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Prediction markets: Hong Kong ban alone will not solve risks, legal experts say

2026-06-26T14:30:01+00:00

Prediction markets occupy a grey area under Hong Kong’s gambling laws, with experts warning that the increasingly popular betting platforms could pose risks related to market manipulation and consumer protection.

Lawyers and a legislator said that while a ban could restrict access to these largely unregulated betting platforms, authorities would face challenges in gathering evidence and prosecuting cases.

“If there were such a ban, we foresee there would be practical challenges for the authorities to crack down on individuals engaging in prediction market transactions online,” said PJ Kaur, counsel in intellectual property at law firm Hogan Lovells.

Prediction markets came into focus locally in April, when the government shelved plans to legalise basketball betting, citing their rapid rise as a significant risk that could indirectly fuel illegal gambling.

Primarily operating on overseas websites, prediction markets allow for crowdsourced trading on a wide range of future events, from tomorrow’s weather to political decisions such as election outcomes and geopolitical developments.

Two of the largest platforms are New York-based Polymarket and Kalshi. Polymarket recorded US$1.1 billion in trades on future outcomes over the past seven days, while Kalshi saw US$2.83 billion, according to DeFiLlama, an open-source database on decentralised finance.

From Kuantan to ‘Oscars of science’: top Malaysian scientist is constantly adapting

2026-06-26T14:30:06+00:00

By Ushar Daniele

For Dr Thein Swee Lay, the only Malaysian scientist to have won the Breakthrough Prize, cracking a code in gene therapy was easier than hunting down an authentic version of her hometown popiah – or spring rolls – in the US, where she has been based for years.

“I have not come across a Malaysian restaurant that sells good popiah. I miss it,” Thein told This Week in Asia in an exclusive interview where she fondly reminisced about her childhood in Malaysia’s coastal town of Kuantan.

Thein, the seventh of nine children, said her large family moved from town to town in then Malaya because of her father’s civil service postings.

The constant relocation taught her to adapt to ever-changing circumstances, said the 74-year-old, who works at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda and has lived in Washington since 2015.

In April, she won one of the 2026 Breakthrough Prizes, dubbed the “Oscars of science”, for work that helped turn a decades-old mystery in blood disorders into a gene-editing discovery.

Kuantan-born Thein Swee Lay is the first Malaysian to take home the Breakthrough Prize. Photo: Jackie Lee.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

Singapore graduates settle for half pay in brutal jobs market

2026-06-26T13:30:01+00:00

By Bloomberg

As the class of 2026 join the race to find jobs, unemployed college graduates in Singapore are taking a last-ditch shot at getting ahead via temporary government-funded gigs that earn them half the median first pay cheque.

The government’s Graduate Industry Traineeships, known as GRIT, offer a stopgap for graduates to gain industry-relevant experience with government agencies or private businesses, earning between S$1,800 to S$2,400 (US$1,400 to US$1,850) per month. The lowest end of that range is less than half the median graduate’s starting salary and around two-thirds the wage of a McDonald’s management trainee, who needs only a pre-university diploma.

“When I started the programme, I thought: ‘Shucks. I’ve finished four years of school and all I’ve got is a job that pays half of what my friends get’,” said Lee Jia En, a 25-year-old graduate from the Singapore University of Social Sciences. “But I felt it was worth it if it could help me get to my next job. So I said OK, let’s eat humble pie.”

Governments around the world have been labouring to prop up a sagging graduate jobs market amid a surge in artificial-intelligence adoption, a post-pandemic slowdown in hiring and lingering economic effects from the US-Israel war on Iran.

Those headwinds run especially strong in trade dependent, energy importing Singapore. “Heightened uncertainty” has made businesses in the city state more cautious about hiring, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said in May. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has warned that some existing jobs “will disappear” because of AI.

