For three decades, Lao Gan Ma’s glass jars, bearing the stern portrait of founder Tao Huabi, have been a fixture on Chinese dinner tables and a symbol of traditional food manufacturing. This week, however, the iconic chilli sauce has become an unlikely focus of public anxiety over artificial intelligence. Online rumours that the Guizhou-based company had replaced hundreds of factory workers with AI went viral, prompting boycott threats and highlighting growing public unease over the impact of...

Massive crowds, fireworks and dancing have filled the streets across Belgrade since Serbia’s nationalist strongman Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat in Sunday’s parliamentary election after 14 years in power. The political shift could cool diplomatic ties between Beijing and Belgrade and invite sharper scrutiny of Chinese investments in Serbia, but was unlikely to upend a relationship built on years of cooperation, analysts argued. Vucic conceded the defeat of his right-wing Serbian Progressive...

Hong Kong’s government-owned postal service reported a record operating deficit of HK$905 million (US$115 million) in 2025-26, its ninth straight annual loss. In its annual report published on Wednesday, Hongkong Post said the past year showed its “resilience and adaptability” despite a volatile economic environment and an escalating geopolitical situation. “The emergence of protectionism, tightening customs policies in various places, increasing terminal dues and rising operating costs posed...

With the “exceptionally cheap” sale of a vacant Hong Kong shopping mall, developer CK Asset Holdings is freeing up capital for other projects, while the buyer will have to be patient because the location will struggle to attract tenants in the short term, according to analysts. The developer completed the mall in its residential project Seaside Sonata on Hai Tan Street in Sham Shui Po five years ago but never leased it out. It recently changed hands along with a batch of parking spaces for...

Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog is investigating reported data breaches affecting 1,600 customers of Hong Kong Airlines, YOHO, and Broadway Photo Supply. A Hong Kong Airlines plane. File photo: GovHK. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Privacy (PCPD) said in a Monday press release that it had received a report on October 5 that personal data belonging to 790 customers of online electronics retailer YOHO had been breached. The customers received scam calls claiming refunds were available for damaged packages. Customers who placed orders between September 29 and October 12 were affected, with names, phone numbers, delivery addresses, order numbers and product details leaked, the PCPD said. The watchdog also said that Hong Kong Airlines had informed it on October 2 that 815 passengers with departing flights booked for between September 29 and October 22 had received suspected fraudulent calls. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. File photo: Peter Lee/HKFP. The calls claimed their bookings had been cancelled and that compensation arrangements would be made. Names, phone numbers, flight dates and numbers, as well as routes were leaked. The PCPD also noted a data breach incident at Broadway Photo Supply, better know as chain appliances store Broadway. In all, 23 complaints and 20 inquiries were received over the breaches at the three companies as of Monday. The PCPD urged Hongkongers to remain vigilant and to verify the identity and authenticity of callers through official channels. Customers should keep a record of communication and decline requests to transfer money, they added.

Swimmers brandishing short, curved sticks held their breath as they somersaulted and dove towards a weighted puck at the bottom of a Hong Kong swimming pool, vying for first place in a sport likened to voluntary drowning. The annual underwater hockey tournament, ominously advertised as “physical hell”, nevertheless drew a roster of hardcore enthusiasts from countries across Asia to the Chinese city earlier this month. “You have to choose when to use your breath and when not to… Anyone that’s got the puck, you know that they’ve got some level of suffering,” Leo Lines, a Japanese-New Zealander competitor from Hokkaido, told AFP. “I love that.” Suited up in snorkel masks and fins, players only resurface for air when they absolutely have to, and their heads remain constantly underwater so they can monitor the game. There are six players on each team and no goalkeepers, while referees watch for fouls and send players to a penalty box for serious rule-breaching. Hong Kong’s annual underwater hockey tournament. Photo: AFPTV screenshot. “You’re so into trying to succeed, trying to score the goal, that you forget about breath hold and how tough it is,” competitor Rita Frieske, a Hong Kong-based Polish academic, told AFP. Games last 30 minutes and are split into two halves with a three-minute break in between. The gruelling sport has created a tight-knit community. “It’s like that sadistic study that forces everybody to survive together and then you stick together for a long time,” Malaysian player Hui Chin Teoh said. Underwater hockey, previously known as “octopush”, was invented in England in 1954 as a way to keep divers fit during the off-season winter months. While not yet an Olympic sport, it is recognised by the International Olympic Committee, and made its debut at the Southeast Asian Games in 2019. Competition organisers hope that as underwater camera technology improves, the spectator experience will too. “The future of underwater hockey, thanks to social media, is more active now than before,” said head coach and tournament director Nowie Ignacio. “When I was playing, it was just word of mouth. Now there are a lot of avenues to see it… (competitions) are actually televised live now,” he said. Many players at the Hong Kong tournament have their sights set on the Elite world championship in France next April, which organisers expect will draw around 20 nations. “People are starting to understand what underwater hockey is,” Ignacio said. “The dream is the Olympics.”

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