85 m. ago Southeast Asia’s young farmers dig in for the future in ‘call to return to the land’

A typical day for Aizat Halim begins at 5am, as he sets out on a drive to his fruit farm in Janda Baik, about 50km (30 miles) from his home in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur – a distance that reflects the gap between his current and former lives. Farming, the 31-year-old said, was always his first career choice, despite graduating in marketing from colleges in the US and the United Kingdom. In 2020, he started a pineapple farm on family land, leaving a cushy air-conditioned job as a marketing...

Politics

2 h. ago Most Singaporeans not upbeat on future of next generation: survey

Just under a third of Singapore residents in a recent survey by global communication firm Edelman believe that the next generation would be better off than the current one – a drop of 11 percentage points from last year’s findings. The Edelman Trust Barometer 2026 figures showed Singapore as being among four other Asian countries that registered a double-digit decrease, with the city state’s 31 per cent mark just under the global average of 32 per cent for those who responded positively to one...

Politics

3 h. ago China’s drug and medical device sector emerges as new engine of economic growth

China’s pharmaceutical industry, whose revenue is projected to rise by 50 per cent between 2024 and 2030, has emerged as a new growth engine for the national economy as leading players ramp up investment in research and production. The country’s drug and medical device businesses were forecast to top US$2.1 trillion in revenue by 2030 and US$3.2 trillion annually by 2050, according to estimates by UBS. In 2024, the sector generated about US$1.4 trillion in sales. “An ageing population offers the...

Economics

7 h. ago COLUMN: From Barrie to Beijing — hopes for a better future in 2026

COLUMN: From Barrie to Beijing — hopes for a better future in 2026  BarrieToday.com

Politics

9 h. ago China's Future Fighter Jets Might Power Themselves Using 6G Radar Energy

China's Future Fighter Jets Might Power Themselves Using 6G Radar Energy  bgr.com

Politics

11 h. ago Why China may need to take the nuclear option for its next aircraft carrier

China’s newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has significant design flaws that future carriers can overcome only by adopting nuclear power, according to a military magazine. The Fujian is the country’s first domestically designed aircraft carrier and was commissioned in November. With a displacement of over 80,000 tonnes, it is the world’s largest conventional warship and the first non-American ship to be equipped with advanced electromagnetic catapults. However, the most advanced US ships – the...

Events

19 h. ago Tencent seeks collaboration with other major AI developers to improve tech for vulnerable users

Researchers at Tencent Holdings are looking to collaborate with other major artificial intelligence developers to improve how most generative AI services, such as chatbots, interact with the elderly, left-behind children and other vulnerable users in society. Specialised data sets can make AI services more helpful to vulnerable users who have become progressively reliant on them for emotional support and health assistance, according to Lu Shiyu, a senior researcher at Tencent Research Institute...

Politics

20 h. ago China’s Davos Agenda: Countering US Hegemony, Promoting a “Shared Future”

China’s Davos Agenda: Countering US Hegemony, Promoting a “Shared Future”  Modern Diplomacy

Politics

21 h. ago Could flying wind farms be the future of energy generation in China?

A giant airship launched in a densely populated area of southwestern China earlier this month has set social media on fire. Footage of the S2000, the world’s most powerful flying wind farm, in the skies above Yibin, Sichuan province, prompted comparisons with an alien spaceship or the airships that featured in the animated film Big Hero 6. The white airship – measuring 60 metres (200 feet) in length and a width and height of 40 metres – was filled with helium on the ground before ascent,...

Politics

25 h. ago Impulse control: Malaysia’s social media ban targets teen minds

Eric Wong is only 20, but his life online is so consuming that he struggles to draw a line between his digital presence and the physical world. A member of Malaysia’s Gen Z – those aged 13 to 29 this year – Wong belongs to the first generation of true digital natives, raised on a steady stream of social media, online gaming and endless internet connectivity. “If there’s time in between classes, me and my friends will gather in the cafeteria or the nearby mamak (food stall) to play PUBG or Mobile...

