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BUSINESS4d agoHuanggang Port a ‘milestone’ for integrating Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area: John LeeThe revamped Huanggang checkpoint is a “critical milestone” for the connectivity of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong’s leader has said, as the city and Shenzhen count down to its launch on Monday. Speaking at a ceremony on Sunday, Chief Executive John Lee-Ka Chiu said the Huanggang control point was a “landmark project” built and shared through the joint efforts of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. “Hong Kong unveiled its first five-year plan last month to proactively align with the national 15th five-year...South China Morning Post
BUSINESS4d agoAround 80 Japanese companies considering Ukraine as potential partner – expertAround 80 Japanese companies are currently considering Ukraine a potential partner and want to develop their technologies there.Ukrinform [en]
POLITICS4d agoFormer Japanese PM’s wife Akie Abe meets RSS general secretary Dattatreya HosabaleA communique issued by the RSS said the meeting focused on ways to strengthen India–Japan relations, with particular emphasis on civilisational ties, cultural cooperation and people-centric initiatives.The Hindu
BUSINESS4d agoHong Kong finance chief highlights 4 priorities ahead of Apec meeting this monthThe Apec finance ministers’ meeting in Hong Kong this month will focus on fiscal policies that support livelihoods, digital infrastructure financing, inclusive finance and young financial talent, underlining the city’s role as an international financial centre, the finance chief said. “These four priorities are areas of strength for Hong Kong and fields in which we can make an active contribution,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po wrote in his weekly blog on Sunday. “Hosting the finance...South China Morning Post
WORLD4d agoUnsung turtle conservation heroes in Malaysia’s Sabah unite to fight poachersRoziah Jelali has a tip or two on catching a turtle poacher: carrying a pair of binoculars and having patience in spades are key to doing the job well. The 36-year-old Malaysian volunteer ranger once spent three months in Sabah tracking a man whom she suspected of illegally capturing protected turtles. Once thriving off the azure seas of Omadal Island in the Malaysian state, many turtles had been hunted down, killed and sold for their meat, according to conservation experts. Recounting the 2023...South China Morning Post
BUSINESS4d agoAdmission scores fall for Hong Kong physiotherapy courses amid jobs crunchAdmission scores for physiotherapy degree programmes at three Hong Kong tertiary institutions fell by as much as 10 per cent this year compared with 2025, amid gloomy career prospects in the sector, the latest data shows. The decline prompted the professional body for physiotherapists to call on the government to halt healthcare funding cuts in the next budget, saying they had contributed to a jobs crunch in the sector. Across four institutions, 23 per cent of students admitted to physiotherapy...South China Morning Post
POLITICS4d agoDenuclearising North Korea would ‘defy history’ as US, allies missed the boatThe denuclearisation of North Korea has become an “increasingly improbable” goal and the United States and its allies should move beyond it to devote their diplomatic efforts to talks on arms limitations and crisis communication, the director of the US-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said. Recalling the 20 years since North Korea carried out its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006, Jenny Town said in a written interview that “a pivotal moment” in Pyongyang’s weapons development...South China Morning Post
SCI & TECH4d agoNanotechnology expert Antonio Facchetti joins HKUST from Georgia Tech in the USMaterials scientist and chemist Antonio Facchetti, formerly of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, has joined the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as a chair professor in its newly established department of materials. Facchetti, who was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering last year for his “contributions to the engineering of commercially viable electronic materials and devices”, researches semiconductors, dielectrics for thin-film and...South China Morning Post
HEALTH4d agoChinese retiree devotes life to photography after tumour shrinks post-bucket-list tripAfter spending all her savings on a month-long trip to Antarctica following a cancer diagnosis, a woman from southwestern China discovered that her tumour had shrunk. Wang Ying, 67, is an amateur wildlife photographer who has photographed more than 1,200 bird species. In 2013, as she was preparing to retire from her job as an administrator at a school in Kunming, the capital of southwestern China’s Yunnan province, Wang was diagnosed with a form of thyroid cancer. Doctors urged her to undergo...South China Morning Post
BUSINESS4d agoJapan’s Sumitomo Bakelite expands China chip packaging materials output amid AI boomJapanese semiconductor materials giant Sumitomo Bakelite plans to expand production of advanced chip packaging materials in China and Singapore, marking the second such announcement for its Chinese operations in less than four months as artificial intelligence drives demand for more sophisticated semiconductors. The Tokyo-based company said on Friday that it would add production lines for mould underfill (MUF) materials and compression-moulding granules at its facilities in Suzhou, eastern...South China Morning Post
BUSINESS4d agoCould Thai durian export duty mean higher prices, higher quality in China?A Thai government proposal to charge export duties on durians, a major cash crop, could raise prices for the fruit in China – its primary market – along with the quality, analysts said. Thailand’s draft bill to establish a fund for research and “sustainable” development of the durian sector would include the collection of fees, the government’s public relations department said last month. Southeast Asian media outlets and agricultural publications have tipped the export duty to be as high as 2...South China Morning Post
