China builds ‘planetary defence’ team as concerns grow over 2024 YR4 asteroid
By Victoria Bela
China has started assembling a planetary defence team to counter the threat of near-Earth asteroids following the discovery of a large asteroid that could strike our planet in seven years.
On Friday, the European Space Agency (ESA) updated their probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032 to 2.2 per cent, putting it at the top of the agency’s risk list.
The asteroid, estimated to be 40 to 90 metres (130 to 300 feet) wide, was discovered by the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Astronomy in late December. The discovery activated global asteroid response mechanisms after its odds of an impact with Earth surpassed an international monitoring threshold.
Weeks after the asteroid’s discovery, a special projects centre at China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence posted a recruitment notice listing three available roles for a “planetary defence post”.
The centre, which is responsible for aerospace engineering research and implementation and Earth observation, is recruiting graduates to study asteroid monitoring and create early warning methods, according to the notice posted last month on the WeChat account of the journal China Space Science and Technology.
There are various methods that could be used to try to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth. In the world’s first successful planetary defence test in 2022, US space agency Nasa altered an asteroid’s trajectory by colliding with it.
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By Victoria Bela
China has started assembling a planetary defence team to counter the threat of near-Earth asteroids following the discovery of a large asteroid that could strike our planet in seven years.
On Friday, the European Space Agency (ESA) updated their probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032 to 2.2 per cent, putting it at the top of the agency’s risk list.
The asteroid, estimated to be 40 to 90 metres (130 to 300 feet) wide, was discovered by the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Astronomy in late December. The discovery activated global asteroid response mechanisms after its odds of an impact with Earth surpassed an international monitoring threshold.
Weeks after the asteroid’s discovery, a special projects centre at China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence posted a recruitment notice listing three available roles for a “planetary defence post”.
The centre, which is responsible for aerospace engineering research and implementation and Earth observation, is recruiting graduates to study asteroid monitoring and create early warning methods, according to the notice posted last month on the WeChat account of the journal China Space Science and Technology.
There are various methods that could be used to try to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth. In the world’s first successful planetary defence test in 2022, US space agency Nasa altered an asteroid’s trajectory by colliding with it.
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Romania’s president resigns before election re-run
By Agence France-Presse
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday announced he would resign following pressure for him to step down ahead of the re-run of an election that was voided over allegations of Russian interference.
Pressure had been growing on pro-European Iohannis, leader of liberals who had said he would remain in office until his successor is elected in May.
Romania’s top court decided to cancel the presidential elections in December amid allegations of Russian meddling and after a previously little-known, far-right candidate won a surprise first-round victory.
“In order to spare Romania and the Romanian citizens from crisis … I resign from the office of president of Romania,” Iohannis said, adding that he would officially stand down on Wednesday.
MPs on Monday launched a procedure to suspend Iohannis, following two previous attempts by the opposition to start the process.
“In a few days, the Romanian Parliament will vote on my suspension and Romania will go into crisis … This whole endeavour will have effects internally and unfortunately also externally,” Iohannis said.
Far-right AUR party leader George Simion welcomed Iohannis’s resignation.
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By Agence France-Presse
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday announced he would resign following pressure for him to step down ahead of the re-run of an election that was voided over allegations of Russian interference.
Pressure had been growing on pro-European Iohannis, leader of liberals who had said he would remain in office until his successor is elected in May.
Romania’s top court decided to cancel the presidential elections in December amid allegations of Russian meddling and after a previously little-known, far-right candidate won a surprise first-round victory.
“In order to spare Romania and the Romanian citizens from crisis … I resign from the office of president of Romania,” Iohannis said, adding that he would officially stand down on Wednesday.
MPs on Monday launched a procedure to suspend Iohannis, following two previous attempts by the opposition to start the process.
“In a few days, the Romanian Parliament will vote on my suspension and Romania will go into crisis … This whole endeavour will have effects internally and unfortunately also externally,” Iohannis said.
Far-right AUR party leader George Simion welcomed Iohannis’s resignation.
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Hong Kong groups, subdivided-flat tenants seek changes to proposed regulations
By Vivian Au
Advocacy groups and tenants have urged Hong Kong authorities to adjust proposals for regulating below-standard subdivided flats, calling for bigger minimum sizes and permanent resettlement as a public consultation ended.
