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China’s pharma contractors rally as US supply chain pressures face industry resistance
SCMP

China’s pharma contractors rally as US supply chain pressures face industry resistance

China’s pharmaceutical contractors are showing financial resilience in the face of Washington’s push to curb reliance on Chinese supply chains. Analysts said investors were bullish because the US government’s recent measures to curb Beijing’s rise as a global pharmaceutical supplier had met resistance from industry players reluctant to give up China’s cost advantages. Hong Kong-listed shares of Wu...

Can China follow its own ‘technological path’ amid growing AI rivalry with US?
SCMP

Can China follow its own ‘technological path’ amid growing AI rivalry with US?

China’s ability to set its own technological course in the face of sustained US export restrictions may be the key factor in the two countries’ contest over artificial intelligence, a prominent analyst has argued. Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), made the case in his preface to The Rise of Atlas, a new book about the development...

Senior Hong Kong policeman loses appeal over jail term for HK$26m mortgage fraud
SCMP

Senior Hong Kong policeman loses appeal over jail term for HK$26m mortgage fraud

A Hong Kong court has dismissed an appeal by a senior police officer against his 6½-year jail sentence for fraudulently securing more than HK$26 million (US$3.31 million) in mortgages by concealing his affiliation with the force. In a written judgment delivered on Monday, the Court of Appeal upheld Superintendent Harbour Chan Hoi-kong’s conviction on two counts of fraud, finding that he must have ...

Hong Kong police officer loses appeal over 6½-year term for HK$26m mortgage fraud
SCMP

Hong Kong police officer loses appeal over 6½-year term for HK$26m mortgage fraud

A Hong Kong court has dismissed an appeal by a senior police officer against his 6½-year jail sentence for fraudulently securing over HK$26 million (US$3.31 million) in mortgages by concealing his affiliation with the force. In a written judgment delivered on Monday, the Court of Appeal upheld Superintendent Harbour Chan Hoi-kong’s conviction on two counts of fraud, finding that he must have knowi...

Alibaba sells gaming arm Lingxi Games as tech giant sharpens focus on AI and e-commerce

Alibaba sells gaming arm Lingxi Games as tech giant sharpens focus on AI and e-commerce

SCMP

Alibaba Group Holding has agreed to sell its wholly owned gaming business Lingxi Games to Trustar Capital as the Chinese technology giant pivots away from noncore sectors to prioritise e-commerce and artificial intelligence, according to an internal letter issued on Monday. “As part of Alibaba’s broader strategy to sharpen its focus, the group has decided to entrust Lingxi to Trustar Capital,” sta...

Anxious Chinese mothers turn to pricey ‘parent awakening camps’ for academic help

Anxious Chinese mothers turn to pricey ‘parent awakening camps’ for academic help

SCMP

Controversial “parent awakening camps” are attracting anxious Chinese mothers willing to invest significantly in confronting gaming addiction and poor academic performance. Promoted by an increasing number of family-education services on mainland social media, these programmes promise to transform parenting practices and mend strained family relationships. Reports from mainland media indicate two ...

Hong Kong’s sports sector helped generate extra HK$46b in value in 2024

Hong Kong’s sports sector helped generate extra HK$46b in value in 2024

SCMP

Hong Kong’s sports sector helped to generate an extra HK$46 billion (US$5.9 billion) in value for the economy in 2024, the year local athletes clinched two gold and two bronze Olympic medals, with a lawmaker calling for targeted policies to build on that success. The Census and Statistics Department on Monday released an analysis of contributions to Hong Kong’s economy by sports and related activi...

Hong Kong’s sports sector in 2024 helped generate extra HK$46b in value

Hong Kong’s sports sector in 2024 helped generate extra HK$46b in value

SCMP

Hong Kong’s sports sector helped to generate an extra HK$46 billion (US$5.9 billion) in value for the economy in 2024, the year local athletes clinched two gold and two bronze Olympic medals, with a lawmaker calling for targeted policies to build on that success. The Census and Statistics Department on Monday released an analysis of contributions to Hong Kong’s economy by sports and related activi...

Malaysia to scrap 55-year-old university law, but will campus reform follow?

Malaysia to scrap 55-year-old university law, but will campus reform follow?

SCMP

Malaysia may finally scrap the university law that generations of students have blamed for stifling campus dissent, but activists and academics say the harder fight will be over what comes next. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has promised to abolish the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, better known by its Malay acronym AUKU, a law that has long sat at the centre of arguments over how m...

China’s economy cools amid debate about risks of global crisis

China’s economy cools amid debate about risks of global crisis

SCMP

China’s retail sales growth trailed expectations, the pace of industrial output expansion slowed and a drop in investment worsened as its economy struggled to regain pace at the start of the second half of the year. July retail sales rose by 0.6 per cent, missing the 1.3 per cent expectation among economists polled by financial data provider Wind, and slowing from June’s 1 per cent rate. Industria...

