68 m. ago China toy platform refund policy requires parents slap child for unapproved spending

A major Chinese second-hand platform has sparked online controversy after allegedly requiring a mother to submit an uninterrupted five-minute video of herself slapping her child as a condition for processing a refund. The case drew public attention when Li Yun, the mother of an unidentified 11-year-old girl, tried to get a refund after discovering that her daughter had secretly spent over 500 yuan (US$70) on trading cards on the Qiandao app. Qiandao is widely regarded as China’s leading platform...

Society

14 h. ago Louvre heist jewels valued at over US$100 million, as director faces grilling

The jewellery stolen from the Louvre in Paris was valued at more than US$100 million, a French prosecutor said Tuesday, as the museum’s director faces security questions from a Senate committee over the brazen weekend heist. The director, Laurence des Cars, has not made any public statement since thieves made off with royal jewels during a daylight robbery on Sunday that took just seven minutes. The Louvre is expected to re-open on Wednesday following two days of shut doors for the investigation...

Economics

14 h. ago Louvre heist jewels valued at over US$100 million as security row deepens

The jewellery stolen from the Louvre in Paris was valued at more than US$100 million, a French prosecutor said on Tuesday, as the museum’s director was set to face security questions from a Senate committee over the brazen weekend heist. The director, Laurence des Cars, has not made any public statement since thieves made off with royal jewels during a daylight robbery on Sunday that took just seven minutes. The Louvre was expected to reopen on Wednesday following two days of shut doors for the...

Economics

24 h. ago Chinese woman charged in Paris gold theft from Natural History Museum

A Chinese woman has been arrested and charged over the theft of gold from the Natural History Museum in Paris, in one of several recent high-profile break-ins targeting French cultural institutions, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. The theft – by what the museum’s director at the time said was an “extremely professional team” – took place on September 16, about a month before an audacious jewellery heist at the world-famous Louvre Museum on Sunday. A 24-year-old Chinese woman was arrested in...

Culture

25 h. ago China shop clerk breaks jade bangles worth US$140,000; owner seeks no compensation

A shop clerk in eastern China accidentally broke jade bangles valued at over one million yuan (US$140,000), yet the owner chose compassion over compensation, giving the young man a chance to learn from his mistake. The incident, which occurred in October at a jewellery shop in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, was captured on surveillance video. While moving a table, the clerk accidentally knocked over a box of jade bangles, resulting in a loud crash. He attempted to gather the pieces but squatted in...

Economics

30 h. ago Louvre jewels may be irrecoverable as French police race against time

Crime gangs around Europe were increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often caught thieves, they struggled to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts have said. Only a small pool of criminals would be capable of such a job as Sunday’s audacious robbery in Paris and may already be known to police, the specialists said. But the objects themselves could be quickly broken down into component parts and sold on. “If...

Events

52 h. ago Hong Kong, Elior Group in land talks for Asia’s first aircraft parts centre

City authorities are in talks with a leading French aeronautical services company about the allocation of land to develop Hong Kong into Asia’s first aircraft parts processing and trading centre, with the firm set to start training classes in two months. Daniel Derichebourg, chairman and CEO of France-based Elior Group, said the company was still in talks with the government about solutions that would work best to help Hong Kong grow as a centre for aircraft parts dismantling, recycling and...

Politics

56 h. ago China says its economy slowed to a 4.8% annual pace of growth in the last quarter

China says its economy slowed to a 4.8% annual pace of growth in the last quarter  San Francisco Chronicle

Politics

58 h. ago How iPhone Air’s eSIM debut reshapes China’s telecoms landscape

The launch of the iPhone Air as the first eSIM-supported smartphone sold in China marks a pivotal moment in the country’s telecoms history, as state-owned mobile carriers vie for dominance in a changing landscape. Beijing approved “commercial trials” of the handset’s eSIM function by the country’s “Big Three” telecoms operators – China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom – last week, and the iPhone Air sold out within minutes of its release on Friday. Domestic brands quickly followed suit....

