Chipmaker CXMT eyes US$42 billion Shanghai listing, sources say Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) plans an initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai as soon as the first quarter of next year, eyeing a valuation of up to 300 billion yuan ($42.12 billion), according to two sources briefed on the matter. Founded in 2016 with government backing, CXMT leads China’s strategic push to build a foothold in a global DRAM market long dominated by companies from Japan, South Korea and the United States. China’s leading manufacturer of dynamic...

South China Morning Post

Chipmaker CXMT eyes US$42 billion Shanghai listing, sources say

IPO plans come as China’s semiconductor stocks surge, with the benchmark CSI CN semiconductor index rallying 49 per cent year-to-date.

Hong Kong’s Legco pulls farewell motion amid concerns over electoral fairness Hong Kong’s legislature will break from another tradition by withdrawing a valedictory motion marking the end of its four-year term, with a veteran lawmaker citing concerns over electoral fairness. Starry Lee Wai-king, chairwoman of the Legislative Council’s House Committee, who was supposed to move the farewell motion, revealed on Tuesday that she withdrew it after receiving feedback from some lawmakers. “The election is shaping up to be highly competitive. Some lawmakers worry that having the...

South China Morning Post

Hong Kong Legco’s farewell motion withdrawn amid electoral fairness concerns

House Committee chairwoman Starry Lee pulls motion after feedback from some lawmakers, and notes closeness to election nomination period.

Hong Kong minister admits procurement vigilance ‘below expectations’, vows reform Civil servants’ vigilance in guarding against potential procurement scams falls short of public expectations, Hong Kong’s treasury minister has admitted, pledging to conduct site visits and prevent the process from becoming a “robotic” arrangement of “checking boxes”. But Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu stressed on Tuesday that the principle of “the lowest bidder wins” did not apply to government procurement procedures this time around and denied that...

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Hong Kong minister admits procurement vigilance ‘below expectations’, vows reform

Treasury chief Christopher Hui pledges to conduct site visits, prevent procurement process from becoming ‘robotic’ checking of boxes.

Louvre jewels may be irrecoverable as French police race against time Crime gangs around Europe were increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often caught thieves, they struggled to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts have said. Only a small pool of criminals would be capable of such a job as Sunday’s audacious robbery in Paris and may already be known to police, the specialists said. But the objects themselves could be quickly broken down into component parts and sold on. “If...

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Louvre jewels may be irrecoverable as French police race against time

Police hunt for Louvre raiders before priceless Napoleonic jewels are melted down and cut into untraceable individual stones.

Singer Soyou denies intoxication after US flight ‘racial prejudice’ row South Korean singer Soyou, 34, formerly of girl group Sistar, has denied online claims that she was drunk on a US flight where she said she experienced racial discrimination, clarifying that the incident stemmed from a language misunderstanding rather than alcohol consumption. In a social media post on Monday, Soyou said she only had “a small amount of alcohol served with a meal” at the airport lounge before boarding. “I was not intoxicated, and I boarded without any issue or restriction,” she...

South China Morning Post

Singer Soyou denies intoxication after US flight ‘racial prejudice’ row

Soyou said the cold treatment she experienced throughout the 15-hour flight from Atlanta to Seoul left her ‘disheartened’.

What is ‘winology’, the new theory about unfair Western views of China? China’s economic and technological advances are being unfairly dismissed in the United States and other parts of the West as a result of hierarchical thinking, according to a theory dubbed “winology” that is taking hold among some online commentators. The term winology was coined by Chinese academics and refers to ways in which countries can both become a global leader in certain areas and be recognised as such. However, the theory argues that the West relegates China to the lowest tier of a...

South China Morning Post

What is ‘winology’, the new theory about unfair Western views of China?

Supporters of the theory say that China’s successes are not being recognised because of a racialised, hierarchical view of the world.

Hong Kong stock rally extends as investors bet on US-China trade agreement Hong Kong stocks extended a rally on Tuesday as investors continued to bet on easing US-China trade tensions. The Hang Seng Index rose 1.5 per cent to 26,241.50 as of 9.50am. The Hang Seng Tech Index surged 2.3 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index rose 0.4 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 per cent. Semiconductor Manufacturing International jumped 4 per cent to HK$74.65, smartphone camera-module maker Sunny Optical Technology Group added 3.8 per cent to HK$81.60 and...

