Chinese spies ‘try to enter UK’ via Hong Kong visa scheme August 9, 2021 UK security officials are reportedly concerned China is sending spies to enter the UK through the British National (Overseas) visa scheme designed for Hong Kong residents. Chinese spies are trying to take advantage of the scheme and posing as refugees in an attempt to enter Britain, according to a report in the Times. Government sources [...]
Tech firm NetEase pulls $1bn Cloud Village IPO after Beijing’s attack on gaming August 9, 2021 Chinese technology firm NetEase has put a pin in its $1bn Hong Kong listing for its music streaming service Cloud Village due to recent volatility in the tech market, according to reports. The initial public offering (IPO) had already been approved by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s listing committee, according to filings lodged with the exchange. [...]
TikTok owner mulls Hong Kong IPO, once it can fly by hawkish regulators August 9, 2021 China’s ByteDance, the owner of popular short video platform TikTok, has yet again tabled plans to list in Hong Kong once it has addressed Chinese regulators’ concerns, according to reports. The news and entertainment group is eyeing the fourth quarter of this year or early 2022, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the [...]
China’s Wuhan tests 12m in six days after emergence of the Delta variant August 9, 2021 China’s Wuhan has completed citywide testing of some 12m residents for Covid-19 after just six days, to stamp out the emergence of the Delta strain. The testing programme, which began on Tuesday and finished yesterday, provides “basically full coverage” of all residents excluding children under the age of six and students on their summer break, [...]
China blasts US over ‘safe haven’ scheme for Hong Kong residents August 9, 2021 China has condemned the Biden administration for offering temporary “safe haven” status to Hong Kong residents in the US. China’s foreign ministry and the Hong Kong and Macau affairs office both issued statements on Sunday, which was the second time Beijing has criticised the move in two days. US President Joe Biden signed a memorandum [...]
Vaccine race: Chile leads, Spain overtakes UK and one-third of world gets first dose August 6, 2021 Just under a third of the world’s population has received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine so far in the global immunisation drive, forming part of some 4.3bn jabs distributed, the latest data reveals. Around 15.2 per cent of the world has been fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data, but only 1.1 per [...]
Former Bain consultant hired by Pope to evaluate a Vatican administrative office August 6, 2021 Pope Francis has reportedly brought on a former Bain & Company consultant to help execute a new reform package in the Vatican. Pier Francesco Pinelli, now a partner at an Italian consulting firm, spent seven years as a senior manager at the big three firm’s Italian wing. Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich was asked by the [...]
Huawei revenues collapse nearly a third as it peddles against US sanctions August 6, 2021 Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies has watched its revenue collapse by almost a third so far this year, as it peddles against the waters of US sanctions. Revenue hit $49.5bn in the six months to June, down 29 per cent, the group reported today. With its handset business struck by US sanctions, the UK’s decision [...]
Hikma Pharmaceutical revenue hits $1.2bn, buoyed by investments in new medicines August 6, 2021 Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ revenue has hit $1.2bn in the past six months, inching past last year’s figure. Revenue was up seven per cent in the six months to June from $1.1bn in the same period last year. The pharmaceutical firm also pulled in $326m in operating profit, some 10 per cent more than the first half [...]
Belarusian Olympic sprinter defects to Poland after warning from Grandmother August 5, 2021 Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who decided to defect to Poland instead of returning to her home country, did so because her grandmother warned her not to go home. Tsimanouskaya, 24, has said her family were worried she would be sent to a psychiatric hospital upon her arrival in Belarus. “I have always been far [...]