RTHK Latest News

Doraemon fans flock to Tsim Sha Tsui exhibition Fans of Doraemon flocked to Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturday for an exhibition, in its returns to the city after 12 years. The free-entry zone at the Avenue of Stars features the world's tallest 12-metre inflatable Doraemon sculpture as well as 34 different versions of Doraemon in 1:1 life size. But some fans chose to buy a ticket to access the indoor exhibition at K11 MUSEA. A tourist, who came from Shenzhen, said he made a day trip to Hong Kong just for the exhibition. "I'm very excited and I'm looking forward to it. I've waited for this moment for over two months. I may come again next week for the drone show," he told RTHK. Another Doraemon fan said his family had moved to the United States, but they are back in town and felt lucky to catch the exhibition. "We are back in Hong Kong for the summer vacation. Tickets went on sale 2 months ago and we bought them immediately. We spent about HK$2,000 on souvenirs. We bought clothes, a popcorn bucket and a soft toy," he said. The exhibition runs from Saturday to August 11. Organisers said tickets for the indoor exhibition are sold out. 2024-07-13 16:07:00

China to send 405 athletes to Paris Games The Chinese Olympic Committee announced on Saturday that it will send 405 athletes, including 42 Olympic champions, at an average age of 25 to the Paris Olympic Games, which will open on July 26. The delegation is made up of 136 men and 269 women athletes, with 37-year-old women's race walker Liu Hong the oldest competitor and 11-year-old women's skateboarder Zheng Haohao the youngest. Even with 10 events reduced from the official program at Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024 will mark the biggest representation of Team China at an overseas edition of the Games, with its athletes having qualified in 236 medal events across 30 sports, out of a total number of 329 events in 32 sports on the sports program in Paris. (CCTV/Xinhua) 2024-07-13 15:33:00

Turkey puts its best foot forward to Chinese investors Turkey plans to draw on its geographical position and an EU customs deal to entice Chinese investors keen to access European markets tariff-free, as it recently just did with carmaker BYD. The Chinese electric vehicle giant signed a billion-dollar deal with Ankara on Monday to open a plant in western Turkey, promising to create 5,000 jobs, a move that will help it avoid new EU tariffs. The country, at the crossroads between Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, is in talks with other Chinese companies, Turkey's Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir said this week. "We want to transform Turkey into a production centre for the next generation of vehicles," Kacir told private broadcaster Haberturk. The minister emphasised his country's selling points, including being part of the EU's customs union and having trade agreements with 28 countries. "Chinese producers want rapid access to international markets," he said. "Investing in Turkey offers them that." Ankara struck a customs deal with the EU in 1995 that enables the free flow between them of a number of goods, notably cars. Turkey became one of the leading centres of the world's automobile industry starting in the 1970s, when major carmakers including Fiat and Renault opened plants there -- with others like Ford, Toyota and Hyundai following. Under new regulations on investment incentives, BYD will be able to circumvent a new 40 percent tariff that Turkey originally imposed on electric vehicle imports. Manufacturers investing in the country will be exempt. Turkish manufacturer TOGG and Chinese firm Farasis have also partnered up to produce EV batteries in Turkey. Turkish officials have held numerous meetings with Chinese industrialists in the last year, the industry ministry said. Turkey's foreign affairs minister Hakan Fidan visited China in June to seal a new bilateral deal, calling the countries "drivers of Asian wealth." (AFP) 2024-07-13 14:08:00

Watchdog mulls penalty to firms in data breaches Legal amendments to directly penalise firms involved in data breaches are being considered, privacy commissioner Ada Chung said on Saturday, which would change the current practice of issuing an enforcement notice with a non-compliance subject to a fine or imprisonment. Speaking on a HOY TV programme, Chung said there is a need to empower the watchdog to penalise firms breaching the privacy ordinance to increase deterrence. "If we are to introduce a mechanism for administrative fines, we have to look at a series of factors and then decide on the penalty amount. For example, the number of people that were affected by the data breach, because affecting 10 people is completely different from affecting 100,000 people," she said. "Also we have to look at the sensitivity of the data, whether it involves medical records, as well as how the data was leaked, whether it's the fault of the company or its staff, or simply an individual case.“ Chung said the privacy watchdog received 97 data leak reports in the first half of the year, with seventy percent of them coming from private firms and public bodies accounting for the rest. The number of data breaches in the second quarter rose by 70 percent, she added. 2024-07-13 13:35:00