Cargo ships are seen in the Singapore Strait on June 1. Economic headwinds run especially strong in the trade-dependent, energy importing city state. Photo: AFP.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

Hong Kong’s Tiu Keng Leng residents win landmark case in 1996 – SCMP archive

2026-06-26T13:30:06+00:00

By SCMP

This article was first published on June 28, 1996.

by Cliff Buddle and Ng Kang-chung

Rennie’s Mill residents won their marathon battle with the Government yesterday (June 27, 1996) when a judge ruled they had been treated unfairly and must be paid damages.

Mr Justice Raymond Sears said the Government abused its powers by breaching a 35-year-old promise to allow the refugees to stay at the Tseung Kwan O site indefinitely.

But the residents were told they must finally bid an emotional farewell to their homes to make way for development.

The community was built by Kuomintang refugees in the 1950s and described in court as a symbol of freedom all over the world. It will be “obliterated” next month and replaced by new tower blocks.

The level of damages to be paid to the 400 people still occupying homes at Rennie’s Mill has not been settled.

Asean’s side deals in Myanmar risk missing where the power truly lies

2026-06-26T13:30:11+00:00

By Yuyun Wahyuningrum

As Asean foreign ministers prepare to meet in Manila from July 21-22, a quiet but significant shift is under way in the bloc’s approach to Myanmar.

Although the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remains formally committed to the “five-point consensus”, several member states appear to be reconsidering the collective pressure strategy adopted since the 2021 coup.

Rather than abandoning the consensus outright, they argue that more direct engagement with Naypyidaw may be necessary to encourage its implementation.

In May, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan travelled to Myanmar for talks with junta-appointed Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe, urging an extension of the military’s temporary ceasefire and presenting engagement as a pathway towards de-escalation and dialogue.

Leo Herrera-Lim, the Philippine undersecretary for foreign policy and leader for Asean senior officials’ meetings, recently co-chaired consultations in Naypyidaw. Indonesia’s foreign minister visited on June 8 and Laos’ did the same a few days later. Thailand, meanwhile, has long advocated a more pragmatic approach towards Myanmar’s military rulers.

This steady trickle of bilateral outreach may yet carve a path for recalibrated regional relations with Naypyidaw. Resigned to the reality that the five-point consensus will remain a matter of words rather than deeds – at least without a new tactical approach – some Asean foreign ministers are now open to including a virtual seat for Myanmar’s highly contested and dubiously credentialed new government in coming talks.

As China’s tech firms adapt to AI era, workers worry they’ll be ‘optimised’ out of a job

2026-06-26T13:30:16+00:00

By Wency Chen

When a friend checked in on a Meituan employee late last month to see if he had survived the latest round of corporate culling at the food delivery giant, he responded drily: “I don’t know whether it will be me next.”

Anxieties were running high at the company then, after chat screenshots circulated on Chinese social media claiming Meituan planned to slash up to half of its product roles by the end of June, coupled with deep cuts to other departments.

While Meituan quickly denied the rumours, the viral speculation struck a sensitive nerve across China’s tech industry. Behind the online claims, employees whisper that a quieter, more insidious form of retrenchment has been under way for months.

For years, tech workers in China have harboured a deep-seated dread of the word youhua – “optimisation”. The term serves as corporate shorthand for painful lay-offs, often masked by euphemisms like “organisational restructuring”.

This year, however, the term carries a chilling new undertone. The increasingly urgent question echoing through office corridors is no longer whether a worker is performing, but whether their job can be done by artificial intelligence.

Meituan is far from an isolated case. From Baidu to Xiaomi, China’s technology giants have been trimming their teams, according to internal sources and tech recruiters.

US eases ban on AI model Mythos feared to aid cyberattacks

2026-06-26T13:00:01+00:00

By Reuters

The US government has allowed Anthropic to release its powerful Claude Mythos 5 artificial intelligence model to some “trusted” US organisations, partially reversing an order two weeks ago to suspend access over national security risks.

More than 100 companies and institutions will now have access to Mythos 5, including many Fortune 500 companies, according to a source familiar with the new directive, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Concern that powerful AI systems could be misused by military intelligence users in ‌China, Russia or other countries of concern has prompted US President Donald Trump’s administration to take an aggressive approach to oversight of releases of Anthropic’s and rival OpenAI’s frontier models.

