China’s No 3 official Zhao Leji calls for closer New Zealand trade ties China’s third most senior official and top legislator pledged “sincere” friendship with New Zealand and called for tighter economic links between the two countries during a four-day trip to the Pacific nation. Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), wrapped up his trip to New Zealand on Saturday, the first in two decades by the head of China’s top legislative body. The trip included a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in...

South China Morning Post

China’s No 3 official Zhao Leji calls for closer New Zealand trade ties

Zhao is in Australia after four-day trip to New Zealand, the first such visits by China’s top lawmaker since 2005.

Italian left gathers for anti-Meloni campaign despite rivalries Italy’s centre-left opposition is testing out a big-tent alliance, guessing it’s the best way to unseat Giorgia Meloni at the next general election. The rest is still being worked out. The alliance pulls together parties with disparate political beliefs – the centre-left Democrats, the populist Five Star Movement, the left-wing Greens and Left Alliance and several smaller groups. The goal is to rally behind single, strategically chosen candidates and consolidate the anti-Meloni vote. The plan...

South China Morning Post

Italian left gathers for anti-Meloni campaign despite rivalries

Meloni has been durable as prime minister, despite occasional clashes within her coalition on bank taxes and aid to Ukraine.

How China’s focus on affordable, accessible AI will shape the future The narrative of “AI at all costs” seems to have lost some steam recently. Once heralded as an unstoppable force for growth, artificial intelligence now faces critical questions about sustainability, particularly as funding models and market sentiment shift. One indicator worth watching closely in comparison with the dotcom era is the source of funding for hyperscaler capital expenditure. We are now seeing evidence that companies have started to rely on debt rather than free cash flows and...

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Opinion | How China’s focus on affordable, accessible AI will shape the future

While US firms prioritise artificial general intelligence and high performance, China’s leaner models could have a big impact at home and abroad.

‘Dramatic failure’: Tejas crash deals blow to India’s jet export ambitions The crash of India’s Tejas fighter in front of global arms buyers at the Dubai Air Show is the latest blow to a key national trophy, leaving the jet reliant on Indian military orders to sustain its role as a showcase of home-built defence technology. The cause of Friday’s crash was not immediately known but it capped a week of jockeying for influence at the event, attended by India’s arch-rival Pakistan six months after the neighbouring foes faced off in the world’s largest air battle in...

South China Morning Post

‘Dramatic failure’: Tejas crash deals blow to India’s jet export ambitions

The mishap came as rival Pakistan signed a deal for export of JF-17 Thunder fighter, which it co-developed with China.

‘On the same side’: India, China align on climate at Cop30 as ties thaw A tentative thaw in India–China ties is rekindling hopes that the two Asian giants could move from strategic rivalry to clean-energy cooperation at a moment when the Global South is searching for leverage in climate negotiations. This cautious warming, after four years of strained relations, has unfolded alongside renewed trade in green-energy components and their increasingly aligned push at Cop30 in Brazil for more climate finance and fairer rules, a convergence that analysts say could subtly...

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India, China align on climate at Cop30 as ties thaw

Analysts say pairing China’s cleantech prowess with India’s energy needs has the potential to redefine Asia’s decarbonisation trajectory.

86% of Hong Kong infants, toddlers still unvaccinated against flu: health expert More than 85 per cent of Hong Kong infants and toddlers remain unvaccinated against flu, a leading respiratory disease expert has said, while warning of the approaching winter peak after more than 20 severe influenza cases were recorded among children, including two deaths. David Hui Shu-cheong, a professor of respiratory medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said on Sunday the summer flu peak was slowly receding and expected to bottom out by the end of November or the beginning of...

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Broader virus protection urged as 86% of Hong Kong toddlers yet to get flu jabs

Experts urge public to get vaccinated against both influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, citing higher risk of co-infection among high-risk gr...

Singapore deepens probe into Chen Zhi’s alleged scam empire with fresh raid Singapore authorities raided a car loan company that borrowed from a firm connected to Prince Holding Group, as the net widens on those linked to the alleged scam organisation and its chair, Chen Zhi. The premises of Singapore-registered SRS Auto Holdings were raided by police last week, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified disclosing sensitive information. The sole proprietor of SRS, Tan Yew Kiat, was arrested, they said. “The police are investigating...

