21 m. ago Trump talks trade with Canada, Mexico leaders at World Cup draw

US President Donald Trump met with the leaders of Mexico and Canada to discuss trade issues on Friday after the leaders hosted the 2026 World Cup draw at Washington’s storied Kennedy Centre. The White House said Trump held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after the star-studded event, but gave no details on their discussions. Canadian media said the meeting lasted for 45 minutes and the leaders spoke on their own, with no staff present. Trump...

Politics

65 m. ago Chinese EV maker Li Auto unveils industry’s cheapest AI glasses at US$282

Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto has launched its first wearable product, the Livis artificial intelligence glasses, marking a bold foray into the rapidly expanding market already crowded by tech giants like Alibaba Group Holding, Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi. The device is priced at 1,999 yuan (US$282), but buyers who place an order before December 31 qualify for a 15 per cent rebate via the government-backed subsidy programme, bringing down the price to 1,699 yuan. That effectively...

Politics

2 h. ago US Supreme Court to weigh Trump bid to limit birthright citizenship

The US Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide the legality of President Donald Trump’s directive to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States, a contentious part of his efforts to curb immigration and a step that would alter how a 19th century constitutional provision has long been understood. The justices took up a Justice Department appeal of a lower court’s ruling that blocked Trump’s executive order telling US agencies not to recognise the citizenship of children born in the US...

Politics

2 h. ago Welcome to a world where wars don’t end and sanctions don’t work

For much of the modern era, power was easy to recognise. It belonged to the states that could win wars decisively, enforce sanctions effectively and impose political outcomes far beyond their borders. That definition no longer works. The world is moving towards what scholars have described as a form of “distributed multipolarity”, a landscape in which no single actor – not the United States, not China, not Russia – can fully shape events in the way great powers once expected. Tools once seen as...

Events

2 h. ago Ambassador Xie Feng calls on the Chinese and American business communities to focus on three lists

Ambassador Xie Feng calls on the Chinese and American business communities to focus on three lists  中华人民共和国驻美利坚合众国大使馆

Politics

2 h. ago US judge orders release of grand jury transcripts in Epstein case

A US federal judge on Friday ordered the release of the grand jury transcripts from the investigation in Florida of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department requested the unsealing of the transcripts after US President Donald Trump signed a bill last month requiring the public release of all government records regarding Epstein. Grand jury proceedings are generally kept secret and a previous Justice Department request to unseal the transcripts from Epstein’s Florida case...

Events

7 h. ago US vaccine advisers say not all newborns need hepatitis B shot

A group of vaccine advisers on Friday scrapped a long-standing recommendation that all US children receive the hepatitis B shot at birth, a major policy win for health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jnr that disease experts say will reverse decades of public health gains. The committee voted to keep the birth dose only for infants whose mothers test positive for the virus, replacing the 1991 universal recommendation that has protected all children from hepatitis B infections, which can lead to...

Politics

7 h. ago Hong Kong government hits out at US politicians’ ‘absurd’ resolution on Jimmy Lai

Hong Kong authorities have hit back at US politicians’ “absurd and fact-twisting” allegations over the health of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and their call for his unconditional release from prison. A spokesman for the Hong Kong government described the resolution introduced in the United States House of Representatives as an attempt to pressure the city’s courts over Lai’s ongoing trial, accusing the body of “blatant hypocrisy and double standards” given the country’s own suspected...

Politics

7 h. ago Hong Kong government hits out at US politicians’ ‘absurd’ Jimmy Lai resolution

Hong Kong authorities have hit back at US politicians’ “absurd and fact-twisting” allegations over the health of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and their call for his unconditional release from prison. A spokesman for the Hong Kong government described the resolution introduced in the United States House of Representatives as an attempt to pressure the city’s courts over Lai’s ongoing trial, accusing the body of “blatant hypocrisy and double standards” given the country’s own suspected...

Politics

7 h. ago Dutch minister admits he was blindsided by China in Nexperia chip crisis

Export controls may have been the economic weapon of choice in 2025, but the Dutch minister at the centre of the Nexperia crisis has admitted he was blindsided by Beijing when it blocked the company’s chips from leaving China. His concession raises fresh questions over how much planning went into the decision to reach for a Cold War-era law to intervene in the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker in September, a move that triggered a supply chain shock in the global automotive...

