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China shouldn’t view a tired US as signifying a Europe ready to pivot

As fractures within the US’ network of alliances deepen, China’s strategic window opens a little wider, with some key caveats Reports of a “European Nato” backup framework, gaining momentum after Berlin abandoned its long-standing opposition, are no longer fringe. European defence spending is projected to nearly double by 2030 to roughly US$750 billion. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s warning that the greatest threat to Nato is internal disintegration rather than external attack captures a mood widely shared among European elites. The structural constraint behind Trump’s leverage is real, and Chinese analysts are studying it carefully. A Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analysis of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran estimates that US forces expended roughly half their Patriot interceptors, between 53 and about 80 per cent of the THAAD inventory, and around 45 per cent of its Precision Strike Missiles. Replenishment will take one to four years.

May 10, 2026

Business

Underwater anti-mine technology and robot dogs take centre stage at Chinese defence show

The Chengdu Defence Technology Industry Expo showcases advanced equipment, including submarine-launched drones China unveiled some of its most advanced military technology, including robot dogs and an AI-enabled underwater system that can neutralise mines, at a defence expo. Autonomous underwater vehicles designed to be launched by submarine were one of the most noteworthy products that featured at the 2026 Chengdu Defence Technology Industry Expo in mid-April. The vessels, which can be launched from 260mm or 533mm torpedo tubes, are mainly designed to conduct high-precision deep-ocean surveys and seabed mapping, and the larger variant can travel to depths of up to 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). They can also be fitted with specialised modules to detect and neutralise underwater targets, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “It is essentially an autonomous underwater robot with its own ‘brain’, which does not need any external software support or human escorts … a smart underwater scout at the disposal of its mother submarine,” the report said. Its design also allows operators to add extra battery power for long-range patrols or advanced sensors for deep-sea reconnaissance.

May 10, 2026

Business

‘Forfeiture of rights’: Hong Kong villagers slam Northern Metropolis evictions

One elderly villager says she fears her family may be separated due to rehousing arrangements When Law Yin-ping moved into a village house in Yick Yuen Tsuen in northwest Hong Kong’s Lam Tei more than a decade ago with her granddaughters, it never crossed her mind that they could one day be rendered homeless – and forcibly separated. The Tuen Mun village falls within the government’s planned Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen New Development Area, which is set to become a high-end professional services and logistics hub under the Northern Metropolis megaproject. Law, who is nearly 70, said on Sunday that it was not until Friday that she was ordered by the Lands Department to move out by the end of the month. “The department said we could only go to temporary shelters, which are for the homeless. Why should the Lands Department’s land acquisition render us homeless?” she said. “I also sought help from the Social Welfare Department, and they said my younger granddaughter, who is under 18, should go to a care home. At that moment, I was shocked and helpless.” When Law rented the house in 2014, she was told that it was a registered squatter dwelling, and she noted there was a registration number assigned by authorities on its wall.

May 10, 2026 · 2 dk okuma

Business

Hong Kong Mother’s Day dining shifts from traditional banquets to casual meals

Banquet restaurants, popular in past years for big celebrations, report weaker Mother’s Day trade as families opt for lunch, afternoon tea or hotpot Mother’s Day business at many traditional Chinese banquet restaurants in Hong Kong has been weaker than last year, with diners increasingly opting for lunch and afternoon tea celebrations or non-traditional meals such as hotpot, industry representatives have said. Busy areas such as Causeway Bay were bustling with families on Sunday, as residents flocked to restaurants and shopping malls to celebrate, some carrying flowers and cards. “I did not want to do a very big dinner this year because everywhere is crowded on Mother’s Day,” said a 56-year-old housewife, who only gave her surname Wong. She said she was having lunch with her daughter at a dim sum restaurant on Leighton Hill Road. “We just came out for a simpler meal in the afternoon instead. My daughter booked it a few days ago because she was worried walk-in would take too long.” Kelvin Cheung, 29, who works in the IT industry, said his family had moved away from the traditional Chinese restaurant celebrations they used to have when he was younger.

May 10, 2026

Business

Pakistani Taliban splinter group claims suicide attack, 14 police dead

A suicide bomber and several gunmen detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a police station in Bannu, a district bordering Afghanistan. The death toll from a suicide attack on a security post in northwest Pakistan rose to 14 police officers, authorities said early on Sunday. A self-proclaimed breakaway group of the Pakistani Taliban has claimed the attack. A suicide bomber and several gunmen detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the post in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, late on Saturday, senior police official Sajjad Khan said. The attack triggered an intense shoot-out, and some officers were killed in the exchange, while others died later after the building collapsed. Rescuers conducted an hours-long search operation using heavy machinery to retrieve bodies from under the rubble, Khan said, adding that three police officers were wounded in the attack. Meanwhile, hundreds gathered on Sunday at the police headquarters in Bannu to attend the funerals of the slain officers. Uniformed colleagues stood in silence as coffins draped in the national flag were carried past grieving families.

May 10, 2026

Business

Alibaba brings chat-style shopping to Taobao and Qwen amid AI gateway push: source

E-commerce giant is integrating Qwen with Taobao and Tmall, enabling shoppers to use natural-language commands instead of keyword searches Users of the company’s flagship AI assistant Qwen – one of the most popular in China – would soon be able to use natural language to “talk” with the chatbot app to find and buy items listed on Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall shopping platforms, according to one person familiar with the plan. The move follows an update earlier this year, when Alibaba unveiled plans to embed Qwen more deeply across its sprawling ecosystem built over decades – spanning e-commerce, food delivery, travel booking and movie ticket purchases. The integration enables users to complete tasks through simple text or voice commands, reducing the need to navigate multiple apps and repeated clicks, and marks the latest push by the tech giant to turn its AI model into a gateway for daily services. Analysts said the Qwen and Taobao integration signalled a shift from keyword-based e-commerce searches to “conversational shopping”, where consumers described needs in plain language while AI did the browsing.

