newsmart – Latest News

scmp.com | 56 min. ago NEW

Hong Kong poised for capital inflow amid unrest in France, Middle East war: AllianzGI

Recent unrest in Europe and the Middle East war could prompt investors to seek greater diversification, potentially driving capital inflows to Asian markets including mainland China and Hong Kong in coming months, according to a senior executive of Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), one of Europe’s largest fund houses.

Julie Koo, head of distribution in Asia-Pacific for the company, said the recent protests in France, Italy and Spain would lead investors to review and adjust their exposure to...

scmp.com | 57 min. ago NEW

Brussels wants industry to ditch Chinese suppliers. Businesses are pushing back

European industry has bristled at EU plans to force businesses to diversify their supply chains away from China, as the bloc gears up for a new package of de-risking measures later this year. In December, the European Commission will present a trio of new instruments, none of which will name China, but the overall aim is to wind down dependencies on Beijing and allow the EU to punch back in a trade war scenario.

One tool – DiversifyEU – could compel businesses in key sectors to expand their...

scmp.com | 57 min. ago NEW

At least 1 senior official to take rap for deadly Tai Po fire as part of ‘bold’ reforms

At least one senior official will take the rap for the deadly Tai Po fire as part of a set of “bold, comprehensive and far-reaching reforms” the Hong Kong government will announce on Thursday afternoon, sources have told the South China Morning Post. The official’s expected resignation would be part of the political accountability that the government hoped to underscore along with major reforms on administrative accountability that will go right to the top, one source said.

The shake-up is...

ft.com | 1 hrs. 40 min. ago

[$] Europe in a time of crisis — can the EU unite a fracturing continent?

With threats from Russia, China and even the US, the need for unity is greater than ever — yet so are risks of nationalist division. Two new books urge Europeans to have hope and take courage

scmp.com | 2 hrs. 7 min. ago

Hello Kitty owner Sanrio scraps Japanese TV show Vivant deal over China backlash

Japanese character company Sanrio, owner of popular IPs including Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll and My Melody, has terminated its planned collaboration with the television drama Vivant following strong public criticism in China. In an official statement released late on Wednesday evening, the company acknowledged that the Japanese spy drama contained content that “does not align with the Sanrio Group’s corporate philosophy”.

The controversial series includes scenes depicting Chinese intelligence...

bbc.co.uk | 3 hrs. 19 min. ago

Hello Kitty maker ends collab with Japanese spy drama after backlash in China

Sanrio has apologised after its merchandise line with Japanese TV series Vivant drew heated backlash in China.

scmp.com | 4 hrs. 41 min. ago

China’s microdrama war heats up as Tencent, ByteDance fight for eyeballs

Shen Jiaoqi, a banker living in southern China’s Guangdong province, cannot stop watching microdramas. The shows are so addictive that she sometimes spends entire days gazing at her phone. One time, she even kept watching while she showered. “Honestly, I was watching for the eye candy rather than the plots,” she said.

“The AI has really made the characters look stunning.” Shen is far from alone. Microdramas have exploded in popularity in China over the past few years, offering viewers a quick...

smh.com.au | 5 hrs. 40 min. ago

Binoculars over the border: The Chinese town visited by Kim Jong-un

Dandong, in north-eastern China, has built a tourism industry around peering into the world’s most secretive country while propping up its economy.

thehindu.com | 6 hrs. 4 min. ago

Poland pivots towards India as ‘strategic partnership’ with China develops cracks

Poland and India seek to raise bilateral trade from $6 bn to $10 bn; PM Modi visited Poland in 2024, during which ties were elevated to ‘strategic partnership’; Warsaw is also trying to diversify partnerships as trade imbalance and Beijing’s support for Russia deepen disillusionment with China

scmp.com | 6 hrs. 7 min. ago

For China, Lula’s win in Brazil removes uncertainty

Brazil has given Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a fourth, non-consecutive term, a feat without precedent in its democratic history. Lula came back from a first-round defeat to win 51.8 per cent of the run-off vote against Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the jailed former president.

Yet the victory leaves Lula little room to manoeuvre. Opposition parties may yet control both chambers of Congress. Nearly half of Brazilians say the economy has worsened over the past year. Last year Washington threatened...

scmp.com | 6 hrs. 34 min. ago

South Korea’s chipmakers are raking it in. Can China close the gap?

South Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix kept almost 80 per cent of its total sales as operating profit last quarter, a margin almost unheard of in manufacturing, as the country’s chipmakers reap the rewards of the global artificial intelligence boom. Operating profit, defined as earnings from the company’s core business before interest and taxes, soared 632 per cent in the three months to September from a year earlier to 83.33 trillion won (US$62.76 billion) on revenue of 104.62 trillion won, SK...

scmp.com | 7 hrs. 31 min. ago

A 2-storey Chongqing residence gains 2 half floors in vertical rethink

In most homes, the entry opens onto a living room, perhaps a kitchen. Zhou Shu arrives to find her wardrobe and wide-open bathroom just beyond the foyer, with her glass-walled bedroom between them. This is no tight city flat but a 2,000 square foot (185 square metre) residence in a leafy pocket on the outskirts of Chongqing, in southwest China.

Upstairs are a full-size kitchen, dining and living areas, plus a garden at the top. This inversion of the conventional domestic plan is only half the...

scmp.com | 8 hrs. ago

Australia returns ancient stone heads to China after more than 30 years

Australia has returned two stone sculptures to China after more than 30 years abroad. The statues, showing the heads of a military official and civil servant, had been given to the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra by a private collector and date back to the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127).

China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration received the heads on Wednesday, according to the state broadcaster CCTV. They are thought to have been removed from two imperial mausoleums in Henan...

scmp.com | 8 hrs. 30 min. ago

Beijing wants Hong Kong to sow the seeds for the digital yuan. Will its plans bear fruit?

In September, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu unveiled the city’s first five-year plan along with his policy address, highlighting Hong Kong’s strategic role in promoting the greater use of the yuan outside mainland China as a key priority. In the third part of a four-part series on the globalisation of the yuan, Xinmei Shen explores how Hong Kong is testing the interoperability of the e-CNY and other digital assets in an effort to broaden the currency’s international appeal.

In a US Senate...

voanews.com | 8 hrs. 56 min. ago

Mbappé, Real Madrid forced to apologize over 'dictator' comment about China's Mao Zedong

France and Real Madrid soccer star Kylian Mbappé is facing a backlash in China after commercial sponsors cut ties with him over comments he made about China's founding leader Mao Zedong.

economist.com | 10 hrs. 44 min. ago

China’s stock markets are the great global exception

If the country is winning the future, why are its investors so glum?

thehill.com | 13 hrs. 2 min. ago

Ex-Google CEO: China is 6 months behind US on AI and has 'infinite energy'

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said China is now just six months behind the U.S. in the global race to develop AI, warning that China has a major advantage when it comes to energy. In an interview with Fast Company released Wednesday, Schmidt said the gap between the two countries has narrowed dramatically over the...

timesofindia.indiatimes.com | 14 hrs. 7 min. ago

China scientists discover giant 20-inch fungus weighing nearly five pounds

scmp.com | 14 hrs. 32 min. ago

China’s military holds talks in France and Germany despite rising trade tensions

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has held defence strategy consultations with France and Germany over the past week despite mounting trade tensions between Beijing and Europe. A PLA strategy consultation delegation visited France and Germany from October 21 to 28 for the talks, according to a statement released by China’s defence ministry on Wednesday.

The Chinese delegation engaged in in-depth exchanges of views with the two countries separately on bilateral and military-to-military...

dw.com | 14 hrs. 43 min. ago

Ukraine's Zelenskyy irked by US-Russia-China summit

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has voiced his concerns about a probable meeting between the leaders of the US, China and Russia next month. Plus, a localized truce appeared to be holding in the town of Oleshky.

scmp.com | 15 hrs. 49 min. ago

US warns China is expanding its space toolkit with spaceplane and energy weapons

A rare satellite image of China’s secretive spaceplane has appeared in a new US intelligence report that warned Beijing was expanding its ability to track American forces and could deploy space-based directed-energy weapons by the late 2020s. The US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) report published on Sunday included an image of the reusable spacecraft, credited to satellite imagery firm Maxar in 2024, showing its shuttle-like design and apparent solar arrays.

