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Ukraine’s allies gathered in Paris on Monday to ramp up support for Kyiv, particularly in air defence, and increase pressure on Russia to end the war, which is well into its fifth year. Representatives of the 37 coalition members, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, arrived at Les Invalides in the French capital for the summit of the Coalition of the Willing, launched by France and t...
Nine European countries and Ukraine on Monday announced the formation of a coalition to develop “purely defensive” anti-ballistic capabilities in Europe, citing the growing threat of ballistic missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Paris on Monday for a meeting of Kyiv’s allies to reaffirm support for the country and step up pressure on Russia to end the war, now well into its fif...
A person was killed on Monday in a shooting involving US immigration agents in Maine, a top state lawmaker said, days after a man was fatally shot by a US agent during a traffic stop in Texas. “This morning a shooting occurred in Biddeford. A person was killed. ICE was involved,” Ryan Fecteau, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and a native of Biddeford, wrote on Facebook. “Stat...
A person was killed on Monday in a shooting involving US immigration agents in Maine, a top state lawmaker said, days after a man was fatally shot by a US agent during a traffic stop in Texas. “This morning a shooting occurred in Biddeford. A person was killed. ICE was involved,” Ryan Fecteau, the speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and a native of Biddeford, wrote on Facebook. “Stat...
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States would begin charging commercial vessels for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz as Washington reinstates its blockade of Iran following a renewed escalation in the conflict. Trump said Iranian vessels and ships trading with Iran would be barred from using the strategic waterway, while other countries would retain access under a ...
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington would restore its blockade of Iran and impose fees on commercial vessels using the Strait of Hormuz, after a fresh exchange of attacks cast further doubt on efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict. Posting on social media, Trump said Iranian vessels and ships trading with Iran would be barred from transiting the strategic waterway, while...
Chinese quantum scientist Pan Jianwei has won the United Nations’ top fundamental science prize for his work in quantum computation and communications, Unesco has announced. Pan is a laureate of the third Unesco-Russia Mendeleev International Prize in the Basic Sciences, an award commemorating Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, creator of the periodic table. The annual award, which is funded by the...
Dedicated laws designed to fast-track Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis project will not override the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, the authorities have said. The remarks on Monday followed a meeting of the government-appointed Advisory Council on the Environment, where the main agenda was streamlining procedures and requirements for construction noise permits within the development nea...
A university symposium in Guangzhou has placed the Philippines’ northernmost province of Batanes at the centre of a new argument over history, geography and sovereignty, after scholars at the event claimed the islands belonged to Taiwan and, on that basis, fell under overall Chinese sovereignty. The claim, made at a June 30 symposium hosted by Jinan University in Guangzhou, has been rejected by Ph...
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has started building a safety benchmark to evaluate artificial intelligence models, as regulators in the United States and Europe strengthen oversight of AI security. The MIIT-led National Industrial Information Security Development Research Centre is now recruiting companies and experts to co-build the benchmark, with applications due...
Hong Kong’s housing authorities have dismissed online rumours that a government-established company set up to acquire flats at fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court is an “empty shell” at risk of bankruptcy, saying it has signed contracts with more than 550 owners. The Housing Bureau said on Monday that claims concerning “Wang Fuk Court Property Rights Acquisition Limited” were “entirely unfounded”. “It can...
Taiwan’s armed forces plan to outsource guard duties at military academies to private security firms in a pilot programme aimed at freeing up limited personnel for core combat missions. But the plan has triggered concerns that handing frontline access to civilian contractors could create new security vulnerabilities as the island grapples with a rise in espionage cases that the Taiwanese governmen...
Early on July 12, after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed until further notice and struck a Cyprus-flagged container ship, the United States launched its third round of strikes in a week, hitting some 140 targets. Most were along Iran’s southern coast overlooking the strait – including Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Jask and Qeshm – but one strike days earlier pointed to a different logic. On July 9...
British counterterrorism police officers are now leading the investigation into the suspected murder of former British government minister Ann Widdecombe in light of new information, interior minister Shabana Mahmood said on Monday. Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in rural southwest England last Thursday with what police described as “serious injuries”. She was a prominent member of Ni...
British counterterrorism police officers are now leading the investigation into the suspected murder of former British government minister Ann Widdecombe, interior minister Shabana Mahmood said on Monday. Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in rural southwest England on Thursday with what police described as “serious injuries”. Police arrested a white British man in Rotherham, northern E...
