8 h. ago Does AI’s rise have to mean job losses? East Asia tells a different story

Western analysts often frame automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics as an existential threat to workers, with the risk of impending unemployment potentially triggering economic unrest. However, 74 per cent of all industrial robots deployed last year were in Asia, where they do not appear to be replacing workers but are instead redefining roles amid innovative modes for production and higher efficiency. As digital factories become ubiquitous, countries such as Vietnam and China are...

Society

26 h. ago How China’s solopreneurs are using AI to crack a tough job market

China’s artificial intelligence boom is giving rise to a new cohort of “solopreneurs”, who are turning their business dreams into reality with the help of technology, offering a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak job market. While there is no government data tracking this group, the proliferation of affordable AI models suggests that the number of AI-powered solopreneurs in China is on the rise. Recent data from the US Census Bureau showed that the US had about 30 million solopreneurs, who...

Politics

36 h. ago Trump’s national security blueprint aims to combat China’s rise in Latin America

The White House released a national security blueprint on Friday, marking a sweeping assertion of US influence in the Americas. The framework pledges to prevent non-Western powers from expanding their foothold across the Western Hemisphere, a clear reference to China’s growing presence in the region. In US strategic parlance, the “Western Hemisphere” refers broadly to the Americas, a geopolitical space long regarded as a place Washington has sway over. This belief harks back to the Monroe...

Politics

36 h. ago Trump’s new national security blueprint aims to combat China’s rise in Latin America

Trump’s new national security blueprint aims to combat China’s rise in Latin America  South China Morning Post

Politics

46 h. ago China Deploys Over 100 Vessels in Largest Show of Force in East Asia to Date

China Deploys Over 100 Vessels in Largest Show of Force in East Asia to Date  JAPAN Forward

Politics

49 h. ago Why Gulf region’s dreams of aviation domination are built on sand

We should call it the “Neom factor”: the force that transforms reasonable aggressive ambition into hallucinogenic fantasyland. It glared out at me last week in a Financial Times headline: “Three ‘Heathrows’ of growth: the unstoppable rise of Middle East airports”. In short, Dubai, Istanbul, Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi in aggregate have airport expansion plans to lift passenger capacity almost threefold to around 750 million a year over the coming decades. In the words of Paul Griffiths, chief...

Politics

50 h. ago East Asia on High Alert as Beijing Deploys Unprecedented Maritime Armada

East Asia on High Alert as Beijing Deploys Unprecedented Maritime Armada  AnewZ

Events

50 h. ago East Asia on high alert as Beijing deploys large fleet into strategic waters

East Asia on high alert as Beijing deploys large fleet into strategic waters  AnewZ

Events

3 d. ago Bag, pen, workwear: how Takaichi became Japan’s unexpected fashion icon

The pledge by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year. The ultraconservative Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. Accepting her award from a private committee this week, Takaichi said she only wanted to stress her enthusiasm and that her comments had...

Politics

3 d. ago Senators Consider Tougher Chip Controls to Halt China’s AI Rise

Senators Consider Tougher Chip Controls to Halt China’s AI Rise  MeriTalk

Politics

5 d. ago A year on from South Korea’s martial law crisis, some lives are changed forever

When South Korea’s leader declared martial law a year ago, one young woman blocked a tank, a civil servant resigned in protest and a lawmaker switched sides to remove him from office. They are among the many South Koreans whose lives were transformed on December 3, 2024. That wintry night, then president Yoon Suk-yeol interrupted national television broadcasts to suspend civilian rule for the first time in more than four decades. Soldiers and tanks deployed in central Seoul. Troops landed by...

Society

6 d. ago ‘Dying en masse’: Japan’s oyster farmers face ruin as waters heat up

Oysters in Japan are dying en masse in parts of the country’s top production area, likely due to warmer sea temperatures, officials said on Monday. In some coastal areas surrounding the Seto Inland Sea in western Japan – an area that accounts for more than three quarters of Japan’s farmed oyster production – around 90 per cent of cultivated oysters are dead. “I’ve never experienced this in my whole career,” said Tatsuya Morio, who has farmed oysters for more than 20 years. Shoichi Yokouchi, an...

