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1. Less hype and more hardware: SenseTime banks on multimodal AI to regain its edge

   Chinese artificial intelligence pioneer SenseTime is betting that its roots in computer vision will help it lead the next phase of AI, as the industry shifts towards multimodal systems and embodied intelligence in the physical world, according to co-founder and chief scientist Lin Dahua. In an interview with the Post on Wednesday, Lin said the company’s long-standing expertise in vision-based AI...

2. South Korea’s threat to dissolve corrupt religious groups risks political blowback

   South Korea is bracing for a showdown between political power and religious influence, as a widening bribery scandal linked to the Unification Church has thrust President Lee Jae-myung into a battle over how far the state should go in policing faith-based organisations. With allegations of illicit lobbying spreading across the country’s two major political parties, Lee has ordered a review of...

3. Hong Kong pares base rate in salve for borrowers, as a split Fed signals fewer cuts ahead

   Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has cut its base interest rate for the third time in three months, lowering the cost of funding to help reboot businesses and ease the burden of mortgage borrowers. The city’s base rate was reduced by a quarter of a percentage point to 4 per cent, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday. Hours earlier, the US Federal Reserve cut its...

4. US commission wants more Mandarin language courses as Congress looks to curb Beijing sway

   A bipartisan commission focused on the rule of law and human rights in China is recommending that the US Congress scale up immersion programmes for Mandarin and other languages spoken on the mainland in American high schools and universities. The recommendation, made as part of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s (CECC) annual report, comes as Washington has scaled back funding for...

5. First China ore shipment rewards Guinea coup leader’s push for Simandou alliance

   The Simandou mountain range in southeastern Guinea, once a dense forest where exploration teams relied on GPS and helicopters to navigate, has yielded vast reserves of its sought-after high-grade iron ore after decades of delay. Workers struggled to define the layout of the thick forest before clearing the trees and brush at the site set for the Simandou Iron Ore project, “as it was nothing but...

6. Australia’s social media ban offers a path between excess and inaction

   On December 10, Australia began enforcing the world’s strictest social media age rule: platforms must now verify that users are aged 16 or above, or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$33 million), a bold experiment in returning oversight of childhood from Silicon Valley to democratically elected institutions. The relevant law, passed by the Australian parliament last year, represents more...

7. Ukraine sends US new plan to end war with Russia, as Trump blasts Europe

   Ukraine has sent Washington an updated plan for ending Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump laid into European leaders in the latest sign of a growing transatlantic rift. A first US plan that involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not captured was seen by Kyiv and its European allies as caving in to too many of Russia’s hardline...

8. Trump says US seized oil tanker off Venezuela coast

   US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Using US forces to seize an oil tanker is incredibly unusual and marks the Trump administration’s latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States. The US...

9. US seeks ‘constructive’ reset with China as trade tensions ease: Greer

   The United States is striving for a more “constructive” relationship with China after this year’s trade war and will continue to pursue a “managed” bilateral trade relationship, its chief trade envoy said, despite concerns lingering over China’s grip on critical minerals and pushback over the White House’s recent approval of H200 AI chip sales. The comments by US Trade Representative Jamieson...

10. Temu’s Dublin office raided by EU regulators on Chinese subsidy concerns

    Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin were raided by EU regulators last week on concerns about potential Chinese state subsidies granted to the online retailer, a subsidiary of China’s e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Temu did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The raid comes amid increasing concern within the EU over cheap...