A malware campaign using the EtherHiding technique has exploited the Polygon blockchain to conceal and dynamically rotate command-and-control infrastructure while stealing banking and cryptocurrency credentials from infected users. Security researchers tracing the operation said it has been active since at least November 2025 and has compromised at least 31 legitimate business websites across several countries and industries. The campaign has evolved from deploying a general-purpose PowerShell backdoor […]
Gold prices were little changed on Monday, holding close to a one-week high as investors balanced persistent Middle East tensions against expectations that US interest rates could remain elevated for longer. Spot gold was almost flat at about $4,379.74 an ounce in early trade, while US gold futures for December delivery slipped 0.1 per cent to $4,419.40. The metal had climbed to a one-week high on Friday […]
US President Donald Trump will expand a planned meeting with Gulf officials in New York this week to include Iraq and Jordan, broadening consultations with Arab governments as Washington weighs its next steps in the conflict with Iran. The meeting is expected on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, where leaders and senior officials from the six Gulf Cooperation Council states are due […]
Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company has identified Fount Trust as its ultimate parent above Royal Group Holding LLC, formalising the ownership structure that followed an earlier restructuring. IHC said on Monday that the change affects the legal ownership chain but does not alter its ultimate beneficial ownership, operations, strategy or business activities. Royal Group continues to exist and operate within the structure, while IHC remains governed by […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Qatar’s prime minister has called for Gulf states to act together to restore regional stability and help secure a settlement between the United States and Iran, arguing that the war should force governments to rethink how security is organised across the Gulf. “We are hoping this war is a wake-up call for everyone,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Sunday at the […]
European electricity prices for the coming winter have risen to their highest levels since the 2022 energy crisis, with German January contracts trading above €180 a megawatt-hour as gas supply concerns and geopolitical disruption tighten the market across the continent now. The German benchmark on the European Energy Exchange is more than 60 per cent higher than a year ago, signalling growing concern over the cost of […]
Cybersecurity researchers have documented two attacks involving Settra ransomware, exposing a repeatable post-compromise playbook that combines legitimate remote-management software, recovery sabotage and efforts to erase forensic evidence. Huntress said the incidents affected a consumer services and retail organisation in July and a manufacturing company in September. Settra was first observed publicly in June, but the two investigations provide fresh detail on how operators maintain access after compromise […]
North Korean cyber operators posing as recruiters have compromised at least 30,000 devices in more than 100 countries, using fraudulent job interviews to infect technology professionals and steal cryptocurrency, authorities from four countries have disclosed. The campaign, attributed to a group tracked as WaterPlum and widely known as Contagious Interview, targeted web designers, software engineers, freelancers and specialists in cryptocurrency, blockchain and Web3 technologies between about December […]
Security researchers participating in OpenAI’s bug bounty programme penetrated employee accounts and reached the company’s private GitHub monorepo after using Anthropic’s Claude models to develop an exploit chain. The July operation was carried out by three researchers at cybersecurity start-up Hacktron AI, who said they combined a vulnerability in software used by OpenAI’s community forum with a flaw in the company’s single sign-on configuration. OpenAI later fixed […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai President Donald Trump returned unexpectedly to the White House on Saturday after cutting short a weekend at Camp David, as a Houthi missile attack on Riyadh pushed the renewed Saudi-Yemen conflict into the kingdom’s capital. The White House gave no explanation for Trump’s early return, which came a day before he had been scheduled to leave the presidential retreat in Maryland. The timing […]
By K Raveendran Donald Trump now possesses one of the most formidable economic weapons available to an American president against countries sustaining Russia’s energy revenues. Yet, the decision on how aggressively to wield it is complicated by a contradiction that Washington cannot easily escape: squeezing Russian oil out of the international market could also push […]
Spain’s data protection authority has disclosed its first notified personal-data breach in which an artificial intelligence agent allegedly carried out several stages of an intrusion, including vulnerability discovery, data modification and access to billing records. The Agencia Española de Protección de Datos said the incident involved an agent using a known large language model and marked a significant shift in the operational use of AI in cyberattacks. […]
Attackers are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in the WooCommerce Wholesale Lead Capture plugin to upload PHP webshells onto WordPress sites, with more than 100,000 exploit attempts blocked since June, Wordfence data shows. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-27540, affects versions 2.0.3.1 and earlier of the premium plugin and allows unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files to a vulnerable server. Wordfence rates the bug 9.8 on the CVSS […]
The European Union has urged the United States to reconsider its decision to deny visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian officials seeking to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York, intensifying diplomatic pressure on Washington before the gathering. Anouar El Anouni, a spokesman for the European External Action Service, said on Saturday that the bloc regretted the extension of the visa denial […]
Baniyas Jiu-Jitsu Club moved to the front on the opening day of Round 7 of the Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Jiu-Jitsu Championship at Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi on Friday, with Al Jazira Jiu-Jitsu Club second and M. O. D UAE third. The first day of the three-day Gi round featured Under-18, Adults and Masters competitors, with results across the divisions contributing to club standings as […]
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 19 September 2026 – Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee rolled out various measures to develop Hong Kong’s key economic centres when he unveiled the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) (2026-2030) and his fifth Policy Address on September 16.
