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China exit rules tightened to guard rare earth, battery secrets

Support us China will tighten its exit-entry regulation on September 15, 2026. Photo: Baidu China will tighten its exit-entry rules from September 15 to stop experienced engineers from leaking knowhow in industries subject to export controls and deter tourists from visiting “high-risk” nations such as Japan. The State Council’s new regulation, which spans 19 articles and was announced on July 31, sets up a coordinated system to warn citizens of overseas risks, verify the purpose of each exit-entry application and tighten restrictions on both citizens and foreigners. The export control clause does not name specific sectors, but Chinese commentators said it targets fields where Beijing has already imposed its own restrictions, including electric vehicle (EV) batteries, solar panels and rare earths. “There are many situations that could endanger national security and interests, and it is hard to spell out every one of them in legislation,” said Cheng Xiezhong, a legal scholar and professor at the China University of Political Science and Law.

August 4, 2026

Business

Why are Hong Kong delivery drivers unhappy about proposed payouts for injuries?

Unions and delivery riders say government’s proposed compensation scheme should also include logged-on waiting time Hong Kong delivery rider Raj Bhattarai* felt the pain – both physically and financially – after a vehicle rear-ended his motorcycle on the job about a year ago. Bhattarai, who is in his forties, spent a month on sick leave with a back injury and waited 10 months before he received compensation for the accident. The payout was a paltry HK$3,000 (US$382). “It is not enough at all,” said the father of one young child and the family’s sole breadwinner. “I used to earn around HK$30,000 a month, but I had no income for that whole month while I was recovering, and then I had to wait almost a year for this small amount.” Bhattarai’s experience is not uncommon, with other injured riders saying months-long claim delays and meagre compensation have left them out of pocket and struggling. As the gig economy grows, workers like Bhattarai and their unions are calling on the government to do more to protect their rights.

August 4, 2026

Business

South Korea tightens grip on high-risk ETFs as investor losses mount

Regulators are eyeing curbs such as reducing the leverage ratio of single-stock ETFs and raising the minimum investment requirement The proposals could include giving regulators the power to reduce the leverage ratio of single-stock ETFs and raising the minimum investment requirement to discourage inexperienced retail investors from taking excessive risks, according to local media reports. Single-stock leveraged ETFs allow investors to amplify their exposure to a company’s share price without owning the underlying stock, typically aiming to deliver twice the stock’s daily return. Unlike conventional ETFs, which track diversified baskets of shares, these products are tied to a single firm – such as Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix – and use derivatives to magnify both gains and losses. The products quickly gained popularity during South Korea’s stock market rally but have since come under scrutiny for amplifying market volatility. Many retail investors who bought leveraged ETFs linked to semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix near their peak have suffered steep losses after the shares tumbled sharply following record highs in June.

August 4, 2026

Business

US State Department to close consulates in Canada, Japan and Indonesia, sources say

The State Department did not confirm the closures but said it was focused on ensuring that America’s diplomatic footprint was efficient The US State Department has notified Congress that it plans to close five foreign missions in a rare downsizing of America’s global diplomatic footprint, according to people familiar with the notice. In the notice sent to some congressional committees late last week, the State Department said it ‌planned to close its posts in St George’s, Grenada; Nagoya, Japan; Medan, Indonesia; Douala, Cameroon; and Winnipeg, Canada. The people familiar with the notice spoke on condition of anonymity because the notice was not public. The expected closures, which have not been previously reported, represent a rare example of the United States closing multiple foreign missions in a downsizing that is not tied to a particular geopolitical event. Early last year, during the opening months of the Trump administration, the State Department began preparations to shut down ⁠nearly a dozen foreign missions, Reuters and other media outlets reported at the time, as part of a broader push by the Republican ‌president to transform the US bureaucracy so that it is fully aligned with his “America First” agenda.

August 3, 2026

Business

Why Chinese brokers forecast an A-share tech and chip rebound

As global investors pull money from South Korea, top domestic brokerages expect strong domestic fundamentals to drive fresh buying in China Leading Chinese brokerages have expressed optimism for domestic tech shares traded in August, distinguishing them from the sharp sell-off that has rattled South Korean financial markets. “The liquidity pressure in some industries remains, but the impact on some noncore AI shares has now largely subsided,” the country’s second-largest brokerage by total assets said in a note. Despite a rally over the last few days, the memory chip-heavy Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) suffered a 22 per cent monthly loss, its steepest decline since the global financial crisis. China’s CSI 300 Index also posted a 7.9 per cent fall, while the S&P 500 Index in the United States slipped 0.1 per cent, its worst July performance since 2014. In Asian trading on Monday, Kospi fell over 5 per cent, while the mainland’s CSI 300 slid 0.98 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index inched up 0.48 per cent.

