Australian PM Albanese takes swipe at ex-UK leader Liz Truss over backpacker visa rules

Commentators abroad wondered what the president’s electoral losses might mean for oil prices, the war on Iran and the end of the Trump era.

Shanghai-listed Wingtech Technology has rejected a restructuring proposal under which it would lose control of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia’s assets outside China, condemning the plan as an “expropriation” driven by discrimination. The stand-off deepens a year-long dispute between Wingtech and Dutch authorities, as the company faces an impending delisting deadline at home, while Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten prepares for an official visit to Beijing in the spring. In a statement on Tuesday,...

China is becoming increasingly important to the Gulf’s economic future. Yet the Gulf remains capable of disrupting China’s own. That is the contradiction exposed by the US-Iran war. Beijing’s importance as an energy customer, investor and technology partner has grown, but its ability to guarantee the maritime routes connecting the Middle East to East Asia remains limited. The next contest in global energy will concern not only who produces and consumes it, but who can preserve access when...

In one of the biggest scandals to hit the Indonesian National Police (Polri), President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday sacked his chief of staff, former national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, after his arrest for allegedly wiretapping the president, cabinet ministers, politicians and journalists. The government raised the stakes on Wednesday when presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi addressed reporters in Jakarta, warning that the surveillance could amount to “treason” and endanger state...

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has rolled out its latest flagship artificial intelligence model, Hy4, seeking to challenge top open-weight rivals with enhanced agentic capabilities built to power its enterprise software ecosystem. Released on Wednesday, the large language model (LLM) introduced visual understanding for the first time. Hy4 could process images, analyse complex charts and conduct visual mathematical reasoning, according to the Shenzhen-based company. Tencent said the release...

Organisers of Malaysia’s first Hyrox fitness competition agreed on Wednesday to exclude the event from a partnership with beer brand Carlsberg after Muslim entrants threatened to pull out and authorities warned they would withhold approval over the alcohol sponsorship. The tie-up had angered some participants who said it conflicted with both their faith and the event’s promotion of fitness, highlighting tensions over alcohol marketing in Muslim-majority Malaysia. “We understand why this has...

Kim Jong-un’s powerful sister on Wednesday rejected holding any further talks with the United States, days after the FBI accused North Korea of stealing more than US$6 billion from a cryptocurrency exchange and Washington launched a new round of sanctions aimed at Pyongyang. Analysts say the latest developments have all but killed off the chances of another Trump-Kim summit, despite the US president’s continued warm words for North Korea’s supreme leader and apparent openness to meeting him...

Twelve South Korean ⁠industry groups ⁠urged the government ⁠on Wednesday to invest in and support production of Korean television dramas, known as K-dramas, warning that the country’s production ‌base risked collapse. K-dramas have been hugely popular globally, but the number produced has fallen about 30 per cent from 141 titles in 2022, according to the Korea Drama Production Association. Three domestic ⁠broadcast networks cut drama output from 91 titles in ‌2012 to 32 in 2023, and some...

Malaysian police have arrested a 25-year-old woman who allegedly caused a disturbance by assaulting visitors at a shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur, with the suspect admitting her involvement in the incident. Dang Wangi OCPD Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Azwan Amin Nordin said the local woman was arrested at about 5.40pm on Tuesday in Bandar Sri Damansara to assist in investigations. “Initial investigations found that the suspect admitted to being involved in the incident,” he said in a statement...

In Malaysia, U.S. and Chinese tech giants are pouring billions into vast data centers, straining local resources and testing the limits of Washington’s restrictions on advanced chips.

For autonomous vehicles, the hardest lessons to learn are the ones that can test the skills of even the most experienced human drivers: an errant cyclist darting through a red light, or an animal bolting into oncoming traffic from behind a corner. The Chinese tech giant Baidu has developed a new AI-driven simulator to prepare its Apollo robotaxis for just such rare but high-stakes road hazards, as the firm looks to gain an edge in the fast-growing self-driving taxi market. The system, Apollo...