Some tenants on Monday also said they had been evicted as their landlords had told them they needed to renovate their flats to meet the proposed government requirements.
The government earlier proposed drafting new laws allowing only registered subdivided flats – known as “basic housing units” – that met certain criteria to remain on the rental market. Landlords who violated the regulations could face up to three years in jail.
Under the suggested standards, basic housing units would require a minimum size of 86 sq ft (eight square metres), a ceiling height of 2.3 metres, proper windows and at least one toilet per subdivided home. The flats must also meet fire and structural safety requirements.
The public consultation, which started in December, ended on Monday.
Part-time security guard Sy Kiheo, 68, said he and his wife had been living in a subdivided flat in Kwun Tong for two years but were asked to move out in December as the owner told them he needed to carry out renovations to meet the proposed standards.
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By Vivian Au
Advocacy groups and tenants have urged Hong Kong authorities to adjust proposals for regulating below-standard subdivided flats, calling for bigger minimum sizes and permanent resettlement as a public consultation ended.
Some tenants on Monday also said they had been evicted as their landlords had told them they needed to renovate their flats to meet the proposed government requirements.
The government earlier proposed drafting new laws allowing only registered subdivided flats – known as “basic housing units” – that met certain criteria to remain on the rental market. Landlords who violated the regulations could face up to three years in jail.
Under the suggested standards, basic housing units would require a minimum size of 86 sq ft (eight square metres), a ceiling height of 2.3 metres, proper windows and at least one toilet per subdivided home. The flats must also meet fire and structural safety requirements.
The public consultation, which started in December, ended on Monday.
Part-time security guard Sy Kiheo, 68, said he and his wife had been living in a subdivided flat in Kwun Tong for two years but were asked to move out in December as the owner told them he needed to carry out renovations to meet the proposed standards.
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Turkey’s Erdogan in Malaysia: Israel must rebuild Gaza at cost of US$100 billion
By Joseph Sipalan
Israel must pay the full US$100 billion cost of rebuilding Gaza after destroying the territory, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday during his visit to Malaysia, as he urged Muslim and other countries to push hard for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Turkey and Malaysia have been among the most vocal opponents of Israel’s 16-month war on Gaza.
The war has killed over 47,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. Hostilities were suspended on January 19 after Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed a ceasefire deal, which included a hostage and prisoner swap.
US President Donald Trump has proposed the rebuilding of Gaza under American “ownership” and the relocation of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Malaysia and other countries have slammed Trump’s idea as tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
During the first day of his two-day visit to Malaysia, Erdogan dismissed any attempt to expel Palestinians from Gaza, in an apparent reference to Trump’s proposal.
Gaza’s buildings had been devastated by Israeli attacks with about 50 million tonnes of debris strewn across the territory, Erdogan said.
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By Joseph Sipalan
Israel must pay the full US$100 billion cost of rebuilding Gaza after destroying the territory, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday during his visit to Malaysia, as he urged Muslim and other countries to push hard for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Turkey and Malaysia have been among the most vocal opponents of Israel’s 16-month war on Gaza.
The war has killed over 47,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. Hostilities were suspended on January 19 after Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas signed a ceasefire deal, which included a hostage and prisoner swap.
US President Donald Trump has proposed the rebuilding of Gaza under American “ownership” and the relocation of Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Malaysia and other countries have slammed Trump’s idea as tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
During the first day of his two-day visit to Malaysia, Erdogan dismissed any attempt to expel Palestinians from Gaza, in an apparent reference to Trump’s proposal.
Gaza’s buildings had been devastated by Israeli attacks with about 50 million tonnes of debris strewn across the territory, Erdogan said.
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Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China and economy stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
Despite drops in tobacco use worldwide, the incidence of lung cancer among people who have never smoked is increasing, with higher risks for younger generations and women – particularly in China – a global analysis led by the World Health Organization has found.
China met most of its targets under the current 14th Five-Year Plan to 2025 but has fallen short on energy efficiency and emission goals, according to Tsinghua University researchers.
