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China has launched its first direct break-bulk shipping service to Peru’s Chancay port, as it steps up its trade, investment and influence in Latin America.A vessel operated by Cosco Shipping Specialised Carriers departed last week from Suzhou in eastern Jiangsu province on its maiden voyage to the strategic gateway, with the journey expected to take about 32 days in total, according to local media outlet Suzhou Daily.The ship, named Greensuape, is carrying more than 30,000 tonnes of cargo, including energy storage cabinets, jumbo bags, steel round bars and other equipment. The new direct shipping route will run once a month.Unlike…

Thaksin Shinawatra is being held under the same conditions as other inmates and has not received any special privileges during his first week back in prison, his lawyer has said, amid speculation over whether Thailand’s former prime minister may request to serve his sentence outside jail.Attorney Winyat Chartmontree on Monday said Thaksin’s family had not sought any special treatment and that his client had only requested rights afforded to other inmates.“People can say what they like, but they should be accountable for their words,” Winyat said as quoted by The Nation Thailand.Winyat confirmed that Thaksin, who is 76 and suffers…

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Thousands rallied across Slovakia on Tuesday in a nationwide mass protest against the economic and pro-Russian policies of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.The rallies took place in 16 major cities and towns, including the capital of Bratislava.They latest wave of protests has been fueled by a trip by Fico to China where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin for the third time since the Russian all-out invasion of Ukraine. A package of austerity measures recently approved by the government further angered the protesters.The government says the measures are necessary to cut a budget deficit that at…

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US and China have a deal that would keep the short-video app TikTok operating in the United States, transferring its US assets to US owners from China’s ByteDance, potentially resolving a saga that has lingered for nearly a year. A deal on the popular social media app, which counts 170 million US users, stands as a breakthrough in months-long talks between the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 economies that have sought to defuse a wide-ranging trade war that has unnerved global markets. “We have a deal on TikTok … We…

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.1. China’s satellite spies on US spycraft in a ‘tit-for-tat’ orbital stand-offIn a notable display of reconnaissance capabilities, a Chinese satellite has observed an American satellite that was itself monitoring China’s space station and high-value satellite, a move analysts described as a strategic tit-for-tat in an increasingly contested space domain.2. China’s Xi calls for building unified market to ‘secure an edge’ in global racePresident Xi Jinping has called for more efforts to develop a unified domestic…

The carving had triggered a heated debate about its authenticity after its discovery was announced in June. Sceptics suggested it may be a modern forgery and questioned if it was possible to travel to the plateau given the generally harsh conditions.But Deng Chao, an official from the state heritage body, said the inscription had been authenticated after a field investigation in the Kunlun Mountains that used advanced equipment to study the carving, which was found at a site 4,300 metres (14,000ft) above sea level near Gyaring Lake near the source of the Yellow River.The carving, written in the ancient small…

Gold prices rose in the European market on Tuesday, extending gains for the third consecutive session and setting a fresh all-time high, on the verge of surpassing the $3,700 per ounce barrier for the first time in history, supported by the continued decline of the U.S. dollar in the foreign exchange market.   Later today, the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated monetary policy meeting will commence, with decisions due on Wednesday. Market expectations currently remain anchored on a 25 basis-point interest rate cut.   Price Overview   Gold prices today: The price of the precious metal rose by 0.5% to a…

“This is the first time that Tmall has established a direct connection to Lazada’s platform to facilitate the seamless onboarding of sellers,” a representative from Singapore-based Lazada said on Tuesday, adding that this initiative started last month. Alibaba owns the Post.The cross-border e-commerce expansion for invited Tmall sellers will not require them to set up a new store, hire local teams or manage logistics.“Once they send their products to a designated China-based warehouse, Lazada will manage the rest end-to-end: from logistics, cross border customs clearance to sales and post-sales customer service in the local languages,” the Lazada representative said.Lazada will…

Despite its vague wording, the new China-US framework deal on popular video-sharing app TikTok represents an important step in advancing bilateral talks and keeping ties warm ahead of any future meetings between the world’s two largest economies, according to analysts.And they added that Beijing could potentially try to leverage the TikTok deal by seeking tariff cuts or relief from hi-tech export controls.Officials from both powers confirmed after negotiations in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday and Monday that they had agreed on a framework for resolving TikTok-related issues that date back to US President Donald Trump’s first term in office, five years…

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has conducted internal evaluations on the “frontier risks” of its AI models, according to a person familiar with the matter.The development, not previously reported, comes as Beijing seeks to promote awareness of such risks within China’s AI industry. Frontier risks refer to AI systems that pose potentially significant threats to public safety and social stability.The Hangzhou-based company, which has been China’s poster child for AI development ever since it released its R1 reasoning model in January, conducted evaluations of the models’ self-replication and cyber-offensive capabilities in particular, according to the person who requested anonymity.The results…