World

Xiaomi has clarified that its advanced 3-nanometre XRing O1 system-on-a-chip (SoC) is not a customised solution from Arm, pushing back against speculation as the Chinese smartphone maker seeks to design its own integrated circuits (ICs) in-house to rival industry leaders Apple, Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies.“[XRing O1 SoC] is not based on a complete solution provided by Arm, and claims about it being an Arm-customised chip are groundless,” Xiaomi said on Monday in a post to its official WeChat account. The company emphasised that its in-house team spent more than four years developing the 3-nm chip.The XRing O1 uses Arm’s Cortex-X925, Cortex-A725 and Cortex-A520 cores, but the company has stressed that other parts of the chip were designed in-house. It did not use Arm’s Compu...

Garment manufacturers across China and Vietnam breathed a small sigh of relief on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump told reporters that the United States was “not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts”.But few plan to change their plans based on the president’s comments. After weeks of wild swings in US tariff policies, they have learned that Trump could soon change his tune once again.Businesses in China and Vietnam – the world’s two largest clothing export hubs – are still facing huge uncertainty, with both countries midway through a 90-day pause in US tariffs and trying to strike a deal with Washington to prevent another painful rise in duties.In that context, recent comments by US officials appear to be good news for the region’s garment exporters, as they indicate Trump’s drive ...

The set-up of a global mediation centre in Hong Kong will catapult the city to an international arbitration stage, enhance its influence and bring in economic benefits, the chief executive has said.City leader John Lee Ka-chiu made his remarks on Tuesday, ahead of the high-profile visit of Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi for the signing ceremony of the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organisation for Mediation on May 30.He said the new body would put Hong Kong on par with The Hague, a Dutch city known for fostering peace through justice, rather than war and conflict.“The mediation body will bring significant benefits on multiple fronts, including enhancing Hong Kong’s international status, significantly elevating its role and global influence in international mediation,” ...

A nine-month-old girl has died after being found unconscious and trapped in the gap between a cot and a bed.Police said they received a report at around 7am on Tuesday that the baby was found unconscious at a flat in Fortress Hill. She was rushed to Ruttonjee Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 8.03am.The force added that the mother, 32, left the baby on the bed after feeding her on Monday night. She then found the unconscious girl in the gap the next morning.Dr Mike Kwan, a paediatrician, said: “The safest place for your baby to sleep is in their cot in the same room as you.”He added that newborns were not equipped with the ability to show signs of struggle.Kwan advised parents to monitor their babies throughout the night, especially newborns, as they would start to move and roll. ...

Hong Kong’s leader has criticised the MTR Corporation’s “inadequacies” in emergency responses and contingency planning following several recent blunders, including a five-hour suspension in rail services on the Tseung Kwan O line last week.Speaking to the media before a meeting with the key decision-making Executive Council on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also laid down for areas that the rail giant needed to improve on, following its third disruption in four months caused by technical failure.The rail giant, which is nearly 75 per cent owned by the government, was slapped with a HK$19.2 million (US$2.4 million) fine on Monday, which was equivalent to a day of half-price fares that would be rebated to passengers.But Lee said the corporation needed to do more to prevent such in...

A couple in their village home in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, experienced a scare on Monday when they spotted a highly venomous king cobra snake on their computer desk.A snake catcher was called to safely collect the reptile, which measured about one metre (3.3 feet) in length. According to a police spokesman, the snake will be released back into the wild.The force said it received a report at 1.41am that the snake had entered the house on To Shek Street.The male resident of the flat shared what he called a horrifying experience on the social media platform Threads, saying his girlfriend was shocked when she spotted the snake on the computer desk behind some cables right before going to bed.He said he called police and they waited for about 45 minutes for the snake catcher to arrive.Snakes and liz...

Rescuers said an Israeli strike on Monday killed at least 20 people at a Gaza school sheltering displaced people, as Israel stepped up what it calls an offensive to destroy Hamas.The intensified violence, after a nearly three-month blockade of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip, has sharpened international condemnation of Israel.World leaders meeting in Madrid at the weekend called for an end to the “inhumane” and “senseless” war, while humanitarian organisations said the trickle of resumed aid is not nearly enough to staunch the hunger and health crises.In Gaza City, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that “at least 20 martyrs” were transported to hospital, most of them children, and 60 people were wounded in the “horrific occupation massacre at the Fahmi al-Jarjawi ...

Israeli military strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians across Gaza on Sunday, including a senior rescue service official and a journalist, local health authorities said.The latest deaths in the Israeli campaign resulted from separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in central Gaza, medical staff said.In Jabalia, they said local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several family members were killed by an air strike that hit his house earlier on Sunday.Another air strike in Nuseirat killed Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official in the territory’s civil emergency service, and his wife in their house, doctors said.Mourners at a funeral for Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza on Sunday. Photo: Reu...

Pope Leo asked on Sunday for prayers for China’s Catholics to be in communion with the Holy See, as he made his first public remarks about one of the thorniest foreign policy issues facing his new pontificate.History’s first American pope recalled that on Saturday the Catholic Church marked a special feast day to pray for the church in China.Pope Benedict XVI had initiated the feast day as part of his efforts to unify China’s estimated 12 million Catholics who were divided between an official, state-controlled church that did not recognise papal authority, and an underground church that remained loyal to Rome through decades of persecution.Leo noted that on the feast day “in the churches and shrines in China and throughout the world, prayers have been raised to God as a sign of the solicit...

With South Korea’s presidential election less than two weeks away, the stakes couldn’t be higher for a nation at a critical crossroads. Since former president Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment for declaring martial law in December, the country desperately needs leadership to restore domestic stability and navigate increasingly complex geopolitics.Society remains deeply divided, with massive demonstrations that support or oppose Yoon. The political turmoil extends to the ruling People Power Party (PPP), which has repeatedly changed its presidential candidate. Recent polling shows opposition Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung leading with 49 per cent support, well ahead of the PPP’s Kim Moon-soo, at 27 per cent.While Lee’s party traditionally leans left, he has shifted noticeably towards the...