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1. How a bear costume cost these luxury car insurance scamsters their freedom

   Three people in California have been sentenced for insurance fraud in a bizarre scam that involved someone dressed in a bear costume damaging luxury cars. The California Insurance Department said the three used a person in a bear suit to stage fake attacks inside a Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes in 2024, then submitted fraudulent claims seeking nearly US$142,000 in payouts from insurance...

2. ‘No mood for work’: veteran ship mechanic’s future clouded by Aberdeen marina project

   David Chan* is among the few remaining ship machinery maintenance masters at the Po Chong Wan temporary industrial area in Hong Kong’s Aberdeen. Chan, in his seventies, entered the trade in the 1960s as an apprentice in Ap Lei Chau, an islet off Aberdeen, repairing propellers, gearboxes and other machinery on wooden fishing boats and cargo ships. At the time, the area was one of the city’s four...

3. BINI made history at Coachella. Can the Philippines build on it?

   The flags arrived before BINI did. They were already rippling across the Mojave Tent at Coachella in a sea of blue, red and white when the eight-member group took the stage on a recent Friday afternoon, carried by fans who had travelled across oceans and time zones for a moment that had never been seen before. The 45-minute set that followed made BINI the first P-pop act from the Philippines –...

4. China steps up aid to Africa but huge funding gap left by Trump’s cuts remains

   During Vice-President Han Zheng’s visit to Nairobi in March, China signed a cash grant for drought relief and recently delivered food aid to Somalia, Togo, Zimbabwe and Zambia – helping 217,057 people in Zambia and providing Zimbabwe with 5,000 tonnes of rice. Du Xiaohui, director general of the foreign ministry’s African affairs department, later affirmed that Beijing would help nations in...

5. Pope Leo seeks to defuse tensions with Trump, says not trying to debate him

   Pope Leo sought ⁠to downplay his feud ⁠with US President Donald Trump on Saturday, ⁠saying reporting about comments he has made so far during his Africa tour “has not been accurate in all its aspects”. Speaking to reporters in English aboard his flight to Angola for the third leg of his ambitious 10-day Africa tour, the first US pope said comments ‌he made two days earlier in Cameroon decrying...

6. Taiwan warned of widening ‘resilience gap’ in civil defences

   Taiwan must urgently overhaul its civil defence and rethink its energy strategy to withstand a potential blockade, experts warned at a tabletop exercise, describing existing preparedness as “too romantic” for a real-world crisis. The two-day 2026 Political, Economic, Military and Societal Tabletop Exercise, held at National Chengchi University in Taipei last week, simulated a 2030 scenario in...

7. Southeast Asia wants children off social media. Will it work?

   Malaysian comedian Rizal van Geyzel keeps his three children – aged six, 14 and 15 – off social media. He calls it a “gateway drug” to fake news, pornography, stalkers and doom-scrolling. “Do I risk them resenting me? Sure, but these are the sacrifices of parents for their children’s mental health and physical safety,” the 43-year-old said. Across Southeast Asia, governments are increasingly...

8. How markets will test Hong Kong’s new economic model

   For the first time in its history – and in a striking departure from its long-standing doctrine of minimal economic intervention – Hong Kong is preparing to draw up a five-year plan. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has asked all policy bureaus to help draft proposals by the end of the year. To lead the exercise, veteran civil servant Janice Tse Siu-wah has come out of retirement. The...

9. AI is not eating up China’s software market but turbocharging it: HSBC analyst

   China’s artificial intelligence model companies are unlikely to “eat up” the domestic software market because they lack the deep industry know-how and experience to meet enterprise needs, according to an HSBC analyst. Unlike the US, China’s less developed software-as-a-service (SaaS) market stands to gain even as AI models continue to improve, with the most likely outcome being a collaborative...

10. New York Met exhibit in Hong Kong ‘underscores importance of cultural exchanges’

    The debut exhibition of the US’ Metropolitan Museum of Art in Hong Kong has underscored the importance of people-to-people ties and trust between countries through cultural exchanges during times of uncertainty, organisers have said. About 200 pieces of jewellery from 4,000 years of history across five continents are on display at the Hong Kong Palace Museum for six months, with the event coming...