OpenAI said earlier on Friday that it was delaying a full public launch of GPT-5.6 at the US government’s request, limiting its access to a small group of vetted partners whose details were shared with the authorities.

Anthropic had abruptly disabled its most advanced AI models – Mythos 5 and Fable 5 – for all users after the government’s June 12 export control order.

A figurine in front of the logo of AI company Anthropic. Photo: AFP.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

Bangkok’s ‘Hulk’ governor wants a second chance to smash it

2026-06-26T12:30:01+00:00

By Aidan Jones

You hear “The Hulk” before you see him: Chadchart Sittipunt’s voice carries as he canvasses for a second term as Bangkok governor in the tight, twisting alleys of a working-class canalside community.

The nickname, affectionately bestowed upon him by Thai internet users for his muscular frame and passion for running, suits the 60-year-old well. He has been out hustling for votes daily ahead of Sunday’s election, which he appears all but certain to win.

Meeting residents in poor communities, middle-class shopping centres, street markets and parks was crucial to the running of the Thai capital, Chadchart said in an exclusive interview with This Week in Asia. “They are our bosses, our masters. Everyone has their own problems. We need to listen to them to help us improve this place.”

Indeed, as the politician who has earned a reputation for being approachable, visible and energetic zigzags across the city, its residents greet him with a laundry list of gripes.

Life in the Southeast Asian megacity can feel precarious, Chadchart acknowledges. Bangkok’s traffic devours entire days, as its infrastructure lags behind a population boom that has filled the towers and gated communities sprawling across a greater urban area of 17 million.

Chadchart Sittipunt’s election team canvasses for votes in Bangkok. Photo: Aidan Jones.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

Talking when you eat is bad for you, and other Chinese beliefs

2026-06-26T12:00:01+00:00

By Xiong Yang

“What did your family talk about at the dinner table?”

Snug under the Tuscan sun, at a writing retreat on a permaculture farm outside Florence, I was ready to mine my fondest food memories. For a moment, scenes from films and television flashed across my mind: a montage of vivid dinner conversations and emotional check-ins, stitched together from various coming-of-age stories.

The only problem was that I could not claim any of those vignettes as my own. I squinted and dug deeper, into countless meals with my family. It seemed our focus never shifted far from the meal itself. We cared too much about the fundamental function of the meal – nutrition – to ask one another about our day.

“When eating, he did not converse. When in bed, he did not speak.” The Analects of Confucius, advising silence in aid of digestion and sleep, may well have anticipated our table manners. Although the Chinese philosopher was never directly quoted at home, the logic feels familiar.

In my family, drinks were also absent from the dinner table, even something as benign as warm water. As a child, I assumed my parents set out to discourage sugary beverages but despotically banned all other drinks too. They insisted that too much liquid interfered with digestion.

Only later would I discover that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shares the same suspicion. In TCM, digestion depends on the yang vital energy of the spleen and stomach, a kind of metabolic warmth that can be dampened by excess liquid. The body is understood to be a delicate system whose balance should not be disturbed unnecessarily.

Hong Kong is betting on integration with mainland China but what are the risks?

2026-06-26T11:30:01+00:00

By Lo Hoi-ying

In the second of a two-part series on the economy as Hong Kong marks 29 years since its return to Chinese rule, Lo Hoi Ying and Leopold Chen look at the city’s efforts at closer integration with the nation and the opportunities and obstacles it presents. Part one can be found here.

A question from his niece about how face masks should be recycled prompted materials scientist Eddie Yu to rethink sustainability and inspired him to develop biodegradable materials when he started his company, OKOsix, in Hong Kong in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Five years on, the company has seen strong demand from Western markets such as Canada, Europe and Australia and is set to expand further in these economies.

The firm has also expanded its presence in mainland China by establishing regional headquarters in the Hong Kong Science Park Shenzhen Branch in the technology hub’s Futian district, as it eyes a reliable supply chain and the vast market of the world’s second-largest economy.

“We’ve already got some sizeable orders and this will be our headquarters in China,” he said. “We will build a factory in Guangdong in the near future.”

