibaba’s Tmall

Lululemon rival Alo Yoga enters China market with online store on Alibaba’s Tmall

SCMP

Los Angeles-based yoga apparel brand Alo Yoga, a rival of Lululemon, will open its first online flagship store on Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce platform Tmall on Wednesday, ahead of launching bricks-and-mortar stores in China. The move comes as China’s premium “athleisure” market grows increasingly competitive, with emerging yoga brands and domestic sportswear makers targeting similar consume...

China challenges Western ‘tribute system’ theory in push to control its narrative power

China challenges Western ‘tribute system’ theory in push to control its narrative power

SCMP

Beijing is stepping up efforts to challenge the Western concept of the “tribute system”, arguing that foreign frameworks distort ancient Chinese diplomacy and misrepresent the country’s contemporary global rise. China is redoubling efforts to define its own practices, experiences and ideas through original, home-grown social science language rather than through what it says are Western conceptual ...

US does its robotics industry no favours by fencing it off from China

US does its robotics industry no favours by fencing it off from China

SCMP

Concession speeches follow a formula: the vocabulary of defiance, thanks to the faithful, a promise that the fight goes on. Last month, Brendan Carr, chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), essentially delivered one on behalf of American robotics. Acting on findings from a White House task force, Carr added new foreign-made humanoid robots, quadrupeds and power inverters to the...

Russia says 13 killed in Ukraine drone attack on oil-refining city 900km from Moscow

Russia says 13 killed in Ukraine drone attack on oil-refining city 900km from Moscow

SCMP

At least 13 people were killed, including a child, and 39 injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on industrial and ‌civilian targets in the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk, authorities said on Monday, one of the heaviest civilian tolls in the country in months. The city is a major oil-refining and petrochemical centre in the Tatarstan republic, according to local officials. Its refining and petrochemical...

Russia says 13 killed in Ukraine drone attack on oil-refining area 900km from Moscow

Russia says 13 killed in Ukraine drone attack on oil-refining area 900km from Moscow

SCMP

At least 13 people were killed, including a child, and 39 injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on industrial and ‌civilian targets in the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk, authorities said on Monday, one of the heaviest civilian tolls in the country in months. The city is a major oil-refining and petrochemical centre in the Tatarstan republic, according to local officials. Its refining and petrochemical...

AI zombie video on Singapore’s National Day sparks talk – is this the future of film?

AI zombie video on Singapore’s National Day sparks talk – is this the future of film?

SCMP

When Singaporeans tuned in to watch the annual National Day Parade on Sunday, an AI-generated short film depicting a zombie apocalypse version of the event has generated buzz in the city state. The four-minute-long Bersama Majulah, a spin-off from the human-written, artificial intelligence-generated Spore Fall video series, shows a spore pathogenic outbreak spreading across the fictional city of L...

China hits US, Mexican pecans with preliminary anti-dumping curbs

China hits US, Mexican pecans with preliminary anti-dumping curbs

SCMP

Beijing has issued a preliminary ruling that the United States and Mexico are dumping pecans into the Chinese market and harming domestic producers, according to the Ministry of Commerce. “Over the injury investigation period, the volume of dumped imports rose by a cumulative 104.56 per cent and their share of the domestic market increased by 9.69 percentage points,” the ministry said in a stateme...

7 in 10 Gen Z Hongkongers retouch photos of themselves before posting: survey

7 in 10 Gen Z Hongkongers retouch photos of themselves before posting: survey

SCMP

Nearly 70 per cent of Gen Z in Hong Kong have retouched photos of themselves before posting on social media, while about half rate their well-being below the international standard, according to a survey exploring self-criticism among the city’s youth. The survey, released on Monday, polled 983 residents aged 11 to 30 to examine the relationship between young people’s photo-editing habits, self-co...

