30 h. ago Armless Chinese man delivers food on unicycle, uses lips on phone to call customers

A man in central China without arms delivers food on a unicycle and uses his lips to navigate his phone to call customers. What is more, after work at night he sets up a stall to sell calligraphy written with his feet to support his family. Inspirational Li Xiangyang, 30, from Hunan province, was born into a poor rural family and now lives with his wife and their two children. He lost both his arms when he was accidentally electrocuted at the age of four, a tragedy that also plunged his family...

Society

4 d. ago Chinese delivery rider and biker face off for 4 hours at narrow crossing

A food delivery rider and a man on an electric bike in southern China blocked each other for at least four hours at a narrow crossing, as neither was willing to budge. Video clips of these two determined individuals went viral on mainland China, delighting millions of internet users, according to Dafeng News. The incident took place on August 24 in the bustling Huicheng District of Huizhou, Guangdong province. It involved a food delivery man and a young man, both perched on their electric bikes,...

Politics

5 d. ago Hong Kong court orders Foodpanda to pay HK$1.3 million to rider injured in storm

A Hong Kong court has ordered on-demand food delivery platform Foodpanda to pay more than HK$1.3 million (US$167,000) in compensation to a worker who injured himself during a tropical storm five years ago, ruling that the company failed to ensure the employee’s safety in extreme weather. The High Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of Farooq Ahmed Khan after finding his former employer had exposed him to an unnecessary risk of injury due to the absence of a safe working protocol. Khan, 53, was...

Events

6 d. ago Afghan commandos airdrop to quake zones where helicopters can’t land

Afghanistan airdropped commandos on Wednesday to pull survivors from the rubble of homes in mountainous eastern areas ravaged by earthquakes this week that have killed 1,400, as it ramped up efforts to deliver food, shelter and medical supplies. The first earthquake of magnitude 6, one of Afghanistan’s worst in recent years, unleashed widespread damage and destruction when it struck the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar around midnight on Sunday at a shallow depth of 10km (6 miles). A second...

Politics

6 d. ago Hungry for justice: Southeast Asia sends Indonesia’s protesters food, solidarity

It began with a few Malaysians buying meals on Grab for strangers across the Java Sea. Within days, thousands were taking part, from Manila to Bangkok, sending food to Indonesian delivery riders caught in the turmoil of mass protest. Struggling food delivery riders, emblematic of Indonesia’s urban underclass, have become the focus of sympathy, solidarity and support from across Southeast Asia. Starting last week, thousands of social media users from around the region began ordering meals via the...

Society

7 d. ago Chinese delivery giant Meituan releases AI model to take on Alibaba, DeepSeek

On-demand local services giant Meituan has become the latest Chinese Big Tech company to release an open-source large language model (LLM) to market, more than two years after it acquired mainland AI start-up Light Year for US$281 million. Beijing-based Meituan, the long-standing leader of China’s food delivery market, on Monday released and open-sourced its own LLM, called LongCat-Flash-Chat, via artificial intelligence developer platforms Hugging Face and GitHub, as well as the model’s...

Politics

8 d. ago Forget the food delivery war — Alibaba makes clear the real play in China is AI

Forget the food delivery war — Alibaba makes clear the real play in China is AI  Business Insider

Society

8 d. ago Flotilla leaves Barcelona in biggest attempt yet to break Israel’s Gaza blockade

A flotilla of ships departed from Barcelona to Gaza on Sunday with humanitarian aid and activists on board in the largest attempt yet to break the long Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory by sea. This comes as Israel has stepped up its offensive on Gaza City, limiting the deliveries of food and basic supplies in the north of the Palestinian territory. Food experts warned earlier this month that the city was in famine and that half a million people across the strip were facing...

Politics

8 d. ago Flotilla leaves Barcelona in biggest attempt yet to break blockade of Gaza

A flotilla of ships departed from Barcelona to Gaza on Sunday with humanitarian aid and activists on board in the largest attempt yet to break the long Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory by sea. This comes as Israel has stepped up its offensive on Gaza City, limiting the deliveries of food and basic supplies in the north of the Palestinian territory. Food experts warned earlier this month that the city was in famine and that half a million people across the strip were facing...

Politics

1 week ago Trump holds meeting on Gaza with Tony Blair and Jared Kushner

US President Donald Trump presided over a policy meeting on Israel’s war in Gaza and post-war plans for the Palestinian territory on Wednesday with input from former British prime minister Tony Blair and former Trump Middle East envoy Jared Kushner, a senior White House official said. Trump, top White House officials, Blair and Kushner discussed the hostage crisis, plans to escalate food aid deliveries, post-war plans and more, the official told Reuters. The official described the session as...

Politics

1 week ago Chinese food delivery company Meituan's profit slides as competition intensifies

Chinese food delivery company Meituan's profit slides as competition intensifies  Reuters

Society

1 week ago Meituan’s Profit Crumbles During Food Delivery War With Alibaba

Meituan’s Profit Crumbles During Food Delivery War With Alibaba  Bloomberg

Society

2 w. ago China delivery man saves trapped woman after seeing pillow with ‘110’ written on it

A driver in China who spotted a white pillow scrawled with the emergency number 110 in blood during a food delivery has helped rescue a woman who was trapped in her bedroom for 30 hours without food or water. The incident unfolded on August 12, in Leshan, Sichuan province, southwestern China. The delivery driver surnamed Zhang, a university student working a summer job, spotted a white pillow stained with dark red liquid and marked with the numbers 110 625, lying on the roadside near a...

Politics

3 w. ago JD.com quarterly sales beat expectations but food delivery foray slices profit

JD.com’s revenue grew a faster-than-anticipated 22 per cent in the June quarter, benefiting from government-directed consumer subsidies as well as an aggressive drive into new arenas such as food delivery. The Nasdaq-listed shares of China’s top online retailer by revenue rose about 1 per cent in pre-market US trading. The Beijing-based company reported sales of 356.7 billion yuan (US$49.7 billion) for the quarter ended June 30, about 6 per cent above projections. Net income halved to 6.2...

Society

4 w. ago China kids deliver food, help courier riders with orders, spark safety concerns

A new trend of children helping food couriers deliver orders that had emerged in a well-known electronics market in southern China has been nipped in the bud by the authorities. Huaqiangbei market in the city of Shenzhen is one of the world’s biggest electronics markets. It is full of children during the summer holidays. The children operated as gig workers who helped delivery riders carry orders and locate customers. They wore a payment QR code around their necks and fought for orders whenever...

Society

4 w. ago China urged to curb excessive cash burn, not competition, to fight ‘neijuan’

With e-commerce platforms locked in fierce competition for China’s instant retail market, a prominent Chinese economist has called for government guidance that balances regulatory oversight with innovation and a push for new growth drivers. Wang Yiming, a central bank adviser, said “quick commerce” – involving the rapid delivery of food and essential goods, often within 30 minutes – creates new opportunities for consumption, which could be vital for long-term growth. He urged officials to guide...

Sport

4 w. ago South China Sea film Beijing condemned set to open in Philippine cinemas

A documentary film that Beijing sought to have banned chronicling the hazardous everyday lives of Filipino fishermen and soldiers in the South China Sea is set to open in cinemas in the Philippines this Wednesday. Food Delivery by director Baby Ruth Villarama was denounced last month for being “rife with disinformation and false propaganda” by the Chinese consulate-general in Auckland, which called for a New Zealand festival not to screen the film, calling it a “political tool” for the...

Culture