Travel alerts on HK not grounded in facts: Eric Chan Chief Secretary Eric Chan has hit out at certain countries and regions deciding to issue travel alerts on Hong Kong, saying the warnings are simply not grounded in facts. Taiwan recently upgraded the warning to its second highest after the United States renewed the SAR's emergency status, which were widely condemned. The senior official told a Commercial Radio programme on Saturday that the moves were politically motivated and the SAR must rebut the accusations. "We have one mega event almost every two days on average. We also have a lot of international events. The aim is to have overseas tourists come to Hong Kong and see if it's as others say it is, that police are arresting people arbitrarily on the streets after the introduction of the national security law," he said. "It's best for people to come and see for themselves, and they will see that the situation isn't what they think it is." The chief secretary also said the administration will promote patriotic education through a "soft approach", and that people must first understand the nation before forming an identity and eventually loving and safeguarding the country. He added that there will be activities across all 18 districts on October 1, combining National Day celebrations and patriotic education. 2024-07-13 13:31:00

'No sports system should obstruct an athlete' The sports minister has stressed that no system should hinder an athlete's opportunity to compete or receive training, following calls for the swimming governing body to revise its rules of competition qualifications. The Hong Kong China Swimming Association came under scrutiny after a nine-year-old was reportedly barred from competing at a swimming competition due to the ranking of his club, despite meeting the qualifying time. Kevin Yeung, the secretary for culture, sports and tourism, on Saturday said the government awaits developments of the situation, after the association said it has ways to allow the concerned athlete to compete. But he told a Commercial Radio programme that different sports governing bodies should review their systems, from time to time and strengthen their governance. “We hope to promote the sport, as well as its development, while giving talented athletes the chance to receive professional training or compete, or even represent Hong Kong in competitions. This is a basic principle that I believe everyone agrees with, so no system should become a factor that hinders this goal," Yeung said. On the arrival of the two giant pandas gifted by the central government, the minister said the pair should be able to come to Hong Kong by National Day, on October 1. While the animals already having names, Yeung said the administration would still discuss whether to give the pair new names when they arrive in the SAR. Yeung said the government is considering promoting "giant panda economy" to boost tourism. 2024-07-13 12:15:00

'Entire govt to use city's own ChatGPT this year' The administration is aiming to have all government bureaus and departments adopt Hong Kong's own version of ChatGPT within this year, according to the technology chief. Sun Dong, the secretary for innovation, technology and industry, also said on Saturday that his bureau has been trialling the AI-powered document assistance system, which was developed by government-founded platform InnoHK. "The concept of the trial is that when we are using the system, problems will arise, and then we give feedback to improve it. At the same time, the more we use and train it, the better the model will be," he told an RTHK programme. "Right now, the trial has been smooth, and the system will soon be expanded to other bureaus for use. The goal is simple – to have the entire government using the system this year. And the system will eventually be open to the whole society." The minister also said the government has deliberated introducing the city's data security law, but noted that the process is rather complicated. "Legislation is definitely within our scope of consideration, but it cannot be done overnight," Sun said. Sun added that data security law will be introduced once the data industry has matured. 2024-07-13 10:01:00

AI robot to train patients with cognitive impairment Eastern Hospital is testing an AI-powered robot to help training patients with mild cognitive impairment, with therapists describing that as "a helpful assistant". The hospital’s occupational therapists have compiled a database of about 400 questions, covering key cognitive domains and input it into the robot, which is able to communicate with people in Cantonese. During training sessions, the robot randomly posts questions from the database. Patients can answer by talking to the robot, and they must get each of the questions right before moving on. The robot will provide hints if patients struggle with a question repeatedly and adjust the difficulty level for subsequent questions. “It will be a very good encouragement for the patients to continue their cognitive training. Because many of the patients, if they face several failures, they may just idle the training sections away,” says senior occupational therapist Thomas Cheung. “And this situation is very common when we use the traditional one-way computer-aided training. For AI, it can eliminate these kinds of limitations.” These robot-assisted sessions are typically about 20 minutes shorter than traditional face-to-face sessions, and patients who improve quickly can even do the sessions without a therapist. But Cheung stressed that while this helps free up some staff time, it doesn’t mean human therapists can be replaced. “We can say this AI robot facilitates the patient's participation in training but I don't think AI robots will replace human therapists. For this AI robot it still has to depend on the input from the therapist in programming and provide different situations for this system to learn,” he said. The hospital currently deploys one AI-powered robot to work with a select group of geriatric and psychiatric patients. It said it’s working on expanding the AI database and upgrading the hardware to improve the robot’s conversation skills and response time before wider use. 2024-07-13 08:14:00

