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How does Xi Jinping’s ‘special plane’ compare with Air Force One?
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How does Xi Jinping’s ‘special plane’ compare with Air Force One?

Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington this week, attention is already turning to the aircraft that will carry him and how it stacks up against America’s famous presidential plane. The aircraft carrying China’s leader, often referred to in state media and official statements as a zhuan ji, or special plane, remains far less known to the world than Air Force One, despite both c...

Malaysia’s Anwar faces political reckoning in Melaka as state calls for poll
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Malaysia’s Anwar faces political reckoning in Melaka as state calls for poll

Melaka on Wednesday officially called for a state election – the latest test for Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government, which is already facing an internal feud and growing public frustration over failed reforms. The state assembly was dissolved effective from Wednesday following an official notification sent to the country’s Election Commission the previous day by Ibrahim Durum, the...

Most Singaporeans ready to let AI agents shop for them with more safeguards: study
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Most Singaporeans ready to let AI agents shop for them with more safeguards: study

Singaporeans are among the most open to allowing an artificial intelligence agent to shop for them, but they also want the strictest guard rails, research shows. The latest agentic AI study from Global Payments released on Wednesday indicates the hoops agentic AI will need to jump through to be trusted to make purchases without human intervention. The study, which surveyed seven countries includin...

Rising US scrutiny on clinical trials could threaten China’s biotech advantage: analysts

Rising US scrutiny on clinical trials could threaten China’s biotech advantage: analysts

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China’s edge in fast, cost-effective early clinical trials has propelled its emergence as a global biopharmaceutical powerhouse, but there is a risk that the United States could take steps to curb that advantage, according to analysts. US lawmakers and officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have raised the alarm about American pharmaceutical companies’ growing reliance on conducting e...

Why small quakes in Malaysia’s Sabah are sounding seismic alarms

Why small quakes in Malaysia’s Sabah are sounding seismic alarms

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A series of small earthquakes beneath Keningau, an inland district of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, is drawing attention to a part of the state where scientists say the fault lines are poorly understood and the consequences of a larger quake could be devastating. The latest, a magnitude 3.4 tremor on September 3, was felt in several parts of Keningau, prompting staff at the district office to suspend...

Why small quakes in Malaysia’s Sabah could be sounding seismic alarms

Why small quakes in Malaysia’s Sabah could be sounding seismic alarms

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A series of small earthquakes beneath Keningau, an inland district of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, is drawing attention to a part of the state where scientists say the faults are poorly understood and the consequences of a larger quake could be devastating. The latest, a magnitude-3.4 tremor on September 3, was felt in several parts of Keningau, prompting staff at the district office to suspend a me...

Artworks reveal Chinese rulers and Cixi loved role-playing long before modern cosplay

Artworks reveal Chinese rulers and Cixi loved role-playing long before modern cosplay

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The Qing dynasty’s Empress Dowager Cixi is renowned as a cosplay enthusiast, leaving behind photographs and paintings of herself embodying the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin. However, she was not the first to engage in such role-playing while on the throne. Long before Cixi (1835–1908), the Qing dynasty’s emperors Yongzheng (1678–1735) and his son, Qianlong (1711–1799), indulged in role-playin...

Fissures over US investments stall plans for Chinese business leaders to join Xi visit

Fissures over US investments stall plans for Chinese business leaders to join Xi visit

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Differences between Washington and Beijing over potential investment announcements have created roadblocks for a Chinese business delegation expected to accompany President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US, according to sources. The window for travel is narrowing by the hour for these Chinese business leaders, with Xi expected to arrive in Washington by Wednesday. A source familiar with the disc...

China launches its first commercial radio-tracking satellites in electronic warfare leap

China launches its first commercial radio-tracking satellites in electronic warfare leap

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China has just taken a quiet but critical step in space-based electronic warfare. A Lijian-1 Y18 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China at noon on Sunday, carrying nine satellites. Among them were three Diting-01 satellites, which successfully entered their planned orbit. The trio is named after Diting, a beast from Chinese mythology that crouches beneath the ...

