Some Hongkongers stranded in the Middle East amid a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran have called for greater help from the Chinese embassy and Hong Kong government, as others considered travelling by road to another city to fly back home. As of Monday, at least 432 residents were stranded in the region, according to immigration authorities. On social media, some residents wrote they had been unable...
Some Hongkongers stranded in the Middle East amid a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran have called for greater help from the Chinese embassy and Hong Kong government, as others considered travelling by road to another city to fly back home. As of Monday, at least 432 residents were stranded in the region, according to immigration authorities. On social media, some residents wrote they had been unable to contact the Chinese embassy in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by phone and had to pass...
Representatives of the Unification Church, the controversial South Korea-founded religious group that became a political flashpoint in Japan after the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, are set to return to court on Wednesday as judges consider whether to strip it of its legal status. The Tokyo High Court is widely expected to uphold a lower court’s dissolution order against t...
Representatives of the Unification Church, the controversial South Korea-founded religious group that became a political flashpoint in Japan after the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, are set to return to court on Wednesday as judges consider whether to strip it of its legal status. The Tokyo High Court is widely expected to uphold a lower court’s dissolution order against the group, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, in a case that...
Beijing and Washington have begun discussing ways to revive reciprocal investment – a move that could be one of the few deliverables during an upcoming China visit by US President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources. The investment issue was touched upon as working-level officials prepared for Trump’s trip, which is scheduled to take place between March 31 and April 2. However, the potenti...
Beijing and Washington have begun discussing ways to revive reciprocal investment – a move that could be one of the few deliverables during an upcoming China visit by US President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources. The investment issue was touched upon as working-level officials prepared for Trump’s trip, which is scheduled to take place between March 31 and April 2. However, the potential scope and structure of such investments remain undefined, sources said. One source said both...
Singapore, March 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Longbridge Securities today announced the launch of the world’s first pre-market U.S. options trading capability. This innovative feature allows users to trade options on major U.S. stocks and ETFs during the pre-market session, ahead of the regular market opening. It significantly extends the U.S. options trading window, enabling global investors to p...
Singapore, March 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Longbridge Securities today announced the launch of the world’s first pre-market U.S. options trading capability. This innovative feature allows users to trade options on major U.S. stocks and ETFs during the pre-market session, ahead of the regular market opening. It significantly extends the U.S. options trading window, enabling global investors to position themselves earlier and plan trading strategies in advance of key market developments. At lau
Meta Platforms Inc. is testing a shopping research feature in its artificial intelligence chatbot, rivaling a similar tool offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. The feature, which allows requests for product suggestions, is being rolled out to some US-based users of the Meta AI web browser. The chatbot responds with a carousel of product images that include captions with information abo...
Meta Platforms Inc. is testing a shopping research feature in its artificial intelligence chatbot, rivaling a similar tool offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. The feature, which allows requests for product suggestions, is being rolled out to some US-based users of the Meta AI web browser. The chatbot responds with a carousel of product images that include captions with information about the brand, website, and price. It also offers a brief explanation of its recommendations in bullet-point form. A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the shopping tool is being tested, but declined to share further details. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has made it a goal for Meta to build “personal superintelligence” as it competes with other popular chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini , which have also begun incorporating ecommerce features to make money from their tools. During an earnings call in January, Zuckerberg said the company will start shipping new products in the coming months that can show Meta’s ability to provide a “uniquely personal experience” based on people’s history, interests, content and relationships. Read More: OpenAI Debuts ChatGPT Shopping Research Tool Ahead of the Holidays When applicable, the chatbot’s recommendations are tailored to what Meta already knows about the user’s location and to the gender it infers from their name, Bloomberg News found when testing the feature. For example, when asked to find puffer jackets, Meta AI’s response referenced the author’s location in New York and offered options for women’s puffers. There is no checkout or payment option within Meta’s chatbot, but users can click on the provided merchant links for further browsing. The spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about whether Meta receives referral commissions for its chatbot’s recommendations and declined to comment on whether Meta AI prioritizes brands that already advertise their products on its social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. Bu...
(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc (META). is testing a shopping research feature in its artificial intelligence chatbot, rivaling a similar tool offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Gemini. The feature, which allows requests for product suggestions, is being rolled out to some US-based users of the Meta AI web browser. The chatbot responds with a carousel of product images that in...