OKOsix is one of a myriad of Hong Kong businesses benefiting from the government’s push for greater integration with the Greater Bay Area and the mainland in recent years.

The bay area is Beijing’s master plan to link up Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in neighbouring Guangdong province into an economic powerhouse.

Coffee, chillies and cashews: a new recipe to spice up China-Africa trade relations

2026-06-26T11:30:06+00:00

By Jevans Nyabiage

As China’s relationship with African countries deepens, the country’s influence is spreading into more areas. In our series Jevans Nyabiage looks at how Beijing’s blanket import clearance for three African food products will affect ties between them, and the potential effects for other governments around the world.

Beijing is rewriting its trade playbook by bypassing years of protracted bilateral negotiations to grant continent-wide market access for African coffee, chillies and cashews.

The streamlined “green channel”, announced by China’s General Administration of Customs, applies uniform sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards to all 53 African countries with diplomatic ties to Beijing. Products meeting baseline requirements on pest risks, processing and safety are now immediately eligible, eliminating the need for individual country-by-country trade deals.

Dried chillies were chosen for the launch of the blanket clearance framework in May. Rwanda pioneered chilli exports to China in 2021, and Uganda followed earlier this year with an 11-tonne shipment to Shanghai.

The growing appetite for fiery hotpots in Hunan and Sichuan provinces has fuelled demand for the East African varieties prized by Chinese food processors for their heat and low moisture content.

Chinese grandpa works as beauty influencer to fund disabled grandson’s costly treatment

2026-06-26T11:30:11+00:00

By Fran Lu

A 75-year-old grandfather became a beauty influencer to raise money for his grandson with a rare disease, saying he did so out of love for his only daughter.

Zhu Yunchang, from eastern China’s Jiangsu province, looks after his nine-year-old grandson Cao Jingyan during the day and live‑streams at night.

Zhu usually live‑streams until midnight, and his wife stays up to keep him company.

Zhu is doing this to raise money for Jingyan’s treatment in the form of injections, which cost around 1.4 million yuan (US$206,000) a year.

Viewers who watched his live‑stream would sometimes see an elderly man clumsily applying make-up on his face, swatching lipsticks on his forearm to compare colours like other beauty influencers.

The treatment, administered via injections, costs around 1.4 million yuan (US$206,000) a year before it was covered by China’s medical insurance in 2021. Photo: QQ.com.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

Trump unveils new US passport with his own face inside

2026-06-26T10:30:01+00:00

By Agence France-Presse

President Donald Trump on Friday unveiled a rendering of a new limited-edition US passport to mark the country’s 250th anniversary of independence, featuring his stern-faced likeness.

“The U.S.A.’s New Passport, which says, ‘Welcome, but be good!’” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform featuring the passport mock-up.

The image features a glowering Trump leaning on his desk and his signature, with the text of the Declaration of Independence in the background. It appears to be based on a portrait taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok.

The opposite page shows a painting depicting the declaration’s signing in 1776, with the words “United States of America 250.”

The White House posted the same passport rendering, with the words “PATRIOT PASSPORT.”

The State Department, which had previously announced that a commemorative passport with “custom artwork” would be available from July 6, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Growth agenda: Hong Kong vows stronger exchange with reforms, bond futures and gold push

2026-06-26T10:30:06+00:00

By Daisy Wu

Hong Kong is pressing ahead with an overhaul of listing rules and the launch of new product initiatives, the city’s deputy finance chief said on Friday as the bourse operator marked 26 years as a publicly traded company.

Speaking at the anniversary ceremony of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun outlined reforms under review, including optimising weighted voting rights, easing secondary listings by overseas issuers, and expanding flexibility for biotech and specialist technology companies.

“We will continue to work tirelessly and proactively to make Hong Kong even better and stronger as a leading international financial centre,” Wong said.

The consultation period closed last month, and HKEX was now reviewing feedback before finalising the measures, he added.

Wong also welcomed the forthcoming launch of five-year mainland Chinese government bond futures, saying the contract would provide efficient risk-management tools and reinforce Hong Kong’s role as the world’s leading offshore renminbi hub.

