Super Typhoon Ragasa pounded Taiwan, Hong Kong and China before moving into Vietnam on Thursday night, though as a much-weakened storm. At its peak Ragasa had mean wind speeds of 165mph as it moved to the south of Taiwan, where it brought significant heavy rain resulting in 17 deaths as a barrier lake burst. The storms then moved westwards just to the south of Hong Kong, before making landfall on Wednesday in the Guangdong province of China, with mean wind speeds of 150mph – equivalent to a category 4 hurricane.…
Month: September 2025
Fujian carrier’s landmark jet launch, influencer marries fan: 7 highlights
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Landmark launch for China’s J-35 stealth jet from Fujian aircraft carrier China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has used its advanced electromagnetic catapults to launch all three types of fixed-wing aircraft developed for the vessel, passing another major test before commissioning. 2. Hong Kong back…
Diamonds, handbags and a peace park: South Korea’s Unification Church drawn into bribery scandal
One week before South Korea’s presidential election in 2022, about 120 high-ranking officials from the Unification Church gathered at a Seoul hotel where the group’s leader Han Hak-ja declared her support for conservative candidate Yoon Suk Yeol. That endorsement formed part of what prosecutors said was a “systemic intervention” in South Korean politics by the wealthy and powerful church, which has become ensnared in a corruption investigation centred on Yoon’s wife, the country’s former first lady Kim Keon Hee. The church’s ties with Yoon, who was impeached and removed from…
‘Inclusive, innovative’: China ups push for digital yuan internationalisation
China is stepping up efforts to encourage the use of its digital yuan in cross-border payments and overseas markets, offering an alternative amid an international frenzy over stablecoins, as it aims to reshape the global financial architecture now dominated by the US dollar. Advertisement China’s international operations centre for the digital yuan opened in Shanghai on Thursday, with the People’s Bank of China highlighting three platforms designed to accelerate the internationalisation of the digital Chinese currency. “The evolution of monetary and payment systems in the digital era is a historical…
Global AI giants target India’s youth in emerging market push
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Two of the world’s largest artificial intelligence companies are moving deeper into India, aiming to tap the world’s most populous country for new users and use it as a test bed for expansion into other emerging markets. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the AI search engine Perplexity launched India-specific plans and products this summer, targeting the country’s vast number of young and price-conscious consumers. In August, ChatGPT introduced an India plan for…
World’s highest bridge to open to traffic in China’s mountainous southwest
A bridge described by Chinese state media as the world’s highest will open to traffic on Sunday in the mountainous southwestern province of Guizhou. Advertisement The suspension bridge, which took three years to build, crosses the Huajiang Grand Canyon and is intended to cut travel times across the gorge from two hours to just a few minutes, state news agency Xinhua reported. Guizhou is already home to almost half the world’s 100 tallest bridges, and the latest project rises 625m (2,050ft) from the river below to its bridge deck. This…
Nandan Nilekani: AI will transform Indian education and agriculture
This online version of the India Business Briefing newsletter is free to read today. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here. Good morning. Nandan Nilekani is the co-founder and chair of Infosys Technologies Limited. But for this month’s edition of the India Business Briefing Q&A, I sat down with him at his office in Bengaluru to discuss his other role — as the champion of India Stack, the backbone on which the country’s public digital architecture runs. This includes Aadhaar,…
Pfizer’s Metsera acquisition to spur Chinese search for new weight drugs
American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s up to US$7.3 billion acquisition of next-generation weight loss drugs developer Metsera will encourage more research spending on innovative products in China but is unlikely to draw new players into the fray, according to analysts. Advertisement The acquisition of the US company, together with other deals by global pharmaceutical firms, would encourage companies already developing obesity drugs – including those in China – to continue their investments, said the consultancy’s Boston-based managing director, TJ Bilodeau. “The deal shows that large pharma players are still willing to…
Household income growth holds key to Chinese consumption hopes: ex-official
China should make greater efforts to boost household income over the next five years as the world’s second-largest economy looks to consumption to power future growth, a former senior official said. Advertisement Yang Weimin, a former deputy head of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, made the comments ahead of next month’s fourth plenum of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. Committee members will discuss the country’s next five-year plan, with the economic blueprint likely to emphasise income and gross domestic product growth, the upgrading…
Inside China’s mega iPhone factory: long hours, discrimination and delayed pay
Chinese factory staff assembling Apple’s latest iPhone continue to face precarious conditions, working many hours of overtime, suffering wage delays and discrimination against ethnic minorities, according to a leading labour rights group. China Labor Watch found that more than half of the estimated 200,000 workers employed during peak season at the world’s largest iPhone factory run by Foxconn in Zhengzhou are seasonal staff known as “dispatch workers”. This is despite a Chinese law capping the use of such staff at 10 per cent of a company’s workforce. US-based CLW, which…