Hong Kongs treasury chief has dismissed calls to set up a separate commission of inquiry to investigate officials roles in a bottled water procurement scandal, arguing that the governments auditors will be able to identify lapses in a professional and independent manner. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu, the head of ...

Taiwans Quanta and HTC are seen as possible contract manufacturers for Googles imminent AI glasses, as such products are expected to emerge as essential mobile devices that will drive rapid expansion across the industry. Google is rumoured to have completed development of its first artificial intelligence-enabled glasses, which are reportedly to be made in ...

A court in China will hear a case involving a 17-year-old girl accused of selling her 19-year-old boyfriend to a scam hub in Myanmar for 100,000 yuan (US$14,000). The man, known as Huang, was released by the scam ring at the end of June after his family paid 350,000 yuan (US$48,000). He was held there for nearly four months, during which time he received ...

A team led by the Shanghai Museum will embark on a joint archaeological research project with Egypt in October at the Sekhmet Temple ruins, a complex on the west bank of the Nile River. The temple is part of the ancient Memphis archaeological site dating back over 5,100 years, at a site that was then the capital of ancient Egypt and the home of the god ...

A plan to build hundreds of luxury villas on an island in Indonesias Komodo National Park has sparked fierce backlash from environmentalists and residents over concerns that it could devastate the fragile ecosystem of the Unesco-listed sanctuary the only place on Earth where Komodo dragons roam wild. The project, backed by a government-linked developer, ...

British Airways remains committed to the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets despite reducing its service to the city and halting flights to Beijing, its customer chief has said, stressing that the carrier will revisit its schedules once geopolitical issues change. In an interview with the Post, chief customer officer Calum Laming emphasised that the ...

Chinas top envoy in Washington has rejected suggestions that Chinese ownership of US farmland is a national security threat, saying such claims are completely unfounded. Addressing a soybean industry event in Washington on Friday, Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, said Chinese investors owned less than 0.03 per cent of the total ...

Natos easternmost member states are grappling with a sharp rise in radio and satellite interference, with Baltic governments accusing Russia of positioning equipment for electronic warfare close to their borders. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Baltic Sea region has registered widespread signal ...

An Israeli hospital that has achieved a breakthrough in cultivating kidneys in laboratories is seeking funding, including from China, to advance into clinical trials, according to the projects lead researcher. Sheba Medical Centre, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, said it had successfully grown a synthetic 3D organ culture, or organoid, that was ...

Hong Kong police are investigating whether a fire that led to a womans death in her flat on Sunday morning is linked to her smoking. Police said they had received a call around 7.43am from a security officer at Hoi Tat Estate in Cheung Sha Wan that smoke was emanating from one of the buildings units. Firefighters were deployed to the scene to extinguish the ...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMPs journalism by subscribing. New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. All typhoon signals will be cancelled at 12.10pm on Sunday as Tropical Cyclone Kajiki moves further away from Hong Kong, according to the citys weather ...

A unit of Taiwanese consumer electronics giant Asus is developing a supercomputer, powered by Nvidia chips, that is expected to boost the islands computing capacity by at least 50 per cent, according to a senior executive. That infrastructure, a collaboration between Taiwan AI Cloud and the islands National Centre for High-Performance Computing, is expected ...

For decades, both New Zealand and Australia have been pretty slack on military spending, Wellingtons defence minister recently conceded in a striking admission that analysts say was aimed as much at Washington as at a sceptical public at home. Judith Collins told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on August 14 that she sympathised with the United ...

For Mariana Zobel de Ayala, the chance to help develop the Philippines tourism industry by boosting Ayala Lands investments in retail and hotel properties could not have come at a better time. As the senior vice-president for leasing and hospitality of one of the largest developers in the Philippines, Zobel de Ayala believes tourism will be a major driver ...

From public transport to postal services, the city of Beijing has tightened security in multiple ways for a rare military parade on September 3 celebrating a World War II triumph for China that will draw state leaders from around the world. The parade is among events that will mark the 80th anniversary of Chinas victory in the war of resistance against ...

More than 180 years after their first development, the historic cores on Hong Kong Island Central, Sheung Wan and Wan Chai and in Kowloon Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok face an acute urban crisis. Once-vibrant neighbourhoods have become densely packed relics defined by ageing buildings, congested streets, poor sanitation and rising urban heat ...

A Singaporean woman who met an Italian man on the dating app Tinder later agreed to travel with him to Qatar via Dubai, thinking he was a wealthy man who wanted to marry her. However, she was later allegedly told that she needed to show US$10,000 as proof of funds before she could enter Qatar. According to the prosecution, the Italian man arranged for her ...

A shocking video which shows a mother calmly taking her toddler daughter to the hospital with a fruit knife lodged in the childs head has stunned social media. The incident came to light on August 15 when a netizen posted a video showing a mother and her three-year-old daughter walking as if nothing had happened into Dongchuan Peoples Hospital in Kunming, ...

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo unveiled a mixed-reality headset that resembles Apples Vision Pro in name, design and interface, but weighs about 35 per cent less and is likely to cost one third as much. The Vivo Vision is similar to the Apple gadget that is controlled with intuitive eye tracking and hand gestures, according to information published on Vivos ...

In Hong Kongs Kwai Tsing neighbourhood, a community recycling station has been quietly making an impact since opening in 2019. Green@Kwai Tsing, operated by the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, serves as a collection point for various items that are sent to recyclers. Twelve mobile collection spots are also set up in the neighbourhood every ...

Convicted criminals could face being banned from going to the pub, music concerts and sports events such as football matches under new plans by the British government as it seeks ways to address the countrys overflowing prison crisis. Under the new sentencing powers, judges would be able to limit offenders freedoms with a range of measures such as driving ...

All five people killed in a tour bus crash in upstate New York on Friday afternoon have been identified, authorities said on Saturday. The victims include a Columbia University student, three New Jersey residents and one Indian national, according to New York State Police. They were identified as Xie Hongzhuo, a 22-year-old Columbia student originally from ...

When two helicopters collided in Malaysia last year, killing 10 naval officers, it served as a wake-up call for a military that for too long has been dependent on ageing equipment. Though the aircraft involved in that crash were relatively new, many others are not. Now, the king himself has intervened, calling out nonsensical and unacceptable procurement ...

The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using US-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyivs ability to employ these weapons in its defence against Moscows invasion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing US officials. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The ...

China is on a mission to turn its military into a modern fighting force. In the second of this four-part series, we look at how its massive defence industry can support Chinas military goals, and during wartime could be further bolstered by the civilian manufacturing sector. In the northeastern city of Shenyang, the future of Chinas defence manufacturing ...