Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • China probes use of formaldehyde to keep cabbages fresh

    China probes use of formaldehyde to keep cabbages fresh

    As the world’s leading cabbage producer, accounting for nearly half of the global annual output that exceeds 30 million metric tons, China is now facing a fresh food safety scare that has sparked nationwide attention. Hebei Province, a key growing and distribution hub in the country’s northeast, has confirmed that authorities have launched a full investigation following the emergence of footage showing cabbage handlers dipping heads of the vegetable in a preserving solution before loading them onto transport trucks.

    The controversial footage was first brought to public attention by an independent environmental blogger last week. In China, the use of formaldehyde — a colorless, carcinogenic chemical — for any food preservation purpose is banned under strict national food safety regulations. Most of China’s cabbage output is distributed domestically, with a large share also exported to neighboring Asian markets and Russia, with South Korea and Vietnam counting among the top international buyers.

    State media reports confirm that local police have already initiated legal proceedings against the individuals identified as being involved in the practice. In response to growing public concern, national and local regulators have moved quickly to head off widespread consumer panic and rebuild public trust in the country’s fresh vegetable supply. Authorities are rolling out widespread random spot checks of cabbage stocks at wholesale and retail markets across every region of the country.

    Investigators are also working to determine how widespread the illegal practice of formaldehyde dipping is across the cabbage industry, and have implemented tracing protocols to isolate and remove any affected produce from the supply chain. In an official public statement released Saturday, administrators from Kangbao County, the region at the center of the initial reports, reaffirmed their commitment to upholding food safety standards: “Any illegal or non-compliant practices discovered will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law to ensure the safety of the vegetable supply.”

    Beijing’s Xinfadi Market, the largest wholesale fresh produce hub serving the Chinese capital, released its own statement confirming that it had completed a full audit of its cabbage supply chains, and that no contaminated produce had entered the market’s distribution network.

    The incident has dominated domestic Chinese media coverage and sparked intense public discussion. In an official editorial, People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, issued a sharp rebuke of the actors involved: “The wholesalers focused solely on their immediate economic interests while completely disregarding the lives and health of consumers. [They] crossed a legal red line and breached the moral bottom line.”

    According to the American Cancer Society, while prolonged exposure to high concentrations of formaldehyde in occupational settings has been definitively linked to multiple forms of human cancer, the long-term health impacts of low-level exposure through food consumption remain understudied and not clearly understood.

  • Asian shares mostly decline as bond market pressure mounts

    Asian shares mostly decline as bond market pressure mounts

    As global markets kicked off a high-stakes trading week Monday, most Asian equity benchmarks retreated and crude oil prices pulled back, with investors across the world holding their breath ahead of the annual gathering of top U.S. economic policymakers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. U.S. stock futures also ticked downward in early pre-market trading, setting a cautious tone across the Asia-Pacific region.

    Across major regional markets, the downturn was broad-based. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.5% to close at 65,678.45, while South Korea’s Kospi suffered a steeper 3.5% decline to land at 6,664.36. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2.1% to 25,465.23, and China’s Shanghai Composite index edged 0.7% lower to 3,877.30. Taiwan’s Taiex also followed the downward trend with a 0.5% loss. Australia bucked the regional slump, however, with its S&P/ASX 200 gaining 0.5% to reach 9,107.40.

    This week’s market calendar holds several make-or-break economic releases and events that could shape near-term global policy. On Wednesday, U.S. officials will release the July reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric for tracking inflation. Current forecasts and recent data signal U.S. consumer inflation remains stuck above 3%, well above the Fed’s long-term 2% target.

    Inflation has reaccelerated after a brief cooling period in early 2025, driven by two key global shocks: broad-based U.S. tariffs imposed on trading partners worldwide, and output disruptions caused by the ongoing Iran conflict, which has cut oil shipments through the critical Strait of Hormuz and pushed energy prices sharply higher starting in early 2026.

    Persistent inflation pressures have already sent bond yields surging in recent weeks, creating cascading volatility across financial markets. Last week, spiking long-term yields forced an unusual intervention from the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Secretary Scott Bessent. To calm markets, Bessent announced the government would double its buyback program for longer-term bonds, a move designed to push down 10-year Treasury yields and ease pressure on mortgage rates. The relief was short-lived, however: by Friday, the 10-year yield climbed back to 4.73%, matching a multi-year high, and held near that level at 4.71% in early Monday trading. The 30-year Treasury yield, another key target of the buyback program, also rose to levels not seen since 2007.

    The unexpected failure of the Treasury’s intervention has amplified investor concerns. Higher sustained yields raise government borrowing costs, which in turn weigh on consumer spending—the core engine of U.S. economic growth. Many market participants are also growing increasingly wary of the risks posed by continuous large-scale government borrowing, a trend that has put persistent upward pressure on yields. The bond market remains highly volatile, and all eyes are now turning to the Jackson Hole summit, where Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh is set to deliver a key speech that could signal upcoming shifts in interest rate policy.

    U.S. equities closed last week on a fragile positive note: the S&P 500 gained 0.4% on Friday, notching only its second gain in six trading days after hitting an all-time high earlier the previous week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1% and the Nasdaq composite edged up 0.4%, supported by better-than-expected spring corporate profits that have helped drive major U.S. indexes to record levels in recent weeks.