The researcher surveys the dividends of ‘Made in China 2025’ and shares why he thinks Trump’s contradictions could benefit bilateral relations.Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
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Alibaba’s Qwen AI models enable low-cost DeepSeek alternatives from Stanford, Berkeley
By Ben Jiang
The race to produce the cheapest top-performing artificial intelligence (AI) model is heating up with a new reasoning model from US computer scientists, including renowned Chinese-American “AI godmother” Li Feifei, that was trained for under US$50 on the back of Alibaba Group Holding’s open-source technology, following the breakthrough success of China’s DeepSeek.
The S1 reasoning model was developed on top of the Chinese e-commerce giant’s Qwen2.5-32b-Instruct model by researchers from Stanford University, where Li works, and the University of Washington, according to a research paper published last week.
The capabilities of Alibaba’s model are fresh evidence of how China is narrowing the AI gap with leading US players, following DeepSeek’s release of low-cost, high-performance open-source models that captured global attention. Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba, owner of South China Morning Post, gained 6 per cent on Monday.
After being trained with answers to 1,000 carefully curated questions and the “thinking process” distilled from Google’s Gemini Thinking Experimental model, the S1 model outperformed OpenAI’s o1-preview on maths and programming skills, according to the paper.
The cost of running just the graphics processing units (GPUs) to develop S1 could be as low as US$14 based on the compute noted in the research, which says the model was trained for 26 minutes on 16 Nvidia H100s. These chips can be rented for US$2 per hour.
The key to training a powerful reasoning model at such a low cost – roughly the price of a sandwich at a New York deli – lies in the base model, according to Pan Jiayi, a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. “Base model quality is the key,” he said.
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By Ben Jiang
The race to produce the cheapest top-performing artificial intelligence (AI) model is heating up with a new reasoning model from US computer scientists, including renowned Chinese-American “AI godmother” Li Feifei, that was trained for under US$50 on the back of Alibaba Group Holding’s open-source technology, following the breakthrough success of China’s DeepSeek.
The S1 reasoning model was developed on top of the Chinese e-commerce giant’s Qwen2.5-32b-Instruct model by researchers from Stanford University, where Li works, and the University of Washington, according to a research paper published last week.
The capabilities of Alibaba’s model are fresh evidence of how China is narrowing the AI gap with leading US players, following DeepSeek’s release of low-cost, high-performance open-source models that captured global attention. Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba, owner of South China Morning Post, gained 6 per cent on Monday.
After being trained with answers to 1,000 carefully curated questions and the “thinking process” distilled from Google’s Gemini Thinking Experimental model, the S1 model outperformed OpenAI’s o1-preview on maths and programming skills, according to the paper.
The cost of running just the graphics processing units (GPUs) to develop S1 could be as low as US$14 based on the compute noted in the research, which says the model was trained for 26 minutes on 16 Nvidia H100s. These chips can be rented for US$2 per hour.
The key to training a powerful reasoning model at such a low cost – roughly the price of a sandwich at a New York deli – lies in the base model, according to Pan Jiayi, a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. “Base model quality is the key,” he said.
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Hong Kong Marathon controversy: what happened and how to prevent mishaps such as cheating
By Jiang ChuqinDanny Mok
A major marathon in Hong Kong was embroiled in controversy on Sunday after the organiser disqualified four mainland Chinese runners for wearing bibs that failed to match their identities.
The incident during the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has sparked concerns about how to ensure runners wear the right bibs, with the organiser conducting an investigation to determine what happened.
The Post looks into bib management in major races and how cheating can be prevented.
When the association verified winners’ identities after the races, they discovered that the runner who finished second in the 10km (6.2-mile) race, and the first- and second-place runners in the half-marathon, were wearing bib numbers that did not belong to them.
Three runners were immediately disqualified according to established procedures.
The incidents involved half-marathon runner He Yingbing and his compatriot Sun Xiaoyang, who had their bibs mixed up.
The third runner involved as Xu Guoge, who finished as runner-up in the men’s 10km and shared the same agent. He wore a bib assigned to another athlete, Lan Jiehuai, who finished sixth and was disqualified as the fourth runner.
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By Jiang ChuqinDanny Mok
A major marathon in Hong Kong was embroiled in controversy on Sunday after the organiser disqualified four mainland Chinese runners for wearing bibs that failed to match their identities.
The incident during the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has sparked concerns about how to ensure runners wear the right bibs, with the organiser conducting an investigation to determine what happened.
The Post looks into bib management in major races and how cheating can be prevented.