He said Hong Kong was building a commodities ecosystem, using gold as a strategic entry point, with plans for expanded storage and refinery capacity and the reactivation of a US dollar gold futures contract.

Malaysia has never had so many Chinese tourists. It wants more

2026-06-26T10:30:11+00:00

By Iman Muttaqin Yusof

Jane Lyu flew to Malaysia on Tuesday to visit a city that she had never heard of until recently. The 32-year-old engineer from Guangxi, southern China, first spotted it on Weibo.

Now, standing outside the pink-domed Putra Mosque in Putrajaya, she explains through a translation app how the country’s administrative capital, a planned city barely three decades old, ended up as the first stop on her Malaysian itinerary.

Lyu, who arrived as part of a company trip that began in Singapore, is one of millions of Chinese tourists poised to visit Malaysia this year – and Malaysia is counting on all of them.

Her group decided to look beyond the buzz of Kuala Lumpur in favour of Putrajaya’s staid grandeur, long, empty roads flanked by government offices and the Putra Mosque’s lakefront arches opening onto a wide ceremonial square that is perfect for photographs.

“Before this, we never heard of the Putra Mosque but we saw it on [microblogging site] Weibo and Douyin [the mainland Chinese version of TikTok]. We had to go. it looked so beautiful,” Lyu said

“On social media, we saw durian stalls as well. We can’t wait to eat the fresh durian.”

Travellers like Lyu are exactly the type Malaysia is targeting with its Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign. The country aims to welcome 7 million Chinese tourists this year, banking on visa-free travel, expanded air links to third-tier Chinese cities and a digital campaign built around mainland mega-apps such as RedNote, Douyin and Weibo.

Hot air balloons float near Putra Mosque (left) in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Photo: EPA-EFE.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

A RedNote user takes a picture near the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: RedNote

Bible passages to be required reading in Texas public schools

2026-06-26T10:00:01+00:00

By Reuters

The Texas Board of Education on ⁠Friday approved mandated reading ⁠lists for public school ⁠children that include passages from the Bible – the latest effort by leaders there to infuse the education system with conservative and religious ideals.

The Republican-dominated board, in a 9-5 vote with ‌one member absent and not voting, approved the reading lists for over 5 million public school students beginning in 2030.

Texas had already mandated that the Bible’s Ten Commandments be displayed in all public schools, a decision that was upheld by a federal appeal ⁠court earlier this year, following on the heels of other Republican-led states ‌seeking to infuse public education with Christian teachings.

Critics say these decisions are at odds with the Constitution’s “establishment clause”, ‌long understood by courts as separating church and state.

Supporters say ⁠the measures restore ⁠basic Judeo-Christian teachings to school systems, which many have said are historically significant.

Audience members and State Board of Education member Julie Pickren (front right) pray before a meeting on social studies standards in Austin, Texas, on Friday. Photo: Austin American-Statesman via AP.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

Young Americans feel more threatened by AI than young Chinese. Why?

2026-06-26T08:30:01+00:00

By Wei Wei

My four-year-old son has become fascinated with his new friend, who has endless patience and an answer for everything. She is an artificial intelligence assistant on Doubao, one of China’s most popular AI applications.

My son, obsessed with space, black holes and galaxies, keeps asking Doubao for related videos. When the video is of low quality or inaccurate, I would stop it and explain it may not be reliable. Despite my concerns about AI-generated information, I let him interact with AI within limits. I see AI primarily as a tool; like the internet or smartphone, it will become an important part of everyday life, so learning to use it matters.

Such an attitude is echoed by most Chinese people, especially among the younger generation. But it seems different for their peers across the Pacific.

In a recently released Chinese survey of more than 7,000 people, over 96 per cent report an awareness of AI, with over 54 per cent using it. More than 40 per cent use AI specifically in work, study or daily life, significantly higher than in the United States and other developed countries. The Edelman Trust Barometer shows 87 per cent in China trusting AI, compared with only 32 per cent in the US.