    Geopolitical uncertainty continues to cloud the outlook, however. On Sunday, the new head of Iran’s top security body warned that Tehran would view any country’s support for new U.S. economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic as an act of war, even as Iran’s president defended a recent memorandum of understanding with the U.S. as the best path forward to de-escalate the stalled conflict. Persistent doubts about when oil tankers will be able to safely resume full transit through the Persian Gulf have kept energy markets volatile. Early Monday, crude prices pulled back from recent highs: Brent crude fell 1.4% to $93.10 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude dropped 1.6% to $85.63 per barrel.

    One unusual bright spot amid the market volatility has been cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, which tends to rally when interest rate expectations fall and liquidity increases in global financial markets, has benefited from expectations that the Treasury’s intervention will push long-term yields lower. Additional tailwinds have come from growing hopes for pro-crypto industry legislation working its way through Washington. Early Monday, bitcoin traded near $77,000, according to data from CoinDesk.

    In currency markets, the U.S. dollar edged slightly lower against the Japanese yen, falling to 158.89 yen from 158.94 yen at Friday’s close. The euro held steady, remaining unchanged at $1.1678 against the greenback.

  • Divorce, smartphones and control – BBC sees how Taliban run Afghanistan

    Divorce, smartphones and control – BBC sees how Taliban run Afghanistan

    Five years have passed since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, ousting the U.S.-backed government that had held power for two decades. In a rare, multi-year access arrangement, BBC correspondents gained unprecedented entry to meet with senior Taliban officials, offering an unfiltered look at the gap between the group’s pre-power promises of moderation and the hardline reality of its current rule.

    One of the most striking encounters took place in the office of Abdullah Sarhadi, governor of northern Afghanistan’s Jawzjan Province, as an 18-year-old woman – identified only by the pseudonym Tuba to protect her identity – confronted the former Taliban commander to demand a divorce from her husband, who she says has abused her for months. Fully veiled and wearing sunglasses to conceal her identity, the young woman stood her ground, stating calmly, “If there was any chance to live together, I wouldn’t be here… I have taken my decision.”

    After attempting to pressure Tuba into remaining in the marriage – warning her that no man would marry a divorced woman and claiming she would lose her social standing – Sarhadi ultimately dismissed her request, and privately commented to the room of male officials, bodyguards and local elders that women are “mindless” and “deficient in intellect”, prompting laughter from those present. Under Taliban-imposed Sharia law, women face extreme barriers to securing divorce without spousal consent; Tuba’s husband demanded four times the original bridal bride price as a settlement, a demand her family refused. Even after Sarhadi ordered the husband to stop beating Tuba and provide her with a separate room, Tuba’s father told the BBC the family would continue pursuing divorce through Taliban courts, despite the long odds of success. This public, on-the-record exchange offers a rare unvarnished glimpse into how gender restrictions play out in daily life under Taliban rule.

    Sarhadi’s own trajectory mirrors the journey of many senior Taliban figures now holding national office. A military commander during the Taliban’s first rule in the 1990s, he surrendered to U.S.-led coalition forces in 2001 when the group was ousted, and spent several years detained at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention camp before being released. When the Taliban retook power in 2021, he was first appointed governor of Bamiyan Province, then moved to lead Jawzjan, and most recently became deputy commander of a military corps in Kunduz Province. When pressed about the 2001 destruction of the ancient giant Bamiyan Buddha statues – an act that triggered global condemnation – Sarhadi made an unflinching admission: he personally helped destroy the UNESCO-recognized archaeological site. “Whatever we did and we do is in accordance with the guidance and God’s law… We smash idols rather than sell them. Why should I regret? It was God’s will,” he said. He also confirmed that a recent ban on smartphones for government officials has slowed administrative work, but declined to criticize the policy further, noting any open opposition would “cause trouble”.

    Another senior Taliban official, Habibullah Badr, who now holds a position in the ruling administration after stepping back temporarily for medical treatment, admitted he previously planned and oversaw suicide attack operations in Kabul during the insurgency. The former death row inmate even went on to run the same prison where he was once held under the former U.S.-backed government, serving as national deputy head of prisons. When questioned about the thousands of civilian deaths caused by Taliban suicide attacks during the insurgency, Badr evaded questions about specific strikes, claiming the group only targeted U.S. convoys and warned civilians to stay away from foreign installations, and refused to discuss past violence, saying it would “reopen wounds” and upset the public.

    At a tribal gathering where Badr was set to receive a medal honoring his service, a rare moment of public dissent played out: foundation head Sultan Mohammad Talaee publicly called on the Taliban to reopen girls’ secondary schools, which have been banned nationwide since the group took power. “Seeking knowledge is an obligation for both men and women in Islam,” Talaee told the crowd, before his microphone was immediately cut off and he was prevented from speaking further. Dissent like this carries severe risk: women who have protested restrictions have been jailed, and most local journalists the BBC spoke to reported being regularly summoned and interrogated by the Taliban’s intelligence agency, Estikhbaraat.

    When pressed by the BBC about broken promises to allow women to work and study within Islamic frameworks, Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid – who publicly revealed his birth name, Tahir Shah Seddiqi, for the first time during the interview – defended the group’s policies, arguing that all women’s rights and freedom of expression must be interpreted “through the Sharia lens”. He claimed allowing women to work in government offices would “lead to immoralities” and “undermine their dignity”, and said that discussions around reopening girls’ education are still ongoing, with a Sharia-compliant solution still being developed. On media freedom, Mujahid confirmed the group maintains restrictions, stating that media cannot be allowed to broadcast content against Islamic law or spread anti-government propaganda.

