14 h. ago Manus AI lays off China staff, scrubs social media, shelves mainland service

The company behind the general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) agent Manus laid off most of its staff in Beijing last week, according to local media reports, amid a reorganisation in line with relocating its headquarters to Singapore. Manus AI has also scrubbed all of its content on Chinese social media platforms Weibo and RedNote. Logging in returns this message: “Manus is not available in your region.” That marked a change from the earlier message that said its “Chinese version is under...

Politics

16 h. ago China Merchants Bank’s brokerage arm gets virtual asset licence in Hong Kong

CMB International Securities (CMBI), the brokerage arm of China Merchants Bank, said it received a virtual asset licence from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, making it the first mainland broker to conduct cryptocurrency trading services and other activities in the city. The licence, issued on Monday, allowed CMBI to engage in a variety of virtual asset services, including trading, custody and advisory services. In addition, it can provide guidance on risk management, regulatory...

Politics

29 h. ago State Department cuts China policy staff amid major overhaul

State Department cuts China policy staff amid major overhaul  The Washington Post

Events

2 w. ago JCB has launched contactless subway payment services in Shanghai and Beijing, marking the first such service in mainland China

JCB has launched contactless subway payment services in Shanghai and Beijing, marking the first such service in mainland China  TradingView

Politics

2 w. ago Chinese navy chief of staff and nuclear scientist expelled from top legislature

The Chinese navy’s chief of staff and a top nuclear scientist have been stripped of their membership of the country’s legislature. Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and Liu Shipeng, deputy chief engineer at China National Nuclear Corporation, have been expelled from the National People’s Congress (NPC). Li is the latest of a string of PLA generals and a handful of defence industry executives to have implicated in a sweeping crackdown in the military. In...

Events

3 w. ago Elderly Hongkongers can use vouchers at 2 Zhuhai hospitals from Thursday

Elderly Hongkongers will be able to use healthcare vouchers for medical services at two hospitals in mainland China’s Zhuhai later this week under a government subsidy scheme, part of a plan to expand the coverage of the project across the border. The Hong Kong government on Monday announced that the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme would be launched at Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and Zhuhai People’s Hospital on Thursday. The latest additions will...

Politics

3 w. ago Hongkongers, mainland residents embrace Payment Connect service on first day

Hongkongers and mainland residents jumped at the chance to send money across the border via a new electronic payment service on its first day of operation on Sunday. The so-called Payment Connect was operating smoothly, with 2,000 Northbound and 7,400 Southbound transactions just after noon, according to a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The People’s Bank of China and the HKMA announced the linkage on Friday. Connecting Hong Kong’s Faster Payment System (FPS) to the...

Politics