Cruise ship suspends global voyage in Cambodia over fuel prices, hundreds disembark

Jio Platforms shares surged on their first day of trading, even as questions mount about the telecom firm’s growth prospects and a new generation takes charge.

The move will block shipments from BGI, a major Chinese firm that U.S. officials allege is associated with forced labor and the abuse of minority groups.

Leading Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics on Wednesday reported a 69.93 per cent year-on-year increase in quarterly revenue to 665 million yuan (US$99.7 million), though net profits excluding non-recurring items fell 17.42 per cent to 105 million yuan, as the company released its first earnings since going public. The results for the three months ending September 30 showed a continued surge in research and development spending by the Hangzhou-based company, which jumped 249.58 per cent...

As investor anxiety over an artificial intelligence bubble mounts, SpaceX’s Elon Musk and Nvidia chief Jensen Huang have offered starkly divergent outlooks on whether the specialist cloud providers powering the boom can survive their mounting debts. While Musk has warned of impending collapses and consolidation among the more than 200 dedicated graphics processing unit (GPU) rental ventures known as “neoclouds”, Huang remains bullish, insisting that robust market demand will unlock the capital...

Rising ketamine abuse and a series of major drug seizures in Indonesia have fuelled calls for tighter controls on the substance, but a proposed reclassification has raised concerns that tougher penalties could further strain the country’s overcrowded prisons. Last week, Indonesian police and customs officials intercepted the Mongolian-flagged vessel MT Global 168 in the Malacca Strait, seizing 1.16 tonnes of ketamine hydrochloride packed in 58 sacks. National police chief Suyudi Ario Seto said...

Huawei Technologies is already integrating elements of the Tau Scaling Law – a new chip design principle that helps the company overcome US export controls – into its wireless communications network, as it pushes for broader adoption across its products. The Chinese tech giant is using the “time compression” concept based on its Tau Scaling Law in its next-generation wireless base stations, according to a company statement released on Wednesday, and the new design is already delivering tangible...

The Philippines is in talks with Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States to store oil in the fuel-import-dependent nation, in a bid to hedge against fuel price spikes driven by the Iran war. The Southeast Asian nation, which imports nearly all ‌its energy needs, also planned to increase diesel and gas-fired power output to make up for an estimated 60 per cent decline in hydropower and 20 per cent fall in solar output in the first half of 2027 due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, Energy...

Japan’s push to expand industrial and port cooperation with Bangladesh could transform the South Asian country into a regional trade gateway, analysts say, connecting markets in Southeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific while diversifying Dhaka’s economic ties. The plan was announced during Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s official visit to Japan this week. Rahman welcomed Tokyo’s pledge of US$6 billion in investment over the next five years, which could help revive an economy hit by...

China said it would seek India’s help to “maintain peace and stability in the border areas” after new stand-offs in a long-disputed region threatened to undermine improved relations. “We hope that India will work with China in the same direction by jointly implementing the common understandings between the two sides,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a daily media briefing on Monday. China “strictly abides by the relevant agreements”, he said. Guo also said that China...

For three decades, Lao Gan Ma’s glass jars, bearing the stern portrait of founder Tao Huabi, have been a fixture on Chinese dinner tables and a symbol of traditional food manufacturing. This week, however, the iconic chilli sauce has become an unlikely focus of public anxiety over artificial intelligence. Online rumours that the Guizhou-based company had replaced hundreds of factory workers with AI went viral, prompting boycott threats and highlighting growing public unease over the impact of...

Australia’s national broadcaster ABC called on the far-right One Nation party on Wednesday to stop using children’s TV character Bluey in its political cartoons. Bluey is the popular star of an Australian cartoon series featuring canines navigating childhood and parenting in the suburbs. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party has come under fire for a 2024 political cartoon depicting Bluey driving a car over an Australian politician. That cartoon in particular has come into the spotlight since a man...