Politics

8 h. ago China’s Auto Juggernaut Rolls On as Electrified Vehicles Top 50% of Sales

China’s Auto Juggernaut Rolls On as Electrified Vehicles Top 50% of Sales  Autoweek

Politics

8 h. ago Taiwan, Japan raise alarm over China’s maritime deployment; Beijing says operations fully compliant with law

Taiwan, Japan raise alarm over China’s maritime deployment; Beijing says operations fully compliant with law  Firstpost

Events

9 h. ago China’s Nvidia Just Jumped 400% on Debut. How the AI Chip Stocks Compare.

China’s Nvidia Just Jumped 400% on Debut. How the AI Chip Stocks Compare.  Barron's

Politics

9 h. ago Legco election hopefuls scale back campaigning in Hong Kong fire aftermath

Candidates started campaigning again this week for Hong Kong’s coming Legislative Council election, but opted for a more subdued approach, including fewer street booths and volunteers, in the aftermath of last week’s deadly fire in Tai Po. Some Legco hopefuls also unveiled new policy platforms in the run-up to Sunday’s poll, such as calling for a thorough investigation into the fire and enhanced building safety oversight. As of Friday, two major political parties also said they were facing...

Politics

10 h. ago Netflix’s US$72 billion Warner Bros deal to reshape streaming landscape

Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery’s TV, film studios and streaming division for US$72 billion, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood’s most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer. The agreement, announced on Friday, follows a weeks-long bidding war in which Netflix offered nearly US$28-a-share, eclipsing Paramount Skydance’s close to US$24 bid for the whole of Warner Bros Discovery, including the cable TV assets slated for a spin-off. Buying the owner of...

Events

10 h. ago As China defies US tech blockade, can local AI chipmakers capture Nvidia share?

With the technology race between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, intensifying even though a trade truce was reached in late October, analysts say the prospects of China achieving self-sufficiency in semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) are positive, despite American efforts to maintain leads in those fields. “If any country can do it [achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductors], it’s China, owing to its vast resources and pool of engineering talent,”...

Politics

10 h. ago ‘If Jesus were born in America now’: church’s nativity challenges ICE policy

Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask to protect herself from tear gas. Baby Jesus with zip-tied hands, wrapped in a thin blanket that looks like aluminium foil. Masked centurions with sunglasses and green vests labelled “ICE”. This is how the Lake Street Church of Evanston in suburban Chicago chose to assemble its nativity scene for the Christmas season. The church and its leaders have been vocal critics of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz and expressed a message with their...

Events

11 h. ago Huawei’s founder makes subtle dig at lofty pursuits in AI by the US

The United States and China are pursuing artificial intelligence in “different directions”, and the divergence is being reflected in the strategies that the governments and companies are adopting, according to the founder of one of the world’s largest technology investors. The US is focusing on supercomputing power and large models in the lofty pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial superintelligence (ASI), while China was adopting a more practical approach, using AI to...

Politics

12 h. ago BYD founder bets on new tech to win back customers as sales decelerate

BYD, China’s electric vehicle (EV) king, is pinning its hopes on next-generation technology to engineer a turnaround in sales amid fierce competition in the world’s largest automotive market, according to its founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu. Speaking at a shareholders’ meeting in Shenzhen on Friday, the billionaire said the company’s 12,000 engineers – the backbone of the carmaker – would help it regain a technological edge over rivals. “We have heavyweight new technology in the pipeline,” he...

Economics

12 h. ago Hong Kong to focus on mental health support after fire, seek smoking ban at sites

Hong Kong authorities will make mental health support for people affected by the Tai Po blaze a priority in the aftermath of the tragedy, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has announced, as the government said it intended to push for a blanket ban on smoking at construction sites. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Lee said that not only the residents of Wang Fuk Court, but the entire community could move out of deep sorrow with proper mental health support. “Everyone is experiencing this...

Events