August 3, 2026

Business

US tech giants invited to discuss AI security tests at White House

Meta, Anthropic among companies to review voluntary framework on Tuesday as US government seeks early access to most advanced AI models It was not clear yet whether the details of this framework would be released to the public. The White House, as well as Meta, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If the framework reflects details published in the Trump administration’s June executive order on AI, technology companies that sign on could provide designated “covered frontier models” to the federal government for testing up to 30 days before giving selected trusted partners access.

August 3, 2026

Business

Trump accounts were closed in 2021 over money-laundering concerns, Capital One says

The bank’s disclosure is tied to a lawsuit against Capital One alleging that it illegally closed Trump’s accounts for political reasons Bank accounts held by US President Donald Trump were closed by Capital One in 2021 after it flagged financial activity that had characteristics of money laundering, the bank disclosed in a court filing over the weekend. The court filing is tied to a lawsuit filed against Capital One by one of Trump’s financial holding companies soon after he was sworn into office a second time. Trump alleges that Capital One illegally closed his accounts for political reasons, following the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol. “The closures were the result of months of analysis and a careful review by Capital One’s AML team in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance,” the bank said in the court filing. The term “AML” is an abbreviation for anti-money-laundering. Trump has sued Capital One, as well as JPMorgan Chase, for allegedly debanking him after he left office in 2021. Debanking happens when banks shut down customer accounts because they believe they pose financial, legal or reputational risks to the banks.

August 3, 2026

Business

‘Surprising’ how quickly China’s military is closing gap with US: analyst Lyle Goldstein

Lyle Goldstein is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, and director of Asia engagement at the Washington think tank Defence Priorities. How do you assess the progress of the People’s Liberation Army’s modernisation drive in the past 10 years and its significance in modern military history? How do you forecast the PLA’s position in 2027, which it set forth as one of three vaguely defined modernisation benchmark years? My view is that...

August 3, 2026

Business

UN experts urge Canada to protect Sikh activist facing threats to life

Rights monitors press Ottawa over alleged foreign intimidation targeting Moninder Singh United Nations rights experts have urged Canada to take all feasible measures to protect the Sikh activist Moninder Singh, who has been repeatedly warned by the Canadian authorities of credible threats to his life. In a letter to the Canadian government dated June 3, and made public two months later, as per regular procedure, the five UN experts raised “concerning allegations of foreign intimidation and reprisals” against Singh, a Canadian national. It recalled that since 2022, Singh has received four so-called “duty to warn” notices from the Canadian authorities about credible and imminent threats to his life. It urged Canada to “take all feasible measures at its disposal to protect Mr Moninder Singh and his family, as well as similarly situated individuals on Canadian soil.

August 3, 2026

Business

Affordable housing a critical gap in India’s real estate boom

While the premium to luxury end of India’s property market is thriving, the dramatic shortage at the low-to-mid-end is coming under scrutiny Even the institutional investment market, the least liquid among the largest economies in the Asia-Pacific, has taken off. In 2024-25, transaction volumes reached nearly US$20 billion, more than double the amount recorded in 2021-22. In 2018, flats priced below 5 million rupees (US$52,000) accounted for 52 per cent of launches in India’s largest cities, according to data from Knight Frank. By the end of last year, the share stood at just 17 per cent.

August 3, 2026

Business

China’s political and scientific elite head to Beidaihe for summer retreat season

Cai Qi meets frontier researchers, urging them to play their part in Communist Party governance The report did not name those invited but did say they included specialists working at the frontiers of basic research, strategic and cutting-edge technologies and core technologies in key fields, as well as academics in philosophy and the social sciences. Cai, who ranks fifth in the ruling Communist Party’s hierarchy, is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and director of the party’s General Office. The Xinhua report said that at the meeting he stressed the strategic importance of “talent” in party governance. This year is the start of China’s 15th five-year plan and Cai called on the researchers to advance the scientific spirit, strive for breakthroughs in their fields, and make greater contributions to “securing decisive progress in basically realising socialist modernisation”.

August 3, 2026

Business

The AI talent war: tech giants court researchers years ahead of graduation

China’s tech giants are luring fresh AI graduates by offering salaries that are 16 times the national average Doctoral researcher Hu Qi still has about two years left in his programme at the University of Hong Kong, but headhunters are already reaching out to pitch specific jobs and ask when he will graduate. Hu, who specialises in artificial intelligence agent security, is currently interning at a Chinese tech giant where his team leaders regularly ask about his post-graduation plans, urging him to sign on full-time the moment he finishes his degree. His experience reflects a growing sense of urgency across the fast-moving AI sector. With top-level research talent in short supply, tech employers are keen to lock down candidates earlier than ever. “Companies that wait until graduation to find out who the best graduates are, they’ve already lost,” said Vahid Haghzare, managing director of Silicon Valley Associates Recruitment, a technology recruitment agency in Asia and the Middle East. Recruiters sometimes reached out to prospects up to three and four years before they finished school, while tech firms hosted a variety of conferences and seminars to make early contact, he said.

August 3, 2026