US stocks finish near records, resuming upward climb Wall Street stocks resumed their upward climb on Friday, shrugging off disappointing inflation data and a poor response to bank earnings amid expectations of easing US monetary policy. US wholesale inflation rose 0.2 percent in June, more than expected, according to Labour Department data. However Friday's data was not bad enough to overshadow Thursday's benign consumer price index report that boosted expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, analysts said. The Dow Jones finished up 0.6 percent at 40,000, just shy of a closing record set in May. The S&P 500 also gained 0.6 percent to 5,615, along with the Nasdaq, which closed at 18,398. Both indices had dropped on Thursday, ending a multi-day stretch of records. "Yesterday's decline appears to be a one-off and it's not leading to more selling," said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments, who considers the current dynamics a bull market. The hardest hit large bank after earnings was Wells Fargo, which sank 6.0 percent as it reported lower profits due in part to a decline in net interest income. Both Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase also fell more than one percent. The air taxi startup Archer Aviation soared 10.4 percent after announcing a partnership with Southwest Airlines to provide aircraft in California. Southwest rose 2.1 percent. AT&T shed 0.2 percent after disclosing a massive data breach in which hackers stole call and message data from virtually all of its customers for six months in 2022 – around 90 million people. (AFP) 2024-07-13 05:15:00

Biden hits campaign trail as calls to quit pile up US President Joe Biden returns to the campaign trail on Friday, pushing ahead with his reelection bid after a mixed performance at a major news conference failed to silence calls for him to quit. The 81-year-old will give a speech bashing rival Donald Trump in Detroit in the rust-belt state of Michigan, a crucial battleground state that the Democrat must win in November's election. A defiant Biden insisted in a pivotal appearance at a Nato summit on Thursday that he would run again, and win – despite concerns about his age and health following a disastrous debate performance two weeks ago. But a series of gaffes, including referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump," kept Biden's fitness for a second term under the microscope. The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, said he had met with Biden late on Thursday, as the number of members calling on the president to step aside rose to 20. Jeffries said he and Biden "expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward" but did not give further details. The president has faced a steady drumbeat of Democrats calling for him to abandon his 2024 candidacy since the June 27 debate, during which Biden often lost his train of thought and appeared tired. But Biden has obstinately dug in and insists that he can convince voters to back him despite most polls showing him trailing the criminally convicted, twice-impeached Trump. The campaign event in Detroit is his fourth trip this year to the state, part of the industrial "blue wall" along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that were key to his 2020 win against his rival. Biden's speech is expected to focus on "Project 2025", a blueprint by hardline conservatives for the first days of a Trump term that Democrats have pinned on the former president, despite the 78-year-old's denials. The press conference on Thursday appeared to buy Biden some time even if it was far from a knockout blow, with three more lawmakers urging him to quit just minutes after it finished. Biden said he was the "most qualified person to run for president," rejecting calls for him to step aside before the November 5 vote. He acknowledged he had to "allay fears" in the Democratic party and should "pace myself a little more" after blaming jet lag and a cold for his stumbling debate performance. Biden also fielded a series of foreign and domestic policy questions with detailed if meandering answers and relatively few slip-ups, though he did mix up Europe and Asia. But there were damaging moments on Thursday, with the Trump-Harris mixup and an earlier gaffe at the Nato summit in which he introduced Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. The concerns over Biden are also affecting Democratic donors, with Hollywood star and high-profile supporter George Clooney calling on Biden to step aside on Wednesday. A number of other key donors have told the largest Biden campaign fund that around US$90 million in pledged donations is on hold if he carries on running, the New York Times reported on Friday. (AFP) 2024-07-13 04:08:00