A spaceplane is a spacecraft...

foxnews.com | 16 hrs. 6 min. ago

China exile-turned-GOP nominee warns socialist surge could give Beijing greater influence in Washington

Lily Tang Williams, a New Hampshire Republican who escaped communist China, warns a Democratic Congress could let Beijing expand its influence in Washington.

abcnews.com | 16 hrs. 12 min. ago

China takes Mbappé apology 'seriously' after backlash over 'Chinese dictator' remark

China has acknowledged soccer star Kylian Mbappé's apology for comments seen as disrespectful to Mao Zedong, the founding leader of Communist China

theguardian.com | 17 hrs. 13 min. ago

Australia must recruit hundreds more to crew Aukus submarines, retired admiral warns

As USS Colorado showcases the program in Perth, Peter Briggs says personnel is just one of the ‘huge issues’ it facesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia faces an uphill battle to recruit and train enough naval personnel to serve on submarines planned for the future fleet of nuclear-powered vessels under the controversial $368bn Aukus deal, a retired admiral has warned.As the Virginia-class submarine USS Colorado arrived at HMAS Stirling south of Perth on Tuesday for a month of routine maintenance and to help build Australian expertise, retired admiral Peter Briggs said more people needed to be enrolled in the navy’s submarine program.

Continue reading...

scmp.com | 17 hrs. 19 min. ago

In China gene-editing trial, 2 children improved, 1 died and 1 withdrew

Four seriously ill Chinese boys who would almost certainly have died in their twenties from a rare inherited disease received the same highly anticipated gene-editing drug. More than a year later, a set of cruel and contradictory data emerged. Two boys gained the strength to walk farther.

One boy showed no improvement in gait and subsequently withdrew from the trial. And the fourth boy’s heart stopped beating 81 hours after receiving the medication intravenously, owing to a severe systemic...

iol.co.za | 17 hrs. 27 min. ago

Tech, AI leaders expand China's 2026 rich list

China’s 2026 rich list sees a record 1,529 mega-wealthy individuals, with tech leaders like DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng and ByteDance’s Zhang Yiming driving growth, reflecting the country’s expanding AI influence and “two-speed economy.” Picture: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

defence-blog.com | 18 hrs. 28 min. ago

BAE Systems test-fires new deck launcher for U.S. Navy

BAE Systems has completed the first live-fire test of its Adaptable Deck Launcher, a deck-mounted missile launcher that lets U.S. Navy and allied ships carry more Evolved SeaSparrow air defense missiles and reload them at sea with standard shipboard equipment. The company announced the test on Oct.

27 from China Lake, California, home of the […]

defence-blog.com | 18 hrs. 28 min. ago

Japanese navy shadows Russian Vishnya-class spy ship near Tsushima

A Russian Navy intelligence-gathering ship sailed southwest through the Tsushima Strait between Japan and South Korea on Oct. 27 and 28 and headed into the East China Sea, Japan’s Joint Staff Office said. The Joint Staff identified the vessel as a Vishnya-class intelligence collection ship and released a map showing its hull number, 535. That […]

thehindu.com | 18 hrs. 43 min. ago

China face offs continue in Arunachal Pradesh: ITBP Chief’s Big Revelation Explained

Confrontations with Chinese troops continue to take place at multiple sites along the border in Arunachal Pradesh, according to Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) director general Shatrujeet Kapur. This is the first official confirmation of the scale of the rising tensions on the north-eastern border since July this year.

scmp.com | 18 hrs. 48 min. ago

Why China’s ties with Serbia face scrutiny, not severance, after historic Vucic loss

Massive crowds, fireworks and dancing have filled the streets across Belgrade since Serbia’s nationalist strongman Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat in Sunday’s parliamentary election after 14 years in power. The political shift could cool diplomatic ties between Beijing and Belgrade and invite sharper scrutiny of Chinese investments in Serbia, but was unlikely to upend a relationship built on years of cooperation, analysts argued.

Vucic conceded the defeat of his right-wing Serbian Progressive...

arstechnica.com | 19 hrs. 10 min. ago

China’s snooping around Pacific undersea cables raises risks for Big Tech

US-owned trans-Pacific cables face growing risks from sabotage and China.

scmp.com | 19 hrs. 29 min. ago

JPMAM plans more active ETFs in China after debut fund hits US$300 million cap on day one

JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) expects to launch more actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in mainland China after its first such fund there hit the 2 billion yuan (US$300 million) fundraising cap on the first day of sales, its China chief said. “The first launch is just an opening move in a much bigger game,” Desiree Wang, the firm’s CEO for China, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.

