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Democratic US states sue to challenge Trump’s latest round of tariffs
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Democratic US states sue to challenge Trump’s latest round of tariffs

A group of 25 Democratic-led US states sued US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday, arguing that the president’s latest round of tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners, like most of his earlier sweeping tariffs, exceeds his legal authority to tax imports. The states’ lawsuit filed in the US ‌Court of International Trade in New York follows previous challenges by small US businesse...

Zelensky dismisses Ukraine’s ambassador to US
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Zelensky dismisses Ukraine’s ambassador to US

President Volodymyr ⁠Zelensky dismissed Ukraine’s ⁠ambassador to the ⁠United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in a presidential decree published on Monday. Stefanishyna had been in her job for nearly a year. Her departure had ‌been expected for several weeks. Her departure coincides with a shake-up in recent weeks of top officials, including the replacement of the prime minister and defence minister. A ...

Zelensky dismisses Ukraine’s ambassador to the US in presidential decree
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Zelensky dismisses Ukraine’s ambassador to the US in presidential decree

President Volodymyr ⁠Zelensky dismissed Ukraine’s ⁠ambassador to the ⁠United States, Olha Stefanishyna, in a presidential decree published on Monday. Stefanishyna had been in her job for nearly a year. Her departure had ‌been expected for several weeks. Her departure coincides with a shake-up in recent weeks of top officials, including the replacement of the prime minister and defence minister. A ...

Chinese executive filmed taking cash on Colombia metro, South America’s biggest project
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Chinese executive filmed taking cash on Colombia metro, South America’s biggest project

Colombian prosecutors are investigating allegations that executives of a Chinese state-owned contractor building the Bogota metro demanded cash from a local subcontractor in exchange for releasing payments owed for work on the project, according to an investigation published over the weekend by Semana, the country’s leading news magazine. The consortium building the line has denied any wrongdoing,...

First deaths reported in US cyclosporiasis outbreak

First deaths reported in US cyclosporiasis outbreak

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Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, state health officials announced Monday, the first deaths confirmed in the US related to the microscopic parasite. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said both people had underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by the intestinal illness and dehydration. The department said it would not provide additiona...

Michigan reports the first 2 US deaths related to a diarrhoea-causing parasite

Michigan reports the first 2 US deaths related to a diarrhoea-causing parasite

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Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, state health officials announced on Monday, the first deaths confirmed in the US related to the microscopic parasite. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said both people had underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by the intestinal illness and dehydration. The department said it would not provide additi...

Spain denies intelligence warnings before Ceuta migrant crisis

Spain denies intelligence warnings before Ceuta migrant crisis

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The government in Madrid has rejected allegations that it ignored warnings from the CNI intelligence service about a mass arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in North Africa. It said on Monday that no intelligence reports had been received warning of a migration crisis on this scale. Meanwhile, efforts to accommodate and repatriate the remaining migrants, as we...

Spain denies ignoring intelligence service warning over Ceuta migration crisis

Spain denies ignoring intelligence service warning over Ceuta migration crisis

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The government in Madrid has rejected allegations that it ignored warnings from its intelligence service, the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI), about a mass arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in the Spanish territory of Ceuta in North Africa. It said on Monday that no intelligence reports had been received warning of a migration crisis on this scale. Meanwhile, efforts to accommodate an...

France condemns Farage-led plan to deploy British navy against Channel migrants

France condemns Farage-led plan to deploy British navy against Channel migrants

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France on Monday condemned a proposal by hard-right Reform UK party to launch, if it wins power, “the largest military operation” in the Channel “since World War II” to stop migrants crossing on small boats. The party’s leader, Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, at a press conference unveiled a policy to deploy Britain’s Royal Navy to return small boats to France. But the French interior ministry sai...

Hard-right Reform UK vows to use navy to stop small boats if it wins power

Hard-right Reform UK vows to use navy to stop small boats if it wins power

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The hard-right Reform UK party unveiled plans on Monday for, if it wins power, “the largest military operation” in the Channel “since World War II” to stop migrants crossing on small boats. The proposal – which experts and other political parties promptly rubbished – comes days after tens of thousands of migrants entered Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco, reigniting ...

