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Hong Kong will partner with major technology firms to launch an AI training programme for the labour force in November as part of a government drive to equip workers with new skills, the city’s finance chief has said. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said on Sunday the separate HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) “AI for All” push announced in February would feature more than 200 activities and...
Hong Kong’s employees retraining board will partner with major tech firms to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) training programme for the working population in November, the city’s finance chief has said. In his Sunday blog, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the HK$50 million (US$6.4 million) “AI for All” inclusive programme, announced in the February budget, would feature more than 20...
President Donald Trump is betting new sanctions, a naval blockade and ramped-up economic pressure against Iran’s trading partners can accomplish what thousands of bombs and missiles could not: force Tehran to accept a deal to end the war on US terms. But like other US efforts to force Iran into capitulation, there is one main problem: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has claimed con...
It was a vision to give South Korea a stock market that reflected its true economic dynamism, by shedding regulatory taboos and encouraging bolder bets – instead, it created an investor trauma that could take years to shake. The 30 per cent decline in the Kospi benchmark since its June 19 peak has hurt President Lee Jae Myung’s government politically and turned the spotlight on an economic syst...
The United States has pledged to take an “America First” approach to the latest round of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation talks, which are taking place in China weeks before President Xi Jinping’s visit to America. The US State Department said: “US leadership in Apec is a key dimension to pursuing America First policies that foster prosperity and advance economic growth in the United States and a...
Chinese carmakers, already at the vanguard of electric vehicle (EV) technology and production, are looking to make a dent in international marques’ full-hybrid vehicle stronghold as they continue to disrupt the global car industry’s pecking order. Major car builders including Geely Auto and Changan Automobile have reported impressive sales of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), luring domestic consum...
Cambodia is preparing to restart joint military exercises with the United States next year, in a move analysts described as a pragmatic reset of defence ties strained since 2017 – though not a pivot away from China. Senior officials from both countries discussed restarting the Angkor Sentinel drills last weekend, alongside expanded training and military reforms, Cambodian media reported. Washingto...
When a 100-member tour group from South Korea approached a Hong Kong craft beer manufacturer about a visit and tasting session, the operator declined their request. The refusal was not due to a lack of confidence in the product or a staff shortage. The brewery simply lacked a licence to serve beer on the premises. “It is not easy doing manufacturing in Hong Kong,” said Luke Yardley, founder of loc...
When a 100-strong South Korean tour group approached a Hong Kong craft beer manufacturer for a tour and tasting session, the operator declined their request. The refusal was not down to a lack of confidence in the product or a staff shortage. It was regulatory: the brewery simply lacked a licence to serve its beer on the premises. “It is not easy doing manufacturing in Hong Kong,” said Luke Yardle...
A patient has been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to bedding and restraint belts at a Hong Kong hospital, with no injuries reported. Police arrested the 25-year-old man surnamed Wong at Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei for alleged arson. He remained in custody pending further investigation. The fire was reported at 12.36am on Sunday after a security guard alerted police. The suspect alleged...
Alibaba Group Holding will issue HK$80 billion (US$10.2 billion) worth of new shares and use all of the proceeds to invest in AI, the Chinese tech giant said on Sunday. The move aims to “extend the company’s global AI leadership”, it said, adding that Alibaba would use the funds raised to “invest in its full-stack AI capabilities”, including expanding and enhancing its AI infrastructure. The decis...
The Hong Kong Observatory may issue a typhoon signal on Tuesday or Wednesday as a tropical storm edges closer to the region. “Tropical Cyclone Narra is expected to linger over the vicinity of Beibu Wan today and tomorrow, and then turn northeastwards gradually later on Monday to Tuesday, edging closer to the vicinity of Leizhou Peninsula,” the forecaster said on Sunday. Leizhou Peninsula sits at t...
China’s secondary school students are dropping history as an exam subject, a trend that could leave the public more vulnerable to distorted narratives in the future, an academic at a top university has warned. The note of caution comes as Beijing steps up efforts to counter “historical nihilism” – the official term for narratives that contradict or undermine the state’s official historical line – ...
Coal-dependent Indonesia is reviving decades-old plans to build nuclear power plants that were put on hold following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, as it seeks to meet its decarbonisation targets. Some members of the public and experts, however, have voiced concerns about the risks of a nuclear disaster in the quake-prone country, despite one of the leading candidate sites being an ...
