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A correction, following nearly two years of growth, was a warning to wealthy local investors who believed that homes worth at least 30 million yuan (US$4.2 million) would always be good buys.“The luxury housing segment, particularly lived-in homes, should have run out of steam because some buyers are no longer convinced of their investment value,” said You Liangzhou, owner of Shanghai property agency Baonuo. “Wealthy investors mainly look at newly built units in the city’s prime locations while shunning those pre-owned homes.”On the mainland, luxury homes are generally high-end flats and villas valued at no less than 30 million yuan…
A correction, following nearly two years of growth, was a warning to wealthy local investors who believed that homes worth at least 30 million yuan (US$4.2 million) would always be good buys.“The luxury housing segment, particularly lived-in homes, should have run out of steam because some buyers are no longer convinced of their investment value,” said You Liangzhou, owner of Shanghai property agency Baonuo. “Wealthy investors mainly look at newly built units in the city’s prime locations while shunning those pre-owned homes.”On the mainland, luxury homes are generally high-end flats and villas valued at no less than 30 million yuan…
The launch of a divisive multibillion-dollar mega dam on the Nile River has sparked a tense diplomatic battle between Ethiopia and Egypt, with Cairo denouncing it as “an unlawful unilateral act” and protesting to the United Nations Security Council.During an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described the US$5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as a “symbol of Ethiopian unity and national achievement”.Several regional leaders, including Kenyan President William Ruto and Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, attended the event.Egypt believes the dam will threaten its water supply and cause shortages. Following the inauguration, Cairo warned that it…
Manila has spent billions on modernising its armed forces, but a new report warns the Philippines still leans too heavily on American protection – a gamble fraught with risk as US President Donald Trump repeatedly questions the value of old alliances.The Southeast Asian nation’s ability to counter China’s growing assertiveness remains in doubt, according to the assessment by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank, which found that the Philippines’ security strategy is still based largely on diplomacy and alliances, above all its Mutual Defence Treaty with the United States.Analysts warn this reliance leaves Manila exposed to Washington’s shifting priorities…
Hongkongers and mainland Chinese had acquired 96,955 properties in South Korea as of May, a 78.5 per cent increase from the 54,320 real estate assets that they owned in 2020, according to a report by The Chosun Daily, a local news outlet. It said these properties included residential units, commercial assets and parcels of land.“We anticipate the ban will contribute to market cooling, price stabilisation, and improved access for local buyers – to some extent – as domestic buyers face strict mortgage caps, whereas foreign buyers often circumvent these through overseas financing,” said JoAnn Hong, senior director for research and…
Taiwan’s reliance on imported energy is seen as its most critical weakness if a conflict breaks out with Beijing, and experts warn a prolonged blockade could paralyse the island within days.Those concerns deepened after Taiwan shut down its last nuclear power plant in May, and an August referendum to restart it failed. As debate continues over renewables versus fossil fuels, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has little room to manoeuvre.At the heart of the problem is Taiwan’s dependence on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil imports, much of it from Qatar – a supplier with close ties to…
ISTANBUL (AP) — An Israeli strike on a meeting of Hamas officials in Qatar has cast a cloud of growing concern across Turkey that it could be the next target.Turkish Defense Ministry spokesman Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk warned in Ankara on Thursday that Israel would “further expand its reckless attacks, as it did in Qatar, and drag the entire region, including its own country, into disaster.”Israel and Turkey were once strong regional partners, but ties between the countries ran into difficulties from the late 2000s and have reached an all-time low over the war in Gaza sparked by the Oct.…
A technical innovation has allowed Alibaba Group Holding, one of the leading players in China’s artificial intelligence boom, to develop a new generation of foundation models that match the strong performance of larger predecessors while being significantly smaller and more cost efficient.Alibaba Cloud, the AI and cloud computing division of Alibaba, unveiled on Friday a new generation of large language models that it said heralded “the future of efficient LLMs”. The new models are nearly 13 times smaller than the company’s largest AI model, released just a week earlier.Despite its compact size, Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B is among Alibaba’s best models to date,…
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (AP) — While some Barcelona residents sought to repel a tsunami of tourists with plastic water pistols, a neighborhood association in Santiago de Compostela opted for a friendlier approach: a guide to good manners for visitors to their town, the endpoint of the Catholic world’s most famous pilgrimage. Translated into several languages, the group posted it throughout the northwestern Spanish city and distributed it at its ever-growing number of hostels. It reminded tourists to keep noise down, respect traffic rules and use plastic protectors on hiking poles to avoid damaging the narrow cobblestone streets, among other…
In a move analysts see as both a survival strategy and a calculated signal of dissatisfaction with Asean, Laos has joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a dialogue partner.The decision was confirmed on September 1 during the SCO summit in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, where Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith thanked the Eurasian bloc’s 10 member states for their unanimous support.Laos was “ready to participate in the promotion of peace and stability in the region and sustainable development”, he reportedly told delegates, adding that the bloc’s principles “align with Laos’ guidelines and foreign policies”.Founded in 2001 by China,…