When the association verified winners’ identities after the races, they discovered that the runner who finished second in the 10km (6.2-mile) race, and the first- and second-place runners in the half-marathon, were wearing bib numbers that did not belong to them.
Three runners were immediately disqualified according to established procedures.
The incidents involved half-marathon runner He Yingbing and his compatriot Sun Xiaoyang, who had their bibs mixed up.
The third runner involved as Xu Guoge, who finished as runner-up in the men’s 10km and shared the same agent. He wore a bib assigned to another athlete, Lan Jiehuai, who finished sixth and was disqualified as the fourth runner.
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Why China’s not in a rush to make trade concessions to Trump
By Khushboo Razdan
Last week, US President Donald Trump suspended punitive tariffs on Canada and Mexico, following commitments from both countries’ presidents to deploy thousands of troops to their borders to help combat illegal immigration and the opioid crisis. These diplomatic concessions gave Trump a quick victory early in his second term, as both countries swiftly yielded to his demands.
Earlier this month, Trump signed executive orders imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods. The tariffs were framed as an “opening salvo” in a broader strategy to address issues beyond trade alone.
The spotlight quickly focused on China. After talks to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump told the press he expected to speak with Chinese leadership within 24 hours. However, the following day, he downplayed the urgency, stating that he was “in no rush” to engage with President Xi Jinping. It seems that call never happened, despite an aide’s claim that it would take place that same day.
Meanwhile, Beijing retaliated by imposing tariffs ranging from 10 to 15 per cent on US exports, including natural gas, coal and farm machinery. China also launched an antitrust investigation into US tech giant Google and filed a dispute at the World Trade Organization against Washington.
China’s response highlights a stark contrast: while countries like Canada and Mexico quickly acquiesced to Trump’s demands, China remains resolute. Beijing is determined not to appear weak in the face of Trump’s threats.
China experts in Washington are increasingly concerned that Trump’s strategy of using tariffs to force compliance may not have the same impact on Beijing. Unlike other nations, China prefers to handle sensitive negotiations behind closed doors through private diplomatic channels. Nevertheless, some hawkish figures in Washington believe Beijing will eventually engage in dialogue with Trump, asserting that the US does not need to make the first move.
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By Khushboo Razdan
Last week, US President Donald Trump suspended punitive tariffs on Canada and Mexico, following commitments from both countries’ presidents to deploy thousands of troops to their borders to help combat illegal immigration and the opioid crisis. These diplomatic concessions gave Trump a quick victory early in his second term, as both countries swiftly yielded to his demands.
Earlier this month, Trump signed executive orders imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods. The tariffs were framed as an “opening salvo” in a broader strategy to address issues beyond trade alone.
The spotlight quickly focused on China. After talks to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump told the press he expected to speak with Chinese leadership within 24 hours. However, the following day, he downplayed the urgency, stating that he was “in no rush” to engage with President Xi Jinping. It seems that call never happened, despite an aide’s claim that it would take place that same day.
Meanwhile, Beijing retaliated by imposing tariffs ranging from 10 to 15 per cent on US exports, including natural gas, coal and farm machinery. China also launched an antitrust investigation into US tech giant Google and filed a dispute at the World Trade Organization against Washington.
China’s response highlights a stark contrast: while countries like Canada and Mexico quickly acquiesced to Trump’s demands, China remains resolute. Beijing is determined not to appear weak in the face of Trump’s threats.
China experts in Washington are increasingly concerned that Trump’s strategy of using tariffs to force compliance may not have the same impact on Beijing. Unlike other nations, China prefers to handle sensitive negotiations behind closed doors through private diplomatic channels. Nevertheless, some hawkish figures in Washington believe Beijing will eventually engage in dialogue with Trump, asserting that the US does not need to make the first move.
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DeepSeek ends promotional pricing amid surging popularity, secures AI.com redirect
By Ben Jiang
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek announced on Sunday that it has discontinued promotional pricing for access to its V3 model via its application programming interface (API) due to a surge in demand, marking the first price increase for the model since it captured global attention.
The new pricing for DeepSeek-chat, powered by the V3 model, is set at US$0.27 per million token inputs and US$1.1 per million token outputs, marking significant increases from the previous rates of US$0.14 and US$0.27, respectively. In AI, a token is a fundamental unit of data that is processed by algorithms.
