Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Sunday said hosting the recently concluded Apec Finance Ministers' Meeting carried multi-layered significance for Hong Kong. The two-day event wrapped up in the SAR on Wednesday. Speaking on a Commercial Radio programme, Chan said many participants came from the political and business sectors, allowing them to see and understand Hong Kong first-hand and observe how the city serves as a bridge connecting the mainland and the rest of the world. He pointed out that there are many areas for collaboration and new market opportunities for the SAR’s professional services sector. “Through communication and exchanges, we understand their needs better. For example, many countries need infrastructure, and infrastructure needs investment, professional services, and even operational management. Some enterprises want to enter the mainland market. We told them that in these areas, they can collaborate with Hong Kong,” he said. The financial secretary stressed that it is difficult for Apec member economies to reach a consensus given their differing political stances, development stages, and needs. Hong Kong will strive to seek common ground while respecting differences, Chan said, aiming to maximise room for collaboration wherever possible. Edited by Tony Sabine

There are multiple flagship and foldable smartphones that are offered with 1TB of storage in India in 2026. For reference, the iPhone 18 Pro was launched in India and other global markets on September 9 as the flagship handset from Apple, positioned below the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which features a larger battery and a bigger display. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the m...

The president temporarily waived clean-air rules for industrial facilities that spew cancer-causing gases. Then his appointees worked to gut the regulations altogether.

Elon Musk reportedly ordered SpaceX to throttle Ukraine's Starlink access.

The moment you realize the internet is "held together by glue and dreams."

From Apple's repeatedly delayed Siri AI to OpenAI's messy "super app" launch, here's a look at the AI projects that shut down or missed expectations.

Instacart might sell itself to a larger competitor.

Block said that the voice model can run locally on a MacBook M4 Max

Two critical bugs in the PHP web programming language, used by the majority of the internet, threatened to upend the internet — and it's unlikely to be the last major software scare.

From retro cassette players and virtual notebooks to flight trackers and even a digital toaster, developers are finding creative ways to take advantage of Apple's first foldable iPhone.

A new study found Grok's AI overwhelmingly recommends Republican candidates while OpenAI's GPT favors Democrats, with the two AI models disagreeing in more than 90% of nearly 500 election races.

The $400 Boox Palma 2 Pro is a smartphone-sized e-reader designed for people who want to read books, articles, and documents on a small E Ink display.

We created a list of the most notable AI agents that can live in your text messages, from general assistants to agents designed for families, travel, and work.

To avoid unnecessary connection drops, it is vital to keep track of your Airtel DTH connection’s balance. Airtel lets you do this in three ways. Two methods can be done online, while the third works offline. These methods will help avoid those “balance expired” messages by recharging your connection in a timely manner.

To get the science right, classical archaeologists, who excavate the world of the ancient Mediterranean, consulted on the show, which also stars Hugh Laurie.

Realme could launch a new smartphone with a 10,000mAh battery and a 200-megapixel primary rear camera. The handset is tipped to be either the Realme 17 Pro or the Realme 17 Pro+. The company has yet to confirm the existence of this phone. The upcoming handset is tipped to run on a MediaTek Dimensity 7500 chipset. It could include a triple rear camera unit.

There are multiple flagship smartphones in India that are equipped with an LTPO AMOLED display. For reference, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is equipped with a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. The screen offers variable refresh rates from 1Hz to 120Hz. Similarly, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra sports a 6.9-inch Xiaomi HyperRGB AMOLED display, which offers a 1Hz - 120Hz refresh...

WhatsApp Chat Lock lets users protect selected individual and group conversations without restricting access to the entire app. Locked chats move to a separate folder that requires device authentication to open. Users can also hide this folder from the main chat list by setting up a secret code. The feature conceals message details and sender information in notificati...

Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) are three of the biggest telecom service providers (TSPs) in India. Each of them offers a variety of recharge packs at different price points for prepaid subscribers. While lower-tier plans offer basic features like internet, unlimited voice calls, and SMS, higher-priced packs bundle heavy data quotas, up to 3GB per day, alongside s...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly becoming mainstream, and a big chunk of the credit goes to AI assistants. In recent months, AI-powered assistants have moved beyond simple query responses and content generation to handling tasks that would otherwise require users to switch between multiple apps. Anthropic’s new app, Claude Duet, takes this approach furth...

