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Industry

Daughter of ‘Chinese Schindler’ protests use of father’s WWII legacy to sell homes

Manli Ho condemns real estate site for invoking her father’s rescue of Jews to promote US$40,000 houses in his Chinese hometown When Manli Ho saw her father’s name being used to advertise US$40,000 houses in his hometown in China, she was outraged. “He Saved 18,000 Jewish Lives in WWII. His Hometown Has Homes for $40,000,” one headline on the now-removed English-language webpage read. Manli Ho, 75, is the daughter of Ho Feng-shan, the Chinese diplomat widely known in the West as the “Chinese Schindler” for issuing thousands of visas to Jews fleeing Nazi persecution while serving as China’s consul-general in Vienna, Austria, from 1938 to 1940. The “Schindler” comparison refers to German businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved about 1,200 Jews by employing them in his factories in occupied Poland during the Holocaust. His story inspired the Academy Award-winning 1993 film Schindler’s List. But now, a real estate website is using Ho Feng-shan’s legacy to sell homes in his hometown, drawing backlash from local authorities in Yiyang and his daughter in the United States.

August 11, 2026

Industry

China’s hypersonic weapons can be guided by the stars if GPS fails: report

Guangdong researchers build prototype star sensor after developing a way to accurately predict how starlight bends at extreme speeds Hypersonic weapons are difficult to intercept, making them a key strategic asset in global competition, but they generally require navigation systems that are highly autonomous and precise. Before the age of electronic instruments, sailors used tools like sextants to observe the sky and steer by the North Star. Modern electronic systems can do something similar. By tracking the natural, predictable movements of stars, they can calculate a vehicle’s position and motion in space. This method is known as celestial navigation. Unlike inertial systems that rely on ground stations or satellites, celestial navigation is completely self-contained and immune to external electromagnetic interference.

August 11, 2026

Industry

Over 8,200 detained as China launches year-long crackdown on organised crime

The campaign targets ‘covert’ crimes that have spread online, from ‘soft violence’ to sexual extortion The Ministry of Public Security said on Monday that the crackdown focused on crimes that had evolved into “more covert” forms and spread rapidly online. “New types of crimes such as online predatory lending, soft-violence debt collection … coerced consumption and online harassment have become major forms of organised crime,” the ministry said on social media. “They gravely disrupt the normal economic and social order and undermine the public’s sense of security.” It is the latest in a series of campaigns targeting organised crime that first began in 2018. Police in Henan province detained 41 people accused of using malicious complaints against online shops to extort money, while police in Shandong province caught 27 suspects who allegedly caused traffic accidents to extort compensation from drivers, according to the ministry.

August 11, 2026

Industry

China detains Japanese executives in dual-use technology export probe: report

Several Japanese detained upon entering China, according to newspaper, as Beijing alleges foreign firms violated export restrictions China has detained several Japanese nationals, including top executives of companies with offices in China, for allegedly violating export restrictions on dual-use goods, Japanese newspaper The Mainichi said, citing multiple sources. The detentions follow a string of enforcement measures, including the frequent on-site inspection of Japanese corporate offices and interrogation of personnel by Chinese authorities, the newspaper said. Some individuals were detained upon entering China in a bid to get their cooperation with official inquiries, according to the report. China’s foreign ministry did not confirm the cases in response to inquiries from Japanese media but spokesman Guo Jiakun said: “China’s competent authorities have investigated and handled criminal cases in accordance with the law”. In late June, China’s foreign ministry said that two Japanese nationals had been detained for alleged legal violations. On the same day, Tokyo said it had been informed by China that the individuals were suspected of smuggling items banned from export.

August 11, 2026

Industry

Former Guangdong governor Zhu Senlin, enforcer of southern reform, dies at 95

Zhu is remembered as a pragmatic, steady administrator who steered Guangdong through critical decades of reform and opening-up Zhu Senlin, a former Guangdong governor and key enforcer of the province’s economic transformation when China was opening up in the 1990s, died on Monday aged 95, according to official media. Nanfang Daily, mouthpiece of the Guangdong party committee, confirmed on Tuesday that Zhu had died due to illness. Shanghai-born Zhu spent more than five decades in the southern province that neighbours Hong Kong.

August 11, 2026

Industry

US House panel slammed for asking if scholars lost jobs to Chinese hires

Congressional panel seeks complaints from US academics, but critics call its focus on Chinese applicants a ‘disgrace’ A Republican-led congressional committee focused on US competition with China has issued a public call for American academics to come forward if they think they missed out on jobs in favour of “applicants from China”. “Are you an American student, postdoctoral researcher, or academic who believes you were denied a research position, laboratory opportunity, or postdoctoral appointment because preference was given to applicants from China?” the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. The committee urged those with “first-hand” information or supporting documentation to contact it through its whistle-blower email. The appeal drew fierce backlash, with critics warning that singling out Chinese applicants risked further fuelling anti-Chinese sentiment. Kaiser Kuo, host of The Sinica Podcast, called the move a “disgrace”. He wrote on social media: “Really? THIS is what they’re worried about?

