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Chinese regulators moved on Tuesday to improve the quality of credit ratings for panda bonds – a yuan-denominated asset class that has seen a surge in interest from foreign sovereign and institutional investors this year as a key tool to bolster Beijing’s yuan-internationalisation push. Credit-rating agencies must adhere to the principles of independence, objectivity and prudence, according to a c...
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signalled potential action against open source artificial intelligence (AI) models amid accusations that Chinese developers are creating low-cost systems using stolen US intellectual property. “This administration supports open source models, but what we do not support is IP theft,” Bessent said on Fox Business on Tuesday. “If we see, especially, that overseas m...
At the remote, mountainous frontier where the mighty Mekong carves the border between Myanmar and Laos, planners have sketched the outline of a mega dam. It would be the largest hydropower project ever built on the river’s mainstream outside China, but analysts suspect the study into it may matter more than the dam itself. A 34-month joint feasibility study for the 2,790-megawatt project was agree...
A flagship model from China’s Zhipu AI has helped contain an autonomous cyberattack by OpenAI’s frontier systems targeting popular developer platform Hugging Face, as concerns grow over the security risks posed by advanced AI models. OpenAI’s latest flagship models – including GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased, “even more capable” system – recently breached Hugging Face’s infrastructure during interna...
On July 9, a fire burned through a shoe factory in Jinjiang, Fujian province, killing at least 28 people. The accident signals a larger problem: firms operating under financial pressure often cut costs by compromising safety. China’s low-cost business model needs reform, but why has change been so difficult? The plant that burned employed hundreds of workers, yet company filings for 2025 indicate ...
A 19-year-old in Hong Kong has been convicted of sedition for writing anti-government graffiti in a commercial building toilet, violating the city’s domestic national security law. West Kowloon Court on Wednesday rejected a defence psychiatrist’s opinion that a congenital mental disorder prevented Leung Kai-lok from understanding the offensive words he used against the government and police. Leung...
The owner of a South Korean Michelin-starred restaurant is facing one year in jail for garnishing a palate-cleansing sorbet with black ants “to add a sour taste”, local media said. Seoul prosecutors requested the prison term for the anonymous owner of the unnamed eatery at a Monday court hearing for violating food safety regulations, the reports said. Under South Korean law, only 10 insect species...
Targeted surveillance of transit passengers at just two major aviation hubs, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, could speed global detection of new virus variants by about three days, a university study has found. Professor Leo Poon Lit-man, chair of public health virology at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said on Wednesday that the approach would help authorities stay ahead of emerging t...
Targeted viral surveillance of transit passengers at just two major aviation hubs, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, could speed global detection of new variants by about three days, a university study has found. Professor Leo Poon Lit-man, chair of public health virology at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), said on Wednesday that the approach would help authorities stay ahead of emerging t...
We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. BYD’s EV tech in the spotlight as it challenges Porsche’s 911 Chinese electric vehicle (EV) assembler BYD has set its sights on Porsche’s supercars with plans to sell its Denza-branded n...
Fast-growing Chinese robot maker AgiBot is pursuing an initial public offering in Hong Kong and has hired Citic Securities as a sponsor, according to two people familiar with the matter. Additionally, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and Morgan Stanley have also been tapped as joint sponsors, one of the people said. Shanghai-based AgiBot had shown signs that it was looking to list fo...
Hong Kong’s chief justice will once again reprimand a High Court judge and require him to undergo training after he was found to have plagiarised large swathes of submissions for a judgment, in what is at least the sixth instance of extensive copying. In a response to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday, the judiciary said that Wilson Chan Ka-shun would face a “serious reprimand” from Chief ...
When global index provider MSCI warned in January that Indonesia risked being demoted from emerging to frontier market status, it unleashed a wave of volatility, sell-offs and wild trading swings. Six months on, Jakarta’s investment chief argues the real story is not about whether the country can earn investors’ trust. “For Indonesia, this is not about short-term market status,” Investment Ministe...
A leading Chinese bank has processed the largest cross-border transactions yet via mBridge, a multilateral central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform, marking a major milestone for the emerging payment network as well as Beijing’s global yuan ambitions. Two transactions, worth more than US$1.7 billion each, were carried out by the Bank of China’s Shenzhen and Fujian branches in June and July, r...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Australia to give up “double standards” and join efforts to maintain the momentum of improving bilateral ties, as Canberra voiced concerns over Beijing’s military development and a recent missile test. In a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday, Wang said Canberra and Beijing should address differences on the basis of mutual respect a...