CXMT value tops 4 trillion yuan as AI-fuelled memory rally lifts China’s chip champion

CXMT value tops 4 trillion yuan as AI-fuelled memory rally lifts China’s chip champion

SCMP

Shares of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s leading DRAM maker, jumped 12 per cent on Monday to close at a record 61.80 yuan (US$9.16), lifting its market capitalisation to 4.13 trillion yuan and extending its lead as China’s most valuable listed company. The Hefei-based chipmaker first overtook Hong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings on Thursday as China’s most valuable listed company, when ...

CXMT tops 4 trillion yuan as AI-fuelled memory rally lifts China’s chip champion

CXMT tops 4 trillion yuan as AI-fuelled memory rally lifts China’s chip champion

SCMP

Shares of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), China’s leading DRAM maker, jumped 12 per cent on Monday to close at a record 61.80 yuan (US$9.16), lifting its market capitalisation to 4.13 trillion yuan and extending its lead as China’s most valuable listed company. The Hefei-based chipmaker first overtook Hong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings on Thursday as China’s most valuable listed company, when ...

Hong Kong tourist arrivals up 3% in July as bad weather curbs mainland growth

Hong Kong tourist arrivals up 3% in July as bad weather curbs mainland growth

SCMP

Hong Kong recorded about 4.5 million visitor arrivals in July, up 3 per cent from a year earlier, as major international conventions boosted business travel while bad weather weighed on growth from mainland China, according to the Tourism Board. The board said on Monday that a series of major international meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE), including the 108th Lions Internat...

China’s property recovery is fragile, but ignoring it is a mistake

China’s property recovery is fragile, but ignoring it is a mistake

SCMP

Global commercial real estate investment markets are roaring back to life. In the first half of this year, direct investment in commercial property rose 27 per cent in annualised terms. The sharpest increase was in the Asia-Pacific, where transaction volumes were up 38 per cent to US$92.5 billion, the strongest half-yearly performance on record, according to data from JLL. While there have been ma...

Singaporeans urge forest protection at rally as housing plans spur concerns

Singaporeans urge forest protection at rally as housing plans spur concerns

SCMP

Thousands of people have rallied in Singapore against plans to build homes on two forested sites in a large public display of concern over how the land-scarce city state should balance housing demand with conservation. The projects have brought renewed urgency to a long-running debate over land use: activists say remaining mature forests should be protected, while the government says conserving mo...

Typhoon Rose capsizes ferry in Hong Kong, killing 88 – SCMP archive

Typhoon Rose capsizes ferry in Hong Kong, killing 88 – SCMP archive

SCMP

This article was first published on August 18, 1971. Ferry disaster: no hope for missing crew by T. S. Koo A large but undetermined number of the crew of the Hongkong-Macao ferry Fatshan, including her master and senior British officers, were feared drowned when she capsized off Lantao during the typhoon early yesterday (August 17, 1971). So far four survivors have been picked up, and four bodies ...

Streaming site pulls Chainsmoker Cat series in Hong Kong over breach of ad rules

Streaming site pulls Chainsmoker Cat series in Hong Kong over breach of ad rules

SCMP

A Taiwan-based streaming platform has removed the Japanese anime series Chainsmoker Cat for Hong Kong audiences because the programme is in breach of the city’s ban on online smoking advertisements. Animation Crazy, a streaming platform launched by Bahamut, a Taiwanese internet forum and news website, said on Monday that it recently received a letter from the Hong Kong’s Department of Health conce...

All Malaysia Airlines pilots pass drug tests following Jakarta arrest

All Malaysia Airlines pilots pass drug tests following Jakarta arrest

SCMP

All pilots working for flag carrier Malaysia Airlines tested negative for drugs, owner Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) said on Monday, adding that its cabin crew would be tested next. The mandatory screening process was ⁠ordered after a Malaysian Airlines pilot was arrested in Indonesia on drug trafficking charges on July 28. Authorities found 26kg (57lbs) of the mind-altering drug MDMA in his lugga...

China’s self-driving push gains ground in Europe as Momenta, Pony.ai expand

China’s self-driving push gains ground in Europe as Momenta, Pony.ai expand

SCMP

China’s autonomous-driving ambitions are winning growing recognition in Europe, with Deutsche Bank raising its target price for Momenta following a key regulatory breakthrough, and Pony.ai expanding its European robotaxi roll-out alongside Uber Technologies. In a research note released on Monday, Deutsche Bank analyst Bin Wang saw Momenta as the “No 1 independent autonomous-driving solution provid...

