US wants to ‘compete’ in Central Asia, ambassador says ahead of Rubio visit

South China Morning Post - Oct 15, 2026

The US wants to “compete” in resource-rich Central Asia, a senior American official has said as Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepares to head to a region of growing Chinese influence. In New Delhi on Thursday, US ambassador to India Sergio Gor said this weekend’s C5+1 ministerial meeting between the five Central Asian countries and the US in Uzbekistan would be an opportunity to “showcase American ingenuity, American technology”. Rubio would be joined by representatives from more than 200...

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Hong Kong police arrest operator of prisoner support group over allegedly seditious books

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Hong Kong national security police have arrested an operator of a local prisoner support group on suspicion of importing seditious publications, days after the group revealed that customs had seized dozens of books it had ordered from Taiwan. Police said officers carried out an enforcement operation in Mong Kok on Thursday morning, arresting a local man, 34, on suspicion of “importing a publication that has a seditious intention”, an offence under the Safeguarding National Security...

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Hong Kong police have arrested a domestic helper for suspected child abuse after a five-month-old baby girl was found unconscious at her Yuen Long home. The force received a report from the girl’s mother at about 7.20pm on Thursday that the infant was unconscious at a residence at Ha San Wai along Castle Peak Road. Paramedics rushed to the scene and transported the baby girl to Pok Oi Hospital in Yuen Long for emergency resuscitation. She was subsequently transferred to Tuen Mun Hospital for...

Why the next US House speaker won’t follow Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan playbook

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The Democrat expected to become US House speaker has met Taiwan’s former leader and backed legislation supporting the island, yet is unlikely to follow Nancy Pelosi’s example in pursuing high-profile engagement with Taipei, analysts said. Hakeem Jeffries, the House’s top-ranking Democrat, announced his bid for the speakership on Wednesday after Democrats won a majority of seats in the US midterm elections. He is poised to officially become House speaker following a floor vote on the first day of...

Lithuania builds world’s biggest ultra-fast laser factory amid China tensions

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Amid tensions with China, a small European country is anchoring itself at the centre of the global semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) hardware supply chain as a laser powerhouse. The latest sign of Lithuania’s growing footprint in the sector came last month, when laser maker Litilit launched a new factory in the capital, Vilnius. The company’s expansion unfolds as the Baltic nation of fewer than 3 million people navigates fraught ties with Beijing, which has targeted Lithuania with a...

The US-China tech contest has moved – to the gatekeeping product testers

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The latest front in the US-China technology contest is not advanced chips, artificial intelligence (AI) or telecommunications equipment. It is the laboratories that certify whether an electronic product may enter the American market. On October 29, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to stop recognising testing laboratories, telecoms certification bodies and accreditation organisations in China and in other economies that lack a “mutual recognition agreement” or comparable...

Hong Kong grandmother gets 20 days for slapping 5-year-old girl at play area

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A Hong Kong grandmother has been sentenced to 20 days in jail for slapping a five-year-old girl who squabbled over a basketball with her grandson in a play area at the atrium of APM shopping centre in Kwun Tong. Leung Lai-ha, 68, on Thursday pleaded guilty to assaulting the girl on August 26, admitting that she hit the girl on impulse. A video of the brawl showed three adults were involved – Leung, her 34-year-old daughter Ng Ka-wun and Xu Yang, 34, the girl’s mother. The physical altercation...

Hong Kong medical watchdog to hold by-election after member quits over conflict risk

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Hong Kong’s medical watchdog will hold a by-election after a prominent patients’ rights advocate resigned over concerns that his plan to represent the father of a girl who died after an alleged medical blunder at her inquest could create a conflict of interest. The Medical Council announced on Thursday that it will process matters related to the by-election for the vacancy created by the departure of Alex Lam Chi-yau, who submitted his written resignation as a lay member a day earlier. His...

Abby Choi could have been hit on head 7 times with hammer, murder trial told

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Warning: graphic content follows. Slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi Tin-fung could have been struck on the head seven times with a hammer when she was allegedly murdered three years ago, a court has heard. Forensic pathologist Dr Kwok Ka-ki said on Thursday that Choi was fatally struck on the head with a blunt object, leaving a large hole on the right side of her head and causing extensive bleeding in her brain and skull. Testifying in the High Court as the murder trial entered its sixth week,...

Facing 2 years as a lame duck, what can Trump do to stay in control?

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Following disastrous midterm elections that cost Republicans congressional control, US President Donald Trump could spend the rest of his term as a “lame duck” and battling constant resistance to his agenda. The loss is expected to steer the White House towards a more aggressive foreign policy and even greater reliance on executive orders. Trump has already suggested he could brandish his veto pen for “a month or two” before negotiating agreements with Democratic leaders. Here, we explain how...

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Technology-driven disruptions, superpower rivalry and global partnerships were among the topics that dominated a closed-door summit in Hong Kong, as countries and tech giants seek to boost growth and lead the race in artificial intelligence. About 100 business owners, executives and academics from the United States, mainland China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and the Middle East attended the fourth edition of the Family Business Summit, co-hosted by the South China Morning Post and Blue Pool...

China proves a cut above with world-first precision laser experiment in space

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China’s space scientists have become the first to carry out precision laser cutting in orbit, slicing a piece of “large-scale equipment” with a robotic arm fixed to the outside the Tiangong space station. The official Science and Technology Daily reported on Wednesday that millimetre-scale cuts were made by a laser maintenance device operated remotely from “hundreds of kilometres away”. Precision laser cutting involves focusing a beam of light to slice or melt material with extreme accuracy, a...

Mainland Chinese firm, director admit fraud in HK$52.9m Hong Kong bottled water scandal

Mainland Chinese firm, director admit fraud in HK$52.9m Hong Kong bottled water scandal

A mainland Chinese company and its director have pleaded guilty to fraud after submitting falsified certificates to win a HK$52.9 million (US$6.78 million) contract to supply drinking water to civil servants in Hong Kong. The high-profile procurement scandal came to light in August last year after civil servants raised concerns about the quality of products supplied by Xin Ding Xin Trade, which held a three-year contract to provide XinLe-brand bottled water to government offices on Hong Kong...

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