An appeal court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of Colombian former president Alvaro Uribe for bribery and witness tampering for which he had been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest. Uribe, 73, has denied any wrongdoing. He was sentenced in August following a nearly six-month trial in which prosecutors presented evidence that he attempted to ...

The jewellery stolen from the Louvre in Paris was valued at more than US$100 million, a French prosecutor said Tuesday, as the museums director faces security questions from a Senate committee over the brazen weekend heist. The director, Laurence des Cars, has not made any public statement since thieves made off with royal jewels during a daylight robbery ...

A California man has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government in Southern California while working as a campaign adviser for a local politician. Sun Yaoning, also known as Mike Sun, is expected to appear in court in Los Angeles on Monday to enter his plea under a deal with federal prosecutors, according to a copy of ...

Chinas commerce minister has accepted an urgent invitation to Brussels, the EUs trade chief Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday, as the bloc looks to unpick Beijings restrictions on rare earth mineral exports and defuse a row over Dutch-based chipmaker Nexperia. The EU is seeking China to relax export licensing requirements for rare earth elements and magnets, ...

Mosquitoes have been discovered in Iceland in a first for the island nation, which has long been one of the worlds mosquito-free places, a researcher said on Monday. Three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes, two females and one male, were sighted around 30km (20 miles) north of the capital Reykjavik, according to Matthias Alfredsson, an entomologist at the ...

China is in talks with Japan and South Korea both US allies about a possible trilateral currency swap to bolster the regions financial safety net and deepen economic cooperation amid US President Donald Trumps trade war, according to a source familiar with the issue. Pan Gongsheng, governor of the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), touched on the issue with ...

The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong pledged on Tuesday to safeguard the interests of the industry and to tackle future challenges as the group elected its new leaders. The society will, as always, continue to safeguard the interests of the industry, enhance professional standards and facilitate candid exchanges and dialogues on the industrys future ...

Three women who took part in a walk to Singapores presidential estate to deliver letters calling for changes to the countrys stance on Israel have been acquitted of holding a public procession without a permit. Legal observers say the ruling, which has drawn interest given the city states strict regulation of public assemblies, reflects the evidentiary ...

Chinese scientists have created a superfast analogue chip that can solve complex maths problems for advanced scientific tasks and artificial intelligence (AI) while using less power than conventional computing, according to a paper published this month. The analogue device designed by researchers from Peking University uses memory chips made of resistive ...

Hong Kongs leader has said late entertainment mogul Run Run Shaws vision of celebrating education and the pursuit of knowledge with his prestigious science prize is central to the city governments own aspirations. Speaking at the award ceremony for the prestigious Shaw Prize on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also paid his respects to late Nobel ...

A critical minerals framework deal valued at US$8.5 billion between the United States and Australia will allow American buyers to rely less on Chinese rare earth metals, but developing a secure, independent supply chain may take the US 10 to 20 years, according to analysts. Deals like this go a long way this is a good start, said Pini Althaus, CEO of ...

Hong Kong has started deploying drones to detect illegal refuelling stations in the city, with the Fire Services Department having seized diesel worth more than HK$6 million (US$772,362) in the past month during a crackdown on 23 locations. Bradan Kwok Chi-kwan, divisional officer for dangerous goods enforcement, said the department introduced drones to ...

Unitree Robotics has launched an education platform for students to train robot dogs and understand how they operate based on the start-ups Go2 system, as adoption of these quadruped machines expands from enthusiasts to mainstream consumers. According to its social media post on Tuesday, Unitree has developed an in-person training course with ready-to-use ...

Completing the delivery of all 66 F-16V fighter jets ordered from the United States by the end of next year will be challenging, Taiwans defence minister has conceded, with the island yet to receive any of the aircraft. The admission from Defence Minister Wellington Koo Li-hsiung highlights growing concerns in Taiwan over delays to one of its most important ...

US Vice-President J.D. Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday to shore up the fragile US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza that has teetered over the past few days following a burst of deadly violence and questions over how to move forward with the plan for cementing a long-term peace. Also on Tuesday, Israel said it has identified the body of a hostage that was ...

Taku Yamamoto, husband of Japans first female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, said he hopes to support his wife as a stealth husband, adding, Unlike in the West, it is better for the partner to stay out of the spotlight here. A former fellow Liberal Democratic Party member in the House of Representatives, Yamamoto said he was initially drawn to the contrast ...

Australia should lead the creation of a formal Five Eyes-style intelligence club in the Pacific amid the alleged threat of Chinas growing presence in the region, a prominent foreign policy think tank suggests. Dubbed Pacific Eyes, the proposed intelligence-sharing alliance could help plug institutional gaps that external powers particularly Beijing were ...

The bereaved families of the two airport staff killed when an Emirates cargo flight veered off a runway have said they have not received any condolence messages from the airline, and are demanding a comprehensive investigation into the accident as soon as possible. A dozen relatives of security patrol vehicle driver Vincent Ho Kwok-cheung, 41, and his ...

China has accused the United States of showing a lack of basic respect for Central America following its threat to ban officials and others from the region with ties to the Communist Party from entering the country. The State Department said last month that it would restrict US visas for Central American nationals intentionally acting on behalf of the ...

As Prabowo Subianto marks his first year as Indonesias president, the former general is grappling with the challenge of turning his populist campaign promises into lasting policy. While early initiatives such as free meals for children have drawn praise, concerns over civil liberties, economic sluggishness and foreign policy decisions threaten to overshadow ...

A Chinese woman has been arrested and charged over the theft of gold from the Natural History Museum in Paris, in one of several recent high-profile break-ins targeting French cultural institutions, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. The theft by what the museums director at the time said was an extremely professional team took place on September 16, about a ...

Ophthalmology professionals in Hong Kong have cautioned residents about the risks of wearing cosmetic contact lenses sourced from unregulated channels especially during Halloween warning of potential visual impairment caused by improper use. The Hong Kong Association of Private Practice Optometrists on Tuesday also urged authorities to introduce a ...

Hong Kong authorities could resort to manslaughter charges, which carry a penalty of life imprisonment, if a cargo plane crash that killed two airport staff members is found to have resulted from gross negligence, legal experts have said. Flight EK9788 veered off a runway during landing at Hong Kong airport on Monday morning and ploughed into the waters, ...

Hong Kong will play a pivotal role in pushing for the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in an effort to raise the citys status as an international aviation hub, the citys transport chief has pledged. Speaking at the International Air Transport Association (IATA)s World Sustainability Symposium hosted in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Secretary for Transport and ...

Singapores coordinating minister for national security has warned that countries that weaponise technology are fuelling a cyber arms race, as officials and experts at a major regional summit call for deeper global cooperation to tackle online threats. Opening the Singapore International Cyber Week on Tuesday, K Shanmugam said nations must rebuild trust and ...