China’s cancer breakthrough on CAR-T cell therapy shows progress

China’s cancer breakthrough on CAR-T cell therapy shows progress

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In June, Chinese regulators approved the world’s first CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumour cancers, developed by a drug company based in Shanghai. One month later, at a hospital in the city, a New Zealander with advanced cancer of the stomach and small intestine became the first international patient to receive the breakthrough treatment. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, to give it its fu...

Shelters warn against poor treatment of warehouse guard dogs in New Territories

Shelters warn against poor treatment of warehouse guard dogs in New Territories

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Poor treatment of guard dogs at warehouses before ditching them in unfamiliar environments could make the animals easier to agitate, rescuers have said, calling for a “trap, neuter and release” approach, among other solutions. Concerns about the handling of stray dogs entered the media spotlight after a 27-year-old woman was discovered along a cycle path in Yuen Long after suffering lacerations to...

Gulf tech firms turn to Hong Kong and Singapore as Iran war grinds on

Gulf tech firms turn to Hong Kong and Singapore as Iran war grinds on

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Paul Bratby had already drawn up plans for expanding to Hong Kong when war broke out in the Middle East earlier this year. But the founder of xBratAI, a Dubai-based AI-powered trading signals platform, soon brought that timeline forward as the Iran conflict dragged on and widened in scope. “Our Hong Kong entity had been scheduled for a few years later, but we established it in early 2026,” he said...

Canada seeks to wrap up India trade talks soon, as US ties fray

Canada seeks to wrap up India trade talks soon, as US ties fray

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that trade negotiations with India are making “good progress” and that the two countries are aiming to conclude talks by the G20 summit in mid-December. Carney also said India had, to his understanding, confirmed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Canada around that time, though the precise date had not been finalised. “We are m...

As Buffett exits, can China win back Wall Street with own brand of his winning formula?

As Buffett exits, can China win back Wall Street with own brand of his winning formula?

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China is betting that patient capital, rather than quick trades, will define its next phase of growth – a wager that has taken on new resonance since Warren Buffett stepped down last week after growing Berkshire Hathaway into a US$1 trillion empire over six decades. And as global investors watch this week’s US-China leadership summit for any sign of easing friction, one question is whether Beijing...

Zelensky meets Trump, says Ukraine ready for energy truce with Russia

Zelensky meets Trump, says Ukraine ready for energy truce with Russia

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Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he and US President Donald Trump had discussed efforts to end the four-year-old war with Russia, including a potential bilateral ceasefire on energy-related targets. Speaking to the media after a 40-minute meeting with Trump at UN headquarters in New York, Zelensky said Kyiv was ready for any ‌format of an energy ceasefire with Moscow but th...

Can Xi and Trump use their leverage to actually make progress?

Can Xi and Trump use their leverage to actually make progress?

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When the presidents of the United States and China meet in Washington, the world will be watching to see whether their two countries can make good on their agreement to work towards “constructive strategic stability”. In the fifth part of a series, Fan Chen and Orange Wang look at the negotiating chips and areas where progress might be made. There will be some powerful bargaining chips on the tabl...

US ‘looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with raping 17-year-old

US ‘looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with raping 17-year-old

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The social media influencer “Clavicular”, who gained a following promoting the online “looksmaxxing” trend, has been charged in Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family’s Cape Cod home. Braden Peters, 20, is charged with rape, administering a substance for sexual intercourse and procuring alcohol for a perso...

US ‘looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with raping 17-year-old girl

US ‘looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with raping 17-year-old girl

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The social media influencer “Clavicular”, who gained a following promoting the online “looksmaxxing” trend, has been charged in Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family’s Cape Cod home. Braden Peters, 20, is charged with rape, administering a substance for sexual intercourse and procuring alcohol for a perso...

‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with raping US girl, 17

‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with raping US girl, 17

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The social media influencer “Clavicular,” who gained a following promoting the online “looksmaxxing” trend, has been charged in Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family’s Cape Cod home. Braden Peters, 20, is charged with rape, administering a substance for sexual intercourse and procuring alcohol for a perso...

The question Hong Kong charities must answer

The question Hong Kong charities must answer

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Hong Kong does not lack institutions that speak the language of service and responsibility. What it lacks, too often, is a clear account of what difference they actually make. That is why the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Charities Trust’s first impact report deserves attention. Publishing such a report may seem like routine institutional business. Up to a point, it is. But its publication opens up...

US law enforcement tightens security for Xi summit as welcome and protest events planned

US law enforcement tightens security for Xi summit as welcome and protest events planned

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Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, starting on Wednesday, US law enforcement agencies have increased security as Chinese diaspora groups organise welcoming events and protest groups plan demonstrations. The US Secret Service, which is leading security for the visit, said it is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all foreign heads of state while they are...

Trump praises Takaichi for doing ‘tremendous job’ ahead of Xi’s visit to US

Trump praises Takaichi for doing ‘tremendous job’ ahead of Xi’s visit to US

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US President Donald Trump praised his strong relationship with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in New York on Tuesday, days before he is due to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The talks, held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, came at a time when relations between Beijing and Tokyo show no signs of thawing. Both leaders hailed their good working relationship, w...

Trump criticises UK’s Chagos deal, says new British PM Burnham will reconsider

Trump criticises UK’s Chagos deal, says new British PM Burnham will reconsider

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US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his country’s relations with Britain were better under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, but he criticised a deal to hand over the Chagos Islands. Trump and Burnham shook hands as they met for the first time on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “No, I think they’re up – well, they’re more up now than they were with your las...

Brazil’s Lula backs China peace push at UN, tells US his nation is ‘no one’s backyard’

Brazil’s Lula backs China peace push at UN, tells US his nation is ‘no one’s backyard’

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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva renewed his backing on Tuesday for a peace initiative he launched with China to end the war in Ukraine, using his opening speech at the UN General Assembly to take thinly veiled aim at the United States over tariffs, military pressure and access to critical minerals. Speaking in New York just days before Brazilians vote in a tight presidential race, Lu...

Hayden Panettiere died from accidental overdose involving fentanyl, coroner says

Hayden Panettiere died from accidental overdose involving fentanyl, coroner says

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US actress Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, a coroner in South Carolina said on Tuesday. Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 16. Her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home. According to a statement from the Greenville County Coroner’s Off...

CUHK gives top economist warning over talk on women ‘marrying for money’

CUHK gives top economist warning over talk on women ‘marrying for money’

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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has reminded a top economist to be mindful of his words and others’ feelings after he faced a backlash over discussing the costs and benefits of women marrying for money in a campus talk. The backlash erupted shortly after Terence Chong Tai-leung, an associate professor of economics, spoke about investing in one’s life at a bi-weekly assembly of New Asia ...

CUHK economist apologises over talk that examined women ‘marrying for money’

CUHK economist apologises over talk that examined women ‘marrying for money’

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A prominent economist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has apologised after he analysed women “marrying for money” in a talk on campus that led students to accuse him of making gender-biased remarks. The backlash erupted shortly after Terence Chong Tai-leung, an associate professor of economics, delivered his talk about how to invest in one’s life at the university bi-assembly on Tuesday. Ac...

Trump defends Iran war, touts ‘America is back’ agenda in UN speech

Trump defends Iran war, touts ‘America is back’ agenda in UN speech

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US President Donald Trump addressed the global community on Tuesday morning with a speech before the UN General Assembly that sought to justify his war with Iran, touted how he has “made peace” and argued that his “make America great again” policies benefited the world. His speech came as the world grapples with years of conflict in Ukraine, Iran, Gaza, Sudan, Yemen and Lebanon, with no relief in ...