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Veteran lyricist and actor Peter Lai dies at 76

Hong Kong's veteran lyricist and actor Peter Lai Pei-tak passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 76, his close friend Eric Chung Chi-kwong confirmed to The Standard's sister publication Sing Tao Headline.

China's tax authorities reportedly impose 20% levy on offshore insurance policy gains

Chinese tax authorities have begun to enforce a 20% personal income tax on gains from offshore insurance policies, including dividends and interest on prepaid premiums, according to a report by Caixin, triggering sharp sell-offs in financial stocks linked to Hong Kong.

HK mother and son jailed for Changi Airport assault on police and passenger

A Hong Kong mother and son have been sentenced to jail for assaulting a passenger and biting a police officer at Singapore's Changi Airport in June 2024, local media reported.

(Video) 2 men brawl at MTR station, bystander intervenes telling them to stop

A 13-second video circulating on social media shows two men fighting inside what appears to be an MTR station, with a bystander stepping in to urge them to stop.

DH seizes unregistered pain relief medicine, arrests man in multi-district operation

The Department of Health conducted operations across several districts on Wednesday, seizing about 100 boxes of suspected unregistered pain relief medicine, mostly labelled in Japanese, and arresting a 38-year-old man.

3 heavy drill bits fall off truck in Tung Chung, blocking roads

Three large electric drill bits, each weighing about three tonnes, fell off a heavy goods vehicle in Tung Chung on Wednesday afternoon, blocking traffic and damaging the road surface.

World/China News

Proposed Hormuz deal would give Iran control of inbound traffic, sources say

A proposed deal between Iran and Oman to help end five months of war between Iran and the United States would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian source and two regional officials told Reuters on Wednesday, one of the biggest concessions yet to Iran.

Russia kills 17 in missile strikes on Ukraine, destroys warehouses, logistics

Russia fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the surrounding region on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and destroying warehouses and logistics centres of major retailers, Ukrainian officials said, as a shortage of air defence missiles leaves Ukraine vulnerable.

US lifts sanctions on Fly Baghdad, previously linked to Iran's IRGC

The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it had removed counter-terrorism sanctions from Iraq's Fly Baghdad Airlines and two aircraft that were imposed in 2024 over links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, citing changes in the airline's behavior.

Beijing named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture 2029

Beijing has been designated the UNESCO–UIA World Capital of Architecture 2029, recognising the Chinese capital's ability to bring together one of the world's richest architectural heritages with a forward-looking vision of sustainable urban development.

Market

Dow closes at record on Mideast optimism; SpaceX, AMD drag Nasdaq

The Dow closed at a record on Wednesday on signs of progress for a peace deal with Iran, while the Nasdaq saw its first decline in five sessions as SpaceX and AMD stumbled following their quarterly earnings.

Editorial

Armed pacifism: Japan's new defense white paper accelerates the rift with China

Japan's Ministry of Defense released its annual Defense of Japan 2026 white paper, explicitly codifying China as an "unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge."

Opinion

Verbal migration: Arabic echoes in global tongues | Arabic Window | Amjad Refai

Language is a living, breathing entity, experiencing seasons of richness and poverty, expansion and retreat. Just as a civilization blossoms, its language soars, pollinating other tongues through contact and cultural exchange. When Arabs ruled a vast domain from the Arabian Gulf to Western Europe during the Middle Ages, their language became a luminous beacon. Cities like Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and Cordoba stood as global capitals of intellect, radiating brilliance in medicine, mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy.

Hugging Face turns to Chinese AI model to solve breach | Zero Shot Inference | Allen Au

Hugging Face, the world's biggest open-source AI platform, was attacked in mid-July. This was not a typical hacker job but a fully automated AI agent that planned and carried out the attack on its own.

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