Everything on the wire from South China Morning Post (Hong Kong).
US lawmakers have been demanding answers about potential national security risks and White House oversight of advanced chip exports to China following revelations that former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was in a relationship with a businesswoman suspected of working for Chinese…
When G7 leaders gathered at the French resort of Evian-les-Bains in June, Donald Trump arrived late but wasted no time in grabbing the spotlight. With a cheeky declaration, “I am the boss”, the US president drew a ripple of awkward laughter from around the table. Months earlier, in his September…
The US Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide on Friday afternoon because of communications problems at regional air traffic control centres. The FAA notice said the ground stop was being imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety”. Transport…
The European Commission is moving to shield its industrial machinery and chemical sectors from Chinese imports, and is weighing a “kill switch” mechanism. Together with Washington, Brussels has settled into a familiar narrative: a record trade deficit with China is framed as proof of its…
A tanker struck a New Orleans river cruise with 129 passengers on board on Friday, partially submerging the boat. Rescues were under way on the Mississippi River, officials said in the US state of Louisiana. Authorities did not immediately release whether there were injuries or deaths. Video from…
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday blamed the Commerce Department, led by Howard Lutnick, for delaying the blacklisting of Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer suspected of diverting advanced AI chips to China, days before US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected…
Microsoft on Friday apologised for a global outage that disrupted public services and businesses around the world, as it reported a “broad recovery” for Outlook email and other services. The company ruled out any malicious “cyber or AI” activity as the cause of the outage, which affected several…
The United States and China held the inaugural meeting of their bilateral Board of Trade on Friday, just days before US President Donald Trump is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Shenzhen. “Today, the Office of the US Trade Representative, alongside the @USTreasury, held the first official…
Pope Leo held the central event of his 12-day South America tour on Friday, an outdoor mass in northern Peru where he told a vast crowd of people who once knew him as their bishop that he thanked God he was alive to see them. People arrived on foot and in lines of vehicles at an arid field outside…
The EU must “act now” to ensure Europe stays in the AI race with the US and China, French AI firm Mistral’s Chief Executive Arthur Mensch told a summit of the bloc’s leaders on Friday. The leaders heard from Mensch and Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the “godfathers” of…
The head of Hong Kong’s Catholic diocese has asked all of the city’s parishes to hold special masses and prayers to mark the first anniversary of the deadly Tai Po fire later this month. Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan invited parishes to offer mass for the deceased on November 26, one year after the…
US President Donald Trump will press Southeast Asian economies to join Pax Silica, his campaign to China-proof AI and chip supply chains, when he attends the Asean summit in Manila next week. According to people familiar with the matter, artificial intelligence and critical minerals will top his…
Hong Kong’s construction industry is facing mounting public scrutiny following a string of scandals involving substandard work, defective installations and questionable maintenance practices. From malfunctioning hospital lifts and missing fire-safety components in lift door frames to defective…
Jensen Huang’s abrupt resignation from Nvidia has cast uncertainty over the US chip giant’s multibillion-dollar investments in open-source artificial intelligence, while potentially depriving Chinese developers of one of their most influential advocates in Washington. His departure could prompt…
Two environmental samples taken from Hong Kong’s Mai Po nature reserve have tested positive for the “highly pathogenic” H5 avian flu virus, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has said. A department spokesman said that a research team from the University of Hong Kong’s…
Six people died near Kenya’s capital Nairobi after the top floor of a building under construction collapsed on Friday, a police official said, the latest in a string of construction accidents to hit the country recently. “So far we have confirmed six bodies, but also five people have been rushed…
A head-on collision between a container truck and a passenger bus killed at least 23 people, including three children, in eastern India on Friday, a police official said The crash took place on a highway bordering Kaziranga National Park in the northeastern state of Assam. The road is a designated…
China and the United States have a shared interest in preventing artificial intelligence (AI) from being misused, but differing views over what constitutes a serious safety incident could complicate efforts to build a bilateral communication mechanism, according to analysts. US Treasury Secretary…
China could retaliate with tighter rare earth export controls if Washington further restricts chip sales in the wake of the Nvidia saga, Chinese analysts say, though they expect broader US-China trade talks to remain on track ahead of a planned meeting between the two countries’ leaders next week…
Hong Kong education authorities have ordered a nursery in Kowloon Tong to submit a report after it allegedly failed to explain why a two-year-old pupil had a large bump on the back of his head after classes. The Education Bureau said it was highly concerned about the incident at Cannan Kindergarten…