The price increase comes as DeepSeek’s profile has risen significantly over the past couple of weeks, as its cost-efficient-but-high-performance V3 and R1 models received global attention from the likes of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and even US President Donald Trump.
DeepSeek now appears to have received a nod of approval from the mystery owner of AI.com, a Kuala Lumpur-registered domain that is known for redirecting people to notable AI services.
It now forwards users to chat.deepseek.com, and previously redirected to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Elon Musk’s X.ai when they were the talk of the industry.
The end to discount pricing also came right after the company last week urgently suspended users from topping up their accounts for API use.
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By Ben Jiang
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek announced on Sunday that it has discontinued promotional pricing for access to its V3 model via its application programming interface (API) due to a surge in demand, marking the first price increase for the model since it captured global attention.
The new pricing for DeepSeek-chat, powered by the V3 model, is set at US$0.27 per million token inputs and US$1.1 per million token outputs, marking significant increases from the previous rates of US$0.14 and US$0.27, respectively. In AI, a token is a fundamental unit of data that is processed by algorithms.
The price increase comes as DeepSeek’s profile has risen significantly over the past couple of weeks, as its cost-efficient-but-high-performance V3 and R1 models received global attention from the likes of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and even US President Donald Trump.
DeepSeek now appears to have received a nod of approval from the mystery owner of AI.com, a Kuala Lumpur-registered domain that is known for redirecting people to notable AI services.
It now forwards users to chat.deepseek.com, and previously redirected to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Elon Musk’s X.ai when they were the talk of the industry.
The end to discount pricing also came right after the company last week urgently suspended users from topping up their accounts for API use.
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Trump’s Panama tensions augur risk for Chinese investments
By Carol Yang
The United States’ pledge to reassert control over the Panama Canal is not expected to cause major shipping disruptions, analysts said, but should be seen as a sign of caution for Beijing’s investments in Latin America.
US President Donald Trump’s claim in his inaugural address on January 20 that “China is operating the Panama Canal” primarily refers to ports operated there since 1997 by the Hong Kong-based company Hutchison Ports, they said – adding the firm’s new-found role as an international flashpoint carries little precedent.
“It was always considered by everyone involved as a purely commercial operation, without any political implications or consequences,” said Ralph Leszczynski, head of research for shipbroking and shipping services group Banchero Costa. He added the tensions surrounding the canal have not affected commercial operations or freight rates.
As the shortest shipping route between the west and east coasts of the United States, the canal holds strategic importance for the country, but also serves as a vital passageway for cargo traffic with Asia.
The US, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), uses the canal for many of its energy shipments. Nearly 75 per cent of the canal’s cargo traffic originates from or is destined for the United States.
Therefore, Leszczynski said, “It is in the interest of the United States to ensure their own LNG and LPG exports can pass the canal as trouble-free and as cheaply as possible.”
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By Carol Yang
The United States’ pledge to reassert control over the Panama Canal is not expected to cause major shipping disruptions, analysts said, but should be seen as a sign of caution for Beijing’s investments in Latin America.
US President Donald Trump’s claim in his inaugural address on January 20 that “China is operating the Panama Canal” primarily refers to ports operated there since 1997 by the Hong Kong-based company Hutchison Ports, they said – adding the firm’s new-found role as an international flashpoint carries little precedent.
“It was always considered by everyone involved as a purely commercial operation, without any political implications or consequences,” said Ralph Leszczynski, head of research for shipbroking and shipping services group Banchero Costa. He added the tensions surrounding the canal have not affected commercial operations or freight rates.
As the shortest shipping route between the west and east coasts of the United States, the canal holds strategic importance for the country, but also serves as a vital passageway for cargo traffic with Asia.
The US, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), uses the canal for many of its energy shipments. Nearly 75 per cent of the canal’s cargo traffic originates from or is destined for the United States.
Therefore, Leszczynski said, “It is in the interest of the United States to ensure their own LNG and LPG exports can pass the canal as trouble-free and as cheaply as possible.”
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China tightens rules on publishing information about the military online
By Hayley Wong
China has announced new rules limiting what information can be shared about the military.
Beijing said the rules were designed to protect defence sources and the People’s Liberation Army’s public image, but they may mean it will be harder to monitor the development and evolution of China’s military.
