Singapore’s economic growth should remain firm in the second half of 2026 although a major uncertainty is the sustainability of the AI investment boom, the head of its central bank said on Tuesday.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Managing Director Chia Der Jiun, speaking at the release of the central bank’s annual report, said the Middle East conflict also posed risks, but for now global AI-related demand was “likely to continue to provide a meaningful boost” to the city state while
Footprints left on a muddy lakeshore in northern Kenya around 1.43 million years ago are providing new insight into the size and behaviour of a species in the human evolutionary lineage that was the last of its kind, known for extensive anatomical adaptations for eating tough vegetation.
The species, Paranthropus boisei, is known mostly from skull and tooth fossils. Now researchers working along the eastern side of Kenya’s Lake Turkana have identified 21 footprints made by eight individuals of this species who appear to have been walking together
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) will launch a global hunt for its next leader to guide the institution to “fresh ideas” and through a coming “transformation”, the head of its governing council has said.
HKU council chairman Peter Wong Tung-shun announced details of the recruitment on Tuesday, a day after president and vice-chancellor Xiang Zhang announced he would leave the post in 2028
Oman presented Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters on Tuesday. The plan could serve as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
President Donald Trump, who abruptly called off a two-week US bombing campaign over the weekend in his latest strategic U-turn, said there were “good talks” under way with
Malaysian police have raided 32 premises hosting online scam activities in Forest City in the state of Johor, arresting 335 people and seizing assets worth about 1 million ringgit (US$245,000), according to the state police chief.
The operation was carried out on July 15, targeting two areas that had been identified as hubs for call centres running online fraud activities, Johor police chief Ab Rahaman Arsad said in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday.
Those arrested
Beijing has tightened its rules on the sale of military equipment to ban its sale through unauthorised channels.
“In recent years, some business operators have openly sold, online and offline, goods … such as decommissioned and scrapped military equipment, causing an adverse impact and creating security risks,” an administrative notice issued by multiple state bodies said.
The notice – made public on Tuesday and published internally last week – covers everything from uniforms to machinery, components and ammunition that have been formally withdrawn from service and designated for disposal.
Adriel Kasonta is a London-based political risk consultant and lawyer, and a graduate of London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Alex Lo has been an SCMP columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China.
In Orwellian totalitarianism, two plus two can equal five. But with American hegemony, things can be A and not A at the same time.
Confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ongoing Ebola outbreak reached 3,262, its ministry of health said in an overnight update, nearly the same as the 2018-2020 outbreak that is the largest ever recorded in the country.
Data from the Congolese health ministry showed that 1,437 patients have died out of the 3,262 cases, in what officials have
