Category: Uncategorized

Google and Apple advised US-based employees on work visas not to travel internationally after their outside counsel warned of delays of up to 12 months at US embassies and consulates worldwide amid the immigration crackdown, documents reviewed by Business Insider show. On Thursday, BAL Immigration Law, which represents Google, sent a memo stating, “Please be aware that some US Embassies and Consulates are experiencing significant visa stamping appointment delays, currently reported as up to 12 months.” It added that employees would “risk an extended stay outside the US” if they travelled without a valid stamp. Last week Fragomen, acting for Apple, issued a similar warning. “Given the recent updates and the possibility of unpredictable, extended delays when returning to the US, we strongly recommend that employees without a valid H-1B visa stamp avoid international travel for now,” the memo said. “If travel cannot be postponed, employees should connect with Apple Immigration and Fragome..

Three Indian-Origin men have been jailed for their part in a violent disorder at a Kabbadi tournament in Alvaston in the summer of 2023. Boota Singh, Damanjit Singh and Rajvinder Takhar Singh were sentenced at Derby Crown Court on 19 December after being found guilty at a trial in November, according to Derbyshire Police.Violence broke out between two groups at the event off Elvaston Lane just before 4pm on Sunday 20 August following reports of shots being fired and people fighting with weapons. Officers attending the scene secured video footage showing Boota Singh running after members of the opposing group. Although he was unarmed at the time of the violence, police stopped his car two days later and found two machetes in the boot. Footage also showed Damanjit Singh and Rajvinder Takhar Singh carrying large knives during the disorder.All three men were arrested and charged with violent disorder. At Derby Crown Court in November they were found guilty of the following offences:Boota S..

AdvertisementNorth KoreaAsiaEast AsiaNorth Korea fires warning over Japan’s ambition for nuclear weaponsPyongyang’s state media said Tokyo’s potential move to obtain such weapons should ⁠be ‘thoroughly curbed’
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPReutersPublished: 11:54am, 21 Dec 2025North Korea said Japan’s ambition for possession of nuclear weapons should ⁠be “thoroughly curbed”, state media KCNA reported on Sunday.Japan is showing the intention to possess nuclear weapons explicitly by ‍saying it needs to review ‍the three non-nuclear principles, KCNA said, citing a commentary of ‌North Korea’s foreign policy official.Japan began making such ‍comments actively as soon as the United States approved a request from South Korea ‌for building ⁠a nuclear submarine, KCNA said.AdvertisementIn October, US President Donald Trump said he has given South Korea approval ‌to build a nuclear-powered submarine after his visit to the Asian ‌ally for a ‌summit on trade deal with South Korean Pr..

AdvertisementHong Kong propertyBusinessHong Kong and Singapore landlords embrace flex offices as multinationals reshape demandFlex operators deliver creditworthy tenants – a departure from the sector’s early reliance on start-ups and small firms: analysts
Reading Time:4 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPChen HongPublished: 11:30am, 21 Dec 2025Landlords in Hong Kong and Singapore are expected to continue allocating space to flexible office operators as multinational corporations reshape the sector’s risk profile and fuel long-term demand, according to industry experts.A major driver behind this shift is the rapid change in who uses flexible workspaces. Global companies now represented 41 per cent of Asia-Pacific flex office users, the highest proportion worldwide and nearly triple North America’s 14 per cent, according to Piers Mallitte, head of Workthere APAC at Savills.
This marked a departure from the early days of the sector, when operators relied heavily on start-ups and small firms, an..

US President Donald Trump’s name was affixed to the front of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on Friday morning, irking some people, especially the Kennedy family. Kerry Kennedy, daughter of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, said she would “grab a pickax” to remove President Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center after letters spelling Trump’s name were added. ‘Are You Kidding Me…’: Fuming Jeffries Calls Out Trump 'Sycophants' On Kennedy Center Renaming “Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder,” Kerry Kennedy posted on the social platform X. “Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!” The Kennedy Center board voted to include Trump’s name on the building on Thursday, and the exterior now reads “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Kerry Kenne..