(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc (META). is testing a shopping research feature in its artificial intelligence chatbot, rivaling a similar tool offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Gemini. The feature, which allows requests for product suggestions, is being rolled out to some US-based users of the Meta AI web browser. The chatbot responds with a carousel of product images that include captions with information about the brand, website, and price. It also offers a brief explanation of its recommendations in bullet-point form. A Meta spokesperson confirmed that the shopping tool is being tested, but declined to share further details. Most Read from Bloomberg Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has made it a goal for Meta to build “personal superintelligence” as it competes with other popular chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, which have also begun incorporating ecommerce features to make money from their tools. During an earnings call in January, Zuckerberg said the company will start shipping new products in the coming months that can show Meta’s ability to provide a “uniquely personal experience” based on people’s history, interests, content and relationships. When applicable, the chatbot’s recommendations are tailored to what Meta already knows about the user’s location and to the gender it infers from their name, Bloomberg News found when testing the feature. For example, when asked to find puffer jackets, Meta AI’s response referenced the author’s location in New York and offered options for women’s puffers. There is no checkout or payment option within Meta’s chatbot, but users can click on the provided merchant links for further browsing. Screenshot of the Meta AI chatbot in a web browser on March 2, 2026.Screenshot taken by Natalie Lung/Bloomberg The spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about whether Meta receives referral commissions for its chatbot’s recommendations and declined to comment on whether Meta AI prioritizes brands that a...
China Conducts Patrol In South China Sea, Accuses Philippines Of Disturbing Regional Peace Authored by Alex Wu via The Epoch Times, The Chinese regime’s navy conducted patrols in the South China Sea from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26, while the United States, Japan, and the Philippines were holding joint military exercises in international waters. The Chinese regime criticized the Philippines for “disturbing...
China Conducts Patrol In South China Sea, Accuses Philippines Of Disturbing Regional Peace Authored by Alex Wu via The Epoch Times, The Chinese regime’s navy conducted patrols in the South China Sea from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26, while the United States, Japan, and the Philippines were holding joint military exercises in international waters. The Chinese regime criticized the Philippines for “disturbing peace” in the region. Analysts told The Epoch Times that the standoff in the South China Sea does not necessarily mean that the situation will escalate soon, and the Chinese regime’s rhetoric reflects complicated political considerations. The United States, the Philippines, and Japan this week conducted joint exercises over the Bashi Channel that separates the Philippines from Taiwan in the South China Sea, according to a statement by the Philippine military on Feb. 27. The drills were aimed at showcasing the forces’ “ability to operate seamlessly together in complex maritime environments,” the Philippine military said. This was the first time that such joint exercises have been conducted in the Bashi Channel. The Chinese regime reacted angrily to the joint drills. On Feb. 27, a spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Southern Theatre Command accused the Philippines of “disrupting peace and stability by organizing joint patrols with countries outside the region.” China conducted a “routine patrol” of the South China Sea from Feb. 23 to Feb. 26, according to the spokesperson. While China claims sovereignty over the waters, citing the historical nine-dash demarcation line within the South China Sea, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia each claim sovereignty over their exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea. Some of these zones overlap with each other, with communist China’s nine-dash line, and with Taiwan’s 11-dash demarcation. On July 12, 2016, an international tribunal ruled that the nine-dash demarcation couldn’t be used by the...
In this article AMZN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT People walk by the exhibit for Amazon Web Services (AWS) at National Retail Federation (NRF) 2026: Retail's Big Show, in New York City, U.S., Jan. 12, 2026. Kylie Cooper | Reuters Amazon Web Services said late Monday two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates and a facility in Bahrain were damaged by drone strikes, takin...
In this article AMZN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT People walk by the exhibit for Amazon Web Services (AWS) at National Retail Federation (NRF) 2026: Retail's Big Show, in New York City, U.S., Jan. 12, 2026. Kylie Cooper | Reuters Amazon Web Services said late Monday two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates and a facility in Bahrain were damaged by drone strikes, taking the facilities offline. The incident occurred Sunday morning, with the company posting to its AWS health dashboard at the time that "objects" hit data centers in the UAE, causing "sparks and fire." The company also said it was investigating power and connectivity issues at a site in Bahrain. The company's latest update at 7:19 p.m. EST acknowledged the outages were caused by drone strikes tied to the "ongoing conflict in the Middle East." "In the UAE, two of our facilities were directly struck, while in Bahrain, a drone strike in close proximity to one of our facilities caused physical impacts to our infrastructure," AWS said. "These strikes have caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage." AWS said it's working to quickly restore service in the area, but it expects recovery to be prolonged "given the nature of the physical damage involved." The company said it would share an update on the situation by midnight or sooner if new information becomes available. While it repairs physical damage at the data centers, AWS said it's also working to restore data access and service availability in the affected regions, which don't require the facilities to be fully brought back online. AWS warned that instability is likely to continue in the Middle East, making operations "unpredictable." It said customers with workloads in the area should consider taking steps to mitigate impacts from the conflict, including backing up their data or potentially migrating t...