US President Donald Trump suggested a possible “friendly takeover of Cuba” as the White House looks to leverage the Communist-run island’s energy crisis to exert greater influence. “They’re in big trouble, and we could very well do something good, I think, very positive for the people that were expelled, or worse, from Cuba that live here,” Trump told reporters on Friday as he departed the White House for Texas. “You know, we have people living here that want to go back to Cuba.” “We could very...

German carmaker BMW said on Friday that it planned to deploy two AI-powered humanoid robots in a factory in a pilot programme for the first time this year. Dubbed Aeon and developed by the Swedish company Hexagon, the black-and-white robots stand 1.65 metres (5.4 feet) tall, weigh 60kg (132 pounds) and move on two wheels. They can autonomously manipulate and move components within a factory where the space has been previously fully scanned and digitised. A months-long pilot phase will start this...

Bill Clinton told lawmakers on Friday that he “saw nothing that gave me pause” when he spent time with Jeffrey Epstein, as the former president gave closed-door testimony about his relationship with the late sex offender. In a prepared statement, Clinton told the House of Representatives Oversight Committee that he would not have flown on ‌the late financier’s plane if he had known about his alleged sex trafficking of underage girls and would have reported him if he did. “We are only here...

Nasa is shaking up its Artemis mission to the moon, cancelling a multibillion-dollar Boeing upgrade to the centrepiece SLS rocket and slotting in a test flight closer to Earth as the programme remains beset by delays and cost overruns. The changes announced on Friday mean that Nasa is essentially swapping the actual moon landing for an additional test mission staged closer to Earth – while insisting the 2028 deadline for a lunar touchdown remains unchanged. Artemis III, which was supposed to be...

The operator of Hong Kong’s Ngong Ping 360 cable car attraction has apologised after the personal data of visitors and employees was stolen in a ransomware attack. The company on Thursday detected irregularities in its internal network system and alerted police and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. “Subsequent investigation confirmed that certain data had been stolen and the company was subjected to a ransom demand,” the operator said on Friday. “Ngong Ping 360 deeply...

Beijing has called for all hands on deck to work out what ever-unpredictable US President Donald Trump might demand when he sits down with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a few weeks. Several sources, all speaking on condition of anonymity, said various Chinese government departments had been told to research and assess the US leader’s potential demands and come up with possible concessions Beijing could put on the table. According to the sources, the entities included China’s Ministry of...

Hong Kong will offer nine residential sites to developers under the government’s land sale programme for the coming financial year, providing about 6,650 flats, after authorities said in the latest budget that the property market had stabilised. Combined with other land sources, such as urban redevelopment, private development and projects linked to railway properties, the potential supply of new flats is estimated to reach an eight-year high of about 22,580 in the 2026-27 financial year. The...