Jay Clayton sworn in as US spy chief

Jay Clayton sworn in as US spy chief

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Jay ⁠Clayton was sworn in on Monday as ⁠the US director of national intelligence after a contentious Senate confirmation hearing in which he refused to directly acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. He takes on ‌a role that was vacated in June when Tulsi Gabbard stepped down after a tenure marked by clashes with congressional Democrats, who accused her of adv...

Jay Clayton sworn in as US spy chief after contentious  Senate confirmation hearing

Jay Clayton sworn in as US spy chief after contentious Senate confirmation hearing

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Jay ⁠Clayton was sworn in on Monday as ⁠the US director of national intelligence after a contentious Senate confirmation hearing in which he refused to directly acknowledge that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. He takes on ‌a role that was vacated in June when Tulsi Gabbard stepped down after a tenure marked by clashes with congressional Democrats, who accused her of adv...

Pentagon signs US$3 billion deal to ramp up Patriot, THAAD missile parts production

Pentagon signs US$3 billion deal to ramp up Patriot, THAAD missile parts production

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The US has signed a more than US$3 billion deal with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to ramp up production of Patriot and ‌THAAD interceptor missile parts, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain stockpiles. The deal, announced by the Pentagon and Northrop on Monday, follows last week’s announcement of a contract for Lockheed worth up to US$58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles...

US signs deal to boost Patriot and THAAD missile parts production

US signs deal to boost Patriot and THAAD missile parts production

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The US has signed a more than US$3 billion deal with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to ramp up production of Patriot and ‌THAAD interceptor missile parts, as conflicts in Iran and Ukraine strain stockpiles. The deal, announced by the Pentagon and Northrop on Monday, follows last week’s announcement of a contract for Lockheed worth up to US$58.6 billion to produce Patriot interceptor missiles...

500 Hong Kong students get taste of military life as PLA summer camp returns

500 Hong Kong students get taste of military life as PLA summer camp returns

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About 500 Hong Kong students are getting a taste of army life, with the PLA garrison launching its annual summer camp to instil patriotism and discipline, and teach military skills, among young people. Among the new recruits is Lo Wan-lung, a Form One student at Salesian English School who is attending the two-week camp for the first time. Attracted by the chance of weapons-related training, the y...

A military base, a displaced people and Trump’s China fears: Burnham’s Chagos test

A military base, a displaced people and Trump’s China fears: Burnham’s Chagos test

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Bertrice Pompe was born in Diego Garcia, situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, in 1971, making her one of the last Chagossians to enter the world on an island that her family would soon be forced to leave. “Some families, like brothers, sisters, were separated,” she said. “Some went to the Seychelles, some to Mauritius … close family, brothers, sister, mother, father...

China’s political and scientific elite head to Beidaihe for summer retreat season

China’s political and scientific elite head to Beidaihe for summer retreat season

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Beijing has signalled the start of the summer break for China’s political elite with the announcement of retreats at the seaside resort of Beidaihe. State news agency Xinhua reported on Monday that Cai Qi, the man often referred to as President Xi Jinping’s “chief of staff”, “extended sincere greetings” to various academics and scientists invited to the resort about 300km (186 miles) east of Beiji...

The AI talent war: tech giants court researchers years ahead of graduation

The AI talent war: tech giants court researchers years ahead of graduation

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Doctoral researcher Hu Qi still has about two years left in his programme at the University of Hong Kong, but headhunters are already reaching out to pitch specific jobs and ask when he will graduate. Hu, who specialises in artificial intelligence agent security, is currently interning at a Chinese tech giant where his team leaders regularly ask about his post-graduation plans, urging him to sign ...

Trump election claims debunked, US critical minerals fears: 7 US-China relations reads

Trump election claims debunked, US critical minerals fears: 7 US-China relations reads

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We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Liberation Day 2.0? US slaps fresh wave of tariffs on China, 50-plus economies On June 24, the United States imposed a fresh wave of tariffs against 60 economies, including China, Japan, South...

Will Philippines’ push for seabed rights derail South China Sea code talks?

Will Philippines’ push for seabed rights derail South China Sea code talks?

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The Philippines’ latest push for seabed rights in the South China Sea could complicate its efforts as this year’s Asean chair to build regional consensus, analysts say, adding another layer of complexity to already slow-moving talks on a code of conduct for the disputed waterway. On July 28, Manila delivered an official presentation of its partial submission on its extended continental shelf in wa...