May 10, 2026

Business

Spanish, Brazilian flotilla activists released after detention in Israel

Israel deported two activists it detained near Greece for leading an aid flotilla attempting to break the naval blockade on Gaza Israel deported two activists on Sunday after being detained near Greece for slightly over a week for leading an aid flotilla attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. The two, Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian citizen Thiago Ávila, were among dozens of activists intercepted by the Israeli navy off the coast of Crete. Both are members of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s steering committee, whose mission is to break Israel’s naval blockade and bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory. The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the two activists “professional provocateurs” in a post on social media on Sunday, saying “Israel will not allow any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza.” At the time of the arrest, Israeli authorities said the two had been detained for questioning, and that Abukeshek was “suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organisation” and Ávila was “suspected of illegal activity,” without providing evidence. No formal charges against them have been publicised.

May 10, 2026

Business

Why Trump’s war on Iran may be ‘accelerating end of US hegemony’ and damaging Stargate

Washington is fighting the ‘wrong war’ and Tehran is able to undermine the US president’s key AI strategy, an event in Beijing told But Li Wei, associate dean of the school of international relations at Renmin University, said the war had struck at the heart of the policy after Iran attacked data centres in the UAE. “Trump’s first priority upon taking office was the Stargate project,” Li told the China Macroeconomy Forum in Beijing on Saturday. “Last May, he visited the Middle East specifically to ground this project in the region. Currently, Iran’s attacks on computing centres in the UAE have cast uncertainty over Stargate’s Middle Eastern expansion.”

May 10, 2026

Business

Turning the tables: how 3 Hong Kong mothers are spinning trauma into hope as DJs

Bonding over struggles of single parenthood, three DJs are hoping to turn their music into a business with help from a social enterprise After suffering an abusive marriage and the exhaustion of a decade of childcare, Lee will spend Mother’s Day on Sunday with renewed hope. The 28-year-old is set to perform for a private event at The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel and ultimately hopes to make a living from it. Such an opportunity was once unimaginable for the full-time mother, who said she had mostly spent her prime years caring for her children, now aged 10, eight and six. “At that time, I felt so trapped in the reality that I had three children, and that I had to bear the full responsibility for them and make them my priority no matter what,” said Lee, who is recovering from a long history of borderline personality disorder. Relying on a cocktail of medication to manage her emotions for 14 years until 2024, she recounted a dark episode during her first pregnancy – when she was 19 years old – that turned her life around and made her commit to caring for a life she brought into the world. “That was the first time I wanted to commit suicide. I already went up to the roof. But then, I felt the baby kicking in my womb,” she said.

May 10, 2026 · 2 dk okuma

Business

Divorced from reality? Japan’s joint custody reform divides parents

Critics call the legal change a ‘cosmetic’ fix for a system that still allows one parent to simply disappear Until last month, Japanese law required one parent to hold sole custody of children after a divorce, leaving the other party reliant on informal goodwill or court-encouraged visitation to maintain a relationship with their child. For Watanabe, 54, the result was a system seemingly designed to exclude him, where one parent could disappear from a child’s life entirely – not through any court ruling, but through the simple refusal to cooperate. That system has now changed, at least on paper. On April 1, Japan revised its Civil Code to allow parents to share custody after divorce: a change backed by a majority of the public and welcomed by parents who believe children benefit from the continued presence of their mothers and fathers in their lives. A poll published by the Mainichi newspaper on April 22 found just 10 per cent of respondents were opposed to the changes, with 53 per cent in favour. But Watanabe is not among them. “This legal reform provides absolutely no benefit to high-conflict couples and does not consider the best interests of the child at all,” he said.

May 10, 2026

Business

Hantavirus-hit cruise ship nears Canary Islands for WHO-led evacuation

About 150 people will be flown home once the MV Hondius docks at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Spain A cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is headed for Spain’s Canary Islands, where most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home after weeks at sea. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is expected to reach waters off Tenerife at dawn on Sunday, where WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is due to help coordinate the ship’s evacuation. Three passengers from the ship – a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman – have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. The only hantavirus type that can transmit from person to person – the Andes virus – has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern. “We classify everybody on board as what we call a high-risk contact,” WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove said on Saturday. But the risk to the general public and the people of the Canaries remained low, she added.

May 10, 2026

Business

Is Hong Kong’s cultural hub of West Kowloon emerging as ‘Central 2.0’?

SHKP to benefit as tenants including UBS, JPMorgan Chase and Banco Santander set to move into new office space near high-speed rail station However, there was expected to be limited demand from newcomers or via corporate expansion, with leasing activity dominated by relocations and higher vacancy rates in some of the city’s other business districts. UBS plans to begin moving into the building from the fourth quarter, bringing together staff currently spread across five offices, including Two IFC and One Peking Road. “West Kowloon is Hong Kong’s future-focused international business district,” said Lo King-wai, executive director at Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency. “It is rapidly emerging as ‘Central 2.0’ and a dynamic hub for commerce, arts, culture, sustainability and retail.”

May 10, 2026