British counterterrorism police officers are now leading the investigation into the suspected murder of former British government minister Ann Widdecombe, interior minister Shabana Mahmood said on Monday. Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in rural southwest England on Thursday with what police described as “serious injuries”. Officers arrested a white British man in Rotherham, northern...
A decade after a tribunal in The Hague ruled on July 12, 2016, that Beijing’s sweeping South China Sea claims had no legal basis, Philippine officials and analysts say Manila remains heavily outmatched at sea but has begun turning its landmark legal victory into a more credible form of deterrence. The Philippines brought the case in 2013 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (U...
A decade after a tribunal in The Hague ruled on July 12, 2016, that China’s sweeping South China Sea claims had no legal basis, Philippine officials and analysts say Manila remains heavily outmatched at sea but has begun turning its landmark legal victory into a more credible form of deterrence. The Philippines brought the case in 2013 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unc...
A Hong Kong police officer has been sentenced to nearly two years in jail for filming upskirt footage of a woman and attempting to grab a colleague’s handgun to kill himself after his arrest last year. A deputy district judge handed down the sentence at West Kowloon Court on Monday after Constable Ko Chun-chung, 40, admitted the thrill of breaking the law drove him to commit the offence against th...
President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai and deliver a keynote address, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Monday. The Chinese leader’s attendance will mark his first in-person appearance at the annual event since it was launched in 2018, signalling the growing priority Beijing places on AI to drive econ...
China’s aircraft carrier programme is entering a new phase as Beijing broadens its focus to improve the recruitment and training of the crews and pilots needed for operations far from the country’s home waters, according to a new report. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy was making sweeping changes to pilot recruitment and t...
China on Monday reiterated its inspections of Panama-flagged ships as routine safety checks, rejecting US and Panamanian accusations that Beijing is weaponising shipping lines for geopolitical leverage. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian defended the measures as lawful and aimed at protecting navigation and the marine environment. “At present, port-state control inspections are an importa...
The European Union will move to limit young children’s access to social media across the 27-member bloc, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, in what would be the biggest such effort to date to guard against online dangers. Von der Leyen presented a paper from two experts recommending a tiered approach, with under-13s only allowed to use social media for limited pe...
The amount that Hongkongers spend on their pet cats has reached a record high of HK$2,062 (US$263) per month this year, fuelled by a rapidly emerging “cat silver economy”, according to a survey. The Exhibition Group, organiser of the coming Hong Kong Cat Expo 2026, said on Monday that the average monthly spending represented a 2.8 per cent year-on-year increase, with the growing proportion of agei...
A Hong Kong court has ordered an Italian chef to serve 90 hours of community service and suspended his driving licence for a year after he admitted to drink-driving and speeding at more than 10 times the limit on a road leading to a landfill. Angelo Vecchio, 43, appeared in Kwun Tong Court on Monday to learn his sentence for dangerous driving on Wan Po Road towards Tseung Kwan O Landfill on the ni...
Futu Holdings, the Nasdaq listed Chinese broker that was recently penalised by China’s securities regulator, said it expects a gradual fall off in mainland business but has no plan to cut Hong Kong outlets. Mainland Chinese-funded accounts had dropped to 13 per cent of its total and their combined size was 17 per cent of total client assets at the end of March 2026, the broker said in a briefing i...
A prominent Chinese maritime analyst has sounded the alarm over Japan’s increasing military presence in the South China Sea, warning it has a “destructive potential” that could ultimately surpass that of the United States. Speaking on Monday at a round table event in Hong Kong discussing security in the region, Wu Shicun, the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Stu...
Myanmar’s gradual return from the diplomatic deep freeze continued over the weekend as Southeast Asian foreign ministers met their counterpart from the junta-run nation in Bangkok, a re-engagement that analysts warn lends legitimacy to a government still at war with its own people, without any commitment to end the violence. Thousands have been killed in the nationwide civil conflict resulting fro...
A prominent Chinese maritime analyst has sounded the alarm over Japan’s increasing military presence in the South China Sea, warning it has a “destructive potential” that could ultimately surpass that of the United States. Speaking on Monday at a round table event in Hong Kong discussing security in the region, Wu Shicun, the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Stu...
After China’s cross-border deals for innovative drugs hit a record US$110 billion in the first half of 2026, the sector is now pivoting towards artificial intelligence-powered candidates to drive the next wave of transactions. China accounted for about 30 per cent of all new drugs currently under development worldwide, ranking second globally, according to Lan Gongtao, deputy director general of t...
