Day: July 11, 2025

Chinese lawyers are making inroads into the global legal services market in response to growing demand from their compatriots abroad and a push from Beijing. Advertisement They say that as more Chinese companies expand their footprint overseas, many prefer to get legal support from Chinese lawyers and have more trust in them, but winning over clients from elsewhere is a challenge at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. Beijing has been pressing for more legal professionals to offer their services abroad to protect Chinese assets as its mega trade and…

Advertisement Portable lithium-ion batteries without the China Compulsory Certification (3C) safety mark – a mandatory quality assurance standard for many products sold on the mainland – were barred from domestic flights, according to the CAAC. Under regulations that aviation authorities in Hong Kong and across Asia started implementing from April 7, airline passengers were barred from recharging power banks and using them to charge electronic devices during flights. Stowing power banks in the overhead cabin bins was also prohibited. Advertisement Here is what we know so far about how this…

When Hong Kong office worker W.K. Chan began putting on weight as a teenager, her doctor said it was due to hormonal imbalances that slowed her metabolism. She reached a peak weight of 100kg about a year ago, but has since lost 25kg. Advertisement The secret to losing a quarter of her weight? Chan, who asked not to be identified by her full name, was one of the city’s first 200 chronic obesity patients to receive access to a new weight loss drug, originally developed for diabetes. At a cost…

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi restated Beijing’s rejection of the 2016 South China Sea arbitration ruling on Friday, on the eve of the ruling’s ninth anniversary, amid renewed tensions and growing speculation about a potential second legal challenge. Advertisement Calling the decision a “farce”, Wang said the case, brought by the Philippines against China’s South China Sea claims and ruled on by a tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, was “orchestrated and manipulated by external powers”. Their purpose “was to destabilise the South China Sea for…

For much of its history, Australia’s identity has been defined by distance – geographical, political, psychological. Now, with global tensions rising, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is testing whether that distance might yet be a source of strength. Advertisement The answer, he seems to believe, lies in recalibrating Australia’s relationships with friends and rivals alike. As both critics from the political left and independent observers assail the cost and risks of Aukus – and the right demands ever-greater defence spending – Albanese has chosen his moment to assert a new doctrine:…

The US military has raised the difficulty level with a coordination test of its crewed fighters and “loyal wingman” drones as it races against China towards the next frontier of air dominance. Advertisement Chinese military observers said the People’s Liberation Army was matching the United States in this technology. The Air Force Research Laboratory said earlier this month that pilots operating an F-16C Fighting Falcon and an F-15E Strike Eagle each controlled two XQ-58A Valkyrie drones in an air combat training exercise. The exercise was a test of real-time integration…