Woman missing for 11 days found alive on hillside near Hong Kong cemetery

Woman missing for 11 days found alive on hillside near Hong Kong cemetery

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Hong Kong authorities have found a 60-year-old woman on a hillside near a cemetery nearly two weeks after she went missing, despite the search being hampered by a typhoon and days of heavy rain. Police said on Monday that Ngan Lai‑ching left her home at Kwong Ming Court in Tseung Kwan O on the morning of July 24 without a mobile phone or an Octopus card. The force said she had a history of schizop...

Missing woman, 60, found alive on hillside near Hong Kong cemetery

Missing woman, 60, found alive on hillside near Hong Kong cemetery

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Hong Kong authorities have found a 60-year-old woman on a hillside near a cemetery nearly two weeks after she went missing, despite the search being hampered by a typhoon and days of heavy rain. Police said on Monday that Ngan Lai‑ching left her home at Kwong Ming Court in Tseung Kwan O on the morning of July 24 without a mobile phone or an Octopus card. The force said she had a history of schizop...

Unknown number of people missing after Indonesian ferry fire kills 5

Unknown number of people missing after Indonesian ferry fire kills 5

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Indonesian rescuers searched for possible missing passengers on Monday after rescuing 231 people from a ferry that caught fire the previous day off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead. Passengers described leaping overboard and staying afloat for hours before rescue. The Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry was travelling from Indonesia’s second-largest city of Surabaya in East Java to t...

What’s a Burmese python doing in Causeway Bay? Expert links reptile to rain

What’s a Burmese python doing in Causeway Bay? Expert links reptile to rain

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A Burmese python has gone viral on social media after it was spotted along a busy road in a Hong Kong shopping district on Sunday evening, with an expert saying heavy rain over recent weeks may have forced wild animals into urban areas. The snake was caught on camera by a passing jogger near Causeway Bay’s Jardine Noonday Gun at around 11pm that day. In the clip, the reptile, which appears to be a...

UK jails man for claiming late mum’s benefits while keeping her body in freezer

UK jails man for claiming late mum’s benefits while keeping her body in freezer

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A British man who kept his mother’s ⁠body in ⁠a freezer for nearly ⁠three years while he received almost £80,000 (US$108,000) of her welfare benefits was jailed on Monday. Christopher Phillips, 60, had admitted preventing the lawful and decent burial of his 89-year-old mother Sylvia Phillips after ‌she died in March 2023 until his arrest at their home in Porthcawl, south Wales, in February this ye...

Singapore jails man who had secret sexual ‘relationship’ with niece, 13

Singapore jails man who had secret sexual ‘relationship’ with niece, 13

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In getting into a sexual relationship with his 13-year-old niece, a man sexually exploited her, raped her during staycations and “punished” her with sex acts when he grew jealous about a schoolmate she was dating. The 38-year-old Singaporean man, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, was sentenced to 21 years’ jail and 16 strokes of the cane on Monday. He pleaded guilty to six char...

Chinese military unveils AI system to plan and coordinate mass air strikes

Chinese military unveils AI system to plan and coordinate mass air strikes

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The Chinese air force is using an AI-enabled system to draw up battle plans for operations involving more than 100 units, according to a state television documentary. The “intelligent strike planning system” was designed to help commanders and pilots by prioritising targets, coordinating attack waves and allocating specific tasks to units, the CCTV programme broadcast on Sunday said, adding that i...

Iran war could still alter Beijing’s policy calculus: economist

Iran war could still alter Beijing’s policy calculus: economist

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With the US-Israel war on Iran entering its sixth month, Chinese policymakers have a multitude of questions weighing on their minds, with two proving particularly thorny according to a prominent economist: how much longer the conflict might last, and whether it will necessitate adjustments to previous plans. While the continuing impact on China might remain “small”, said Mao Zhenhua – co-director ...

HKU looking for president with ‘new mentality and clean slate’ to drive change

HKU looking for president with ‘new mentality and clean slate’ to drive change

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The next leader of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) must have a fresh mindset, as someone who has spent a decade in the role may struggle to drive change, an insider has told the South China Morning Post, adding that the university is weighing whether to take part in the Northern Metropolis megaproject. The source said the successor to incumbent Xiang Zhang – who has decided not to renew his five...