Under Hong Kong’s First Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong will focus on strengthening the four centres, developing the hub for high-calibre talent, consolidating and enhancing its competitive edge as an international city.
Hong Kong’s status as world-renowned international financial, maritime and trade centres as well as an international aviation hub underpin the city’s high-quality development and provide a firm foundation for the city’s long-term stability and prosperity.
“We will consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre, and stay committed to our global positioning,” Mr Lee said. “Hong Kong will deepen the development of its global offshore Renminbi business and capital market, develop an international asset and wealth management centre and international risk management centre, enhance the securities market and expand fixed income and commodity trading.”
Hong Kong has become the world’s largest cross‑boundary wealth management centre this year, and the HKSAR Government will continue to develop a more attractive asset and wealth management ecosystem, Mr Lee said.
Hong Kong will develop a commodity trading ecosystem with gold as an entry point by driving the development of the clearing system, storage, supply, and infrastructure related to gold trading. The city’s central clearing and settlement system for gold will be officially launched in the first quarter of 2027.
“The significance of the First Five-Year Plan for Hong Kong lies in a mindset shift; we must plan Hong Kong’s financial development with a longer-term vision and broader perspective to adapt with flexibility and diversity,” said Christopher Hui, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury. “Each of our initiatives centres around one objective, which is to elevate Hong Kong from a ‘corridor of capital’ to a ‘destination of choice’.”
Hong Kong was ranked the world’s fifth‑largest entity in merchandise trade in 2025. The HKSAR Government announced plans to consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international trade centre, playing a greater role in the high‑level opening up of the Chinese Mainland.
Since the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global was established last October, it has provided assistance, including listing and raising capital in Hong Kong, aligning with overseas standards, acquiring industry certifications and fulfilling compliance requirements for more than 340 Mainland enterprises.
The Task Force will strengthen collaboration with professional organisations to train talent for the GoGlobal initiative and enhance professional services, among other areas.
“In alignment with the National 15th Five-Year Plan’s call to advocate and practise true multilateralism, the First Five-Year Plan proposes to continue expanding international economic and trade network,” said Algernon Yau, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development.
“We will actively forge free trade agreements and investment agreements with economies that are of development potential or strategic locations. Meanwhile, we will expand our network of overseas offices, and leverage the combined networks of our overseas Economic and Trade Offices, InvestHK, and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council offices globally to deepen overseas ties and step up trade and investment promotion.”
As an international maritime centre, Hong Kong has ranked fourth globally in maritime comprehensive strength for seven consecutive years. The Five-Year Plan will drive a “volume to value” transformation of the Hong Kong Port, capitalising on its strengths in high value‑added maritime services, to develop Hong Kong into a “Global Maritime Capital”.
To promote high value-added services, the industry will develop “Finance + Shipping”.