Politics

66 h. ago Thieves steal priceless French crown jewels from Louvre museum in Paris

Thieves wielding power tools robbed the Louvre in broad daylight on Sunday, taking just seven minutes to grab some of France’s priceless crown jewels, but dropping a gem-encrusted crown as they fled, officials and sources said. Authorities recovered the 19th-century crown – damaged – near the museum, but the culprits were still at large and the target of a manhunt. The spectacular robbery, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the closure for the rest of the day of the...

Events

66 h. ago Thieves steal crown jewels from France’s Louvre in daring minutes

Thieves raided Paris’ Louvre museum in broad daylight Sunday, taking just seven minutes to grab some of France’s priceless crown jewels, but dropping a gem-encrusted crown as they fled, officials and sources said. The spectacular heist, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the closure of the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa. President Emmanuel Macron posted on social media that “everything is being done” to catch the perpetrators and...

Events

66 h. ago France hunts thieves who stole crown jewels from Louvre in daring minutes

The hunt was on Monday for the band of thieves who stole eight priceless royal pieces of jewellery from the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris in broad daylight. Officials said a team of 60 investigators were working on the theory that Sunday’s raid was planned and executed by an organised crime group. In France, it reignited a row over the lack of security in France’s museums, which the new Interior Minister Laurent Nunez acknowledged was a “major weak spot”. The thieves arrived between 9.30am...

Politics

67 h. ago Trump's China cooking oil threat cut $450B from market in minutes, watcher says — keep politics from frying your stocks

Trump's China cooking oil threat cut $450B from market in minutes, watcher says — keep politics from frying your stocks  Yahoo Finance

Politics

68 h. ago Trump's Chinese cooking oil threat erased $450B from the S&P 500 in minutes, market watcher says — how to manage when politics greases your portfolio

Trump's Chinese cooking oil threat erased $450B from the S&P 500 in minutes, market watcher says — how to manage when politics greases your portfolio  moneywise.com

Politics

69 h. ago China and the Netherlands wrestle to control key chipmaker Nexperia

China and the Netherlands wrestle to control key chipmaker Nexperia  France 24

Politics

69 h. ago Bob Yuan, Leo Ye clinch second GT World Challenge Asia crown

Bob Yuan, Leo Ye clinch second GT World Challenge Asia crown  Xinhua

Politics

3 d. ago China expels nine senior officials from the Communist Party in anti

China expels nine senior officials from the Communist Party in anti-corruption drive  France 24

Politics

3 d. ago Gangs in China exploiting US gift cards to move stolen cash, DHS says

Gift cards, one of the most basic financial products in the US retail market, have become the backbone of a billion-dollar criminal economy that investigators say is moving American money into China. Homeland Security Investigations agents say Chinese organised-crime groups have built a laundering network that uses US retailers, mobile wallets and cryptocurrency to steal and export wealth. Operatives inside the US drain compromised gift cards, buy high-value goods such as iPhones and laptops,...

Events

3 d. ago Racing chief hails Ka Ying Rising’s ‘phenomenal’ win, city’s world

Hong Kong’s Ka Ying Rising cemented his place as racing’s best sprinter with a dominant victory in the world’s richest turf race, The Everest, in Sydney on Saturday, a moment trainer David Hayes called “the biggest thrill in my life”. The 5-year-old star became the first overseas horse to claim the title, earning A$7 million (HK$35 million) in little more than the minute it took to cover the 1,200 metres at Royal Randwick. His 14th consecutive victory, but a first outside Hong Kong, took Ka Ying...

Politics

4 d. ago Pope Leo visits ship sailing the Mediterranean on peace mission

Arm in arm, young people of different faiths perform the dabke, an Arabic folk dance, in the Italian port of Ostia, elated by a visit from Pope Leo. Behind them is the Bel Espoir, a schooner vessel on which the young people – whether from Libya and Egypt or France and Bosnia – have been sailing the Mediterranean to promote peace. “For me especially, it means a lot that the pope believes in the project and he wants to come and meet us,” said Jesus Marro, a 30-year-old Spaniard. “He believes in...

Events