About 100 homeowners, or 5 per cent, at fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong have yet to accept the government’s buy-back offer with a week left before the deadline, Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun has said, stressing that the acquisition scheme will not be extended. “The deadline is a very serious timeline … it will not be extended, nor will better terms and a higher acquisiti...
Humanoid robots were still among the biggest crowd-pleasers at this year’s World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, though other types of robots, such as wheeled machines, were gaining momentum as the industry moves from demonstration to deployment. At Unitree Robotics’ packed booth at the conference, bipedal models played table tennis or squared off in fighting matches, showing off levels of spee...
Bangkok’s best street food has always existed on a kind of mental map for Thai food writer Choltanutkun Tun-atiruj. It is built from habit, cravings and neighbourhood rhythms: the office crowds, the schools, the university nearby and the vendors selling everything from moo ping (grilled pork skewers) and sticky rice to pad thai and kuay teow reua – a bowl of rice noodles in dark broth flavoured wi...
A growing number of non-programmers across China are developing their own AI tools, primarily motivated by concerns about falling behind as technology reshapes work and daily life. The anxiety surrounding this shift is almost palpable. AI courses and side-hustle tutorials have flooded mainland social media as employers increasingly expect their workers to develop AI literacy. Simultaneously, enrol...
Chinese scientists have created an AI-guided platform to engineer custom plant immune receptors to rapidly combat emerging diseases that threaten plants, including commercial crops vulnerable to devastating outbreaks. Their programmable synthetic immune receptors can be introduced into plants to help them detect proteins made by specific bacteria, viruses and fungi, triggering an immune response t...
Siding with Canadians weary of provocations from Washington, Prime Minister Mark Carney stood up to US President Donald Trump, rejecting what he called an “unfair” trade deal – a gamble that could prove economically risky. “We will not allow any nation to determine our future. We will set our own course to keep building Canada strong for all,” Carney said on Friday, as negotiations for a bilateral...
Since 2021, Hong Kong’s development as a regional intellectual property (IP) trading centre has featured in China’s five-year plans and the policy addresses of chief executives Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and John Lee Ka-chiu. There are good strategic reasons to see considerable potential in developing the city as an IP servicing centre for the Greater Bay Area, and potentially the whole of China a...
Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...
Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...
Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...
Allegedly aggressive sales tactics and business operations in Hong Kong’s beauty product sector closely mirror the global “Dead Sea sales scams” uncovered years ago, documents on WikiLeaks have shown. The controversy has prompted calls from experts for the city’s government to strengthen regulation by expanding proposed cooling-off period legislation to cover retail beauty goods. A check of the wh...
Malaysian politics runs on grudges and few illustrate that better than the one nursed by Rafizi Ramli. A year after losing the deputy presidency of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s People’s Justice Party (PKR), he has built a vehicle for the disaffected, aimed squarely at the coalition of which he was once part. Parti Bersama Malaysia – or Bersama, meaning “together” – is barely three months old und...
The Panama Canal will cut the number of ships passing through it starting next month because of drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon, the operator of the strategic waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific said on Thursday. From September 3, the number of vessels allowed through each day will fall from 36 to 34 due to low water levels in two artificial lakes that feed the canal, the Panama Can...
India’s coastguard and navy continued search-and-rescue operations off the eastern coast on Sunday after a Panama-flagged cargo vessel carrying 24 crew sank, with two Chinese nationals rescued, a senior official said. The two rescued Chinese seafarers said the vessel developed a list on Friday and sank within eight minutes, forcing crew to abandon ship, Shyam Jagannathan, director general of In...
India’s maritime rescue agency lost communication on Saturday with a Panama-flagged cargo vessel that sank off the coast of eastern India, the Indian coastguard said. The vessel had 24 crew on board, including 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi, according to Commandant Amit Uniyal, a spokesman for the coastguard. The coastguard sent two vessels for the search-and-re...
On paper, Western countries are rushing to sign defence pacts in the South Pacific, ensuring their influence in a region long neglected as a geopolitical backwater. But on the water, the island nations are playing a very different game. Instead of taking sides, local leaders are leveraging the geopolitical tug of war between China and the West, winning security guarantees from the latter while Bei...