South China Morning Post

Hong Kong stock rally extends as investors bet on US-China trade agreement

Investors shrug off US President Donald Trump’s mention of a 155 per cent tariff on Chinese goods if negotiations fail.

Chinese mum dies saving baby from South Korea fire caused by woman’s pest hunt A woman in her 30s died after saving her two-month-old baby from a fire accidentally started by a neighbour attempting to kill a cockroach using a lighter and spray in Osan, South Korea’s Gyeonggi province, police said on Monday. According to Osan police station, the fire broke out around 5.35am on Monday in a mixed-use building where a woman in her 20s, identified only by her surname A, lived on the second floor. She tried to catch a cockroach by spraying flammable mist and igniting it with a...

South China Morning Post

Chinese mum dies saving baby from South Korea fire caused by woman’s pest hunt

Officials said they plan to seek an arrest warrant for the suspect who started the blaze while trying to kill a cockroach using a lighter.

Is Japan making tourism more expensive to deter unruly visitors? Japan’s proposed increase in visa fees and departure tax is an attempt to balance between dealing with overtourism and deterring misbehaving visitors at “the bottom of the pyramid”, according to industry observers. The government believes the present fees for visas and departure taxes are low in comparison with international standards, with the Asahi newspaper reporting that the additional funds would be used on improving tourism infrastructure and the education sector. If implemented, the...

South China Morning Post

Is Japan making tourism more expensive to deter unruly visitors?

Industry insiders say the proposed higher visa fees and departure taxes are aimed at low-value tourists who misbehave.

Outrage in China as reports surface of human teeth found in sausages, dim sum Multiple instances of diners discovering human teeth in food have reignited food safety concerns in China. On October 13, a woman reported finding a row of three artificial human teeth in a sausage she bought for her child in northeastern China’s Jilin province. She bought the grilled sausage from an outdoor stall. Initially, the vendor denied that the teeth were present when the sausage was sold but later apologised after local market supervision authorities became involved. On the same day,...

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Outrage in China as reports surface of human teeth found in sausages, dim sum

Multiple incidents have led to speculation that factory workers may have inadvertently lost their artificial teeth during production.

DeepSeek unveils AI model that uses visual perception to compress text input DeepSeek on Monday released a new multimodal artificial intelligence model that can handle large and complex documents with significantly fewer tokens – the smallest unit of text that a model processes – by using visual perception as a compression medium for information. The open-source DeepSeek-OCR (optical character recognition) model, available via online developer platforms Hugging Face and GitHub, was the result of an “investigation into the role of vision encoders” to compress text for...

South China Morning Post

DeepSeek unveils AI model that uses visual perception to compress text input

New release continues Chinese start-up’s efforts to raise AI models’ efficiency, while driving down the costs of building and using them.

‘Reason to be together’: India, Brazil boost ties amid US tariff tensions India and Brazil are doubling down on economic and climate cooperation in a bid to strengthen Brics and bolster the Global South’s negotiating power as both nations face rising trade tensions with the United States. Analysts say the push – announced during Brazilian Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin’s visit to New Delhi last week – is not just about shielding their economies from punitive US tariffs, but also about asserting influence on multilateral issues ranging from energy security to global...

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‘Reason to be together’: India, Brazil boost ties amid US tariff tensions

Cooperation in ‘complementary strengths’ such as green energy could help advance efforts to limit global warming, observers say.

How a single rule change sparked a major flare-up in US-China tensions When Beijing expanded its rare earth export controls earlier this month, it appeared to mark a fresh escalation in the US-China trade war. But for many observers, the dispute actually began over a week earlier – and its trigger was not a Chinese action, but an American one. Though it drew little fanfare at the time, the decision by the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to widen its trade blacklists in late September has had far-reaching effects. It not only pushed Beijing to take...

South China Morning Post

Explainer | How a single rule change sparked a major flare-up in US-China tensions

A string of recent events – from China’s new export curbs to the Dutch seizure of chip firm Nexperia – had the same trigger, analysts say.