AgiBot overtakes Unitree as top global humanoid robot vendor in first half amid IPO push

AgiBot overtakes Unitree as top global humanoid robot vendor in first half amid IPO push

SCMP

China’s AgiBot has surpassed its domestic rival Unitree Robotics to become the world’s largest humanoid robot vendor in the first half of 2026, according to new research, as both industry heavyweights prepare for public listings amid a physical AI boom. Shanghai-based Agibot captured 44 per cent of the global market after shipping roughly 8,400 humanoid robots from January to June, San Francisco-b...

Beijing official hails China and Cuba as ‘good brothers’ in show of solidarity

Beijing official hails China and Cuba as ‘good brothers’ in show of solidarity

SCMP

The head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, Liu Haixing, hailed China and Cuba as “good brothers” during a meeting with Cuban officials in Havana, in a show of solidarity as Washington ramps up pressure on the island. According to an official Chinese readout, Liu on Sunday held talks with Emilio Lozada Garcia, the Communist Party of Cuba’s international relations chief, des...

Why Taiwan is conducting its first-ever mobile network throttling exercise

Why Taiwan is conducting its first-ever mobile network throttling exercise

SCMP

Taiwan is conducting its first-ever mobile network throttling exercise this week to test how the public responds to wartime communications disruptions, a new civil defence measure that has sparked criticism over the government’s preparedness. The exercise, held in central Taiwan on Monday and planned for northern Taiwan on Thursday, will simulate severe mobile network congestion by reducing 4G and...

Why Taiwan is conducting its first-ever mobile network-throttling exercise

Why Taiwan is conducting its first-ever mobile network-throttling exercise

SCMP

Taiwan is conducting its first-ever mobile network throttling exercise this week to test how the public responds to wartime communications disruptions, a new civil defence measure that has sparked criticism over the government’s preparedness. The exercise, held in central Taiwan on Monday and planned for northern Taiwan on Thursday, will simulate severe mobile network congestion by reducing 4G and...

As US marks 75 years of defence pact with Philippines, can it stay the course?

As US marks 75 years of defence pact with Philippines, can it stay the course?

SCMP

The Philippines and the United States are marking the 75th anniversary of their defence alliance with a renewed pledge to step up joint drills as geopolitical tensions in the region continue to simmer. While the allies are moving towards more frequent planning for maritime security cooperation and deterrence, there are still questions about Washington’s long-term commitment towards the security of...

Malaysia’s RX-Z faithful fight stigma of illegal street racing after deadly biker festival

Malaysia’s RX-Z faithful fight stigma of illegal street racing after deadly biker festival

SCMP

A string of deadly motorcycle accidents around Malaysia’s biggest Yamaha RX-Z gathering has intensified calls for the annual event to be scrapped, but enthusiasts say the backlash unfairly conflates a vast owners’ community with illegal street racers. More than 200,000 devotees of the discontinued motorcycle converged on Terengganu, on Malaysia’s east coast, earlier this month for RXZ Members 8.0,...

Hong Kong trophy-home demand runs deep, as Stanley luxury sale tops US$19m

Hong Kong trophy-home demand runs deep, as Stanley luxury sale tops US$19m

SCMP

A buyer with the same name as the founding chairwoman of a global immigration consultancy has bought a detached house in a luxury residential development in southern Hong Kong for over US$19 million, adding to a string of big-ticket deals as demand for trophy homes remains resilient despite a broader slowdown. Yi Bing signed an agreement for the purchase of House 11 at One Stanley on Wong Ma Kok R...

Man jailed for accidentally killing girlfriend during abusive ‘weight-loss’ regime

Man jailed for accidentally killing girlfriend during abusive ‘weight-loss’ regime

SCMP

A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to three years and nine months in jail for unwittingly suffocating his girlfriend to death while trying to dispose of her body after she passed out during a supposed weight-loss programme that required her to avoid sleeping. The High Court on Monday accepted that former abattoir worker Ng Ka-sing was genuinely remorseful and had little likelihood of reoffending, ...