With an incumbent Maine US senator from his own party locked in a tight reelection battle, US President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday to remove 50 percent tariffs on some Canadian agricultural and forestry products in a move that could benefit companies from the northern state. The Republican president's hefty tariffs on Canada have caused friction with the US neighbour to the north while creating problems for American businesses in Maine and other states that rely on certain Canadian goods. With the November 3 US midterm elections looming and Republicans fighting to retain control of both houses of Congress, Senator Susan Collins had urged the White House to address tariffs on products affecting companies and farmers in Maine, a state that borders Canada. Trump's order exempted plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment, and packing crates and boxes, as well as fresh and dried seaweed, the White House said. The changes take effect on October 30, four days before the election. Trump added a number of Canadian products to the 50 percent tariff list to offset the tariff relief provided in his order, including carpets, paints, waste, shampoos, cocoa powder, wooden coffins, ice cream sticks, air-conditioning machines, chest freezers, archery equipment and canoes. Collins said the relief would aid Maine's blueberry, potato, apple and seaweed producers. "These producers are a vital part of our state's economy and support our rural and coastal communities," Collins said. "Many of our farmers and growers rely on specialised equipment, packaging materials and other products from Canada that are either unavailable from American suppliers or cannot be replaced without incurring significant expense." Democrat Troy Jackson is seeking to oust Collins in a race that polls indicate is very close. The two sparred over tariffs at an October 6 debate. "Trump's trade wars have made life harder and more expensive for Mainers," Jackson said on Friday after Trump's action. "Susan Collins enabled this chaos, voted to confirm the people behind it and now wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put out the fire." Collins did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Jackson's remarks. Trump in August imposed 50 percent tariffs on US$20 billion of Canadian imports, which took effect after talks between the two countries collapsed. Canada retaliated in September with tariffs ranging from 15 percent to 50 percent on US$20 billion of American goods. Canada and the United States have been in a standoff over the tariffs since Trump imposed them. Trump asserted on Friday that Canada is working on a deal. Republican candidates in northern US border states most affected by the tariffs, including Maine and Michigan, are trying to strike a balance between appealing to Trump's conservative base and winning over independent voters. In a statement concerning Trump's action on Friday, White House spokesperson Matthew Middleton said the president "continues to address Canada's discriminatory treatment of US commerce" and that the new moves are "further refining the scope" of the previously announced tariffs. Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's minister responsible for trade with the US, said Ottawa was assessing Trump's latest tariff change. "Canada stands ready to work constructively and in good faith towards a more mutually beneficial trading relationship that respects Canada's interests," LeBlanc said in a statement. The economies of Michigan and Maine have long been intertwined with that of Canada, covering everything from auto parts to lumber to fruit-picking equipment. Republicans may need to win closely contested Senate races in both states in order to maintain their slim majority in the chamber. "Trump's desperate, 11th-hour attempt to save Susan Collins' political career is an admission that American voters are rejecting his toxic tariff policies," Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement on Friday. "No one will forget how Trump raised prices on thousands of products American families need by slapping trade taxes on goods from around the world." Michigan US Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a Republican who previously called for ending the trade war with Canada, praised Trump for imposing tariffs on Canadian trash. "If you’re going to be putting tariffs on anything from Canada, it ought to be the damn trash they’ve been dumping in our state for decades," Rogers said. Trump's threat in September to block Canadian jet maker Bombardier from the US market became a political issue in Kansas, where the company employs 1,500 workers in Wichita. Trump dropped the threatened ban this week after calls from Kansas lawmakers including Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who is also locked in a tough reelection race. (Reuters) Edited by Tony Sabine

US markets closed lower on Friday, with investors concerned by rising oil prices, and also looking ahead to a Federal Reserve interest rate policy meeting. The Nasdaq Composite posted a slim loss a day after suffering its biggest one-day drop since June, as concerns flared over financing costs to support heavy AI investment spending. Next week, about one-third of S&P 500 companies report quarterly results, including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon, three AI hyperscalers. "There is still fallout from the questioning of the AI trade," said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group. "There's certainly the potential that we see less invested in an AI data centre build-out next year than has been projected. So I certainly think that's giving pause." The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 652.82 points, or 1.23 percent, to 52,215.16; the S&P 500 lost 39.75 points, or 0.52 percent, to 7,623.68 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 53.52 points, or 0.21 percent, to 25,955.34. Telecommunications stocks fell, weighing on the communication services sector, after a report that SpaceX was seeking thousands of cell sites for a fourth wireless carrier. The energy sector rose 2.5 percent, hitting a record high. Brent crude hit its highest level since late April, after Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia stoked concern over further disruption to energy supplies from the Middle East. American Express shares fell 3.7 percent, weighing on the Dow. The company raised its profit forecast as it also announced plans to eliminate five percent of its workforce. Data from the University of Michigan showed US consumer sentiment edged down near a record low in October, as rising prices because of the Middle East conflict soured households' views of the economy. Market focus remains on the earnings season, with robust corporate profit growth underpinning gains for major equity indexes this year. The Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady when it gives its policy statement on Wednesday, but investors will be eager for clues about whether the US central bank will hike rates at its December meeting. Wall Street is also increasingly focused on the November 3 midterm elections, which will decide control of the US Congress. (Reuters) Edited by Tony Sabine

At TechCrunch Disrupt last week, two founders and a VC discussed how to not just gain an early following but keep one.

OpenAI will cut frontier models off from the internet weeks after one of its engineers said that solution wouldn't work.

The robots, stomping their little feet and making tiny R2-D2 noises, sat, fell down dead for a "nap," and summersaulted on voice command.

Top investors from Iconiq and Sapphire Ventures, along with Rahul Vohra, the founder of Superhuman Mail, share the do's and don'ts for building hit products.

TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 is coming to SoWa Power Station in Boston on November 4, bringing founders, investors, and operators together for a full day of candid conversations, practical sessions, live pitching, networking, and smaller roundtables built for deeper discussion.

A new program wants to encourage more startups to allow workers to cash out early by making it easier to transact tender offers.

Hosted by TechCrunch in partnership with Fidelity Private Shares, the full-day event goes beyond fundraising and AI to explore the realities of finding customers, building teams, sharpening a pitch, developing founder leadership, and scaling companies both inside and outside traditional startup hubs.