    While the formal seat of government remains in Kabul, Mujahid confirmed most senior leadership is based in Kandahar, the Taliban’s historic heartland and the de facto national capital, where restrictions have only tightened in recent years. Men are required to grow beards, radio stations are banned from playing music or broadcasting women’s voices, and independent journalists are prohibited from filming in the city. The Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who almost never appears in public and has never given a media interview, declined the BBC’s request for a meeting.

    In a remote, impoverished region outside Kandahar, former insurgent fighters who now serve as government security personnel showed the BBC the secret cave network they used to hide from coalition forces during 20 years of insurgency. One local commander, Abdul Samad, whose father was killed fighting for the Taliban, acknowledged that the region – already one of the poorest in a country where the UN estimates three-quarters of the population cannot meet basic needs – has yet to receive the infrastructure and development support residents need. “Emirate officials have not forgotten us. They are busy with other priorities, but we are hopeful they will look after us sometime,” Samad said.

    Five years into the Taliban’s second rule, Afghanistan remains mired in widespread poverty, mass unemployment and economic collapse. While Taliban officials claim they are working to address these crises, many Afghans say the group’s rule itself is the primary obstacle to stability. For women in particular, systemic restrictions on education, work, movement and public life have destroyed decades of progress. “I’m speechless about how a group that has no understanding about life is suddenly in power,” said Hoda, a female activist who protested the 2021 takeover who requested anonymity for her safety. “Women can’t accept this situation. They might advance restrictions but it won’t stay like this forever. I think the Taliban are scared of educated women, that’s why they restrict us: they want uneducated women who cannot raise a generation that will challenge and end their rule.”

  • Ex-cricket captains urge ‘proper medical care’ for Imran Khan

    Ex-cricket captains urge ‘proper medical care’ for Imran Khan

    A coalition of 21 legendary former cricket captains from across the globe, including Indian batting icon Sunil Gavaskar and England’s longest-tenured skipper Sir Alastair Cook, has publicly called on the Pakistani government to uphold court orders and guarantee adequate, timely medical care for incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan.

    The 73-year-old, a former Pakistan national cricket team captain who led the country as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been held in jail since August 2023 facing over 100 different charges, including allegations of corruption, leaking state secrets and selling official state gifts. Khan and his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have consistently denied all charges, framing them as politically motivated retaliation. His imprisonment triggered widespread mass protests from his supporters, which were harshly cracked down on by state authorities.

    The latest appeal, organized by former Australian cricket captain Greg Chappell, comes after a weeks-long dispute over Khan’s declining health, particularly his reported severe vision loss in his right eye. Back in February, 14 of the current signatories already joined an earlier appeal demanding humane treatment and proper medical access for Khan, when his legal team stated he had only 15% functional vision remaining in the eye after prison officials failed to act on his care needs.

    In their open letter addressed to current Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the former cricket leaders outlined three clear, core demands. First, they called for a full medical assessment of Khan led by a Supreme Court-appointed medical board that includes Khan’s own personal physicians, to address his ongoing vision issues. Second, they urged authorities to allow unimpeded weekly family visits, as already ordered by the country’s top court, with no unnecessary administrative delays or interruptions. Third, they demanded that any treatment recommended by the official medical board be provided to Khan immediately, without hold-up.

    The letter notes that after Pakistan’s Supreme Court issued a ruling this Tuesday ordering the government to transfer Khan to a private hospital for examination by his chosen doctors, state authorities instead only allowed him a few hours of assessment at a government-run Islamabad hospital by a state-appointed medical team, which subsequently declared Khan “medically fit” before returning him to prison. Khan’s party has since filed a contempt of court petition against the government over its failure to comply with the Supreme Court’s order for access to Khan’s personal physicians.

    “Imran Khan is 73 years old and has now spent more than three years in custody,” the letter reads. “Whatever the legal and political arguments surrounding his case, the basic decency of ensuring a court-ordered medical process is actually completed is not, in our view, a controversial request.”

    Other notable signatories to the letter include multiple other English captains: Michael Atherton, Michael Brearley, Nasser Hussain, Andrew Strauss and David Gower; Indian greats Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar; and Australian legends Belinda Clark, Adam Gilchrist, Steve Waugh and Kim Hughes, among others.

    In a closing statement, the group of former captains framed their appeal as a gesture rooted in the global fraternity of cricket, noting they are “former colleagues and rivals who share a bond forged on the cricket field” and that this bond “transcends the borders and disputes that too often divide countries.”

  • Workers in China worry over being replaced as they adapt to the growing impact of AI on jobs

    Workers in China worry over being replaced as they adapt to the growing impact of AI on jobs

    BEIJING – As China aggressively advances government-backed artificial intelligence integration across every major sector of its economy, the technology is triggering rapid, often unsettling shifts in the country’s massive labor market, leaving thousands of workers displaced and forcing widespread adaptation to a new employment landscape. The disruption has sparked debate among economists over AI’s long-term impact on China’s growth trajectory, social stability, and ability to offset its looming demographic challenges.

