Day: October 30, 2025

Hong Kong’s first “patriots-only” Legislative Council completed a historic four-year term on October 24. The next general election is set to be held on December 7. In 2021, Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system to require all lawmakers to be patriots. The government said then that the legislature must comprise representatives who can safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, respect the country’s fundamental system and constitutional order of the city as well as maintain its prosperity and stability. After years of gridlock in a legislature with a sizable opposition…

President Xi Jinping on Friday urged world leaders to ensure the stability of supply chains, saying countries needed to “join hands” instead of “breaking chains” while pointing to growing uncertainty in the Asia-Pacific region. Advertisement According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi also repeated earlier calls for countries to uphold the multilateral trading system and protect the interests of developing economies. “Currently, the world is undergoing profound changes, a once-in-a-century transformation, with a complex and volatile international landscape, and increasing instability and uncertainty facing the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.…

Indonesia is still “considering” acquiring Chinese J-10 fighter jets, but no decision has been made yet, according to Jakarta’s Ministry of Defence, clarifying earlier reports that the country was set to buy up to 42 units to modernise its military. Advertisement “It’s still being analysed and reviewed. At the moment, we are considering all platforms that can fulfil our need to help guard our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” ministry spokesman Brigadier General Frega Wenas Inkiriwang said. On October 16, local and newswire agencies quoted Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin as…

Developer China Vanke reported a deeper third-quarter loss, highlighting mounting challenges as the prolonged property market downturn continues to weigh on its sales. Advertisement The Shenzhen-based company posted a loss of 16.1 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion) in the three months ended September 30, roughly doubling its loss from a year earlier. That brings its combined losses for the first nine months of the year to 28 billion yuan, according to a statement to the Shenzhen exchange on Thursday. Persistent weakness in China’s housing market is creating pressure on the developer’s…

Few moments in US history have tested academic freedom as much as the present, with US President Donald Trump’s administration releasing a 10-point Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. What started as bureaucratic proposals have hardened into a national doctrine tying federal funding to political conformity. It is changing the nature of US universities and reshaping international education options. Advertisement The plan, initially sent to nine universities, proposed conformity with certain demands in return for securing preferential access to federal funds. They include removing race and gender factors from…

Leading artificial intelligence models from the United States and China are “highly sycophantic”, and their excessive flattery may make users less likely to repair interpersonal conflicts, a new study has found. Advertisement The study by researchers at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon University published earlier this month tested how 11 large language models (LLMs) responded to user queries seeking advice on personal matters, including cases involving manipulation and deception. In AI circles, sycophancy is the phenomenon of chatbots excessively agreeing with users. DeepSeek’s V3, released in December 2024, was found…