North Korean Premier Pak Thae-song will arrive in China on Friday for a three-day trip to mark the anniversary of a friendship treaty between the two countries, in another sign of improving ties between the two traditional allies.

This year is the 65th anniversary of the signing of the China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, Beijing’s only formal defence pact, and Pak will be at the head of a party and government delegation.

“China and North Korea are traditional

Hong Kong authorities have recorded 176 reports of suspected child abuse involving 188 children in just over five months of the city’s new mandatory reporting regime, with sexual abuse accounting for the largest share of total victims.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han revealed on Thursday the number of reports logged by the end of last month since the requirement for 25 professions to report serious suspected child abuse took effect on January 20.

Out of the 188 children allegedly harmed in 1

Dozens of outbound flights from Hong Kong to Taiwan, mainland China and Japan originally scheduled for later this week have been cancelled due to Super Typhoon Bavi, with some local carriers offering special arrangements for affected passengers.

A South China Morning Post check found that more than 40 flights – operated by Cathay Pacific Airways, HK Express, Hong Kong Airlines and Greater Bay Airlines – had been cancelled and 10 delayed to Sunday. The affected routes span destinations ranging from Taipei to Okinawa.

Cathay Pacific, its budget arm, HK

Fewer Hong Kong university entrance exam candidates reported high stress levels compared with last year, but nearly 40 per cent cited artificial intelligence (AI) and the economic outlook as their top sources of pressure, a survey has found.

Releasing the findings of its “Further Education Planning Survey” on Thursday, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups attributed the pressure to concerns that AI would increasingly replace entry-level jobs.

The poll surveyed 1,241 secondary students, including 445 candidates for the Diploma of

Chinese AI labs are increasingly pursuing proprietary chips, mirroring a global trend towards software-hardware integration, but industry insiders and analysts warn that the strategy carries risk due to the massive upfront investments required.

“The core motivation for choosing in-house chips lies in pursuing [greater] hardware-software synergy and lowering long-term operating costs,” said Arisa Liu, chief director and research fellow at Taiwan Industry Economics Services.

Paul Triolo, a partner and technology policy lead at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, said in