BUSINESS4d agoTaiwan eases IFRS sustainability disclosure rules, cutting mandatory scopeTaiwan has relaxed its IFRS sustainability disclosure rules for listed and OTC companies, shrinking the number of firms required to fully comply from an originally planned 1,970 to 560. Environment Minister Peng Chi-ming said more than 70%, or about 1,410 companies, will switch to voluntary disclosure instead.digitimes · china
POLITICS4d agoNew HK$122 million lifeguard outsourcing contract sparks public spending concernsA controversial decision by Hong Kong authorities to award a lifeguard and first aid services contract worth more than HK$122 million (US$15.6 million) to a company previously found to have failed to provide the required staffing at swimming pools has sparked concerns over whether public funds are being used prudently. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department on Saturday defended the decision, saying it was satisfied with Spotlight Enterprises’ performance over the past two years and that it...South China Morning Post
MILITARY4d agoJapan to buy Ukrainian interceptor drones from SkyFallJapan's Ministry of Defense has signed a contract to purchase interceptor drones manufactured by Ukrainian company SkyFall.Ukrinform [en]
SCI & TECH4d agoSpirit of Hong Kong Awards: biotech firm eyes cervical cancer test breakthroughHong Kong biotech entrepreneur Ricky Chiu Yin-to is seeking to make cervical cancer screening easier through urine-based HPV testing, using sample-concentration technology developed by his company. His company, Phase Scientific, made its name during the Covid-19 pandemic through its rapid antigen test, Indicaid. The product received US emergency-use authorisation in July 2021, was used in Hong Kong community testing and sold in more than 30 countries. At the start of the pandemic, the firm...South China Morning Post
WORLD4d agoSSO delivers impressive sampler of programme for upcoming China tourThe SSO, with new music director Hannu Lintu and violinist Chloe Chua, will tour seven cities from Oct 13 to 25.straitstimes · singapore
POLITICS4d agoTaiwan defends peace and freedom as Beijing condemns Lai's speechPresident Lai Ching-te says Taiwan wants peace but will not give up its freedom and calls for respect for its people's right to exist, as Beijing condemns his National Day speech.nationthailand · thailand
WORLD4d agoMore support needed for ethnic minority children with special needs, charity saysA non-profit children’s education organisation in Hong Kong has urged the government to expand support services for preschool-aged ethnic minority children with special needs to more districts, after a pilot project found that 95 per cent of participants showed improvement. Heep Hong Society said on Sunday that many ethnic minority families faced multiple barriers when seeking support for children with special educational needs (SEN), including language difficulties, financial constraints and...South China Morning Post
HEALTH4d agoWhy warm welcomes can’t stop Malaysia’s doctor exodus from BorneoOn Facebook, public hospitals in Malaysia’s Bornean states have been rolling out “Selamat Datang” [welcome] banner posts to embrace medical staff reporting for duty. Tawau Hospital on Sabah’s east coast recently published a group photograph welcoming newly arrived medical officers. Kinabatangan Hospital posted similar banners hailing arrivals across various departments, while in neighbouring Sarawak, Kapit Hospital accompanied its greeting with a portrait of a newly arrived doctor. But behind...South China Morning Post
POLITICS4d agoJapanese Foreign Minister speaks with Rubio after assassination in Okinawa and ICC sanctionsEl diálogo entre los responsables de relaciones exteriores de Japón y EE.UU. se centró en el asesinato en Okinawa y sanciones a la CPI. Rubio ofreció cooperación.Pese a las tensiones por las sanciones, ambos líderes acordaron reforzar la alianza bilateral, enfrentando un entorno de seguridad desafiante.Clarín
DISASTER4d agoWildfires threaten Indonesia's orangutans as rescuers find injured animalsJAKARTA: Wildfires sweeping across parts of Indonesia's Borneo island have left endangered orangutans struggling to survive, prompting rescuers to evacuate animals found injured, stranded and surrounded by thick haze.thestar_my · malaysia
SCI & TECH4d agoHangzhou is doubling down on tech – minus the viral hypeA year ago, a Unitree robot kickboxing could light up social media. When DeepSeek released its latest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model, developers around the world rushed to test it. This year, however, Hangzhou’s latest technology bets have barely made a ripple. The city’s “New Eight Steeds” – eight deep-tech companies in fields ranging from smart glasses and inference graphic processing units (GPUs) to compute-in-memory chips and space computing – are a very different proposition...South China Morning Post
WORLD4d ago‘The First Taste of Loneliness’ Review: A Sentimental but Affecting Study of Family Life After BereavementChinese director Gu You's 'The First Taste of Loneliness' is too often maudlin, but rights itself whenever it focuses on everyday details.headtopics · united states of america
POLITICS4d agoBar Association urges proxy cap, electronic voting to curb building bid-riggingThe Hong Kong Bar Association has suggested capping the number of proxies a person can hold at homeowners’ meetings, without restricting who may act as a proxy, stressing that improving transparency and introducing an electronic voting system could help to deter abuse in large-scale maintenance procurement. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, association chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet expressed reservations about a government proposal to restrict an owner’s representative to a relative or...South China Morning Post