Finance news

Gulf capital flowing into Asia as Hong Kong-Middle East trade up 35%: Paul Chan

Capital from the Gulf region is showing signs of flowing into Asia, according to Hong Kong’s finance chief, as bilateral trade between the Middle East and the city rose 35 per cent in the first five months of the year. In his weekly blog on Sunday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said Hong Kong and the Middle East had deepened ties in the areas of the economy, trade, finance, innovation and technology (I&T), and culture over the past few years. While trade between the Gulf Arab States and...

+++ Football World Cup 2026 +++: England and Argentina reach the second semi-final

The English beat Norway in the quarter-finals, the Argentines beat Switzerland +++ Merino redeems Spain in Belgian goalkeeper drama +++ Semi-finals against France +++ The World Cup blog.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who raised Qatar’s global profile, dies at 74

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who as ruler of Qatar transformed the tiny Gulf nation into a global player in diplomacy, media and investment, and then shattered tradition by voluntarily turning over power to his son, has died, state media reported. He was 74. The state-run Qatar News Agency reported his death. It offered no cause. Sheikh Hamad, who stepped down in June 2013 after 18 years as emir, was the architect of energy-rich Qatar’s stunning ambitions that turned it from a backwater...

Middle East: USA attacks Iran again - Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are said to have again attacked a merchant ship in the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iranian information, the ship passage remains closed. There is also an alarm again in the Gulf states.

Wombs for hire: the painful price of Asia’s baby trade

As the car bounces along a rural Thai road, a baby just a few months old watches the emerald green countryside rush by from Nicha’s* lap, oblivious to the countdown that has already begun. Soon the child will be handed over to her father to be raised in China by grandparents whose own hopes of a larger family were curtailed by decades of state population control. Nicha may never see the baby she gave birth to again, but she knows that is the painful price of commercial surrogacy. This is her...

In China’s electronics hub, a memory chip crisis is hitting consumers hard

For Cai, a trader in Shenzhen’s vast Huaqiangbei electronics hub, the business of assembling computers for gamers and corporate clients has suddenly become dramatically more expensive. The price of memory products in Huaqiangbei has tripled over the past year amid the global artificial intelligence boom – and the spike has hit the world’s largest wholesale electronics market hard. “Right now, memory and SSDs are the biggest cost drivers in a personal computer build,” Cai said, referring to...

‘Almost unlimited’: Execs says AI demand remains strong even as enterprises move to ‘valuemaxxing’

AI-related chip stocks have been volatile amid a debate over AI demand and spending.

Ageing in Hong Kong – should you fear it?

Parents of boy paralysed by medical blunder welcome penalty but vow to fight on

After 16 years, Li Zhijian and his wife Peng Hongying have finally found a measure of closure in their long pursuit of justice over a medical blunder that left their son paralysed for life in Hong Kong. But the mainland Chinese couple said their fight for accountability was far from over, despite a ruling by the city’s medical watchdog that found a paediatrician guilty of professional misconduct in his care of their son, Li Yuanjian. “We can only say that we can accept it, and we can find some..

City trip: Discover Seoul: From palaces to the Demilitarized Zone

Palaces, city walls, Gangnam, museums, borders: Seoul is a Korean metropolis between tradition and the present. Five entrances to a city that cannot be reduced to a single formula.

Nasa knows how to deflect an asteroid. Can Japan’s Hayabusa2 pull it off?

Japan’s Hayabusa2 fly-by of Torifune marks a leap in asteroid defence, showcasing the country’s growing space prowess and “goodwill science” role vital for protecting Earth from cosmic threats. The space probe, named after the Peregrine falcon in Japanese, successfully flew within 800 metres (0.5 miles) of the asteroid, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on July 5. JAXA said Hayabusa2 performed as expected and responded to all instructions from land-based mission control, about..

Japan: Rare earths – the stuff of power

Japan's new government is experiencing what Europe fears: a Chinese demonstration of power in rare earths. But the country also shows how to become less susceptible to blackmail.

Retirement provision: pension and pension - how big are the differences?

On average, pensions are significantly lower than civil servant pensions. A new analysis from the Bundestag shows the differences in salaries, but also points out the reasons.

Mobile phone provider: Job cuts at O2: Union accuses the company of lack of planning

The mobile operator O2 is under pressure and its business figures are deteriorating. Now the management is putting the red pencil on, about one in six jobs will be eliminated. Trade unionists are outraged.

Thousands of flights cancelled as Typhoon Bavi hits eastern China bringing heavy rains

Typhoon Bavi made landfall in eastern China on Saturday night, the second major storm to hit the country in a week, causing thousands of flight and train cancellations while more than 2.4 million people were evacuated from areas in the path of the storm. More than 2,800 flights were likely to be cancelled by Chinese airlines as of 8pm on Saturday, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports were set to cancel over 650 flights, about 30 per cent of their...