Taking advantage of the city’s well‑established maritime finance, insurance and maritime arbitration under common law, Hong Kong will build an integrated ecosystem under which Hong Kong‑invested enterprises adopt Hong Kong law, take out Hong Kong insurance and choose for arbitration to be seated in Hong Kong.
Regarding aviation, Hong Kong’s passenger throughput recorded a year‑on‑year increase of 15% last year, to 61 million, with flights to over 220 destinations. The city’s air cargo throughput reached 5.07 million tonnes, making its airport the world’s busiest cargo airport for the 15th year since 2010.
To strengthen development as international aviation hub, Hong Kong will expand its aviation network, and diversify business opportunities.
The HKSAR Government will continue to take the initiative to visit South America, Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and the Caucasus to expedite the conclusion of new air services agreements and the expansion of traffic rights, thereby assisting the industry in exploring new passenger and cargo sources.
As for building Hong Kong as an international innovation and technology centre, the HKSAR Government will step up its efforts to promote artificial intelligence (AI) applications across various trades, and continue to strike a balance between encouraging innovation and protecting security, thereby enhancing Hong Kong’s international competitiveness in AI development.
In alignment with the national strategic technology areas, Hong Kong will focus on core technologies such as life and health, AI and robotics, microelectronics, new energy, advanced manufacturing and new materials. It will also continue to raise the ratio of Total Domestic Expenditure on Innovation Activities to Gross Domestic Product, striving to reach 3% after 2030.
CrowdSec has said a supply-chain attack involving compromised TanStack npm packages led to the unauthorised copying of about 170 private GitHub repositories after credentials linked to a departing employee were exposed. The cybersecurity company said its investigation, completed with assistance from GitHub, traced the breach to an OAuth token obtained after the employee’s account was compromised in the May TanStack attack. The repositories were downloaded on May […]
Hackers who physically removed a Flock Safety roadside camera were able to copy much of its internal storage, uncover an encryption key and access tens of thousands of video clips and data linked to about 1.6 million images generated over 21 days. The compromise involved a single camera taken from above a roadway and did not amount to a remote breach of Flock Safety’s cloud network. The […]
The UN Security Council has condemned continuing Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia in the strongest terms and affirmed the kingdom’s right to defend itself under international law. The 15-member council said on Friday that strikes affecting civilian and energy infrastructure had injured civilians, including women and children, as cross-border attacks from Yemen continued to place Saudi cities and strategic facilities under pressure. Council members affirmed “the inherent […]
A United Nations-backed fact-finding mission has found reasonable grounds to believe United States forces committed war crimes in two February strikes in Iran, including an attack on a primary school in Minab that killed more than 150 people. The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said the strikes amounted to indiscriminate attacks that caused civilian deaths, injuries and damage to civilian objects. Its findings were submitted to […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence declared the danger over in Riyadh and Al-Kharj early on Saturday after a second overnight round of emergency alerts warned residents of a potential threat. The General Directorate of Civil Defence said the all-clear applied to the capital and Al-Kharj governorate and urged citizens and residents to continue following official safety instructions. The update followed warnings transmitted through the […]
China-aligned threat actors are using Chinese-language casino and adult websites to conceal PeckBirdy command-and-control infrastructure, with Infoblox telemetry showing the framework touching networks across a broad range of enterprise customers. Infoblox Threat Intelligence said just over 3% of its enterprise customers resolved at least one domain associated with PeckBirdy, indicating that traffic linked to the campaign is appearing well beyond the narrow set of organisations previously connected […]
Software stocks are staging a sharp recovery as stronger-than-expected earnings and fresh calls for restraint in advanced artificial intelligence development ease fears that AI will quickly undermine the sector’s business models. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has climbed about 17 per cent since the end of the first half, reversing part of a 14 per cent decline during the opening six months of 2026, when investors […]
Saudi Arabia has sold about 60 million barrels of crude for loading in September and October from Ras Tanura, with cargoes crossing the Strait of Hormuz before being transferred ship-to-ship off Oman’s Sohar port, according to multiple trade sources. The sales are lifting Saudi Aramco’s crude exports from Gulf terminals back to an average of about 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day, around or slightly […]
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