President Xi Jinping has ventured outside mainland China for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic erupted in January 2020, arriving in Hong Kong on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the former UK colony’s return to Chinese sovereignty. Accompanied by Peng Liyuan, China’s first lady, Xi traveled by train from Shenzhen on Thursday … Read more
The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the ruling that enshrined the constitutional right to an abortion for nearly 50 years, has set off a number of lawsuits in states across the country as abortion providers try to stay open. Judges have already put on hold tough abortion restrictions and bans in … Read more
Grayscale has launched a lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission after the US regulator denied the group’s bid to convert the world’s largest crypto investment vehicle into a fund listed on Wall Street exchanges. The company on Wednesday filed a petition for review with the appeals court in the District of Columbia to … Read more
Singapore’s labor shortage problems are easing as unemployment continues to fall close to pre-pandemic levels, said Minister of Manpower Tan See Leng. “For local unemployment, we are actually in a fairly good state. The unemployment has dropped. I think we’re close to pre-Covid levels,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday. “We are seeing … Read more
Shares in Sanrio shot up as much as 15 per cent on Thursday morning after the Japanese company behind Hello Kitty struck a licensing deal with Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba in a bid to expand its footprint. The five-year deal signed with Alibaba’s intellectual property licensing subsidiary, Alifish, will cover Sanrio’s cast of characters including … Read more
Chinese university students have been lured to work at a secretive technology company that masked the true nature of their jobs: researching western targets for spying and translating hacked documents as part of Beijing’s industrial-scale intelligence regime. The Financial Times has identified and contacted 140 potential translators, mostly recent graduates who have studied English at … Read more
Coinbase reported a 27% decline in revenues in the first quarter as usage of the platform dipped. Chesnot | Getty Images Coinbase is seeking licenses with various countries in Europe as part of an aggressive expansion in the region. The exchange already has an active presence in the UK, Ireland and Germany, but wants to … Read more
Education remained the most popular category for Chinese consumers’ planned spending, according to a People’s Bank of China survey in the second quarter of 2022. China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images BEIJING – Chinese consumers’ inclination to save is at its highest in two decades, the People’s Bank of China found … Read more
There has been something of a rotation out of certain pockets of fintech that were hyped by venture capitalists last year, such as crypto and “buy now, pay later,” and into less sexy areas focused on generating stable streams of income. Jantakon Kokthong / Eyeem | Eyeem | Getty Images Financial technology is the hottest … Read more
Nicolás Kicker arrived in Paris in top form. The 25-year-old Argentine was an outsider’s bet to go deep into the draw of the French Open, one of tennis’s four Grand Slam events. He’d recently reached the third round of the Australian Open, earning just over US$100,000 in prize money. He finally no longer relied on … Read more