    One of the earliest and most visible impacts of AI adoption has hit white-collar knowledge workers. For 40-year-old former Beijing-based programmer Fei Zhaojun, AI’s arrival came abruptly: just two weeks after his boss questioned whether AI could replace human coding teams, Fei was laid off alongside 160 of his colleagues. Today, Fei is using his career break to create vlog content focused on ordinary people’s experiences, while he navigates what comes next. He acknowledges that most mid-tier coding roles are already readily replaceable by modern AI tools, and has adopted a pragmatic approach: if AI is reshaping the industry, workers have no choice but to learn to work with it.

    The disruption extends far beyond software development. Du Qinchun, a part-time translator based in Chengdu, now works to train AI translation models — a role that has brought him temporary new work, even as industry-wide translation pay has dropped by more than half from just a few years ago. This trend has reshaped higher education too: as AI-powered translation tools become ubiquitous, popular foreign language university programs have rapidly fallen out of favor with prospective students. In creative industries, generative AI has upended China’s booming short drama sector: industry data shows the number of live-action short-form vertical series for mobile platforms dropped roughly 75% year-over-year in the first quarter of this year, as AI handles more creation, production, and distribution tasks.

    Official policy has positioned China at the forefront of global AI adoption. Through the national “AI Plus” initiative and a 2030 five-year development plan, Beijing is pushing to embed AI across all sectors to gain a competitive edge in its ongoing technology rivalry with the United States. This proactive policy support has led to explosive growth in enterprise AI integration: market intelligence firm IDC reports the share of Chinese industrial enterprises using AI models and autonomous agents jumped from just 9.6% in 2024 to 47.5% last year. IDC senior research manager Yanze Du notes that China’s dynamic open-source AI ecosystem has accelerated innovation in industrial applications, closing the gap between cutting-edge foundational model capabilities and real-world business value. Today, the technology is already moving beyond office and creative work: humanoid robots are sorting parcels in postal facilities on a small scale, testing capabilities for traffic direction and coffee preparation, while autonomous food delivery robots are expanding across urban areas, putting millions of delivery workers’ livelihoods at potential risk.

    Unlike many Western economies where public pushback against AI-driven job displacement is more common, anti-AI sentiment remains muted in China, according to industry analysts. “There appears to be far less anti-AI sentiment in China than elsewhere. Most people seem either positive, neutral, or mildly interested in AI,” explained Shujing He, a Beijing-based senior analyst at research and advisory firm Plenum. “Individuals who worry about being replaced, as well as those who have already left traditional workplaces, are often eager to experiment with AI-enabled businesses and independent ventures. The level of interest is striking.” He added that workers with narrow, specialized roles in AI-vulnerable fields like software development and multimedia creation face the highest displacement risk, as AI can now complete tasks that once required years of specialized training for a fraction of the cost and time.

    A recent International Labour Organization report adds another layer to the disruption: women in China face disproportionately higher risks of AI-driven job loss, as they are overrepresented in roles easily automated such as electronics assembly, and remain underrepresented in high-growth science and technology fields that are more resilient to automation.

    For China’s already slowing economy, AI brings a mixed set of long-term outcomes. Years of sluggish growth have been compounded by a prolonged housing market downturn that has eroded household wealth, and AI-driven job uncertainty is further dragging on consumer spending as households cut back on purchases to prepare for potential unemployment. Cornell University economics and trade policy professor Eswar Prasad notes that while AI is driving major productivity gains across China’s tech sector, those gains have not translated to broad new job creation. “AI is likely to lift productivity across the board but could have a severe disruptive effect on employment, worsening the employment growth problem and resulting in a detrimental effect on social stability,” Prasad warned. Current labor market data underscores this uncertainty: while China’s headline urban unemployment rate holds around 5%, unemployment for 16 to 24-year-olds (excluding students) is roughly three times that figure. Major Chinese tech giants, much like their U.S. competitors, have already cut and restructured tens of thousands of roles in recent years, with AI integration cited as a key driving factor.

    Yet some economists argue that AI could ultimately offset one of China’s biggest long-term economic challenges: its rapidly aging and shrinking population. By 2050, projections show China will have fewer than two working-age adults to support each retiree, compared to more than 2.5 in the United States. Xuenan Cao, a professor at San Francisco Bay University specializing in technology and society, argues that automation can fill critical gaps left by a shrinking workforce rather than acting purely as a threat to employment. “Automation could partially offset a shrinking workforce rather than being purely a threat to it,” Cao said.

    For many displaced workers, the common approach has become “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Wang Zhicheng, a former scriptwriter for a children’s educational animation company, saw his employer lay off half of its 13-person writing team amid AI integration. He chose to resign and launch an independent studio creating illustrated children’s books, using AI as a productivity tool rather than viewing it as a replacement. “You can treat AI as a tool just like Microsoft Word,” Wang explained. “While AI can cut down on brainstorming and drafting time, the scripts it generates often feel formulaic, repetitive, and inconsistent in depth. Humans are still the decision makers on which one to pick or pursue among all that AI generates.”

    Even in less affected fields, many workers see AI as a helpful complement rather than a threat. Yang Zheng, a 29-year-old high school chemistry teacher in China, says even though students now use AI to help with homework, the technology improves rather than undermines his work. “Teachers cannot be there all the time,” he said. “It is a good thing for students as it generates responses in real-time so that students can ask follow-up questions. It often gets things wrong, but it improves over time.”

