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1. Singapore contests US claim of trade surplus amid excess capacity probe

   Singapore said it ran a trade deficit with the US in 2024, disputing figures published by Washington that showed the city state posted a surplus and challenging suggestions that it is contributing to global manufacturing overcapacity. The dispute surfaced after the Office of the US Trade Representative announced this week that it had launched investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of...

2. US says Iran’s new supreme leader likely ‘wounded’, dismisses Strait of Hormuz concerns

   US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has been injured and pledged to continue ramping up attacks, while playing down the impact of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Khamenei is “wounded and likely disfigured”, Hegseth said during a press conference on Friday morning. The new Iranian leader’s first public address, issued on...

3. How Iran turned Strait of Hormuz into potent weapon against US bombardment

   Long before the US and Israel ⁠attacked Iran, the Islamic Republic had devised its own weapon: holding the world’s main ⁠oil lifeline hostage to offset its foes’ military superiority, three regional sources familiar with Iranian planning said. For decades, Iran has signalled that if pushed into a confrontation, it would restrict tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint where its...

4. US-China trade talks: what to expect as senior officials meet in Paris

   Trade talks between China and the United States in Paris this weekend are likely to focus on setting the scene for the Beijing summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump later this month, analysts said, downplaying the prospects of any significant breakthroughs. Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are expected to discuss potential deals on...

5. US economic growth slumps to 0.7% in fourth quarter, stoking inflation worries

   The US economy grew at a significantly slower pace than initially estimated for the final months of 2025, government data showed on Friday, a major downgrade that comes as fallout from war in the Middle East looms. US gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 0.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said. This was sharply down from its earlier estimated 1.4 per cent...

6. Apple’s Mac Mini selling out across China as OpenClaw fever rages

   The OpenClaw craze is rapidly driving up prices and depleting stock of Apple’s Mac Mini compact computer across China, according to local sellers, as consumers scramble to secure machines capable of safely running the open-source artificial intelligence agent amid a nationwide rush to “raise a lobster”. Beijing electronics seller Frank Chai said he was asking for a mark-up of at least 500 yuan...

7. Deadly strike on Iranian primary school raises questions about AI, accountability

   The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US-Israel war on Iran has sparked a legal and ethical debate, as well as condemnation from countries including China after a deadly missile strike on a primary school. To prepare for its operations against Iran, the US military reportedly used Palantir’s Maven Smart System, an AI platform that incorporates models like Anthropic’s Claude to aggregate...

8. Hong Kong students honour over 400 foreign domestic helpers as ‘second mothers’

   More than 400 foreign domestic helpers gathered at an international school campus in Hong Kong on Friday as 50 students paid tribute to their contributions as “second mothers” who help shape a multicultural environment at home. The organising student committee for the event at the English Schools Foundation’s Renaissance College in Ma On Shan said it hoped to inspire the wider community to...

9. Hong Kong government workers warned not to install OpenClaw due to security risks

   Hong Kong authorities have asked all government units not to install OpenClaw or its variants due to security concerns, days after some mainland Chinese entities were reported to have restricted the use of the AI agent. The government’s Digital Policy Office (DPO) told the South China Morning Post on Friday that while no related security incidents had been reported, it noted the potential risks...

10. Funding cuts trigger calls for help on jobs from Hong Kong’s physiotherapists

    Hong Kong’s physiotherapy sector has urged the government to expand employment opportunities for locally trained professionals, warning that severe funding cuts will lead to a glut of practitioners, with the surplus projected to exceed 2,000 by 2040. In a letter to the authorities, the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association pointed to hiring freezes and job losses at NGOs as a result of budget...