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GIESSEN, Germany (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the western German city of Giessen on Saturday as the far-right Alternative for Germany’s new youth organization was set to kick off its founding convention.Groups of protesters blocked or tried to block roads in and around the city of some 93,000 people in the early morning. Police said they used pepper spray after stones were thrown at officers at one location.The new youth organization of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is to be set up in a meeting at Giessen’s convention center. Its predecessor, the Young Alternative — a…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, killed at least two people in the early hours of Saturday, local officials said. The attacks came just before a second round of peace negotiations was set to begin, as a renewed U.S.-led push to end the war gathers steam this week.Writing on its official Telegram channel, the Kyiv City Military Administration said two people were killed in the strikes. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 29 people were wounded, noting that falling debris from intercepted Russian drones hit residential buildings. He also said the western part of…

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…

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Pope Leo XIV visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on Saturday at the start of an intense day of meetings and liturgies with Turkey’s religious leaders and a Mass for the country’s tiny Catholic community.The head of Turkey’s Diyanet religious affairs directorate showed Leo the soaring tiled dome of the mosque and the Arabic inscriptions on its columns, as Leo nodded in understanding. The Vatican had said Leo would observe a “brief minute of silent prayer” there, but it wasn’t clear if he had. The imam of the mosque, Asgin Tunca, said he had invited Leo to pray…

ISTANBUL (AP) — Ukraine used domestically produced Sea Baby naval drones to strike two Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea, an official from Ukraine’s security services told The Associated Press on Saturday.The two oil tankers, Kairos and Virat — said to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” that evade sanctions — were struck in quick succession off Turkey’s Black Sea coast late Friday afternoon. The strikes prompted rescue operations by the Turkish coast guard and other teams. Crew members on board both vessels were reported to be safe.The SBU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the…

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…