    As AI adoption continues to accelerate across China’s economy, the coming years will test whether the country can harness the technology’s productivity gains while mitigating its disruptive impact on employment and social cohesion.

  • Nearly 3 million Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

    Nearly 3 million Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

    A sweeping safety recall, the largest in China’s modern automotive history, has placed the once-trendy minimalist hidden door handles of electric vehicles under unprecedented scrutiny, impacting more than 4 million passenger vehicles built by some of the world’s biggest EV manufacturers. The recall covers 2.98 million Tesla vehicles produced in China, alongside models from major domestic Chinese automakers XPeng, Xiaomi, and Geely, all of which have adopted the popular aerodynamic design in recent years.

    First popularized globally by Elon Musk’s Tesla, retractable hidden door handles were engineered to streamline a vehicle’s profile, reduce wind drag, and boost overall driving range — a key selling point for electric vehicles. The design tucks the handle flush into the door panel when not in use, only extending outward when the vehicle detects an approaching user with a paired key fob or smartphone.

    Safety concerns surrounding the design erupted after two fatal traffic collisions involving Xiaomi-manufactured electric vehicles in China. Investigations have pointed to potential power system failures that left the retractable handles locked in their flush position, trapping occupants inside and preventing rapid escape or first responder access. Following these incidents, Chinese regulators launched a broad investigation into the safety of the design across the domestic EV market.

    Tesla confirmed the recall in an official public statement released Friday, noting that the issue in its vehicles stems from door handles that share a nearly identical color with surrounding interior trim, making them hard for occupants or rescuers to locate quickly in high-stress emergency scenarios. The automaker added that in severe collision events that knock out a vehicle’s low-voltage electrical system, the hard-to-locate handles could significantly delay door opening, putting lives at greater risk.

    To address the hazard, Tesla will apply clearly marked warning labels to all recalled vehicles and roll out a free over-the-air software update designed to automatically lower vehicle windows immediately after a collision, preserving an alternate exit route even if the door handles remain locked. It remains unclear whether the affected automakers will expand the recall to cover vehicles sold in international markets outside of China. The BBC has reached out to Tesla, XPeng, Xiaomi, and Geely to request additional comment on global plans.

    The recall comes months after Chinese national regulators announced a formal ban on unmodified hidden door handles for new passenger vehicles sold in the country. New regulatory requirements, set to take full effect on January 1, 2027, mandate that all new vehicles sold in China must include a fully functional manual door release mechanism on both the interior and exterior of every door, regardless of electronic design.

    This is not the first time hidden door handle designs from Tesla have drawn regulatory attention. US safety regulators launched a formal investigation into the feature after multiple reports of sudden handle failure that left children trapped inside locked vehicles in extreme weather conditions. In July, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicated it was exploring the creation of a new mandatory federal safety standard that would govern door handle design for all automakers selling vehicles in the United States. The BBC has also contacted the agency for additional updates on the rulemaking process.

  • Israel warns of strikes, evacuations over kites launched by Palestinian children in Gaza

    Israel warns of strikes, evacuations over kites launched by Palestinian children in Gaza

    A seemingly innocuous childhood activity in the Gaza Strip has spiraled into a major escalation threat, after the Israeli military has framed the kites flown by Palestinian children as a security threat justifying expanded military operations and forced displacement across the blockaded enclave.

    On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a formal statement announcing that Israel had issued Hamas a 72-hour deadline to end all kite launches from Gaza. If the activity continued, the statement warned, Israel would launch a wide-ranging air assault, and would evacuate populated Gaza regions from which kites, incendiary balloons, and unmanned aerial devices have reportedly been launched.

    The current tensions were sparked over the weekend, when Israeli media outlets reported that several kites launched from Gaza had touched down near Nahal Oz Kibbutz, an Israeli settlement built illegally on Palestinian territory adjacent to the Gaza border. Though Israeli military sources confirmed the kites were launched by local Palestinian children, and that no hazardous materials were found on any of the devices, confirming they posed no threat to public safety, the incident did not end there.

    Kibbutz residents pushed back against the characterization of the flights as harmless isolated incidents, releasing a collective statement rejecting any passive approach to what they framed as a breach of their security. “We will not accept a policy of containment when it comes to our security,” the statement read.

    Within days, top Israeli security officials convened for an emergency strategy session. Netanyahu joined Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff, the head of the National Security Council, and other senior security leaders for a special closed-door meeting focused exclusively on the kite issue on Sunday.

    Following the meeting, Katz announced he had instructed Israeli military units to respond to the kite launches with overwhelming force, and take all necessary measures to halt the activity. He went so far as to classify the children’s activity as an “act of war”, equating unarmed paper kites to hostile drones and saying the military would treat them identically. As part of the response measures, Katz confirmed that Israeli forces would target Hamas commanders deemed “responsible” for the launches. In a remark that underscored the severity of the Israeli stance, he added: “A balloon is like a kite, and a kite is like a drone, whether it carries explosives or not.”

    For Gazans, however, kites have carried a far different meaning for nearly two decades, shaped by the ongoing Israeli siege that has confined the strip’s 2 million residents since 2007. Cut off from freedom of movement beyond the enclave’s borders, flying homemade kites has become a quiet symbol of the desire for freedom for Palestinians, particularly for children growing up under blockade.

