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Rayyan Arkan Dikha, 11, dances on the bow of his team’s longboat during the Pacu Jalur river race in Sumatra’s Riau Province. Attendance at this year’s event, which dates back to the 17th century, is estimated to have swelled by more than 100,000 after a video of the boy’s moves garnered millions of views on social media. Photo: AFP
Asia travel

Indonesian boy’s viral boat dance takes traditional festival ‘to the world’

Attendance at Sumatra’s centuries-old Pacu Jalur boat race swelled this year after a clip of Rayyan Arkan Dikha, 11, set social media ablaze.

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The Philippines

Flood of anger: why Filipinos turn to social media to expose ‘nepo babies’

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India

‘Families are breaking’: India bans real-money online gaming to fight addiction

Alibaba

Alibaba sees strong consumer mindshare in instant commerce push

Alibaba also expects its cloud computing business to remain on an upwards trajectory in the coming quarters, CEO Eddie Wu says.

Alibaba’s cloud computing unit was the company’s fastest-growing business segment in the June quarter. Photo: Shutterstock
China-EU relations

Spain cancels fibre-optic service contract involving use of Huawei equipment

Last-minute decision comes as Madrid faces pressure from Brussels and Washington over China security concerns.

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Huawei

Tech war: Huawei executive claims victory over US sanctions with tech ecosystem

Huawei has already ‘built an ecosystem entirely independent of the United States’, according to a senior executive.

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Tencent

Tencent counts on Chinese AI tools demand to lift overseas cloud business

Tencent says there is a lot of opportunities to bring Chinese open-source AI models to overseas clients.

Tencent Holdings senior executive vice-president Dowson Tong Tao-sang, who serves as CEO of the firm’s Cloud and Smart Industries Group. Photo: Edmond So
Aerospace: Geopolitics

China races to roll out low-orbit satellite internet to rival Musk’s Starlink

China is preparing to commercialise its satellite internet networks as it strives to develop equivalents to the SpaceX system.

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Meituan

Meituan sales weaken, profit plummets amid ‘irrational’ delivery price war

Meituan’s second-quarter net profit plunged 96.8 per cent to 365.3 million yuan from 11.4 billion yuan a year earlier.

The Philippines

Filipinos worry Chinese online claims to Batanes risk real-world conflict

Analysts warn such narratives seek to enhance Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea and influence public opinion in the Philippines.

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A China Coast Guard vessel is seen in waters off Batanes, the Philippines, on August 7. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard
Health in China

China cracks down on fake medical advice with new rules for health influencers

Industry suggests more than 92 per cent of China’s 1.07 billion short-video users consume health-related information online.

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Authorities in China say they are concerned by blurred lines between medical advertising, genuine health education and medical information. Photo: Getty Images
Hong Kong society

Opinion | Deepfake porn scandal in Hong Kong exposes need to update laws

Not since the 2008 Edison Chen sex photo leak has the city faced such a crisis in privacy protection as laws struggle to keep up with AI.

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The Philippines

‘Public health crisis’: Philippines weighs cost of e-gambling ban

Regulators have defended the sector’s economic contributions even as health experts warn it exploits the vulnerable and deepens poverty.

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Artificial intelligence

China Telecom unit says AI wave drives steady growth in digital services market

China Communication Services sees the proliferation of AI projects accelerating digital transformation across thousands of industries.

Telecommunications tower maintenance forms part of the business process outsourcing segment of China Communication Services. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Chinese unicorn Z.ai, Alibaba Cloud team up to deploy new AI agent

The Z.ai agent is free and available on the Android and iOS mobile platforms.

Z.ai’s general-purpose AI agent can autonomously handle everyday tasks such as ordering food and making reservations online. Photo: Shutterstock
Internet Culture

Video | The ‘Gen Z stare’ explained

Expressionless, blank reactions among young people in various social situations became a point of contentious debate on TikTok and have spilled over to Chinese social media apps.

E-commerce

US tariffs a big worry for Chinese sellers on Shein, Temu, TikTok Shop, Amazon

Their concerns were aired on the sidelines of the three-day China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair, which concludes on Sunday.

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JD.com

JD.com quarterly sales beat expectations but food delivery foray slices profit

The Beijing-based firm reported sales of US$49.7 billion for the quarter ended June, about 6 per cent above projections.

JD.com ignited a three-way battle with Meituan and Alibaba in China’s food delivery and instant commerce markets. Photo: Reuters
Banking & finance

Chinese PE fund bets big on AI as it sees tech shaping the future

Founder Sean Xiang Yuqiu says the fund will invest US$500 million in the AI and robotics sectors over the next three years.

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Technology

The You’ve Got Mail era is ending: AOL shuts down dial-up

On September 30, AOL will switch off the phone-line internet service that introduced millions to the web.

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Indonesia

Game over? Indonesia eyes Roblox ban over child safety concerns

Indonesia’s education minister says the game has ‘a lot of violence’ that could lead young children to mimic harmful behaviours.

The Roblox gaming platform is seen on a tablet computer. It is not yet clear if or when a ban on Roblox will take effect. Photo: AP
Indonesia

How Indonesia’s AI-generated ‘Italian brainrot’ memes conquered Gen Z

Italian Brainrot, a quirky AI trend, has captivated Gen Z with its bizarre characters, sparking memes and cultural exchanges across nations.

A bag of novelty merchandise centred around the online phenomenon of “Italian Brainrot”, containing collectable cards and a small figure of Frulli Frulla (centre), bought from a shop in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
Semiconductors

Unicorn Z.ai adapts models for Huawei chips to broaden China’s AI ecosystem

Huawei’s Ascend processors used on AI servers and Kirin chips that run inside smartphones are now compatible with Z.ai’s GLM models.

Banking & finance

China Renaissance founder Bao Fan set free more than 2 years after disappearance

News of Bao’s release could provide some relief for his company, which recently invested in stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group.

Law

Legal Tales | How Hong Kong can regulate the harm caused by deepfake porn

Creators of deepfake pornography may exist in a legal vacuum, with existing laws unable to properly govern or penalise their culpable conduct.

Hong Kong has no dedicated laws tackling copyright issues connected to AI-generated content or covering the creation of unauthorised intimate images that have not been published. Photo: Handout
Semiconductors

‘No kill switches and back doors’: Nvidia reasserts security of its AI chips

Embedding weaknesses into chips would ‘undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology’, Nvidia says.

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Nvidia says there are no back doors, kill switches or spyware on its advanced chips. Photo: Shutterstock
TikTok

Egypt arrests TikTok creators in latest morality crackdown

Interior ministry said the creators’ videos ‘violate public morals’, while rights defenders claim the move mainly targets women online.

The Philippines

‘Silent epidemic’: how online gambling is ravaging Filipinos’ lives

As addiction to online gambling grows, rehabilitation groups in the Philippines are urging the government to act – before it’s too late.

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