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Alibaba Group Holding has made the core files of its latest flagship AI model Qwen3.8-Max free for anyone to download, as the tech giant introduces new rules requiring large companies to pay for a separate commercial licence to use it. The terms apply to users or their affiliates running a “model as a service” or “AI work assistant” business whose aggregate revenue exceeds US$50 million over any c...
SF Reit, Hong Kong’s first real estate investment trust to focus on logistics properties, saw its distributable income fall by 7.3 per cent year on year to HK$110.7 million (US$14.11 million) in the first half of the year. The firm – which is controlled by the Chinese logistics giant SF Holding – recorded total revenue of HK$219.3 million for the first six months of 2026, down 4.6 per cent from a ...
Turn-of-the-century images of Zhu Rongji alongside former US president Bill Clinton have largely accompanied coverage following the former Chinese premier’s death on Wednesday. The moment in April 1999 was more than a diplomatic milestone. It underpinned some of China’s most consequential reforms that defined Zhu’s tenure, from its drive to join the World Trade Organization to an overhaul of the s...
China appears to be adding capacity to the vertical launch system (VLS) of its most advanced guided-missile frigate Type 054B under construction in Shanghai, satellite images show, allowing it to have a larger missile reserve and stronger anti-air defence capabilities. According to satellite images taken by US intelligence company Vantor on June 28, the VLS at the bow of a Type 054B vessel had a d...
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by surging waters across Myanmar and Laos, with Thai farming communities along the Mekong River bracing themselves for difficult days ahead as authorities warn persistent heavy rains may bring flash floods. Each year monsoon rains bring extensive flooding across the region. Environmental campaigners say the damage is exacerbated by changing weather p...
CK Hutchison Holdings has revealed the “forced termination” of operations at two strategic Panama Canal ports shaved 1 per cent off overall throughput in the first half of this year, even as the overall port portfolio performed better than a year ago. In its half-year financial results released on Thursday, the Li Ka-shing family-backed conglomerate for the first time quantified the impact of losi...
Tributes have been flooding in for former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, the reformist statesman who played a leading role in integrating China’s economy into the global system and charmed neighbouring countries with his candid diplomacy. In a deeply personal tribute posted on social media, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim described Zhu, who died on Wednesday at the age of 97, as “a good friend...
Tributes have been flooding in for former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, the reformist statesman who played a leading role in integrating China’s economy into the global system and charmed neighbouring countries with his candid diplomacy. In a deeply personal tribute posted on social media, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim described Zhu, who died on Wednesday at the age of 97, as “a good friend...
Tributes have been flooding in for former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, the reformist statesman who played a leading role in integrating China’s economy into the global system and charmed neighbouring countries with his candid diplomacy. In a deeply personal tribute posted on social media, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim described Zhu, who died on Wednesday at the age of 97, as “a good friend...
A scaffolding subcontractor at Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court estate had ordered batches of non-fire-retardant protective nets, according to a supplier’s statement released by the independent panel investigating the deadly blaze. Lam Kee Construction Materials’ statement was among documents released on Wednesday by the independent committee investigating the causes of the fire in November...
German police said on Thursday that a suspicious object found on rail tracks in a Bavarian town did not contain explosives, as initially feared. Earlier on Thursday, buildings near the object were evacuated in the town of Treuchtlingen for the item to be moved safely by a robot. Experts had earlier taken X-ray images of the object that was found in the southern part of the town. The public ha...
German police said on Thursday they were evacuating buildings near a potentially explosive object found on rail tracks in the Bavarian town of Treuchtlingen for the item to be moved safely. Bavarian police said on social media that some buildings close by were being cleared as a precaution, and a spokesperson added that two to three houses are being evacuated so that the object can be moved. Exp...
Malaysia’s foremost Islamist party has set an early pace ahead of national polls, calling on the country’s Malay-Muslim majority to endorse its renewed efforts to broaden the reach of sharia law. On Wednesday, the Kelantan state assembly – which is dominated by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) – unanimously passed amendments to the Kelantan Syariah Offences Enactment Bill, in a bid to circumv...
Thousands of Hongkongers packed the city’s annual food fair for its opening on Thursday, snapping up abalone, frozen salmon, instant noodles and other products, as some exhibitors forecast a 10 per cent increase in business this year. The five-day Food Expo is among five trade fairs that opened on Thursday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. More than 1,850 exhibitors fr...
China’s top two contract chipmakers, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor, saw their profits surge by triple digits in the second quarter, amid a spike in demand for domestic artificial intelligence chips free of US export controls. Net profits for SMIC and Hua Hong jumped 261.7 per cent and 385.9 per cent year on year to US$479.2 million an...
