(2nd UPDATE) More than 90,000 people are estimated to be affected, the Red Cross says, adding that trucks with relief supplies are blocked after the barrier lake broke its banks
(1st UPDATE) The family of Juan Carlos Manalo, who is missing in Nepal after a massive flash flood, is trying to get as much reach as possible to expedite the search for the Filipino doctor
Experts from Nepal and China met in Kathmandu three months before a catastrophic disaster to discuss cooperation on monitoring and responding to glacier-related hazards
The Justice Department said that the domain seizures made the botnet and its command and control servers “inoperable,” as the domains were hardcoded into the botnet’s code and were critical for the botnet’s communication and essential operations.
The U.S. phone provider escaped a large-scale breach of its network after identifying Chinese-backed hackers early on.
The founder of Evergrande, the Chinese property giant whose collapse triggered a nationwide housing market crisis, has been sentenced to life in prison and stripped of all personal property. Hui Ka Yan pleaded guilty in April to multiple charges, including embezzling assets and corporate bribery. The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court also imposed fines totaling 15.82 billion yuan, roughly £1.73 billion or $2.35 billion, on his former companies over a range of offenses that included falsifying financial records and concealing debt. The sentencing marks a major turning point in the fallout from Evergrande’s collapse, which shook China’s property sector and inflicted heavy losses on investors and domestic banks alike. The court said Hui and his businesses seriously disrupted the Chinese property market, causing significant economic damage. Other former Evergrande executives, including Hui’s two sons Xu Zhijian and Xu Tenghe, received jail terms ranging from 22 months to 18 years, according to Chinese state media. Once ranked as Asia’s richest man, Hui has watched his fortune and influence collapse alongside his company. Also known as Xu Jiayin, he grew up in rural China raised by his grandmother before entering the property industry and founding Evergrande in 1996. He guided the company through a period of rapid expansion fueled by heavy borrowing, eventually building Evergrande into China’s largest real estate developer with a stock market valuation exceeding $50 billion, roughly £36.7 billion. At his peak, Hui held the distinction of being Asia’s wealthiest individual. The company suffered a major setback when Beijing introduced new measures in 2020 aimed at curbing debt across the property sector. As Evergrande struggled to keep up with interest payments, it began selling properties at steep discounts to stay afloat before ultimately collapsing in 2021. Court proceedings in April revealed that the company had taken in millions of dollars in pre sale funds from prospective homebuyers that were never used for the construction they were intended to finance. Instead, that money was redirected toward new development projects, leaving hundreds of housing projects unfinished. In March 2024, Hui was separately fined $6.5 million and banned for life from China’s capital markets after regulators found the company had overstated its revenue by $78 billion. Evergrande’s stock market value shrank by 99 percent before the company’s shares were delisted from the Hong Kong exchange in August 2025, ending more than fifteen years of trading. The company’s implosion is widely seen as a key trigger for the broader downturn in China’s property market that continues to weigh on the country’s economy. At its peak, Evergrande stood as the largest firm in an industry that accounted for roughly a third of China’s gross domestic product, serving as both a major driver of economic growth and a critical revenue source for local governments. The sector’s ongoing troubles have continued to pressure the world’s second largest economy, with several other major developers facing their own financial distress in the years since Evergrande’s fall.