August 11, 2026

Industry

Tougher than armour, hard as diamond: China’s unbreakable crystal breakthrough

Scientists use carbon nanotubes to build an internal support structure that overcomes the brittle glasslike nature of diamonds Chinese scientists have created a diamond with no Achilles’ heel – one that cannot be broken, even by a hard knock with a hammer – according to a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Synthesis. While a diamond is the hardest natural material on Earth, it has a major weakness. It is brittle, like glass, and a sharp blow can shatter it. For years, scientists have tried to make diamonds tougher without losing their legendary hardness. Typically, increasing one characteristic has meant sacrificing the other – seen as a reasonable trade-off for most applications, which include industrial uses such as in cutting and polishing tools. The team – from the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beihang University – found a way around this limitation, building an internal support structure to boost a diamond’s toughness by six times while leaving its hardness unchanged. The breakthrough material is even tougher than the tungsten alloys used in armour-piercing ammunition, according to the paper, which was published online on July 9.

August 11, 2026

Industry

Chinese national pleads guilty to trying to export US military equipment to China

Chen Dingwei, 29, pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally procure US military-grade satellite modems and radios for export to China Chen Dingwei, 29, was charged with attempting to purchase military-grade satellite modems and radios manufactured for the US military by US companies, which are barred from being exported to China under the US Arms Export Control Act. US District Judge David Sam accepted Chen’s guilty plea in a federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah, and scheduled sentencing for October 19.

August 10, 2026

Industry

US visa revocations hit 175,000, on pace for new record under Trump

State Department says the 2026 total is set to surpass last year’s record as US president presses ahead with his immigration crackdown The Trump administration is on pace to revoke a record number of visas this year, the State Department said on Monday, as it disclosed that more than 175,000 had been revoked since US President Donald Trump returned to office. The visas were revoked from foreign nationals who “violated the terms of their visas, committed crimes, called for violence against US citizens, defrauded Americans, abused our immigration system, or endangered national security”, according to the State Department. A State Department spokesperson told the South China Morning Post that more than 100,000 visas were revoked in 2025 – the highest annual number on record – and that the department was on pace to exceed that figure in 2026. That indicates at least 75,000 additional visas have been revoked this year, although the department did not provide an exact 2026 tally or a breakdown by visa category or nationality. The spokesperson said each revocation decision was made on a case-by-case basis, according to the facts of the individual case.

August 10, 2026

Industry

Trump demands Iran pay compensation as hopes fade for Hormuz agreement

US president says the issue must be included in future negotiations after Tehran sought damages for US and Israeli strikes “It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” Trump wrote on social media. “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.” Trump also called for compensation for the families of people killed during anti-government protests in Iran and those killed in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

August 10, 2026

Industry

A rare rocket failure led to knock-on effects on China’s space launches. What happened?

Rare failure ends a run of successful missions for the new-generation rocket, which was carrying the ChinaSat-4B communications satellite China has suffered a rare failure of one of its newer-generation Long March rockets, losing a communications satellite after the launcher exploded shortly after take-off on Monday night. Around 8pm Beijing time, the unmanned 60-metre (197-foot) Long March 7A blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the southern island of Hainan, piercing the night sky as it carried the ChinaSat-4B satellite towards high Earth orbit. But less than 90 seconds into the flight, the rocket erupted into a fireball engulfed in thick black smoke, according to videos posted on social media by spectators near the launch site. Space observers suggested a major anomaly may have triggered the rocket’s flight termination system, destroying the vehicle. Both the rocket and satellite were lost over the South China Sea. State news agency Xinhua confirmed the failure about three hours after the launch, saying the rocket had experienced an “anomaly during flight” and that the mission had failed. It said the cause was under investigation.

August 10, 2026

Industry

Beijing official hails China and Cuba as ‘good brothers’ in show of solidarity

Liu Haixing, who heads party’s international department, says ties are at ‘unprecedented new height’ during talks with counterpart in Havana According to an official Chinese readout, Liu on Sunday held talks with Emilio Lozada Garcia, the Communist Party of Cuba’s international relations chief, describing China and Cuba as “good friends, good comrades and good brothers” and saying ties were at an “unprecedented new height”. The Chinese official said the two countries had consistently supported each other through a shifting global landscape, deepening their friendship. “China has always viewed and handled China-Cuba relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, and will continue to, as always, adhere to the long-term friendly policy between China and Cuba,” Liu said. “[China will] support Cuba’s path of socialism, advance pragmatic cooperation between China and Cuba, and work with Cuba to uphold international fairness and justice and oppose hegemony and power politics.” It comes as the Donald Trump administration has been piling more pressure on Havana, following months of threats by the American president to seize control of the island.

August 10, 2026