    The deep cultural roots of the activity stretch back more than a decade. In 2010, thousands of Gazan children gathered on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to fly kites as part of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Summer Games, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest number of kites flown simultaneously. A total of 6,302 handmade kites, built by the children themselves, were launched into the sky that day, drawing international attention to life under blockade. To this day, building and flying homemade kites remains one of the most popular pastimes for children and young people across Gaza, even as they remain trapped behind the Israeli and Egyptian barriers that enclose the small coastal enclave.

  • Shein aims for almost $27bn valuation in stock market debut

    Shein aims for almost $27bn valuation in stock market debut

    Global fast-fashion powerhouse Shein has formally locked in September 1 as the launch date for its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with plans to raise up to HK$13.86 billion (equivalent to approximately £1.3 billion or $1.77 billion), the company confirmed in a regulatory filing released Monday.

    Under the terms of the offering, Shein will issue nearly 280 million new shares, priced in a range between HK$47.60 and HK$49.50 per share. At the upper end of this pricing band, the China-founded, Singapore-headquartered retailer would carry a total market valuation of roughly $27 billion. This figure marks a sharp 73% drop from the $100 billion valuation the company achieved during a 2022 private fundraising round, a decline that mirrors broader industry headwinds including slowing sales growth and soaring operating costs across the retail sector.

    This Hong Kong listing comes after two failed attempts to launch IPOs in the United States and the United Kingdom, derailed by heightened regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical tensions tied to the company’s origins and operational practices. The offering is underwritten by three of Wall Street’s most prominent investment banks: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan, signaling major institutional backing for the listing despite ongoing challenges.

    Shein’s path to public markets has been complicated by a series of recent financial setbacks. In July, the company disclosed it had swung to a net loss of $99 million in the first quarter of 2026, a reversal from the $395 million net profit it recorded in the same period one year earlier. The retailer attributed the poor results largely to the elimination of a longstanding US import duty exemption for small packages by former President Donald Trump, which drastically increased its cost of doing business in its largest market.

    “In response to the increased duties and taxes, we are pursuing a wide range of options, including increasing our prices in the US market to offset a portion of the increased costs,” the company stated in its July financial update. Uncertainty around the ongoing, currently paused US-China tit-for-tat tariff war has also created long-term headwinds for the retailer, which relies heavily on Chinese manufacturing for its core supply chain. Shein added that the ongoing Iran conflict has further disrupted operations, pushing up logistics costs, delaying deliveries to key regional markets, and softening consumer demand in affected regions.

    The company noted that roughly $328 million of the first-quarter loss stems from a non-cash accounting adjustment related to special investor shares, which will convert to ordinary stock following the IPO and are subject to valuation shifts before listing.

    Founded in 2008, Shein has grown from a small online apparel retailer to one of the world’s largest fast-fashion players, serving a active customer base across more than 150 countries. The company’s disruptive business model leverages a vast network of Chinese manufacturing partners to deliver ultra-cheap, trend-driven apparel to consumers at speeds far outpacing traditional retail rivals like H&M and Zara. Its annual revenue has already outstripped both legacy competitors, cementing its position as the global leader in fast-fashion e-commerce. As of the end of March 2026, Shein counted 281 million active customers, a 16% year-over-year increase, with customers placing more than one billion orders in the 12-month period.

    Despite its rapid growth, Shein has faced persistent criticism on multiple fronts. Environmental activists have repeatedly raised alarms about the company’s contribution to textile waste and carbon emissions, a core critique of the fast-fashion industry as a whole. The company has also faced repeated allegations of forced labor in its Chinese supply chains, claims Shein has repeatedly denied, telling the BBC it maintains a “zero tolerance for forced labor” policy across all supplier partners. Its attempted London IPO collapsed in 2024 after regulators and investors called for greater transparency around supply chain practices, which Shein declined to provide at the time.

  • New Tata boss to face formidable challenges

    New Tata boss to face formidable challenges

    In a surprising development that has sent ripples across India’s corporate landscape, Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran stepped down on August 12, deepening long-running tensions between the holding company and its controlling shareholder, Tata Trusts. The departure leaves a vacancy at the top of India’s most iconic conglomerate, a $300 billion sprawling empire that spans luxury automaker Jaguar Land Rover, flag carrier Air India, and Apple’s domestic iPhone manufacturing operations, and sets off what industry analysts describe as one of the most challenging leadership searches in recent Indian business history.

    Chandrasekaran’s exit came after a months-long deadlock over his reappointment, as disagreements between the Tata Sons leadership and the Tata Trusts board widened beyond repair. Sources close to the matter confirm the core points of contention were Chandrasekaran’s push for a public listing of the unlisted Tata Sons holding company, plus his aggressive capital allocation strategy for a slate of new high-growth, cash-burning businesses including semiconductors, electric aviation, and domestic e-commerce.

    Under Chandrasekaran’s tenure, the Tata Group launched its largest ever capital expenditure cycle, pouring tens of billions of dollars into transformative projects: building India’s first commercial semiconductor fabrication plant, scaling domestic electric vehicle battery production, and overseeing the turnaround of Air India, which the group acquired from the Indian government in 2022. This breakneck expansion has left the next chairman facing a steep set of challenges from day one, governance experts warn.