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Singapore deepens probe into Chen Zhi’s alleged scam empire with fresh raid

The city state’s police raided a car loan company that borrowed from a firm linked to the tycoon’s Prince Holding Group.

Philippines pledges bigger consulate-run shelter for helpers in Hong Kong Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong are set to get a larger shelter from their consulate, with some groups hoping their years-long demand for a new facility will result in more “flexible” arrangements to better suit the needs of distressed migrant workers. Unions and organisations said the current shelter operated by the Philippine consulate was insufficient to deal with the demand, pointing to similar lodgings offered by NGOs that were also frequently full and struggling to stay...

South China Morning Post

Philippines pledges bigger consulate-run shelter for helpers in Hong Kong

Community ‘very, very happy’ over promise to open larger facility than current 652 sq ft, three-bedroom unit that is often crowded.

Indian airbase on China border is infrastructure upgrade, not a threat: analysts India earlier this month inaugurated a high-altitude airbase near its disputed border with China, prompting analysts to suggest the development capped long-term efforts to upgrade infrastructure there rather than posing a threat to Beijing. According to reports from multiple media outlets, the base, named Mudh-Nyoma Air Force Station, is perched at a height of about 13,700 feet (4,176 metres) and only 30km (19 miles) from the Line of Actual Control, the de facto boundary separating the two...

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Indian airbase on China border is infrastructure upgrade, not a threat: analysts

Fighter-capable station near Line of Actual Control believed unlikely to derail thaw, with Beijing still holding edge in disputed area.

Toppling Maduro among options as Trump set to expand Venezuela operations The United States is poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, according to four US officials, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Reuters was not able to establish the exact timing or scope of the new operations, nor whether US President Donald Trump had made a final decision to act. Reports of looming action have proliferated in recent weeks as the US military has deployed forces to the Caribbean amid...

South China Morning Post

Toppling Maduro among options as Trump set to expand Venezuela operations

Two US officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against the Venezuelan leader.

Compassion in conflict: Hong Kong medics brave Gaza war to deliver critical care Hong Kong doctor Ben Ng Siu-bun still remembers the horrors of war in conflict-torn Gaza. The 52-year-old anaesthesiologist joined a humanitarian mission organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross to Gaza in March this year, providing medical services to those who were injured or ill. During his six-week stay at a field hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, Ng said about half of the patients sent there were suffering from gunshot or blast injuries. He recalled treating a 12-year-old...

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Compassion in conflict: Hong Kong medics brave Gaza war to deliver critical care

Medical staff from the city recount saving lives and bringing comfort in war-torn communities as part of Red Cross humanitarian efforts.

China overhauls civil service rules that kept out chronic disease carriers China has loosened its civil service medical rules so that sufferers from three chronic diseases will no longer be barred, a move hailed by campaigners and legal groups as a landmark in the fight against unfair employment practices. The updated rules were issued on November 14 by the General Office of the Central Committee’s Organisation Department, which oversees the recruitment process, and the National Health Commission. Amid a tough job market in China, many qualified candidates for civil...

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China overhauls civil service rules that kept out chronic disease carriers

Campaigners hail end to policy that excluded candidates with common blood, kidney or thyroid conditions from public service roles.

Europe scrambles to sway Trump as Ukraine faces make-or-break moment European leaders and other allies told the US that its peace plan for Ukraine needed “additional work”, in a rushed bid to try and slow walk a Trump administration determined to give concessions to Russia and impose terms by Thanksgiving. They issued a statement at a Group of 20 summit in South Africa that US President Donald Trump blew off but where many of them were headed to when the controversial details of the 28-point peace plan were leaked. The US set an ultimatum for Thursday. In...

South China Morning Post

Europe scrambles to sway Trump as Ukraine faces make-or-break moment

European leaders told Washington that its peace plan, which offers major concessions to Russia, required ‘additional work’.

South Korea’s US nuclear sub deal risks roiling East Asia’s waters South Korea is set to acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines with US approval and assistance, according to a joint fact sheet last week. That approval came following a meeting at the end of October between South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and US President Donald Trump in Gyeongju. The agreement allows South Korea to build its first nuclear-powered attack submarines, which will be conventionally armed and powered by highly enriched uranium the United States will help source. It also...