Simson mopeds: Voigt: Discussion about Simson special status with the EU

The Simson mopeds built in Suhl are more than GDR nostalgia: they can drive at 60 km / h and promise young people mobility. But re-imports have to slow down. What the problem lies.

Deutsche Bahn: Schnieder sees the railway as having a duty to be more punctual

Many delays annoy rail customers - and that also has to do with the long-neglected track network. The renovation should get underway. But the minister also recognizes the need for other action.

South Korean ticket touts to face the music when new penalties come into play

For many K-pop fans in South Korea, the hunt for concert tickets has turned into a high-stakes battle, one where logging on early is no longer enough and ordinary fans find themselves outmatched by organised resellers, bots and shadowy workarounds that can send prices soaring far beyond face value. Previous solutions have failed to rein in the problem, but the government is hoping that the threat of massive fines may finally free ticket seekers from the grips of predatory scalpers. From August..

U.S. launches airstrikes against Iran after Tehran attacks container ship in Hormuz, Pentagon says

Iran has attacked ships using a route along Oman's coast protected by the U.S. military. Tehran demands vessels use a northern route through its waters.

The situation at a glance: USA attacks Iran again - Strait of Hormuz closed

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are said to have attacked a merchant ship in the disputed strait. This will remain closed until further notice. According to the US, Tehran has missed an opportunity.

Accidents while swimming: Swimming emergencies: How to properly help drowning people

More people drowned in June than in a long time. How do you notice that someone is in distress? What should you know when attempting a rescue? Two experts give advice.

Ten years later: “Scars remain, but they don’t define us”

They are on vacation in Germany when a radicalized refugee attacks them. Today the Chinese victims of the Würzburg ax attack are back in their homeland. They can't forget.

EU CO2 regulation: Daimler Truck boss: Existence of the industry in Europe is threatened

The head of the commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck is sounding the alarm. The EU's CO2 regulation and the threat of penalties could have existential consequences for the industry. What does the manager demand?

Taiwan military gains 5,000 volunteers, but ‘real problem’ is retention

Taiwan’s volunteer force has recorded an unexpected increase of more than 5,000 personnel over the past year despite the island’s worsening demographic decline. However, lawmakers and military analysts say the growth is driven more by government pay rises than by any apparent shift in young people’s attitudes towards military service. The figures, released by the defence ministry this week, brought rare good news to an armed force grappling with chronic manpower shortages. But critics warned...

Japan wants 60 million tourists, but China isn’t sending them

Japan has found a new export industry and it doesn’t come off an assembly line. It arrives by plane, spends freely and is, increasingly, what Tokyo is banking its economic future on. Last year, 42.7 million foreign visitors arrived in the country, a record that shattered the previous year’s high by nearly 16 per cent. Now Tokyo wants to turn that surge into something more lasting: a permanent pillar of growth to rival, or even outlast, the industries that built modern Japan. To achieve that...

EU isn’t just selling aircraft to China. It’s helping strengthen a competitor

Last month, China Eastern ordered 25 A330neo jets from Airbus, which come at a catalogue price of US$9.35 billion. The airline, which operates the inaugural commercial routes of the C919, China’s home-grown passenger jet, had placed another Airbus order just three months earlier. Why is this major Chinese airline transferring billions to a European company China’s government is trying to supplant? As a widebody jet, the A330neo competes in a segment where the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of..

Chinese court holds 3 liable after man dies following all-night drinking, mahjong session

A legal ruling in China holding three individuals liable for the death of a friend following overnight drinking and gaming has ignited widespread online discussion. Three men in Urumqi, in northwestern China, were ordered by the court to compensate their friend’s family a total of over 100,000 yuan (US$15,000), after he died partying with them all night. The man, surnamed Gao, played mahjong with his two friends and the mahjong parlour’s owner, from almost 9pm to 3am the next day, in October...

Amazon might be one of the most misunderstood AI stocks right now.

A year ago people were worried Amazon was falling behind in AI. Now AWS is accelerating again, Amazon has its own AI chips, and it's still the cloud provider that many AI companies are comfortable building on. Yet the stock still doesn't seem to get much credit for any of it. Interesting how quickly the market narrative changes. submitted by /u/Ok-Barber3419 [link] [comments]

Youth suicides in Hong Kong hit 10-year high: court report

Youth suicide cases confirmed by Hong Kong Coroner’s Court reached a decade-high last year, despite a 10 per cent overall decline across the population to 1,019. According to the annual coroners’ report published last month, suicide cases confirmed by the court declined across almost all age groups, except for those aged between 10 and 19. Last year, 46 adolescents aged 10 to 19 were reported to have taken their own lives, up from 34 cases in the previous year and reaching a decade high. Most of

Honda, other Japan companies in pay workers to spearhead AI use