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Female sacrifice in China dates back thousands of years earlier than previously believed, a study of ancient DNA has revealed.Evidence from elite burials at a large Stone Age settlement in northwestern China also suggests the existence of an early hierarchical society, with gender preference relating to the type of sacrificial ritual, according to the Chinese archaeologists and anthropologists behind the study.Shimao, located in the Yellow River valley in Shaanxi province, is one of the largest prehistoric settlements discovered in China and dates to the late Neolithic period, about 3,800 to 4,300 years ago.By sequencing more than 100 ancient genomes from…

Voters in Sabah began casting their ballots on Saturday, in a state election seen as a referendum on Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s leadership midway into his first term.Anwar, who came to office in 2022 after pulling together a rag-tag coalition of former political rivals, depends on Sabah to prop up his parliamentary supermajority. His coalition has so far fended off the challenge of a Malay-nationalist opposition bloc and pushed through unpopular measures, including subsidy cuts to pare down government debt.But in Sabah – where 596 candidates are contesting 73 seats – the prime minister faces a young electorate tired…

When Alvin Kwock, co-founder of digital insurer OneDegree, took part in the inaugural Hong Kong FinTech Week in November 2016, it was held at a venue suitable for only a few hundred people.“As it was the first ever fintech event in Hong Kong, only fintech start-ups were interested, no big financial institutions paid attention,” Kwock said. “People did not have a clear idea of fintech as it was still in an exploratory stage.”In the years since, fintech in Hong Kong has gone through a sea change. “Now fintech is no longer confined to a few start-ups; it’s on the top…

Singapore’s long-frustrated football fans are daring to hope again after a landmark Asian Cup qualification win and the appointment of a home-grown coach they believe can restore pride to a national side long eclipsed at home by English Premier League fandom.On Friday, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) announced that Gavin Lee, the interim coach that secured the Lions’ qualification for the Asian Cup on merit for the first time, has been given the head coach job on an 18-month contract.Singapore came from a goal down to beat Hong Kong 2-1 at Kai Tak Stadium on November 18, granting the…

Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has released the world’s first open AI model to test and score a gold medal-level performance at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the Hangzhou-based start-up said on Thursday.DeepSeek has made widely available its Math-V2 model, which was open-sourced on developer platforms Hugging Face and GitHub, under a permissive licence that allows users to repurpose the model.Held annually since 1959, the IMO is widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious maths competition, including for AI systems, because of the complicated nature of the questions involved, which require “deep insight, creativity and rigour”, according to Harvard…

China is betting on bio-manufacturing to boost technological self-reliance and drive economic growth as part of the next five-year plan, elevating the sector on par with electric vehicles and semiconductors.Beijing is upgrading and expanding a nationwide bio-ecosystem, with 43 companies and research institutes selected in the first batch of pilot-scale manufacturing platforms for products ranging from biopharmaceuticals to food additives and enzymes to cosmetics, according to a statement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) earlier this month.The ministry’s plan highlights the sector’s importance as the country’s next growth engine, analysts said.“In the coming years, biotech, including innovative…

Centuries ago, Indian merchants rode monsoon winds across the seas, their cargoes stitching together a maritime world stretching from East Africa to Southeast Asia.Today, as container ships queue outside clogged ports and great powers quarrel over access and tariffs, India is trying to sail back into that history – this time as a modern shipping and shipbuilding power.Standing before global investors late last month, a day after presiding over a glittering maritime industry showcase in Mumbai, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered a deceptively simple invitation: “Come aboard.”It was more than a sales pitch. Modi’s administration seeks to reclaim India’s…

As the Trump administration pushes to broker a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, analysts and traders are trying to assess how any potential deal might reshape Europe’s energy flows.   Reaching such an agreement is far from guaranteed. Major obstacles and disagreements remain, and Russia has yet to signal its stance on the proposal. White House envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week to discuss the plan with the Kremlin, at a time when Russia appears reluctant to accept any arrangement that does not fully meet its demands.   Even if a deal were reached —…

Yonaguni is the westernmost island in the Ryukyu chain, which would be a key strategic location in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.The Japanese military has already spent years planning operations based on this precise scenario and although specific details have never been officially disclosed, past joint US-Japan exercises can help shed some light on their likely operational plan.Her comments triggered the ongoing diplomatic row with Beijing, which regards the remarks as interference in its internal affairs and has demanded she retract them.However, reports that the Japanese and US military were drafting a joint operational plan for a crisis…

As the Trump administration pushes to broker a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia, analysts and traders are trying to assess how any potential deal might reshape Europe’s energy flows.   Reaching such an agreement is far from guaranteed. Major obstacles and disagreements remain, and Russia has yet to signal its stance on the proposal. White House envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week to discuss the plan with the Kremlin, at a time when Russia appears reluctant to accept any arrangement that does not fully meet its demands.   Even if a deal were reached —…