From March 1 “online military information providers” will be banned from “producing, copying, publishing, or disseminating” previously undisclosed information, including details of weapon systems and military facilities.
The new rules ban the publication of information involving “military and national defence technology secrets”. These include information about “research and development, production, testing, transportation, equipment status and the maintenance of weapons and equipment, [as well as] the tactical and technical performance of weapons and equipment”.
It also bans the release of information about the armed forces’ organisational structure, its chain of command, previous commanders and details about military units that have not been officially disclosed.
The rules also took aim at “false military information and the leakage of military secrets on the internet”, according to the PLA’s official social media accounts.
They were outlined in a document signed by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the political work department of the Central Military Commission and other departments, which was made public on Saturday.
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By Hayley Wong
China has announced new rules limiting what information can be shared about the military.
Beijing said the rules were designed to protect defence sources and the People’s Liberation Army’s public image, but they may mean it will be harder to monitor the development and evolution of China’s military.
From March 1 “online military information providers” will be banned from “producing, copying, publishing, or disseminating” previously undisclosed information, including details of weapon systems and military facilities.
The new rules ban the publication of information involving “military and national defence technology secrets”. These include information about “research and development, production, testing, transportation, equipment status and the maintenance of weapons and equipment, [as well as] the tactical and technical performance of weapons and equipment”.
It also bans the release of information about the armed forces’ organisational structure, its chain of command, previous commanders and details about military units that have not been officially disclosed.
The rules also took aim at “false military information and the leakage of military secrets on the internet”, according to the PLA’s official social media accounts.
They were outlined in a document signed by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the political work department of the Central Military Commission and other departments, which was made public on Saturday.
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Hongkong Post to start accepting US-bound parcels again on Tuesday
By Ambrose Li
Hongkong Post has said it will begin accepting US-bound parcels again from Tuesday as authorities in the United States have confirmed they will not impose a tariff on such items.
US President Donald Trump on Friday paused tariffs on packages worth less than US$800 arriving from China, temporarily allowing small parcels to enter the country under a duty-free exemption.
Under a revision to an earlier executive order signed by Trump, the tariff-free arrangement will remain in place until “adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue”.
The United States Postal Service stopped accepting all inbound packages from mainland China and Hong Kong last Wednesday, after Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese goods and ended a “de minimis” exemption.
The exemption allows packages worth less than US$800 to enter the US duty-free. Nearly half of packages shipped under de minimis came from China, according to a report from a US congressional committee in 2023.
The postal service lifted the ban on Wednesday night, saying it would establish a mechanism along with US customs to collect the additional tariff.
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By Ambrose Li
Hongkong Post has said it will begin accepting US-bound parcels again from Tuesday as authorities in the United States have confirmed they will not impose a tariff on such items.
US President Donald Trump on Friday paused tariffs on packages worth less than US$800 arriving from China, temporarily allowing small parcels to enter the country under a duty-free exemption.
Under a revision to an earlier executive order signed by Trump, the tariff-free arrangement will remain in place until “adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue”.
The United States Postal Service stopped accepting all inbound packages from mainland China and Hong Kong last Wednesday, after Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese goods and ended a “de minimis” exemption.
The exemption allows packages worth less than US$800 to enter the US duty-free. Nearly half of packages shipped under de minimis came from China, according to a report from a US congressional committee in 2023.
The postal service lifted the ban on Wednesday night, saying it would establish a mechanism along with US customs to collect the additional tariff.
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UK’s ‘most prolific rapist’ may be repatriated to serve life in Indonesia’s ‘Alcatraz’
By SCMP’s Asia desk
An Indonesian man sentenced to life for committing scores of rapes and sexual assaults against men in the UK could be repatriated to serve the remainder of his life sentence in a maximum-security prison known as the “Alcatraz of Indonesia”.
Reynhard Sinaga was convicted in 2020 of drugging and raping 48 men, whom he lured back to his flat from bars in the city of Manchester. He would then drug them and record the sexual assaults on his phone.
His crimes make him the “the most prolific rapist in British legal history”, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. Police said they have evidence he committed sexual offences against 206 men over a decade, although dozens of his victims have yet to be identified.
Official discussions about his potential transfer from the UK’s overcrowded prison system to Indonesia were confirmed last week by Indonesia’s senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
“No matter how wrong a citizen is, the country has an obligation to defend its citizen,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.