Events

33 h. ago How concept of building community with shared future for humanity brings Chinese solutions to global governance

How concept of building community with shared future for humanity brings Chinese solutions to global governance  news.cgtn.com

Politics

42 h. ago Scam and corruption cases spark debate in China over cryptocurrencies’ future

The seizure of enormous cryptocurrency caches in two high-profile criminal cases in China – a former head of the central bank’s digital currency research institute accused of corruption, and an alleged scam centre kingpin linked to about US$15 billion in bitcoin – have sparked questions in the country about the safety and future of virtual money. But analysts said the long-term trend for the assets, especially bitcoin, depended on institutional capital, interest rate expectations and the...

Politics

42 h. ago Scam, corruption cases spark Chinese debate about future of virtual money

Scam, corruption cases spark Chinese debate about future of virtual money  South China Morning Post

Politics

47 h. ago Musk’s xAI sued over Grok deepfakes – this time, by mother of his child

The mother of one of Elon Musk’s children is suing his AI company, saying its Grok chatbot allowed users to generate sexually exploitative deepfake images of her that have caused her humiliation and emotional distress. Ashley St Clair, 27, who describes herself as a writer and political strategist, alleged in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in New York City against xAI that the images have included a photo of her fully dressed at age 14 that was altered to show her in a bikini, and others showing...

Politics

60 h. ago As families shrink, our primary relationship is increasingly with ourselves

More than 2,300 years ago, Aristotle mused in Politics that to live alone, a man must be a god or a beast, or words to that effect. I wonder what he would have thought of the popularity of China’s “Are You Dead?” app. For Aristotle, we are social animals, thriving in the “polis” in the company of family, friends and fellow citizens. The average mother had at least five children. Many homes housed three, even four, generations. Family life was noisy and crowded, full of companionship, contest and...

Politics

62 h. ago TSX futures rise as oil steadies, Canada PM announces China trade deal

TSX futures rise as oil steadies, Canada PM announces China trade deal  Reuters

Events

62 h. ago Chinese scientists unlock possible key to dark matter after almost 90 years

Chinese scientists have made the first direct observation of a quantum effect that was proposed almost 90 years ago and could help detect dark matter, the universe’s invisible “glue”. Soviet physicist Arkady Migdal developed a theory in Leningrad in 1939 about what would happen when a neutral particle – such as dark matter – collided with an atomic nucleus. Migdal believed that the collision would cause the nucleus to recoil and trigger a secondary electronic recoil, generating a detectable...

Politics

69 h. ago China’s supercooling tech packs 40% more punch into chips used in military radar

Chinese scientists have unlocked a revolutionary supercooling innovation in semiconductor technology, paving the way for a 40 per cent leap in the performance of gallium nitride-based radar systems, which are widely used in China’s most advanced stealth aircraft. The new Chinese-made chips can handle extreme power loads in the X and Ka bands – frequencies critical for advanced radar systems, satellite communications and next-generation wireless computer networks. “This is the most significant...

Events

2 d. ago Trump’s ‘America first’ agenda driving countries closer to China: survey

United States President Donald Trump’s “America first” agenda is helping to make China great again and ushering in a “truly multipolar world”, according to a survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations. “A year on from Trump’s return, in countries across the globe, many people believe China is on the verge of becoming even more powerful,” the think tank said after surveying 25,949 people from 21 countries, including the US, China, Russia, Britain and Brazil. Most respondents thought...

Politics

2 d. ago China’s slowing growth, bilateral tensions top American business concerns in 2026

Concerns about China’s slowing economic growth and “strained” Beijing-Washington relations rank as the top two concerns among members of the American Chamber of Commerce in China this year, according to a chamber survey released on Friday. The growth concern was raised by around two-thirds of the 368 respondents, making it the leading issue, the annual China Business Climate Survey found. Fifty-two per cent of respondents reported being profitable or very profitable last year, 6 percentage...

Events