Under a global cloud of wars and bitter divisions, world leaders meet at the United Nations in New York this week facing new fears that runaway artificial intelligence could threaten humanity even as climate shocks and escalating prices are already making life much tougher for hundreds of millions of people. The annual high-level gathering at the UN General ...

The US Department of Transportation has yet to announce online a decision on Air Chinas application to add extra flights to support this weeks US-China high-level visit as of late Monday, Hong Kong time, after a trade association backed by the largest US airlines protested the bid. The trade group Airlines for America, which represents major US airlines, ...

A leading Hong Kong secondary school has expressed regret and withdrawn guidelines accused of banning Cantonese from graduation videos after the policy sparked controversy. Good Hope School issued a public statement on Monday evening, saying it had heard concerns from the wider community and had fully and formally withdrawn the guidance paper for next years ...

The Communist Party accused former military leaders Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli of factionalism and disloyalty, expelling them from the party and the armed forces following a Politburo meeting on Monday, state media reported. Zhang was once a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the highest-ranking uniformed member of the Chinese ...

The United States and Chinas agreement to establish an official AI dialogue, including a proposed threat-notification system, marks a pragmatic step towards crisis prevention in their tech war, even as deep-seated divisions over chip access, model distillation and market dominance threaten to limit its impact, analysts said. Announced following high-level ...

Hong Kong education authorities have cut the number of subsidised places for physiotherapy and occupational therapy programmes at three self-financing institutions by about a third for the 2027-28 school year amid a graduate job crunch. A physiotherapy association backed the reduction to avoid worsening unemployment in the sector, saying any future increase ...

Representatives of foreign business chambers who met Hong Kongs leader have said the five-year plan provided clear policy priorities for businesses strategic planning, but called for more concrete timelines and visible progress on the Northern Metropolis project to attract investment. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu held a briefing on Monday for consuls ...

A 3.5-metre-long shark that wandered into a Busan waterfront channel has become an unlikely internet celebrity in South Korea, drawing nearly 20,000 spectators over the weekend as authorities opted to leave the animal alone rather than risk provoking it. The shark was first spotted on Friday in the waterway at North Port Waterfront Park, where it has ...

A major Chinese tech hub is moving to pull the plug on dedicated funding for its low-altitude economy, making it the first city in the country to propose repealing a full financial support package for the sector. The proposal in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, comes after the deadly crash of a small aircraft into Beijings tallest skyscraper in ...

Nearly half of Taiwanese lack confidence that Washington will continue military aid and arms sales to the island, according to a new survey released on Monday ahead of this weeks TrumpXi summit. The poll by Taiwan-based United Daily News found 47 per cent were not confident the United States would continue providing military assistance and selling weapons ...

New World Development (NWD) received the green light from the Shanghai Stock Exchange to spin off and list a Reit (real estate investment trust) on the bourse, according to the distressed developer controlled by one of Hong Kongs wealthiest families. The expected offering size for the NWD C-Reit was about 3.82 billion yuan (US$570 million), from which the ...

Southeast Asia remains comparatively confident in international cooperation even as scepticism grows over whether the United States or China should take a leading global role, a new survey has found. Analysts said the findings reflected a long-standing regional preference for keeping strategic options open, particularly among smaller and middle powers wary ...

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Moonshot AI has begun supplying its flagship Kimi K3 model to Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the worlds largest cloud services providers, in a major test case for how open-weight AI models can generate higher revenue from third-party platforms. The model is now available on Amazon Bedrock, AWSs tool for building ...

Foreign visitors to China who choose to stay somewhere other than a hotel can now register their accommodation with the authorities online, which analysts say will make travelling to the country more convenient. Chinas Exit and Entry Administration Law mandates that foreigners register their accommodation with the police within 24 hours of arrival. Those ...

Qin Weizhong, former mayor of the southern technology hub of Shenzhen, is under investigation for corruption, the countrys top watchdog has confirmed. According to a statement by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Monday, Qin is suspected of grave disciplinary and law violations and is currently undergoing review, which usually means a ...

Hundreds of flights were cancelled and more than one million people were under evacuation advisories in Japan on Monday as Typhoon Dujuan approached the capital Tokyo, potentially bringing record rainfall. In Sodegaura, Chiba, a woman in her 40s sustained minor injuries after driving into debris from a landslide. In Yokosuka, Kanagawa, rescue operations ...

South Korea has surpassed its 2027 target of attracting 300,000 international students a year ahead of schedule, and universities must now find ways to retain and develop them, a new rankings assessment has shown. First launched last year and described as the countrys most internationalisation-focused assessment to date, The Korea Times University Rankings ...

An 80yearold woman has lost HK$6 million (US$764,772) to a fake investment expert she met online, Hong Kong police have disclosed. The case was among more than 50 investment scams reported over the past week, with total losses approaching HK$30 million, according to a post on the forces CyberDefender social media page. The victim, a retiree, first met the ...

A 65-year-old Chinese woman used artificial intelligence (AI) to impersonate both a young doctor and her mother, successfully scamming 170,000 yuan (US$25,000) from a man. Liu Hui, a resident of Shanghai, connected with a woman named Yu Xiuzhen on a social media platform in 2021. Yu asserted that she was a 29-year-old doctor at a prestigious Grade 3A ...

China has upgraded its military base in Djibouti with communications equipment a US think tank says is likely enhancing the countrys ability to collect signals intelligence potentially giving the PLA a window on foreign military operations in Djibouti and the wider Middle East. The Chinese facility sits within 16km (10 miles) of US, French, Italian and ...

US-China biotech deals are expected to thrive because Washington is reportedly leaning away from sweeping restrictions, according to analysts, giving Chinese healthcare firms a major boost following Beijings ambitious five-year plan for the sector. Out-licensing deals between China and the US would ride on a high tide in the favourable environment, said ...

Malaysias royal crisis in Negeri Sembilan spilled into a new constitutional fight on Monday after the states chief minister refused to accept the rulers dismissal of the entire executive council a dispute that has already brought down one government and triggered a snap election. The latest showdown comes less than a week after the executive council backed ...

Chinas top internet watchdog has drafted new rules to regulate how social platforms and game developers should protect minors, including a ban on offering virtual intimacy services to those under 18 as artificial intelligence-powered companions gain traction. The rules, titled Ensuring minors safe and healthy use of the internet, would ban online platforms ...

Investors in Asia are demanding clearer evidence that artificial intelligence can translate into revenue and earnings, rather than simply seeking exposure to the technology, as the sector moves into a more mature phase, according to Chris Oberoi, head of Asia-Pacific research at Bank of America (BofA) Global Research. The issue increasingly is: does it add ...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has suffered a double whammy as his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition scrambles to placate public outrage over disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak being granted house arrest, and the shock resignation of his transport minister in protest of the royal clemency. But observers do not expect the administration, already reeling ...