Apple sues OpenAI for stealing trade secrets

An Apple logo is seen at a store in Paris, France, in April 2025. Photo: Reuters

Apple on Friday sued OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of orchestrating a campaign to steal the iPhone maker’s trade secrets as it tries to develop its own consumer hardware device.

The lawsuit – filed in a federal court in San Jose, California – paints a picture of an aggressive effort by OpenAI to poach Apple employees and extract confidential information to build its own device.

The lawsuit marks a dramatic escalation in tensions between two companies that partnered

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South China Sea expert Wu Shicun on Beijing’s red lines

Wu Shicun is the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies and chairman of the Huayang Centre for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance. In this interview he discusses ways Beijing can respond to rival claimants in the disputed waters.SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series.With Manila intensifying its “transparency” campaign, how does China view the current situation and what challenges does it face?Manila’s so-called...

Trump built walls out of tariffs on ‘Liberation Day’. Has the US been boxed in?

Illustration: Mario Cameira

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series , we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to soft power. Here, Xinyi Wu examines how changes to Washington’s trade policy have reverberated through the

How the New Left won the battle of ideas for 21st-century China

A visitor looks at a screen showing President Xi Jinping at an exhibition commemorating China’s Communist Party history and achievements, on October 1, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE

Alex Lo has been an SCMP columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China.

We are all used to Western assessments of Deng Xiaoping. You may even be convinced by them, as I was for a long time.

Ezra Vogel, for example, wrote in Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China : “It was [Deng] who would finally realise the mission that others had tried for


Security questions swirl over Trump’s new plane given to him by Qatar

US President Donald Trump faces questions about the security of his new Air Force One plane gifted by Qatar, after he took an older jet home from a Nato summit this week.

The billionaire president has barely been able to contain his excitement over the retrofitted Boeing 747-8 aircraft, which took him to Ankara on its maiden trip outside the United States.

But then Trump abruptly announced in Turkey that he was sending the luxury plane on ahead to a British airbase – saying it was so US troops could tour the

US President Donald Trump returns to Joint Base Andrews on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Man arrested on suspicion of murdering ex-UK minister Ann Widdecombe

A staunch Brexiteer, Widdecombe was known for her bluntness and socially conservative views even before she became a Reform UK spokeswoman

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Ann Widdecombe speaks during a Brexit Party rally in Peterborough, Britain, in May 2019. Photo: Reuters

British police arrested a man on Friday on suspicion of murdering Ann Widdecombe, after the 78-year-old former government minister and Reform UK politician was found dead having “sustained serious injuries”.

Police said a 26-year-old, white ‌British man had been arrested

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King Charles hosts Prince Harry and family for first time in years, amid royal rift

King Charles hosted Prince Harry and met with his family for the first time in years Friday, as they try to repair a rift that has persisted since his youngest son and wife quit royal life and moved to America six years ago.

Harry, Meghan and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, met with the king and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House, a country estate west of London.

The Duke of Sussex had arrived on Monday in his homeland for a number of charity events that were overshadowed by speculation of

Police officers stand guard outside a rear entrance to Clarence House, an official residence of Britain’s King Charles, in London on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Renewed US-China AI dialogue serves American security interests: former officials

A new round of US-China dialogue on the risks of artificial intelligence, even just for the sake of dialogue, will be important for furthering US national security, according to former senior US officials responsible for China affairs.

The assessment comes after the world’s two leading AI superpowers agreed to a new round of intergovernmental talks on AI safety following the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing in May, though few details about the dialogue have been announced.

Jeannette Chu, one of the longest-serving US diplomats in China


Jiaying Chen, who wed at least 14 men in Las Vegas fraud scheme, to plead guilty

A woman who authorities say married more than a dozen men in Las Vegas to fund her gambling has agreed to plead guilty to two felonies.

Jiaying Chen, 33, waived her right to a preliminary hearing during an appearance before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Rebecca Saxe on Tuesday.

Chen’s lawyer, Thomas Wells, said she plans to plead guilty later this week to one count each of bigamy and obtaining money under false pretences more than US$100,000.

“It will permit


Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence signals shifting role for Iran leader

The absence of Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei from the funeral ceremonies of Ali Khamenei raised questions about his health and fear of assassination, as well as indicating he may perform a quite different function as No 1 compared with his all-powerful father.

The marathon funeral ceremonies for Ali Khamenei, killed on February 28 in an air strike on the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran, culminated on Thursday in the holy city of Mashhad, with a who’s who of key figures in the