In contrast, last year’s Harvard Youth Poll found that 59 per cent of 18-29‑year‑olds in the US believed AI threatened their job prospects. According to Gallup, 48 per cent of Gen Z workers think the risks of AI in the workplace outweigh the benefits – up 11 percentage points from last year; meanwhile, those reporting excitement about AI fell by 14 points. In a Harris Poll survey, nearly half of Gen Zers believe AI made their degrees irrelevant.

But while people in China are more positive about AI than in the US, they have anxieties too – just different ones. Chinese surveyed who reported concern about AI job displacement fell to 39.44 per cent last year from 60.5 per cent while the top risk, identified by 45.79 per cent, is of AI overuse leading to an atrophy of personal capabilities.

Is the US trying to sway Taiwan’s KMT by receiving its legislative speaker?

2026-06-26T08:30:06+00:00

By Lawrence Chung

A high-profile visit to Washington by Taiwanese Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu reflects a broader US effort to strengthen ties with the island’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), according to analysts.

Han’s trip follows visits to the United States by Taichung mayor and KMT member Lu Shiow-yen in March and KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun earlier this month.

The succession of arrivals suggested Washington was preparing for political uncertainty after Taiwan’s 2028 leadership election by cultivating relationships across the KMT on issues ranging from defence spending to semiconductor cooperation, analysts said.

Han arrived in the United States on Monday leading a seven-member, cross-party parliamentary delegation after invitations from congressional Taiwan caucuses.

During the week-long visit, he toured Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) Arizona operations and met Taiwanese businesses investing in the US.

Han also held talks with a bipartisan group of seven senators and attended a congressional reception joined by 33 lawmakers, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi. He met officials from the White House and the Pentagon in addition to fellows from the Heritage Foundation think tank, and is expected to return to Taiwan on Saturday.

“Han, as legislative speaker, is expected to receive a high-level reception from US officials and lawmakers,” said James Yifan Chen, a professor of diplomacy at Tamkang University in New Taipei City.

Burkina Faso cuts diplomatic ties with ex-ruler France

2026-06-26T06:30:01+00:00

By Agence France-Presse

Burkina Faso’s ruling junta on Friday severed diplomatic ties with former colonial ruler France, accusing Paris of persistently acting against its interests.

The military regime led by Captain Ibrahim Traore, in power since a coup in September 2022, is pursuing a policy repressive towards critical voices and hostile to Westerners, particularly France.

“The government of Burkina Faso hereby informs the national and international community that it has decided to sever diplomatic relations with France with effect from today, June 26, 2026,” it announced in a statement read out on the west African nation’s national television.

The junta also accused France of harbouring “neocolonial ambitions, made evident by its active support for subversive networks and the terrorists who are plunging our country and the Sahel into mourning”.

Burkina Faso, like several of its neighbours, has for a decade been hit by deadly violence by jihadists affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

According to the statement, this decision “concerns exclusively the institutional framework of relations between the two states at the diplomatic level”.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso’s president, attends a ceremony in Ouagadougou in October 2022. Photo: AFP.css-mkkf9p{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;}

US billionaire Leon Black defends US$158 million paid to Epstein

2026-06-26T04:30:01+00:00

By Associated Press

Billionaire investor Leon Black said on Friday that Jeffrey Epstein deceived him during a years-long relationship in which he paid the disgraced financier US$158 million, but insisted he committed no criminal wrongdoing as he appeared before the House Oversight Committee.

Black is the 16th person to appear before the committee as part of their broader investigation into the web of wealth and influence around Epstein.

Before entering the closed-door deposition, congressman James Comer, the House committee chairman, told reporters he believed it might be the most “groundbreaking” yet.

“This could be a pretty significant deposition as we try to get answers,” said Comer.

Black is the co-founder and former chief executive of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. He stepped down in 2021 amid fallout over his ties to Epstein.

Black maintained Friday that he was not aware of Epstein’s “nefarious activity” until 2019 and that he paid Epstein for legitimate purposes, in part due to his “unrivalled network of relationships” with influential figures.