The suspect in the deadly shooting at Brown University, who killed himself, was found by police through an anonymous tip about Reddit post.Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown graduate student and Portuguese national, was found dead inside a storage unit in Salem and was also believed to have killed a renowned physics professor this week near Boston. US Shooting Probe | ‘He Killed Himself By…': BIG Reveal After Brown University Shooter Found Dead Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar Perez said the suspect, whose last known address was in Miami, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and acted alone, “as far as we know.”How Reddit post helped police?The five-day investigation got its breakthrough after investigators received an anonymous tip on December 16 about a Reddit post that suggested police look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates spotted around Brown’s campus.With that information, along with other witness accounts and corroborating evidence, police..

AdvertisementJapanAsiaEast AsiaJapanese drone school develops AI system to track bears amid rise in encountersThe new system being developed in Akita prefecture can detect bears and share their locations via smartphones
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPKyodoPublished: 11:41am, 20 Dec 2025A drone school in northeastern Japan is developing a new system that uses drones and artificial intelligence to identify and automatically track bears amid a surge in bear-related incidents.The new system being developed by D-Academy Tohoku in Gojome, Akita prefecture, will be able to detect bears hidden from view in mountainous or urban areas and share their locations via smartphones.
It is expected to be available next year, and local authorities are already showing a keen interest.
AdvertisementThe aircraft, measuring 98cm (38 inches) in length, 76cm (30 inches) in width and 48cm (19 inches) in height, will be equipped with a night-vision camera and an infrared camera for measuring temper..

AdvertisementHong Kong’s Tai Po fire tragedyHong KongSocietyDeath toll in Hong Kong fire rises to 161 after new DNA match‘DNA tests are still being carried out, and we do not rule out the possibility that more victims may be found,’ police commissioner says
Reading Time:1 minuteWhy you can trust SCMPFiona SunPublished: 11:38am, 20 Dec 2025Updated: 11:44am, 20 Dec 2025One more person has been confirmed dead in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire, bringing the death toll to 161, the police chief has said, citing results of further forensic analysis.
“Further forensic tests found the DNA of another person in one of the bodies, later identified as belonging to a couple,” Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday after a passing-out parade at the Hong Kong Police College.
“DNA tests are still being carried out, and we do not rule out the possibility that more victims may be found and the death toll could rise.”
AdvertisementChow also said that the six missing cases earlier reported had ..

The suspected shooter in the Brown University shooting was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Fox News. According to the officers, the suspect was identified as Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, a 48-year-old Brown University student and Portuguese national from Miami, Florida.The authorities have released the photo of the suspect. On Thursday, authorities told CBS sources they were probing connections between the Brown University shooting and the death of Nuno F Gomes Loureiro, 47, from Portugal, who was shot “multiple times” on Monday at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, about 80 km from Providence. Police have obtained an arrest warrant for a suspect, sources said. They added that a rental car matching the same description was seen at both crime scenes.It is notable to notice that Portugal is the same country where the MIT professor was from, allegedly committed by Valente.On Wednesday, investigators released a photo of an individual believed to have been i..

File photo: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Picture credit: AP) Australia will observe a national day of reflection on Sunday (December 21), one week after the deadly Bondi Beach mass shooting that killed 15 people, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Friday, as he urged the country to reject “hatred and violence”.Albanese called on Australians to light candles at 6:47 pm local time, marking the exact moment the attack unfolded. “It is a moment to pause, reflect, and affirm that hatred and violence will never define who we are as Australians,” he said.Flags on New South Wales and Australian government buildings will be flown at half-staff, reported CNN.The attack, described as Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades, took place on Sunday evening during a beachside Hanukkah celebration. Authorities have said the assault was antisemitic in nature. Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed, 24, are accused of carrying out the shooting. Sajid was killed in a ..