“It’s not an easy job for us,” he added, saying the negotiations ahead with British authorities are complex but could involve a prisoner exchange of a British citizen jailed in Indonesia.
Reynhard grew up in the city of Depok in West Java and moved to the UK in 2007 for graduate studies. His shocking sex crimes were only stopped in 2017 after a victim woke up during an assault, fought him off and filed a police complaint.
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By SCMP’s Asia desk
An Indonesian man sentenced to life for committing scores of rapes and sexual assaults against men in the UK could be repatriated to serve the remainder of his life sentence in a maximum-security prison known as the “Alcatraz of Indonesia”.
Reynhard Sinaga was convicted in 2020 of drugging and raping 48 men, whom he lured back to his flat from bars in the city of Manchester. He would then drug them and record the sexual assaults on his phone.
His crimes make him the “the most prolific rapist in British legal history”, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. Police said they have evidence he committed sexual offences against 206 men over a decade, although dozens of his victims have yet to be identified.
Official discussions about his potential transfer from the UK’s overcrowded prison system to Indonesia were confirmed last week by Indonesia’s senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
“No matter how wrong a citizen is, the country has an obligation to defend its citizen,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.
“It’s not an easy job for us,” he added, saying the negotiations ahead with British authorities are complex but could involve a prisoner exchange of a British citizen jailed in Indonesia.
Reynhard grew up in the city of Depok in West Java and moved to the UK in 2007 for graduate studies. His shocking sex crimes were only stopped in 2017 after a victim woke up during an assault, fought him off and filed a police complaint.
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China’s lottery sales see biggest year ever as games become ‘more fun’
By Kandy Wong
China’s total lottery sales surpassed 600 billion yuan (US$82 billion) last year for the first time in its 40-year history, according to fresh figures from the Ministry of Finance.
Total sales for 2024 hit a record high of 623.5 billion yuan, marking year-on-year growth of 7.6 per cent. The single-digit growth continued the upward momentum over the past three years that has provided a high comparison base.
Guizhou province, for example, saw the nation’s largest-ever lottery payout last February, when a 28-year-old man won 680 million yuan. In comparison, Hong Kong’s biggest lottery jackpot – HK$188 million (US$24.14 million) – was won during the recent Lunar New Year holiday.
State media reports that sales of lottery tickets help support the nation’s welfare system and its sports industry, and under lottery-management rules, funds are used for administrative expenses, public-welfare-related projects, and to pay for prizes.
“People would like to try their luck,” said Bob Chen, director at Shenzhen-based venture capital firm Mangrove Capital. “But another reason might be that the lottery is becoming more fun, with far more diverse ways of playing than before.”
With the lottery industry known for seeing growth in the face of an adverse economic environment, Chen added that people see the lottery as a “fun game”, and therefore lottery stands “are always among the most popular attractions in shopping malls”.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By Kandy Wong
China’s total lottery sales surpassed 600 billion yuan (US$82 billion) last year for the first time in its 40-year history, according to fresh figures from the Ministry of Finance.
Total sales for 2024 hit a record high of 623.5 billion yuan, marking year-on-year growth of 7.6 per cent. The single-digit growth continued the upward momentum over the past three years that has provided a high comparison base.
Guizhou province, for example, saw the nation’s largest-ever lottery payout last February, when a 28-year-old man won 680 million yuan. In comparison, Hong Kong’s biggest lottery jackpot – HK$188 million (US$24.14 million) – was won during the recent Lunar New Year holiday.
State media reports that sales of lottery tickets help support the nation’s welfare system and its sports industry, and under lottery-management rules, funds are used for administrative expenses, public-welfare-related projects, and to pay for prizes.
“People would like to try their luck,” said Bob Chen, director at Shenzhen-based venture capital firm Mangrove Capital. “But another reason might be that the lottery is becoming more fun, with far more diverse ways of playing than before.”
With the lottery industry known for seeing growth in the face of an adverse economic environment, Chen added that people see the lottery as a “fun game”, and therefore lottery stands “are always among the most popular attractions in shopping malls”.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
Demystifying DeepSeek: 4 burning questions about China’s hottest AI start-up answered
By Xinmei Shen
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek has continued to send ripples through the industry globally, while many questions remain surrounding the firm’s high-performance models developed at a fraction of the cost of their peers in the US.