US appeal court lets Trump send National Guard troops to Portland A divided US appeal court ruled on Monday that US President Donald Trump can send National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon, despite objections by the leaders of the city and state, giving the Republican president an important legal victory as he dispatches military forces to a growing number of Democratic-led locales. A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Justice Department’s request to put on hold a judge’s order that had blocked the deployment while a legal...

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US appeals court says Trump can deploy National Guard troops in Portland

Court ruling clears the way for the National Guard to protect federal buildings in Oregon’s largest city, despite objections from local and state...

China AI plan offers hope for robot companions and kids by 2035 When the Chinese government launched the “AI+” initiative in August, it was widely perceived as a new economic stimulus. However, observers may have underestimated Beijing’s true ambition. On October 10, senior officials and experts published a series of analyses in the official journal E-Government, offering the public its first comprehensive look at the initiative’s deeper strategic intent. Far from being merely an economic policy, “AI+” is a decade-long national blueprint designed to propel...

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China AI plan offers hope for robot companions and kids by 2035

But a Chinese expert warns it could lead to mass unemployment, polarisation, reduction in marriage rates and ‘erosion of family ethics’.

Lavrov and Rubio discuss Putin-Trump summit, Zelensky seeks invite Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov and US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed preparations for a coming summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in a call on Monday, both sides said. Rubio “emphasised the importance of upcoming engagements as an opportunity for Moscow and Washington to collaborate on advancing a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war”, Tommy Pigott, principal deputy spokesman for the US State Department, said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that...

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Rubio and Lavrov discuss next Putin-Trump summit, Zelensky seeks invite

US and Russia make plans for Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to meet in Budapest following talks in Alaska in August.

Argentina formalises US$20 billion lifeline from Trump as Milei faces poll test Argentina on Monday formalised a currency swap agreement with the United States for up to US$20 billion aimed “at contributing to Argentina’s economic stability,” the South American country’s central bank said. The deal is part of huge financial support from the administration of Donald Trump, a strong backer of Argentine President Javier Milei, who is under pressure ahead of midterm elections on October 26. The peso has been fluctuating wildly ahead of the vote, disrupting the savings and...

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Argentina formalises US$20 billion lifeline from Trump as Milei faces poll test

Despite the currency swap being formalised by Argentina’s central bank, Trump threatens to withdraw aid if Milei is defeated in the midterms.

Hong Kong probe after plane skids off runway, kills 2, in ‘suitable’ weather Weather and runway conditions at Hong Kong’s airport were suitable for normal operations when a cargo plane veered off the runway early Monday and ploughed into the sea, killing two people, authorities said as they launched an investigation into the incident. The Civil Aviation Department also said air traffic controllers had not received any calls for assistance from Emirates flight EK9788, which was operated by Turkish cargo and passenger charter carrier, ACT Airlines, before the...

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Hong Kong probe after plane skids off runway, kills 2, in ‘suitable’ weather

Air traffic controllers had not received any calls for assistance from Emirates flight operated by Turkish charter carrier ACT Airlines before crash.

EU to end Russian gas imports by 2027 in major energy shift EU countries on Monday agreed to phase out their remaining gas imports from Russia by the end of 2027, breaking a dependency the bloc has struggled to end despite Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg approved a plan by the European Commission to phase out both pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Russia, subject to approval by the bloc’s parliament. Lars Aagaard, energy minister of Denmark, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency,...

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EU to end Russian gas imports by 2027 in major energy shift

Hungary and Slovakia, the EU members still importing Russian gas via pipeline, were the only nations to oppose the new, majority-backed ban.

Trump’s envoys arrive in Israel as Gaza ceasefire teeters after deadly strikes The top US envoys to the Middle East conflict arrived in Israel on Monday to inspect progress on the Gaza plan after weekend violence threatened to wreck the hard-won ceasefire. Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza for aid shipments, a security official and a humanitarian source said, after it was closed briefly on Sunday following the killing of two Israeli soldiers. In response, Israel carried out dozens of strikes targeting Hamas across Gaza, accusing the militant group...

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Trump’s envoys arrive in Israel as Gaza ceasefire teeters after deadly strikes

The visit by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner follows a brief closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing for aid, after two Israeli soldiers were killed.