Alcoa sale looms over Worsley Alumina workers’ move to down tools at WA mine

A planned visit to Korea by Madison Huang, a senior director at Nvidia Corp. and the daughter of CEO Jensen Huang, has been abruptly canceled, sources said Saturday. The younger Huang had planned to visit Korea on Sunday to attend the "Nvidia AI Day Seoul 2026" event, set for Monday and Tuesday at the COEX exhibition center in southern Seoul, and meet with Korean government officials. But her scheduled trip was abruptly called off due to family issues, the sources said, without disclosing details. Some industry observers speculate the cancellation may have been influenced by foreign news reports alleging that U.S. intelligence officials believe a woman who had a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was a spy working for China. Despite Huang's absence, the Nvidia-hosted event is expected to be held as scheduled, according to the sources.

Unionized workers at Korean steelmaker POSCO on Saturday voted down a tentative wage agreement reached with management that includes a 2.6 percent increase in base pay, union officials said. The vote showed 51.69 percent of the unionized workers opposed the wage agreement, while 48.31 percent approved it, according to the union. The tentative wage deal includes a 2.6 percent hike in base pay, a one-off payment of 6 million won ($4,500) and improved benefits. The union had initially demanded a 7.1 percent increase in base pay, a performance bonus equivalent to 600 percent of base pay, 50 company shares per worker and a holiday bonus equivalent to 200 percent of base pay. "We will probably need to open renegotiations as there were many opposing votes," a union official said. The union and management reached a tentative wage agreement on Oct. 30 after holding about 30 rounds of talks since June. Unionized POSCO workers staged two rounds of partial strikes in September to demand higher wages and bonuses.

A decade after hosting a politically hobbled Barack Obama at a Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hangzhou, China is preparing to welcome another “lame-duck” US president for a multilateral gathering: Donald Trump. Following the Republicans’ loss of both chambers of the US Congress in the midterm elections on Tuesday – a drubbing that reached deep into historically red states – Trump is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in two weeks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation...

Gustav Mahler’s rarely performed Symphony No 8, a work requiring such a large orchestra and choir it is known as “Symphony of a Thousand”, finally received its Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra premiere on Saturday, heralding an ambitious new chapter as the 26-year-old Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski officially took the podium as music director. The 5pm performance at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre involved nearly 600 musicians and singers from six choirs: the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus; the...

The driver’s seat was empty and the steering wheel was turning on its own. Sitting in the back of a Pony.ai robotaxi in Shenzhen, I felt a flicker of nervousness. But as the car glided into traffic, the initial unease gave way to an appreciation of something far less futuristic: the blissful absence of small talk with the driver. My test rides in two of China’s major tech hubs – with Pony.ai in Shenzhen and Baidu’s Apollo Go in Beijing – offered a first-hand experience of how autonomous vehicles...

China’s ruling Communist Party has warned of “zero tolerance” for bribery and other attempts at election interference as delegate selection begins for next year’s national congress, which is expected to feature a major leadership reshuffle. The party issued guidelines on selecting the delegates, a process that would be overseen by its Organisation Department, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday. The 21st national party congress, to be held in the second half of next year, will select a...

Mayor-elect Raman says she will cut homelessness in half by 2028, end it by 2030. Can she deliver?

Great America, the beloved hometown theme park for generations of Northern Californians, has announced there will be one more season of roller coasters and funnel cakes before the gates close for good.

Trivia buffs, test your knowledge with today’s interactive superquiz.

A Canadian goal of clearing a backlog of more than 30,000 applications from Hongkongers awaiting permanent residency is “encouraging” but questions remain about whether it can be achieved by 2027, advocates and immigration experts have said. Experts and Canadian parliamentarians said on Saturday that Ottawa’s new one-off measure to add more quota spaces to clear the Hong Kong immigration pathways backlog would help address the uncertainty facing tens of thousands from the city still waiting for...

A top university in China’s eastern Jiangsu province has rolled back a controversial feature of its AI-powered classroom tracking system following fierce public backlash. Students at Nanjing University were recently notified by the university that it would begin using its “smart classroom” system – upgraded over the summer – to record full attendance rates over a one-week period, Chinese media reported on Wednesday. Outrage flared when leaked screenshots purportedly revealed the AI-powered...

Manila is preparing for a potential second legal case against Beijing over the South China Sea, according to a Philippines-based security analyst. “Indeed, the Philippines is considering filing another case against China, and authorities are already preparing the necessary legal documentation,” said Rommel Banlaoi, president of the Philippine Society for International Security Studies, on Saturday. He made the remarks at a South China Sea symposium in the southern Chinese city of Sanya,...