Talk of global decoupling from China has persisted for years, as has speculation that emerging economies such as India and Vietnam could soon replace it as the “world’s factory”. But for Indian hardware engineer Neeraj Arora, the growth of India’s electronics manufacturing industry has not eliminated the need to source components from China. Instead, it has changed the nature of those imports. A decade ago, Arora imported finished phone chargers from the world’s second-largest economy. Today,...

China said on Thursday that the recent government approval allowing American bank card payment giant Visa to operate in the country was the “direct outcome” of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States last month. “The Visa card was granted permission to establish a banking card clearing institution,” said Qiu Wenxing, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese embassy in Washington. “It is a direct outcome of the presidential summit.” Visa received administrative approval...

White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has acknowledged that she never passed a bar exam, days after telling reporters she had passed one “when I moved to China”. In an interview with the conservative commentator Jack Posobiec on right-wing streaming channel Real America’s Voice on Thursday, Zacharia said she sat the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school in 2011 but did not pass. She said the results were “somewhat inconsequential, because I knew I...

MANILA, Philippines—No bettor won the ₱50.42 million Super Lotto 6/49 jackpot or the ₱10 million Lotto 6/42 jackpot in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) draws on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. According to the PCSO, the winning combination for Super Lotto 6/49 was 13-42-11-37-01-20, with a jackpot prize of ₱50.42 million. No ticket matched all

Imported by international donors in the 1990s, NGOs have supplanted rather than strengthened local forms of political organizing.

Hong Kong’s efforts to boost the number of newborns in the city should be considered in the context of talent retention relating to Hong Kong’s liveability. When the Census and Statistics Department reported in August that births in Hong Kong had fallen by an annualised 15.6 per cent to a historic low of fewer than 30,000, it injected a sharp sense of urgency into public discussions as Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu prepared to deliver his policy address. The government addressed concerns with...

MANILA, Philippines — In-person classes were suspended in Philippine Science High School – Main Campus in Quezon City on Friday, Oct. 16, until Tuesday next week, due to reported cases of influenza-like illnesses. In an advisory, the campus announced that club and homeroom meetings on Friday will be held online. However, its card-giving activity to