    “It is an incredibly difficult role not just for the individual who will get it but also for the selection committee to find someone,” explained Hetal Dalal, head of Institutional Investor Advisor Services (IiAS), a leading Indian governance advisory firm, in an interview with the BBC. “It requires a multitude of skillsets and experience: managing the working relationship with Tata Trusts, steering the Tata Sons board, understanding the unique dynamics of our new emerging businesses, and maintaining strong, collaborative ties with Indian regulators and the central government.” Dalal added that few global executives lead conglomerates of Tata’s size and diversification, and many sitting leaders would be reluctant to leave their current roles to take on the high-stakes position.

    The complexity of the role has grown sharply in recent years, notes Nirmalya Kumar, former chief strategy officer at Tata Sons. “The collective losses of the new businesses are more than the cashflow generated by older companies like TCS, the group’s software arm whose business model has itself been challenged by the rise of artificial intelligence,” Kumar explained. For decades, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) served as the group’s undisputed cash cow, contributing roughly 85% of total operating cash flow to fund new investments. Today, that historic pillar of support has weakened significantly, putting greater pressure on new leadership to right the ship of unprofitable new ventures.

    While Dalal points out that the group has a deep bench of seasoned internal executives who may put their names forward for the role, she warns that finding an immediate “plug and play fit” is nearly impossible. “Any person who comes in will have a set of skills and experience, but must also be groomed for the unique demands of this role,” she said. Kumar, however, argues that existing internal leaders are not equipped to address the group’s current strategic challenges. “The people internally are good executors of existing business models. Companies like Tata Steel and Tata Motors are almost running on auto-pilot with a CEO in charge. The new chairman will have to understand new business models of the four unlisted businesses that are losing money,” he noted.

    For institutional and retail investors holding shares in Tata Group’s listed entities, Chandrasekaran’s resignation is expected to bring a prolonged period of market uncertainty. Experts agree that new leadership will almost certainly shift the group’s strategic direction, particularly when it comes to the aggressive expansion agenda pursued by Chandrasekaran. “Some of the bleeding businesses will need a strategic plan to be made profitable. [The new person] will need to decide whether to scale back or exit some investments,” Dalal said. Kumar adds that the next chairman will also need to deliver a clear roadmap to markets, outlining how much additional capital will be required for ongoing projects and when investors can expect those high-risk bets to reach break-even.

    But the single most critical priority for the new chairman, analysts agree, is repairing the fractured relationship between Tata Trusts – the charity foundation that holds a controlling stake in Tata Sons – and the Tata Sons operating board. The Tata Group enjoyed its most successful era under JRD Tata and Ratan Tata, when the same leaders helmed both the Trusts and the operating holding company, eliminating strategic friction. The first major breakdown came under former chairman Cyrus Mistry, when the roles were separated, and Chandrasekaran’s exit marks the second time a Tata Sons chairman has stepped down over a rocky relationship with the Trusts.

    Mukund Rajan, former brand custodian for Tata Sons, told India Today that misalignment between the controlling shareholder and operating leadership is a fundamental, structural issue that must be addressed. “You cannot have companies being run where the majority shareholder is either feeling ignored or not aligned with the way the company will be run going forward,” Rajan said. “Repairing this relationship will have to be a key priority for whoever is next in the driving seat.”

    Thus far, the ongoing leadership turmoil has already damaged the Tata Group’s decades-old reputation for stable, consensus-driven governance, experts say. Clear communication with stakeholders has long been a pain point for the group, Dalal explains, and the current silence creates unnecessary risk even though Tata Sons itself is unlisted. Movements at the holding company have a direct, tangible impact on millions of shareholders across the group’s 28 listed entities, she notes.

    Minari Shah, a corporate communications advisor who previously worked with Tata Motors, told the BBC that the group’s immediate priority should be reducing uncertainty, not rushing to deliver full answers. “That means demonstrating that governance mechanisms are working, reassuring stakeholders that business continuity is unaffected and providing clarity around the process for leadership transition. It is okay not to have all the answers immediately, as long as stakeholders have confidence that the disagreeing parties are in dialogue,” Shah said.

    As of nearly two weeks after Chandrasekaran’s resignation, neither Tata Sons nor Tata Trusts have released a detailed public statement outlining a succession roadmap or a path forward to resolve strategic differences. Tata Sons’ recent annual general meeting was even adjourned due to a lack of quorum, leaving key governance and succession decisions in limbo at a moment when stakeholders across India’s most valuable corporate group are craving clarity more than ever.

  • Rumours swirled after a Vietnamese teen was run over – then came a stunning admission

    Rumours swirled after a Vietnamese teen was run over – then came a stunning admission

    For months, an unassuming street tree along a busy Hanoi avenue blended in seamlessly with the hundreds of other greenery lining Vietnam’s capital. Today, it is widely known as the “Justice Tree,” a quiet gathering point for grief and anger that has grown into one of the most significant grassroots movements the country has seen in recent years.

    The tragedy at the center of this movement dates back to May 2025, when former National Assembly deputy Nguyen Sy Cuong was driving his BMW along Nguyen Huy Tu Street. For reasons that remain undetermined, Cuong’s vehicle veered across the center line into oncoming traffic, slamming directly into a motorbike carrying 49-year-old Do Viet Hung and his 18-year-old daughter, Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy. Hung survived the crash with a broken leg, but Phuong Thuy – who had her right leg severed in the collision – died 10 days later in a local hospital.