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Opinion | Why US-South Korea nuclear sub deal adds fuel to unstable region

Nuclear-powered submarines will heighten South Korea’s profile and China’s anxieties about US-led maritime groupings across East Asia.

Paul Costelloe, personal designer to Princess Diana, dies at 80 Irish fashion designer Paul Costelloe, personal designer to the late Princess Diana who became a fixture at London Fashion Week for four decades, has died aged 80, his family said in a statement on Saturday. Costelloe was appointed as Diana’s personal designer in 1983, shortly after establishing his own label, Paul Costelloe Collections, and their collaboration continued until her death in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Costelloe, who led the development of all his collections from his studio in...

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Paul Costelloe, personal designer to Princess Diana, dies at 80

The Irish designer worked with the British royal from 1983 until her death in Paris in 1997.

World secures compromise deal at Cop30 that sidesteps fossil fuels World governments agreed on Saturday to a compromise climate deal at the Cop30 conference in Brazil that would boost finance for poor nations coping with global warming but omit any mention of the fossil fuels driving it. In securing the accord, countries attempted to demonstrate global unity in addressing climate change impacts even after the world’s biggest historic emitter, the United States, declined to send an official delegation. “We should support it because at least it is going in the...

South China Morning Post

Cop30 seals uneasy climate deal that sidesteps fossil fuels

The EU had pressed for language on the move away from fossil fuels but faced stiff resistance from Arab Group nations including Saudi Arabia.

Ukraine weighs dignity against US demands in Swiss peace talks to end Russia war Ukraine and the US will soon meet in Switzerland to discuss Washington’s plan for ending the war with Russia, which currently heeds some of Russia’s hardline demands, Kyiv said on Saturday. US President Donald Trump gave Ukraine less than a week to approve the 28-point plan to end the nearly four-year conflict, which would see the invaded country ceding territory, cutting its army and pledging to never join Nato. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s European allies, who were not included in drafting the...

South China Morning Post

Ukraine weighs dignity against US demands in Swiss peace talks to end Russia war

Trump’s controversial 28-point peace plan places territorial concessions and military limits on Kyiv, while also pledging never to join Nato.

UK ex-PM Johnson hits back at ‘incoherent’ Covid inquiry report Britain’s former prime minister Boris Johnson slammed an inquiry report critical of his government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic as “hopelessly incoherent” in a social media post on Saturday. “More than three years after the end of the pandemic, they are still wrangling about what went wrong,” Johnson, 61, also wrote in an article for the Daily Mail tabloid, days after the inquiry slammed his government for its “chaotic” response to the global pandemic costing thousands of lives. The...

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UK ex-PM Johnson hits back at ‘incoherent’ Covid inquiry report

Boris Johnson defends his Covid-19 pandemic response, saying he regrets errors but insists his government acted to save lives.

Labrador lost on China beach found 1,500km away 3 months later, reunited with owner A pet dog in China has been miraculously found 1,500km from home and reunited with her owner three months after she went missing. September the Labrador was lost on August 13, at a beach in Qingdao, in eastern China’s Shandong province. According to her owner, surnamed Gao, the dog walked out by herself while playing in her garden. By the time she noticed, September was already missing. She checked the surveillance footage from a nearby beer festival and discovered September walking away with...

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Labrador lost on China beach found 1,500km away 3 months later, reunited with owner

‘Lazy’ canine called September wanders off with another dog, is found after exhaustive search; develops more ‘willing’ temperament as result.

Xiaomi open-sources AI model spanning autonomous driving and robotics Xiaomi has open-sourced a new foundation model that integrates autonomous driving and embodied artificial intelligence, as the Chinese smartphone and electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturer seeks to enhance its AI capabilities. MiMo-Embodied, which comes after Xiaomi’s first large language model MiMo launched in April, was described as the “first open-source vision-language model” that combined autonomous driving and embodied AI tasks. Technical reports and project files are available on platforms...

South China Morning Post

Xiaomi open-sources AI model spanning autonomous driving and robotics

EV and AI initiatives have become an increasingly important part of Xiaomi’s business.