China adds an 800-passenger jet with ‘flying wing’ body to its big aircraft plan

China adds an 800-passenger jet with ‘flying wing’ body to its big aircraft plan

SCMP

A Chinese research team has unveiled an aerodynamic model for a massive flying-wing passenger aircraft that could carry more than 800 people, marking a bold new entry in the country’s large aircraft programme. Unlike conventional aircraft that have separate fuselage, wings and tail, a flying wing merges most of the structure into a single broad lifting body. The proposed design is 85 metres (280 f...

AI chipmaker Biren projects up to 22-fold revenue surge amid China’s hi-tech boom

AI chipmaker Biren projects up to 22-fold revenue surge amid China’s hi-tech boom

SCMP

Chinese artificial intelligence chipmaker Biren Technology projects that its first-half revenue could shoot up by up to 2,107 per cent amid the AI hardware boom, joining industry peers like Hygon Information Technology and Cambricon Technologies in reporting accelerating demand for home-grown chips. The Shanghai-based graphics processing unit (GPU) maker, which debuted on the Hong Kong stock excha...

Shoving incident in Singapore over man patting girl’s head stirs heated debate

Shoving incident in Singapore over man patting girl’s head stirs heated debate

SCMP

A simple pat on a child’s head has sparked debate in Singapore after an elderly man was shoved to the ground by a girl’s father. Police said on Sunday they had identified a 40-year-old man in connection with the incident at a food court on Saturday afternoon, CNA reported. “Members of the public are advised not to speculate on the incident or its circumstances, and to allow the police to conduct i...

7 die in Indian temple stampede after electric wire snaps

7 die in Indian temple stampede after electric wire snaps

SCMP

A deadly stampede broke out at a Hindu temple in eastern India’s Bihar state on Monday after a snapped electric wire reportedly triggered panic among worshippers, officials said, killing seven people and injuring more than a dozen. The incident occurred near Ashok Dham Temple in Lakhisarai district, as thousands of devotees gathered to offer prayers on the third Monday of Shravan, one of the holie...

Hong Kong inventors win top prize, 35 medals at Silicon Valley festival

Hong Kong inventors win top prize, 35 medals at Silicon Valley festival

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Hong Kong innovators have won the top prize, eight special awards and 35 medals at a major international invention competition in Silicon Valley, with a solar-powered fertiliser production system claiming the event’s highest honour. The city’s delegation secured 22 gold and 13 silver medals at the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival (SVIIF), which concluded at the Santa Clara Conventio...

Hong Kong inventors win grand prix, 35 medals at Silicon Valley festival

Hong Kong inventors win grand prix, 35 medals at Silicon Valley festival

SCMP

Hong Kong innovators have won the top prize, eight special awards and 35 medals at a major international invention competition in Silicon Valley, with a solar-powered fertiliser production system claiming the event’s highest honour. The city’s delegation secured 22 gold and 13 silver medals at the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival (SVIIF), which concluded at the Santa Clara Conventio...

Is Philippines’ aim to become an arms exporter like India overly ambitious?

Is Philippines’ aim to become an arms exporter like India overly ambitious?

SCMP

The Philippines is looking to India as a model of defence self-reliance as it continues building its capabilities to manage maritime disputes following the purchase of its first BrahMos missiles from Delhi. While India’s experience is useful, it is more practical for Manila to cooperate with Delhi in stages than push quickly to manufacture its own weapons, according to analysts. Speaking at a foru...

‘Heroes’ star Hayden Panettiere dies aged 36, father confirms

‘Heroes’ star Hayden Panettiere dies aged 36, father confirms

SCMP

Hayden Panettiere, star of popular television series including Heroes and Nashville, has died. She was 36. Panettiere’s father, Skip, announced the actress’ death in a statement provided to ABC News on Sunday. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew h...

5 injured after taxi, 3 cars collide on Hong Kong highway

5 injured after taxi, 3 cars collide on Hong Kong highway

SCMP

Five people have been injured after a taxi and three private cars collided on Tsing Kwai Highway in Hong Kong. Police said the four vehicles crashed on the Kowloon-bound carriageway near Lai King MTR station at 8.40am on Monday, leaving four men and one woman with minor injuries. The Fire Services Department said all five injured were taken to Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung for treatment...

Australia slows down ‘backpacker visas’ in fresh migration crackdown

Australia slows down ‘backpacker visas’ in fresh migration crackdown

SCMP

Australia is slowing the issuance of new “working holiday” visas popular with backpackers as the government looks at policies to cut migration to the country. “They are still being processed, but they are being processed more slowly than they were previously,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Sunday. The visas allow people to come to Australia to work and travel for a set period of time, a...