A Wyoming microbiology graduate student from China has been arrested on accusations she poisoned the tea of a colleague who had pending patents and with whom she did not get along, then tried to flee the country after police questioned her. Aili Wang, 32, was arrested 6 October at Los Angeles international airport, where prosecutors allege she sought to return to China. With her were laptops, electronic storage devices and documents now in the possession of police, who allege Wang was seen on surveillance video rummaging through the desk of…
Day: October 13, 2026
‘I’d talk to the TV’: The paid companions bringing warmth to China’s lonely
He gave an example of a young woman he once accompanied who felt ostracised at work. “She felt useless and wanted to prove something to herself,” he said. “We started climbing but it was a tough trek as the weather was really hot and we were sweating a lot. There were moments she wanted to give up but I told her, ‘If you quit now and can’t get over this mountain how will you handle anything else in life?’. I kept encouraging her.” After they made it all the way…
Why the lonely in China are hiring ‘temporary children’
In China’s cities, despite the huge crowds, or maybe because of them, residents can feel very isolated. Now, a new industry being dubbed the “loneliness economy” has emerged, with people hiring themselves out as companions to help the elderly. The BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell visits a company that does just that, to see how their business works. Read more about the paid companions bringing warmth to China’s lonely. BBC
It’s My Time review – Michelle Yeoh excels in Rocky-style quest to be Rubik’s Cube champ
It’s not quite up there with Leonardo DiCaprio eating raw bison liver to get into character, but Michelle Yeoh reportedly spent two years learning the Rubik’s Cube to prepare for this Chinese drama in which she plays a real-life former maths teacher who became a champion in retirement. The true story is stretched and squeezed here, fictionalised to fit sports-movie formula; it ends up being so-so entertaining and funny in places, but disappointingly predictable. The biggest surprise is that cubing is so popular it has its own world championship. Still,…
Navigating China-US power play at Shenzhen Apec
Ahead of the highly anticipated Shenzhen Apec summit, Washington and Beijing are locked in intense diplomatic and economic manoeuvring. In this series of SCMP exclusive reports, we unpack the shifting bilateral landscape: from new language defining ties and the strategic battle over rare earths to Trump pressing Xi on export curbs. South China Morning Post
‘Super app’ aimed at UK students uses servers owned by Chinese firm on US blacklist
A new messaging and payment “super app” marketed at British students uses servers owned by a Chinese company that has been put on a US military blacklist for its alleged affiliation to the People’s Liberation Army. ZyMix, which is being pushed on university campuses as the UK’s first super app designed “for gen Z”, combining chat, payments and community features, has a contract with a German-based subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, a Chinese conglomerate in Shenzhen. Tencent Holdings was added in January 2026 to the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) list…