    For 15 months after the crash, almost no official information was released to the public, leaving a vacuum of transparency that fueled widespread speculation among Vietnamese citizens, particularly younger generations. In early August 2026, anonymous Gen Z social media users launched a coordinated campaign across major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Threads and X, publishing millions of posts under the hashtags #NguyenSyCuong and #BMW to demand full accountability for the crash.

    Early online discussion centered on two core questions: Was Nguyen Sy Cuong indeed the driver at fault, and why had authorities refused to release detailed information about the case? Multiple users shared reports matching the driver’s initials (NSC) and 1961 birth year to the former politician, leading to widespread rumors that the case had been covered up to protect a well-connected former public official. Many users also claimed their posts discussing the crash had been removed by social media platforms at the request of the Vietnamese government, sharing screenshot evidence of deletion notices – claims that have not yet been independently verified by outside outlets.

    As calls for a full, transparent investigation grew louder, masked mourners began visiting the site of the crash to lay bouquets at the base of the Justice Tree. Local police quickly removed the flowers, prompting activists to create a virtual memorial of the Justice Tree online. The digital tribute quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of messages, condolences and tributes from across the country.

    Faced with mounting public pressure and growing online attention that made the case impossible to ignore, Vietnamese authorities issued an unprecedented official confirmation in an August 2026 broadcast on state-run Vietnam Television (VTV). Officials confirmed that Nguyen Sy Cuong was indeed the driver of the BMW involved in the fatal collision. They added that because Cuong had “sincerely confessed and actively and fully remedied the consequences of his actions,” Phuong Thuy’s family had submitted a formal petition requesting that he be exempt from criminal prosecution. The statement did not disclose details of what “remedy” Cuong provided, and the former lawmaker was ultimately cleared of all criminal liability.

    While the decision to drop charges is technically permitted under Vietnamese law, it has sparked sharp criticism from both legal experts and the public. Lawyers have questioned whether full due process was followed during the investigation, while social media users have pointed to Cuong’s decades of political connections as the core reason he avoided prosecution, renewing calls for a full independent probe.

    This is not the first time that grassroots social media pressure in Vietnam has pushed authorities to revisit a high-profile crash involving a powerful connected individual. In March 2026, a retired police colonel named Nguyen Van Sau – a former deputy department head at the Ministry of Public Security – was involved in an alcohol-fueled chain-reaction crash that killed one woman and injured two others. After the victim’s family raised concerns the former official would avoid accountability, social media users amplified their calls for action. Three months later, Sau was formally charged with violating road traffic safety regulations.

    Many Gen Z activists believe the same level of public pressure is the only path to securing justice for Phuong Thuy. But their movement has been met with swift pushback from Vietnamese authorities and state media.

    In the same VTV broadcast that confirmed Cuong’s involvement, Phuong Thuy’s father Do Viet Hung thanked internet users for their sympathy, but stated his family was satisfied with the investigation’s outcome and asked the public to stop pressing the issue. He also warned citizens “not to be drawn into the influence of reactionary elements.” A senior Ministry of Public Security official went further, claiming that “hostile forces” were leveraging the accident to incite unrest and social disorder in the country ahead of Vietnam’s 2 September national holiday. Authorities have gone as far as to accuse the Gen Z-led movement of plotting a “colour revolution,” a common label used to describe nonviolent protest movements that the Vietnamese government frames as externally driven anti-government plots.

    Movement organizers have rejected these accusations as baseless, insisting their only goal is to secure full transparency and accountability for a teenage crash victim. But the widespread outrage over the case has exposed growing, simmering discontent among Vietnamese youth even as the government tightens restrictions on online freedom of expression, using tools ranging from fines and intimidation to criminal prosecution to curb dissent.

    On anonymous platforms like Threads and Reddit, young Vietnamese are increasingly speaking out about a range of grievances beyond the crash, from expanded police power and controversial land reclamation projects to high-profile exam cheating scandals and tighter restrictions on online communication. This youth discontent aligns with a broader wave of Gen Z-led anti-government movements across the Asia-Pacific over the past year, where young people have mobilized against corruption, nepotism, economic inequality and democratic backsliding. Collectively, these movements have been unofficially dubbed the “Asian Spring,” with visible uprisings taking place in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Iran, Mongolia, the Maldives, the Philippines and Timor-Leste.

    Unlike many of these countries, large-scale public protest has rarely reached a boiling point in Vietnam, where authorities have a long history of quickly stifling dissent before it can translate to offline action. For most Vietnamese civilians, anonymous social media posts, digital memorials and online organizing represent the most robust form of activism they can safely pursue.

    At its core, the movement remains focused on a single goal: holding a former lawmaker accountable for a fatal crash that killed an 18-year-old girl, and ensuring that no connected public figure is granted special treatment under the law. Yet even the existence of this small, focused movement has sparked alarm among authorities, serving as a stark reminder of the entrenched political status quo in Vietnam’s one-party state. As one viral post framing the government’s perspective put it: “Are these Gen Z kids planning a colour revolution using this accident? Are they trying to emulate Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, and then create an Asian Spring? Remember, this is Vietnam! This is not Nepal, India, or Bangladesh!”