In a China Future Tech webinar on Monday hosted by SCMP Plus, South China Morning Post technology editor Zhou Xin, China news editor Josephine Ma and technology production editor Matt Haldane joined moderator Jacques van Wersch to discuss common myths about the low-profile Hangzhou-based company and the implications of its achievements.
There is no public record suggesting that DeepSeek has received backing from the Chinese government.
The private company was started as a side project of High-Flyer, a quantitative hedge fund that built up powerful computing resources over years for the purpose of algorithmic trading. These resources were then put to use in expanding the fund’s focus to AI by building DeepSeek in 2023.
During a visit to its office in a commercial building in Hangzhou last month, the Post saw none of the hallmarks typical of a government-funded company, such as being based in a hi-tech park.
But as DeepSeek has become a national hero amid intensified efforts from the US to curb China’s AI progress, it would be easy for the company to secure state support going forward.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By Xinmei Shen
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek has continued to send ripples through the industry globally, while many questions remain surrounding the firm’s high-performance models developed at a fraction of the cost of their peers in the US.
In a China Future Tech webinar on Monday hosted by SCMP Plus, South China Morning Post technology editor Zhou Xin, China news editor Josephine Ma and technology production editor Matt Haldane joined moderator Jacques van Wersch to discuss common myths about the low-profile Hangzhou-based company and the implications of its achievements.
There is no public record suggesting that DeepSeek has received backing from the Chinese government.
The private company was started as a side project of High-Flyer, a quantitative hedge fund that built up powerful computing resources over years for the purpose of algorithmic trading. These resources were then put to use in expanding the fund’s focus to AI by building DeepSeek in 2023.
During a visit to its office in a commercial building in Hangzhou last month, the Post saw none of the hallmarks typical of a government-funded company, such as being based in a hi-tech park.
But as DeepSeek has become a national hero amid intensified efforts from the US to curb China’s AI progress, it would be easy for the company to secure state support going forward.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
80% of bar patrons in Hong Kong discouraged by proposed tobacco ban: poll
By Lam Ka-sing
About 80 per cent of bar-goers will be discouraged by a proposed flavoured tobacco product and shisha ban with many considering patronising mainland Chinese establishments instead, a survey by concern group in Hong Kong has found.
Pub operators on Monday also predicted a 30 per cent loss of patrons if the government proposal was approved.
The Long Term Tobacco Policy Concern Group gathered the views of 514 customers at popular nightlife districts Lan Kwai Fong and Knutsford Terrace in Tsim Sha Tsui last month.
The group found that 80 per cent of respondents felt less desire to spend at local pubs if the ban takes effect, while 70 per cent would consider patronising mainland establishments instead.
“This is pulling out the last straw in such a terrible situation,” said Ben Leung, charter president of the Licensed Bar and Club Association of Hong Kong, which represents more than half of the city’s 1,300 licensed venues, on Monday.
“Should so many measures be pushed forward in the current poor economic environment in such a tough and aggressive way?”
Leung expected a 20 to 30 per cent loss in patrons, or more in reality, and more closures to hit the industry if the ban was implemented because of fewer choices.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
By Lam Ka-sing
About 80 per cent of bar-goers will be discouraged by a proposed flavoured tobacco product and shisha ban with many considering patronising mainland Chinese establishments instead, a survey by concern group in Hong Kong has found.
Pub operators on Monday also predicted a 30 per cent loss of patrons if the government proposal was approved.
The Long Term Tobacco Policy Concern Group gathered the views of 514 customers at popular nightlife districts Lan Kwai Fong and Knutsford Terrace in Tsim Sha Tsui last month.
The group found that 80 per cent of respondents felt less desire to spend at local pubs if the ban takes effect, while 70 per cent would consider patronising mainland establishments instead.
“This is pulling out the last straw in such a terrible situation,” said Ben Leung, charter president of the Licensed Bar and Club Association of Hong Kong, which represents more than half of the city’s 1,300 licensed venues, on Monday.
“Should so many measures be pushed forward in the current poor economic environment in such a tough and aggressive way?”
Leung expected a 20 to 30 per cent loss in patrons, or more in reality, and more closures to hit the industry if the ban was implemented because of fewer choices.
via SCMP Full Text Feed
