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TAIPEI: Taiwan’s HTC is betting its open platform strategy will allow it to build market share in the fast-growing smartglasses industry, as its newly launched AI-powered eyewear lets wearers choose which AI model they want to use, its executive said. “AI is advancing very fast, and large language model developers are engaged in an arms race that requires massive resources,” Charles Huang, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at HTC, told Reuters in an interview. “We want to leverage the strengths of different platforms instead of building a closed ecosystem.” Its VIVE Eagle smartglasses support multiple AI platforms…

The Japanese yen rose in Asian trading on Monday against a basket of major and minor currencies, recouping part of the sharp losses it suffered on Friday against the US dollar, and beginning to recover from a four-week low, supported by relatively active buying from lower levels and by warnings from Japanese government officials about the possibility of intervention in the foreign exchange market.   On Friday, the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.75%, the highest level in three decades, in a move that was widely expected by markets.…

China has taken a step towards regulating the childcare industry at the national level, drafting legislation to standardise services and lower costs as policymakers fight to reverse a demographic decline that could have long-term economic ramifications.The draft Childcare Services Law was submitted on Monday to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for review, according to Xinhua. The bill, comprising eight chapters and 76 articles, aims to establish a national legal framework for institutions and carers, focusing specifically on children under the age of three.The move is “crucial to building a fertility-friendly society”, Xinhua said, adding that it would…

Malaysia on Monday said senior defence officials from Cambodia and Thailand will meet on Christmas Eve to discuss details of their pledged ceasefire, after Asean’s foreign ministers met in Kuala Lumpur to push for an immediate end to renewed fighting along their shared border.Fighting reignited in the contested frontier region earlier this month, displacing more than 500,000 people and killing dozens on either side, with Phnom Penh and Bangkok accusing each other of instigating violence and targeting civilians.At least 22 people in Thailand and 19 in Cambodia had been killed as of Sunday, according to officials, as tanks, drones and…

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has revised its regulatory framework for Internet of Things (IoT) and Short Range Devices (SRD), aiming to accelerate the development of a nationwide IoT ecosystem through both licensed and shared frequency bands. The updated framework provides detailed guidelines for IoT service provisioning, with a strong focus on the use of shared and unlicensed spectrum for Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) on a non-interference, non-protection basis. PTA said the move aligns with international best practices and the government’s vision for digital transformation. Under the revised policy, IoT and SRD services are categorized based on spectrum…

PARIS (AP) — A suspected cyberattack knocked France’s national postal service and its banking arm offline Monday, blocking and delaying package deliveries and online payments at the height of the busy Christmas season.The postal service, called La Poste, said in a statement that a distributed denial of service incident, or DDoS, “rendered its online services inaccessible.” It said the incident had no impact on customer data, but disrupted package and mail delivery. At a Paris post office decked out in holiday garlands and usually bustling this time of year, employees turned away frustrated customers lining up to send or retrieve…

A Malaysian court on Monday granted rapper Namewee a full acquittal from his drug use charge after the prosecution presented a negative urine test in court.Namewee’s lawyer, Joshua Tay, confirmed the acquittal with This Week in Asia.Tay told the Kuala Lumpur magistrates’ court that since the pathology report was negative, there was no prospect of recharging his client, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee.“The appropriate order should be a discharge and acquittal,” Tay said.Magistrate S Arunjothy made the ruling after deputy public prosecutor Amritpreet Kaur Randhawa informed the court that the pathology results were negative and the prosecution had…

As part of the frame agreement announced in August 2025, Reko Diq Mining Company has awarded Metso, a Finnish technology company, with the remaining major contracts to supply advanced Metso Plus beneficiation and dewatering equipment for Reko Diq Mining Company’s copper-gold project in Pakistan. “The total value of these now signed contracts is approximately €70 million. €40 million was recorded in the minerals segment’s 2025 third-quarter and €30 million in fourth-quarter order intake,” read a statement on Monday. Barrick Gold, a Canadian mining company, owns a 50% stake in the Reko Diq mine and the governments of Pakistan and the…

China is highlighting its success in joint law enforcement with the sentencing of two men in a drug-related money laundering case following a tip-off from the United States.The People’s Daily stated on Saturday that officers in Shenyang, in northeast China’s Liaoning province, had received information in April last year from US authorities about a Chinese citizen surnamed Tong. 01:44US, China join forces to counter global fentanyl tradeUS, China join forces to counter global fentanyl tradeChinese authorities established a task force and sent 25 teams to 16 provinces in the search for evidence that Tong and an accomplice named Chen had…

Lion dancers, drummers, stilt walkers and unicyclists flooded the streets of George Town on Sunday as the northern Malaysian city staged its annual Chingay parade, a century-old procession best known for performers balancing towering flagpoles on their chins and fingertips.This year’s spectacle carries added weight. Malaysia and Singapore have jointly nominated Chingay for recognition on Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a move organisers hope will elevate the tradition onto the global stage.Venerated by many among Penang’s 700,000 ethnic Chinese residents, Chingay began as a Taoist-linked celebration of deity birthdays and has since grown into one of the city’s largest street…