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 victims identity, was sentenced to 21 years jail and 16 strokes of the cane on ...

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 ...

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 ...

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world at extraordinary speed. It is reshaping manufacturing, finance, healthcare, education, scientific research and even the way governments make decisions. While AI advances at an unprecedented pace, one fundamental question has come to the fore: how to govern intelligence in an interconnected yet increasingly ...

Wuxi AppTec, Asias largest provider of contract pharmaceutical research, posted net income that smashed market expectations in the first half of the year amid strong demand tied to weight-loss and diabetes drugs, as well as gains in its US business. Interim net profit attributable to the owners of the Shanghai-based drug contractor advanced 33.7 per cent to ...

Robbyant, the embodied artificial intelligence division of Ant Group, has begun seeking external funding, becoming the fourth unit of the fintech giant to step up capital-raising efforts. The unit said it was in talks with investors on Monday. As Ant Groups core initiative in embodied intelligence, a Robbyant spokesperson said it would remain focused on ...

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, who is close to the HKU council, said the ...

China has revised regulations on the protection of chip design, a critical move to push for tech self-sufficiency amid US export controls. Premier Li Qiang signed a State Council decree to promulgate the revised rules on the protection of layout designs of integrated circuits, Xinhua reported on Monday. The new rules will take effect on October 15. The ...

The US tech industrys increasingly hawkish attitude towards China has caused alarm among some observers who warn it could cause greater mistrust between the two countries. Silicon Valley has become much more politicised in recent years, with leading figures such as Elon Musk donating vast sums to political campaigns, including Donald Trumps 2024 ...

Hong Kong police have arrested a mother and her husbands aunt after the mother allegedly mistakenly fed her two children cannabis-infused sweets, sending them to hospital. The force received a report at about 4pm on Monday that a six-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl had fallen ill at their home in Wang Tak House, Wang Tau Hom Estate. The girl vomited, ...

Hong Kongs Catholic diocese has urged worshippers to avoid masses led by a conservative group excommunicated by the Vatican after a priest from the fraternity was reported to be holding regular events in the city. The dioceses call came about a month after the Vatican excommunicated followers of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) over the groups decision to ...

Local farmers have suffered six-figure losses because of extreme downpours since May, with a farm in northern Hong Kong flooded for seven hours during heavy rain on Sunday. Leung Yat-shun of Shun Sum Yuen farm in Yuen Long said on Monday that efforts to grow tens of thousands of sunflowers had been a washout since May, with precipitation in July alone ...

Chinese AI company DeepSeek is inviting open-source developers to test its upcoming harness software designed to turn large language models (LLMs) into AI agents accelerating a push into agentic tech as DeepSeeks latest V4 Flash model sends another cost-efficiency shock wave through Silicon Valley. The Hangzhou-based firm was looking for open-source ...

Thailand has issued a full-throated rebuttal of comments by a UN human rights specialist whose visit last week to Cambodia found 20,000 people remain displaced by the border war, as the neighbouring nations engage in a battle for international opinion over their deadly territorial dispute. Thailand and Cambodia fought a brief but bloody border war in July ...

Only days ago, the Japanese yens descent showed no signs of stopping, having already dropped to a 40-year low. But by Monday morning after a rare intervention on the currencys behalf by Tokyo and Washington it surged as high as 155.23 per US dollar, its strongest level since early May, according to Chinese financial data provider Wind. The joint action ...

A construction safety manager has died after falling about 10 floors at a work site in Hong Kongs Kowloon City. Authorities received a report at 12.40pm on Monday that a man had plunged from a rooftop before landing on the fourth floor at the site on Sa Po Road. Emergency responders discovered the 39-year-old man unconscious and trapped among the ...

Two teenage siblings from eastern China excelled in this years gaokao, leading to their acceptance into the countrys top universities and igniting intense discussions surrounding their exceptional talents and family education. Xu Haotian, 17, and his sister Xu Haolin, 15, achieved scores of 688 and 699 out of a maximum of 750, respectively, in this years ...

Small commercial sea drones that have shown they can monitor PLA warships in the South China Sea have emerged as a new potential challenge for Beijing in the disputed waters. Last week, Seasats, a California-based autonomous vessel maker, released footage which has been verified by Reuters showing its Lightfish drone operating near a Chinese Type 052D ...

Alibaba Group Holding has made its next-generation flagship artificial intelligence model Qwen3.8-Max widely accessible to global users ahead of an open-weights release next week. The move marks Alibabas return to open-sourcing its top-tier AI models after keeping several recent flagship releases proprietary earlier this year. It also signals the firms ...

Malaysias call for major powers to apply international law consistently, not selectively could signal growing regional unease with how big players are seen to invoke rules only when convenient. Defence Minister Khaled Nordin delivered the message on Monday at the 37th International Military Law and Operations Conference in Kuala Lumpur, where he said major ...

An employee of a Hong Kong fertility clinic is suspected of lying to cover up a mistake involving mixed-up embryo biopsy specimens, the South China Morning Post has learned, with the police listing the case as fraud and placing the worker, who has returned to Malaysia, on the wanted list. A source told the SCMP that the employee worked at Heal Fertility in ...

A top theoretical journal of the Communist Party has acknowledged that a stark economic divide exists between Chinas booming AI sector and its struggling traditional industries. And while arguing that this divergence was not unique to China, the Qiushi Journal stressed that rapid technological advances must not leave ordinary citizens behind. In a ...

Malaysias attempt to recast Forest City from a China-backed ghost city into a hub for global wealth and mobile talent is facing an early governance test after police last week uncovered two alleged online scam syndicates operating across 32 luxury homes. The raids have sharpened questions over whether oversight is keeping pace with Putrajayas drive to ...

On August 3, five-year Chinese treasury bond futures began trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Market attention has focused on the new product, but its real significance emerges when set against the deep shifts under way in the international monetary system. History offers a clear lesson: no currency has graduated from a trade settlement currency to a ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed healthcare for hundreds of millions of people in China. AI-powered apps help them manage their health and seek care, while others help doctors better diagnose and treat their patients. AI analysis of routine scans detects cancers and other conditions physicians might have missed. Personalised cancer vaccines ...