Day: October 5, 2023

Musical About Tiananmen Square Opens Amid Fears Over China’s Response

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PHOENIX —  For years, Chinese officials have referred to the Tiananmen massacre as “political turmoil” and have attempted to make the violence of June 4, 1989, disappear. Estimates of the death toll range from several hundred people to more than 10,000, though there has never been an official tally released. Thousands more were injured by troops who charged the student-led pro-democracy demonstration that began massing in Beijing’s vast open space in mid-April. Against that backdrop, Tiananmen: A New Musical weaves a love story between two students in a production that…

‘Junk rally’ in Indian small-caps sparks fears of frothy valuations

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Indian mid and small-cap stocks have soared in value over the past six months as retail investors and mutual funds snap up shares in previously-troubled companies, sparking concerns that some parts of the market have become too frothy. The Nifty Midcap 50 index has rallied 39 per cent since late March — its lowest level over the past year — while broad gauges of smaller stocks are also making gains. The Nifty MidSmallcap 400 has risen 38 per cent over the same period. In contrast, the Nifty 50 index of…

New curbs on chip tool exports to China are nearly finalised as the US seeks to close loopholes

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An updated rule curbing exports of US chipmaking equipment to China is in the final stages of review, according to a government posting and a source, a sign the Biden administration is poised to soon tighten restrictions on Beijing. Reuters exclusively reported on Monday that US officials had warned China in recent weeks to expect rules restricting shipments of semiconductor equipment and advanced AI chips to China to be updated this month. The updates would add restrictions and close loopholes in rules first unveiled on October 7, 2022, sources say.…

Addictive, absurdly cheap and controversial: the rise of China’s Temu app

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A chicken-shaped lamp. A toilet paper holder in the shape of a smiling velociraptor. An apron that catches beard hair during shaving. The list of unusual products goes on. Among the more everyday items are cleaning products, smartwatches, novelty T-shirts, knock-off sneakers and barbecue tools, but the common thread across all of them is that everything is incredibly, mindbogglingly cheap. This is Temu, the latest Chinese shopping app to take the internet by storm and raise questions about provenance, competition and value. Temu launched in the US in 2022 before…

Terror threat to China ‘is challenge to our own’: Taliban FM says

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Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership has assured Beijing that it has worked to combat terrorism and regards threats to China as seriously as a threat against its own country. Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Thursday that the Taliban will not tolerate terrorist activities targeting China in Afghanistan. Speaking to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Niyingchi, Tibet, Muttaqi said that “we have done a lot of work to combat terrorism and we take security threats against China like a challenge to our own”, according to a foreign ministry statement.…

Bangladesh’s prime minister pins re-election push on mega-projects

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Bangladesh’s prime minister disembarked from her motorcade last month to unveil an 11km elevated expressway, one of a flurry of infrastructure projects launched as she steps up her campaign for a record fifth term in power. Sheikh Hasina hailed the expressway, which cost $1bn and breezes over Dhaka’s traffic-clogged streets, as part of the “journey of progress” that has turned one of the world’s poorest countries into a success story under her watch. “I am giving it to you as a gift,” Sheikh Hasina told a rally. The infrastructure drive…

China wind farm sets high-altitude records, but how do turbines keep up in the thin Himalayan air?

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China’s push for clean energy is testing the limits of high-altitude wind turbines in the same mountain range as Mount Everest, up where the air is rather thin. In the Tibet autonomous region, phase two of the Zhegu Wind Farm, in the northern foothills of the Himalayas, was put into operation in Comai county on Wednesday, when 15 newly installed wind turbines were connected to local power grids. The project, funded by the state-owned Three Gorges Corporation, is hailed as China’s highest-altitude wind farm, with parts up to 5,200 metres…

Germany’s Far-Right Pivot to China

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Advertisement On the first day of October, the German news portal “t-online” published an investigative report  titled “China-gate of the AfD’s Prime Contender.” The report unraveled a web of intricate connections between Maximilian Krah, the prime contender for the upcoming European elections of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, and the corridors of power in Beijing. The investigation detailed the party’s potential financial backing from Beijing, and its nurturing of relations with institutions closely aligned with the AfD, all the while cultivating a China-friendly network nestled in Saxony, Krah’s…

Japan seeks to resurrect junk bond market

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Receive free Corporate bonds updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Corporate bonds news every morning. Japan is making its biggest push in years to jolt its moribund junk bond market into life in an effort to cut corporate dependence on bank lending ahead of an anticipated wave of domestic dealmaking. Government officials and regulators are canvassing bank chiefs, M&A advisers and private equity executives on how to boost appetite for higher-yielding debt, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The effort comes…

Japanese appetite grows for more independent European brands

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Earlier this year, the multi-brand store Dover Street Market in Ginza, Tokyo’s premier shopping district, hosted a trunk show of colourful enamel designs by Italian jewellery designer, Bea Bongiasca — and it received an enthusiastic response. “We sold 50 pieces in the first month and, after that, all the other stores started contacting me and it snowballed,” says the jeweller. Bongiasca’s vibrant linear designs are now also carried by American concept store Ron Herman in its 13 locations across Japan, and she will return to Tokyo in December to stage…