Society

6 d. ago Firefighters in Hong Kong? This video was shot in Chile in 2024

With the rise of social media and generative AI, how much of what we see online is true? In this new series, SCMP Fact-Check, the Post investigates claims circulating online and debunks viral misinformation impacting the daily lives of Hongkongers. A 16-second clip was shared on Facebook on Thursday and has amassed more than 200,000 views. “Firefighters’ first person perspective. A tribute to firefighters #HongKongFire #FireRescue #Firefighters,” the post’s Chinese caption reads. The video...

Events

6 d. ago Unification Church leader denies knowing about gifts for Kim Keon

The leader of one of South Korea’s largest cultlike churches stood trial on Monday accused of bribing the country’s former first lady with gifts including a designer handbag and a diamond necklace. The arrest of leader Han Hak-ja in September rocked the Unification Church, which claims to have 10 million followers worldwide and controls a sprawling business empire. The 82-year-old defendant, known to her followers as “holy mother”, also faces corruption charges over cash payments to a lawmaker...

Politics

7 d. ago Flood death tolls rise in Indonesia, Sri Lanka as aid trickles in

Some residents of the flood-hit Indonesian island of Sumatra have resorted to stealing food and water to survive, authorities said on Sunday, while Sri Lankan officials said deaths from floods and mudslides in that island nation have risen to 193. The floods, which hit Indonesia nearly a week ago, have killed 303 people and displaced thousands, with the number expected to rise as more bodies are recovered. The deluges triggered landslides, damaged roads, cut off parts of the island and downed...

Events

7 d. ago Japan’s safe image cracks as car thefts, home intrusions increase

Japan has often prided itself on its orderly, low-crime society, but cracks in that image are widening amid rising car thefts and home intrusions fuelled by export markets and public complacency. At a seminar in May on car theft held by the Aichi prefectural police in central Japan, a man in his fifties listened intently – he was twice targeted in the past. When he woke up one morning in 2011, his prized Toyota Land Cruiser had vanished. Then, one night in 2015, he found a bicycle blocking his...

Politics

7 d. ago North Korean air force to gain ‘strategic assets’ amid heightened tensions

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced the country’s air force would be equipped with “new strategic military assets”, state media said on Sunday. Kim made the announcement at an event marking the 80th anniversary of the North Korean air force on Friday, accompanied by his daughter Ju-ae, who is understood to be his recognised successor. The country’s expectations for the air force, which “will play a role in the exercise of the nuclear war deterrent”, are truly “great”, state media KCNA...

Events

8 d. ago India races ‘against the clock’ to rebuild its lost maritime muscle

Centuries ago, Indian merchants rode monsoon winds across the seas, their cargoes stitching together a maritime world stretching from East Africa to Southeast Asia. Today, as container ships queue outside clogged ports and great powers quarrel over access and tariffs, India is trying to sail back into that history – this time as a modern shipping and shipbuilding power. Standing before global investors late last month, a day after presiding over a glittering maritime industry showcase in Mumbai,...

Politics

1 week ago Asahi admits cybersecurity ‘weakness’ after info of 2 million people stolen

Japanese drink giant Asahi Group Holdings said on Thursday an investigation has found that personal information linked to around 2 million customers and employees may have been leaked in a cyberattack that hit its domestic servers in late September. “I painfully feel the responsibility of management” with regard to the cyberattack, said Asahi president Atsushi Katsuki at its first press conference since the maker of Asahi Super Dry beers was hit by a system failure on September 29, acknowledging...

Events

1 week ago ‘Turning point’: South Korea’s largest satellite launched on Nuri rocket

South Korea launched its largest satellite yet on its nationally developed space rocket early on Thursday, the fourth of six planned launches through 2027. The three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from the country’s spaceport on an island off the southwestern coastal county of Goheung. Aerospace officials said the rocket placed a 516kg (1,137-pound) science satellite and 12 microsatellites into a target orbit about 600km (372 miles) above Earth. The Korea Aerospace Administration said the main...

Events