Any active strategy that suits the ETF vehicle and meets investor...

livemint.com | 19 hrs. 33 min. ago

Mbappe controversy rattles sponsors: How China’s consumer backlash can hit global brands and stocks

Kylian Mbappe’s perceived slight toward Mao Zedong sparked backlash in China and prompted a public apology, putting the value of his sponsorships under scrutiny. The episode reflects the risks global brands face in China, where perceived insults have triggered consumer backlash.

scmp.com | 20 hrs. 12 min. ago

How Lao Gan Ma, China’s iconic chilli brand, got caught in an AI storm

For three decades, Lao Gan Ma’s glass jars, bearing the stern portrait of founder Tao Huabi, have been a fixture on Chinese dinner tables and a symbol of traditional food manufacturing. This week, however, the iconic chilli sauce has become an unlikely focus of public anxiety over artificial intelligence.

Online rumours that the Guizhou-based company had replaced hundreds of factory workers with AI went viral, prompting boycott threats and highlighting growing public unease over the impact of...

scmp.com | 20 hrs. 13 min. ago

China’s former vice-premier Liu Yandong dies at age 80

Former Chinese vice-premier Liu Yandong died of illness on Wednesday at the age of 80. She was one of China’s most prominent female leaders, playing a pivotal role in the country’s united front work and education sector. The official obituary released by Xinhua described Liu as an “outstanding leader in the [Communist] Party’s united front work, in China’s education, science and technology, healthcare, and women and children’s affairs.”

Liu was vice-premier from 2013 to 2018. She was the fourth...

theguardian.com | 20 hrs. 54 min. ago

Africa’s ‘unprecedented’ Ebola outbreak could reach UK, says top health official

Jean Kaseya, of the Africa CDC, warns of the illness spreading like Covid unless more funding is secured to increase preparedness and possible treatmentThe “unprecedented” spread of the Ebola outbreak means it could reach the UK and other countries, according to one of Africa’s top health officials.As the current outbreak reached 10,000 cases, with almost 5,000 deaths, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), compared the outbreak to the Covid pandemic, which first took hold in China before spreading to countries across the world, claiming millions of lives, and ravaging health systems and economies.

Continue reading...

scmp.com | 20 hrs. 57 min. ago

Chinese drug sector’s stature grows at major cancer conference

An array of Chinese drug makers showcased positive trial results for new cancer treatments at a major European medical conference, underscoring the expanding international influence of China’s biotech sector. Domestic innovative drugs, particularly antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), delivered impressive data across multiple tumour types at the European Society for Medical Oncology (Esmo) Congress, with some early-stage data further showing the country’s “innovation capabilities”, said analysts...

time.com | 21 hrs. 15 min. ago

Mbappé Apologizes After ‘Dictator’ Mao Comment: What to Know About the Chinese Backlash

French soccer star Kylian Mbappé sparked intense backlash in China after referring to the late CCP founder Mao Zedong, when describing a meme, as “some guy—I think he’s a Chinese dictator.”

scmp.com | 21 hrs. 36 min. ago

China’s hybrid car exports to EU up 200%; response to Tesla’s ‘flying car’: 7 EV reads

We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. BYD to build new factories in Europe to beat trade barriers aimed at Chinese EVs China’s BYD will build new factories in Europe for a bigger market share, as the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) maker faces fiscal support pullback at home and rising trade barriers overseas,...

koreatimes.co.kr | 21 hrs. 42 min. ago

US Silver Star Medal reissued to late S. Korean veteran of Korean War

A late South Korean veteran who was awarded the U.S. Silver Star Medal for his role in a Korean War battle in 1952 has recently been reissued the medal posthumously after it went missing decades ago, officials said Wednesday. Late Army Staff Sgt. Nam Woon-soo was given the U.S. honor, as well as the Chungmu Order of Military Merit from the South Korean government, in 1953 for playing a key role in the Battle of White Horse Hill in what is the current border town of Cheorwon, some 80 kilometers northeast of Seoul.

During the battle, Nam crawled his way up to the entrance of the enemy's position and destroyed it, making a decisive contribution to neutralizing enemy firepower. It was one of the Korean War's most fiercely fought battles between the U.S.-backed South Korean forces and the communist troops from China.

After the medal went missing somehow, Nam had expressed frustration and regret before his death in 1997. His bereaved family later asked the South Korean government to reissue the medal, but the request was denied on grounds that it was issued by the U.S. government. In February t