China’s top two contract chipmakers, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor, saw their profits surge by triple digits in the second quarter, amid a spike in demand for domestic artificial intelligence chips free of US export controls. Net profits for SMIC and Hua Hong jumped 261.7 per cent and 385.9 per cent year on year to US$479.2 million an...
The Trump administration on Thursday released a sharply worded report accusing Chinese exporters of orchestrating a system of “illegal transshipment” through more than 40 third countries to dodge US tariffs, branding the practice “The Great Transshipment Scam.” The 25-page document claims Chinese firms have systematically diverted goods through lower-tariff jurisdictions since the US kicked off it...
The security pact signed on Friday by three of the world’s most powerful Muslim nations with a vow to enhance collective deterrence remains far from what many are calling an Islamic Nato, according to experts. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf’s top oil exporter, Nato member Turkey and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed South Asian state, will be challenged by divergi...
The security pact signed on Friday by three of the world’s most powerful Muslim nations with a vow to enhance collective deterrence remains far from what many are calling an Islamic Nato, according to experts. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf’s top oil exporter, Nato member Turkey and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed South Asian state, will be challenged by divergi...
In some classic Chinese novels and period dramas, women of ancient times would throw an embroidered ball from a balcony to the street to randomly choose whoever caught it as their husband. In the classic novel Journey to the West, published in the 16th century, the father of the main character, Buddhist monk Xuanzang, was chosen by his mother by throwing an embroidered ball. In the 1998 Chinese dr...
McDonald’s has temporarily removed its popular Ebi Burger series from its menu in Hong Kong as a “precautionary measure”, following a similar suspension in Taiwan due to food safety concerns, despite the shrimp patties used in the local items coming from a different production batch. Taiwan McDonald’s announced on Thursday morning that it had immediately suspended sales of “Ebi Burger” and “Double...
McDonald’s has temporarily removed its popular Ebi Burger series from its menu in Hong Kong as a “precautionary measure”, following a similar suspension in Taiwan due to food safety concerns, despite the shrimp patties used in the local items coming from a different production batch. Taiwan McDonald’s announced on Thursday morning that it had immediately suspended sales of “Ebi Burger” and “Double...
An Australian jury on Thursday convicted a former Catholic bishop renowned for hosting alcohol-fuelled house parties of sexually abusing two young Indigenous men. The District Court of Western Australia jury convicted Christopher Saunders, 76, of 13 out of 19 charges of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred between 2008 and 2019 in his sprawling diocese on the country’s tropical northwest coast. Pr...
Indonesia hopes to start the mass production of home-grown electric cars no later than 2028, President Prabowo Subianto said on Thursday, in an effort to increase the adoption of electric vehicles in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The president said the government is currently building a huge factory complex to manufacture the electric cars in the Subang region of West Java province. Prabowo...
A Hong Kong woman who returned from Australia has been acquitted of two charges linked to the 2019 anti-government protests, after a magistrate found insufficient evidence that she was involved in the unrest. Eastern Court ruled on Thursday that prosecutors had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that casino cashier Ami Chan Hui-ching, 21, carried two laser pointers and three bottles of spra...
Known for his sharp intellect, no-nonsense demeanour and relentless drive for reform, China’s former premier Zhu Rongji was the primary architect of the country’s transition from an isolated, rigidly planned economy to a market-driven titan connected to the rest of the world. During his tenure from 1998 to 2003, he engineered an economic “soft landing”, steered the nation through the Asian Financi...
Vietnam’s construction of its most ambitious warship to date signals its ambition to develop a self-sufficient defence industry and assert its maritime interests. However, the country is expected to remain dependent on foreign technology for high-end engines, sensors and other critical systems even as it builds its defence manufacturing capabilities, according to analysts. The frigate is being bui...
Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, the driver of the nation’s economic reforms, died on Wednesday aged 97 following an illness. Zhu spearheaded China’s 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), paving the way for an export boom that fuelled the country’s transformation into the world’s second-biggest economy. He also oversaw domestic market reforms that included closing hundreds of los...
Chinese carmakers could capture between 15 and 30 per cent of the European automotive market by 2035, up from roughly 10 per cent this year, analysts at Citi said, with the outcome resting on how far Brussels goes in tightening tariffs and made-in-EU rules. Current European Union rules would allow Chinese carmakers to reach 30 per cent by 2035 – Citi’s base scenario – while extending existing tari...
Hong Kong’s rail operator more than doubled its net profit to HK$15.87 billion (US$2 billion) in the first half of 2026, up from HK$7.70 billion a year earlier, as strong gains from property development offset a flat performance in its rail and commercial operations. “Although the corporation delivered solid results in the first half of the year, we will continue to undertake forward-looking finan...