A drink-driving suspect in central China faked his death with the help of his family to evade prosecution before fleeing south. Prosecutors in Anyang, Henan province, recently revealed the case to mainland media outlets, sparking widespread online attention. In January last year, the man, surname Si, was arrested for drink-driving. Police later discovered that he had previously been penalised twic...
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways expects its first-half net profit to jump by as much as 75 per cent to HK$6.5 billion (US$829 million) from HK$3.7 billion a year earlier, as passenger and cargo traffic grew despite the Middle East war. The airline said on Wednesday that earnings were also boosted by a one-off gain of about HK$1.4 billion from the dilution of its interest in Air China...
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways expects its first-half net profit to jump by as much as 75 per cent to HK$6.5 billion (US$829 million) from HK$3.7 billion a year earlier, driven partly by growth in passenger and cargo traffic. The airline said on Wednesday that earnings were also boosted by a one-off gain of about HK$1.4 billion from the dilution of its interest in Air China followin...
Hong Kong travellers should be mindful of driving fatigue, unfamiliar road signs and their insurance coverage when going on road trips overseas, experts have warned after two traffic accidents involving city residents in Japan within a week. Ringo Lee Yiu-pui, honorary life president of the Hong Kong China Automobile Association, said on Wednesday that various factors could affect drivers’ concent...
Hong Kong travellers should be mindful of driving fatigue, unfamiliar road signs and their insurance coverage when going on road trips overseas, experts have warned after two traffic accidents involving city residents in Japan within a week. Ringo Lee Yiu-pui, honorary life president of the Hong Kong China Automobile Association, said on Wednesday that various factors could affect drivers’ concent...
The chief of the Indonesian agency overseeing President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme said on Wednesday she had resigned, citing health reasons, the second leadership change at the beleaguered government body in just over a month. The resignation of Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, who took over the National Nutrition Agency in June, comes after budget cuts and a criminal investigation ...
After US strikes on Iran’s largest nuclear facilities last year, both US President Donald Trump and the White House were adamant that the Middle East nation’s nuclear programme had been destroyed. “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!” Trump wrote on social media. “Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Have Been Obliterated – ...
Indonesia’s long-stalled gas project in the North Natuna Sea is stirring back to life, with its new operator confirming that activities have resumed at a strategically sensitive field after years of commercial uncertainty and pressure from China. Prime Group, the Indonesian company that took over operatorship from Britain’s Harbour Energy, told This Week in Asia that “activities associated with th...
Chinese artificial intelligence unicorn Moonshot AI, whose release of its Kimi K3 model last week sparked talk of another “DeepSeek moment”, has accelerated its fundraising ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, eyeing a new financing round as early as next month, a source says. The Beijing-based company was set to close its current funding round at a US$30 billion valuatio...
International luxury car brands from Mercedes-Benz to Land Rover took a further beating in China last month as wealthy consumers continued to shun expensive petrol-powered vehicles. Struggling against competition from China’s rising electric vehicle (EV) powerhouses, international marques would find it more difficult to retain their market share and maintain profitability in the world’s largest au...
China is pushing to ensure that electric trucks account for at least 40 per cent of new heavy-goods vehicle sales by 2030, as part of a broader effort to reduce carbon emissions in its vast transport sector. That would mean having at least 1.6 million electric heavy-goods vehicles on the road by the end of the decade, said Cai Tuanjie, an official from China’s Ministry of Transport, at a Tuesday p...
A satellite that can provide 24/7 surveillance of a third of the Earth’s surface relies on a rare mineral whose global supply is dominated by China, a new study has disclosed. The Ludi Tance-4 01 radar satellite, powered by gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors, is the only satellite of its kind. It orbits 36,000km (22,000 miles) above the Earth and is able to stay in what is known as a geosynchron...
An Australian woman has given birth to identical quadruplet girls after a pregnancy doctors described as incredibly rare. Jenitar Sau Na’amoana, who is 34 years old and already had four children, delivered the babies last week at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Queensland state. “We are very excited to be able to care for this amazing little family, a big family now,” Dr Alexa Bendall, a ma...
A Hong Kong court has sentenced a British woman to six years in prison after convicting her of blackmailing a compatriot for £100,000 (US$134,060) over rape allegations. Isabel Anonia Barbra Eudora Rose, 26, was sentenced at the District Court on Wednesday, with Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching finding her guilty of blackmail and perverting the course of public justice. Rose, an event management pro...
Traffic almost came to a standstill 2km (1.2 miles) from the Shanghai Expo Centre on Friday, the first day of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). With temperatures nearing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), scores of attendees abandoned their taxis to walk the rest of the way under the hot sun. This year’s conference mirrored the weather: it was the hottest, most crowded...
