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AdvertisementChina societyOpinionChina OpinionEmma ZangOpinionWhy China’s AI automation push is a risky social experimentWithout reforms to improve wages, housing access and childcare, automation could entrench a low-fertility crisis and destabilise the social contract
3-MIN READ3-MINEmma ZangPublished: 8:30pm, 23 Mar 2026China is betting artificial intelligence will solve its labour shortage, as policymakers ramp up a nationwide push to deploy AI and robotics across the economy. But it may be worsening a different problem: the erosion of stable jobs for young workers.China’s push has accelerated investment in industrial automation, installing more than half of the world’s robots in 2024 alone and doubling down on AI-enabled production. The strategy is presented as a necessary response to the demographic decline. Yet it is also a risky experiment: automating at scale before reaching broad middle-class stability.Automation may keep factories running. Whether it can stabilise society is ..

AdvertisementHong Kong weatherHong KongHealth & EnvironmentHong Kong projected to face 4 to 7 typhoons in 2026Observatory director Chan Pak-wai says city will also be hotter than average in 2026 due to El Nino weather phenomenon
2-MIN READ2-MIN1 ListenLo Hoi-yingPublished: 8:16pm, 23 Mar 2026Updated: 8:31pm, 23 Mar 2026Hong Kong will experience between four and seven typhoons from June to October this year, according to the city’s forecaster – a figure that is fewer than half of last year’s record-breaking 14 tropical typhoons.
The Hong Kong Observatory said on Monday the city would be hotter than average this year under the influence of the warming El Nino weather phenomenon.
Director Chan Pak-wai said the tropical cyclone season in Hong Kong was expected to start in June or later and cease in October or before this year.
Advertisement“There are likely to be about four to seven tropical cyclones coming within 500km [310 miles] of Hong Kong during the year, which is near normal,” he sa..

. The Iranian Air Defense Headquarters said Sunday it intercepted and struck an ‘enemy’ F-15 fighter jet flying over Iran near Hormuz Island.In a statement released on Sunday, the air defense system said it had intercepted and fired ground-to-air missiles at the enemy fighter jet near Iran’s southern coasts and near Hormuz Island a few hours earlier. It also noted that investigations are underway to learn about the F-15’s fate.Video shared by Fars News Agency showed a clip of the fighter jet being targeted by a missile.“A short while ago, one F-15 enemy invading fighter jet in the skies over the country's southern coasts and near Hormuz Island was targeted by the army's air defense force's ground-to-air systems after being intercepted and struck by a missile,” the statement read, as quoted by Fars.Israel Iran WarUS-Israel-Iran War News Live Updates: Iran vows tit-for-tat strike after Trump's 48hr ultimatum, threatens to hit US-Israel energy facilityWatch: Missile st..

Hawaii endured its worst flooding in more than 20 years after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm a week ago, prompting officials to urge people in hard-hit areas to “LEAVE NOW” early on Saturday. More rain was expected over the weekend.Muddy floodwaters smothered vast stretches of Oahu’s North Shore, a community renowned for its big-wave surfing, as raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu. Authorities also cautioned that a 120-year-old dam could fail, The Guardian reported.“The remaining access road out of Waialua is at high risk of failure if rainfall continues,” an emergency alert said.Israel Iran WarUS-Israel-Iran War News Live Updates: Iran vows tit-for-tat strike after Trump's 48hr ultimatum, threatens to hit US-Israel energy facilityWatch: Missile strike rocks Israel’s ‘Little India’ as Iran attack injures over 40; videos show chaosOver 100 injured in Israel amid Iran'..

AdvertisementWar and conflictOpinionWorld OpinionAlbert BakhtizinOpinionHormuz crisis underlines vulnerability of global trade chokepointsThose with narrow trade structures are hit the hardest but those with broad networks of partners, such as China, tend to be more resilient
3-MIN READ3-MINAlbert BakhtizinPublished: 8:30pm, 22 Mar 2026War in Iran disrupting established trade flows raises an important question: how serious could the consequences be, and for whom will they be most severe?To answer this, it is useful to look at history. During the fifth and fourth centuries BC, Athens, a major centre, depended heavily on grain imports. Whenever routes were blocked during wars, Athens almost immediately faced the threat of a food crisis. In the Middle Ages, Venice became one of Europe’s richest cities and a crucial hub linking European and eastern trade. When wars disrupted routes, the effects were felt almost instantly in the Venetian economy.
For centuries, trade between China and Europ..

AdvertisementAccidents and personal safetyHong KongSociety2 women climb out of window to flee Hong Kong building fire that injured 3 othersPolice say they were alerted at 5.28pm of blaze at Yen Dack Building on Chun Yeung Street in North Point
1-MIN READ1-MIN ListenDanny MokPublished: 8:29pm, 22 Mar 2026Two women climbed out of a window of a residential block in Hong Kong in an attempt to escape a fire that sent at least three people to hospital on Sunday, police said.
Police said they received multiple reports at 5.28pm of a blaze at Yen Dack Building on Chun Yeung Street in North Point.
Thick smoke billowed from a high-floor unit as firefighters arrived, deploying one hose line and a breathing apparatus team. The fire was extinguished at 6.19pm.
Firefighters arrive at Yen Dack Building on Chun Yeung Street in North Point. Photo: Facebook/Kent LukTwo women and a man were taken conscious to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan after inhaling smoke.
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