Follow the SCMP’s live coverage here Chinese social media users have voiced mixed views on the US midterm elections, criticising American politics while debating the implications of President Donald Trump’s political future for China. Held on Tuesday, the midterm elections saw Democrats win control of both chambers of the US Congress, taking the House of Representatives and the Senate from the Republicans. Democrats reached the 218-seat threshold needed for a House majority and also secured...

In one of the biggest scandals to hit the Indonesian National Police (Polri), President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday sacked his chief of staff, former national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, after his arrest for allegedly wiretapping the president, cabinet ministers, politicians and journalists. The government raised the stakes on Wednesday when presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi addressed reporters in Jakarta, warning that the surveillance could amount to “treason” and endanger state...

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has rolled out its latest flagship artificial intelligence model, Hy4, seeking to challenge top open-weight rivals with enhanced agentic capabilities built to power its enterprise software ecosystem. Released on Wednesday, the large language model (LLM) introduced visual understanding for the first time. Hy4 could process images, analyse complex charts and conduct visual mathematical reasoning, according to the Shenzhen-based company. Tencent said the release...

Follow the SCMP’s live coverage here A Democratic-controlled US Congress will ramp up pressure on Beijing over Taiwan, artificial intelligence (AI) and export controls, even if the US midterm results leave Washington’s overall strategy towards Beijing unchanged, according to a Chinese analyst. Zhao Minghao, a professor at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, called the results so far a “blue tsunami” and a “big win” for the Democrats that would turn US President Donald Trump...

Organisers of Malaysia’s first Hyrox fitness competition agreed on Wednesday to exclude the event from a partnership with beer brand Carlsberg after Muslim entrants threatened to pull out and authorities warned they would withhold approval over the alcohol sponsorship. The tie-up had angered some participants who said it conflicted with both their faith and the event’s promotion of fitness, highlighting tensions over alcohol marketing in Muslim-majority Malaysia. “We understand why this has...

Hong Kong authorities should waive relevant fines and introduce a penalty mechanism for the parking meter operator after a four-hour outage disabled about half of the city’s meters, an industry expert and a lawmaker have suggested. They also called for clearer refund terms for Octopus card users on Wednesday, a day after the government promised to return fees to affected drivers. A back-end glitch cut off communication with about 11,000 parking meters from 8.20am to 12.15pm on Tuesday. The...

Follow the SCMP’s live coverage here In what appears to be an early attempt to distance himself from the Democrats’ historic gains, US President Donald Trump has sought to shift attention away from his party’s performance in the midterm elections, taking to social media to remind voters that he “wasn’t on the ballot”. “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump wrote as early results showed Democratic gains in places...