US’ Rubio wraps up Gulf tour as allies share concerns over Iran peace accord
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Gulf allies on Thursday that any deal with Iran would take their interests into account, as he wrapped up a Middle East trip aimed at winning over regional partners with deep reservations about the preliminary accord.
Speaking at a meeting of Gulf Arab foreign ministers in Bahrain – home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet – Rubio said Washington was seeking an enduring peace with long-time foe Iran that would not come at the expense of the security of allies in the oil-rich region
China ‘on track to surpass United States’ in global goals for human, planet health: UN
China is “on track to surpass the United States” in its efforts to eradicate poverty and protect the planet , according to a new report from the United Nations .
The “Sustainable Development Report 2026”, which tracks global progress on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , was launched on June 23. Also known as the “Global Goals”, the framework is intended to be a comprehensive worldwide blueprint
EU releases €3 billion loan for Ukraine’s recovery
The European Union has disbursed the first €3 billion (US$3.4 billion) tranche of a €90 billion loan to Ukraine, the country’s prime minister announced on Thursday at the opening of a conference on Ukraine’s post-war recovery in Poland.
The conference, attended by key European leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is both a fundraising forum and a message to Russia that Ukraine’s Western supporters are in it for a long haul
Hong Kong is world’s most unequal society for wealth distribution, study finds
Hong Kong has become the world’s most unequal society in terms of wealth distribution, a study has found, as the core drivers of income inequality in the city have shifted from wage disparities to capital concentration, reducing social mobility.
The findings of the study, which analysed the evolution of income and wealth inequality in the city between 1981 and 2021, were presented by Yang Li, a research fellow at the World Inequality Lab at the Paris School of Economics, during a seminar hosted by
3-year-old found dead in car during France heatwave
A three-year-old has died after finding himself trapped in a car in the Paris region in extreme heat, a prosecutor said on Thursday, the third such fatality this week.
The boy had slipped into the family car while his father thought he was napping, then found himself unable to get out with the child lock in the town of Saint-Gratien, the prosecutor said, after a police source and civil defence also reported the
Did the Iran war just prove that China’s ageing DF-15Bs are still big guns?
Lessons from the Iran war suggest that China’s ageing Dongfeng-15B short-range missiles may be more useful in penetrating modern missile defences than previously thought, according to military analysts.
The suggestion surfaced this month in an article published by Ordnance Science and Technology which said that missiles with biconic manoeuvring re-entry vehicles (MRVs) could achieve a penetration effect close to that of hypersonic projectiles.
The article, written under the byline Ma Lihua, referred to Iranian claims that its short-range missiles, equipped
HK Electric raises fuel charge by nearly 34% and further increases expected
HK Electric has announced a nearly 34 per cent rise in its fuel charge, after a double-digit increase last month, as the war in the Middle East contributed to a “significant rise” in global fuel prices.
The utility, which mainly serves Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island, also warned on Thursday that the charge was expected to continue rising.
HK Electric announced it would adjust its fuel charge for July to 41.9 HK cents (5.3 US cents) per unit of electricity,
Kuaishou chip spin-off taps new funding for in-house designs amid US export controls
Chinese internet giants are increasingly moving beyond software and into semiconductor design, betting that proprietary chips will give them greater control over computing infrastructure as artificial intelligence workloads surge and geopolitical tensions hamper access to advanced foreign technology.
Short video giant Kuaishou is the latest to ride the wave, after its chip spin-off TranStreams raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A+ financing round this week led by QF Capital, according to ITJuzi.com, a local start-up database platform.
Other participants in the round included a state-