Burgers have become one of China’s most contested fast food categories, with budget minded diners and shrinking household sizes fueling a rush that now includes hotpot operators and coffee brands alongside established global chains. Yum China’s Pizza Hut Burger Bar concept, which places a dedicated burger counter inside existing Pizza Hut locations, expanded to more than 200 outlets within six months, the company said in July. Yum China plans to grow the format to between 500 and 600 outlets by the end of 2026, representing roughly 10 percent of its total Pizza Hut store network in China. The surge into burgers reflects broader changes in Chinese consumer habits. As households shrink and economic uncertainty keeps spending cautious, diners increasingly favor lower cost, portable meals that deliver convenience without sacrificing value. That shift has transformed burgers from a niche Western import long dominated by McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King into one of the most fiercely contested segments of China’s restaurant industry, drawing a wave of new entrants eager to capture market share. Last month, hotpot chain Haidilao entered the space with a new concept called Huanxianbao, or Fresh Burger, which sells burgers alongside pizza, pasta and fried chicken. Coffee chain M Stand has also opened burger focused locations in several cities. China’s Western style fast food market was valued at 499.65 billion yuan, or about $74.1 billion, in 2025 and is projected to reach 587.09 billion yuan by 2027, according to data provider iiMedia Research, even as several global brands face broader challenges in the market. Burgers ranked as the top preference among consumers surveyed, with 55 percent selecting the category. While still a relatively small slice of China’s overall fast food industry, the burger segment alone was worth $18.4 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow 8.7 percent annually through 2035, according to Emergen Research. Part of the category’s appeal lies in simple economics. Food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said burgers offer a lower cost alternative to full service restaurant meals while still functioning as a substantial meal, calling them a strong value for money option amid cautious consumer spending. Wang Fang, a university student in Beijing, said burgers have become a default lunch choice for her and her classmates because they cost less than ordering several dishes at a sit down restaurant. She said a burger loaded with meat, vegetables and butter makes for an affordable, balanced meal. The category’s rise also tracks with shifting demographics. Growing numbers of single person households, smaller families and young urban professionals have driven demand for convenient meals sized for one, a trend Yum China says is opening opportunities across its brand portfolio. Pizza Hut added burgers to its menu in 2024, and by 2025 the category accounted for a mid single digit percentage of Pizza Hut’s total sales in China, the company said. Yum China expects burgers to generate more than 1 billion yuan in sales this year, representing 5 to 6 percent of the brand’s revenue. The company said burgers resonate strongly with takeaway and delivery customers in China, where 43 percent of consumers order delivery at least once a week, compared with a global average of 23 percent, according to Euromonitor. The growing appetite for burgers has drawn competitors from across the industry. Domestic chains such as Tasiting now compete directly with McDonald’s, Yum China’s KFC and Shake Shack for market share. International brands are eager to join the competition as well. When US chain Five Guys opened its first stores in Beijing this month, customers waited more than two hours to be served. Wendy’s said in May that it plans to enter the Chinese market and open as many as 1,000 franchised restaurants over the next decade. Liu Tao, a 48 year old musician in Beijing, regularly takes his 11 year old son to McDonald’s on Sundays, fitting the meal into a tight schedule between the boy’s math and English classes. He said burgers work well when time is short and he needs food that feels clean, quick and won’t bore his son, noting that his son often eats in the car on the way to his next class.
China’s embassy in New Zealand has filed a formal complaint after Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told a Green Party lawmaker of Chinese descent to return to his own country during a heated parliamentary exchange. The clash unfolded Wednesday when Green Party member Lawrence Xu-Nan, who was born in the Chinese city of Tianjin but raised in New Zealand, asked Peters during a debate over the country’s Covid pandemic response whether he was vaccinated. Peters, who leads the populist NZ First party, responded by telling Xu-Nan he had arrived in the country only recently and should return home, adding a remark suggesting dishonesty in China that does not apply in New Zealand. He went on to describe New Zealand as a democracy, in contrast to what he implied Xu-Nan was used to, and told him to go back to where he came from. The remarks prompted an unusual public response from Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong, who said on social media that he generally avoids commenting on domestic politics but suggested the statement revealed more about the speaker than anyone else. China’s embassy in Wellington confirmed it had lodged a complaint with New Zealand’s foreign ministry over what it called negative China related remarks from a New Zealand politician. Peters has stood by his comments, saying New Zealand’s democratic system protects free speech and rights that other countries restrict, at times through force. He said on social media that those offended by his remarks were welcome to the reality of living in New Zealand. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, whose National Party governs in coalition with Peters’ NZ First, criticized the remarks as inappropriate attention seeking behavior. This is not the first time Peters and his party, who hold significant influence as coalition partners in New Zealand’s fragmented political landscape, have faced accusations of racially charged rhetoric. Earlier this year, Peters’ deputy Shane Jones drew criticism for describing a free trade agreement with India as risking what he called a butter chicken flood. Last year, Peters and Jones faced backlash after Jones shouted at another lawmaker to send Mexicans home during a parliamentary debate, a comment aimed at a legislator who was actually born in the Philippines. Peters later told that lawmaker and Xu-Nan that they should show gratitude for being allowed to live in New Zealand. The episode adds to a pattern of controversies surrounding minor coalition partners in small parliamentary democracies, where kingmaker parties often wield outsized influence despite representing a smaller share of the electorate, occasionally straining diplomatic relationships in the process.
Did anyone think there would not be a reckoning over this tie-up?
Leaked hacking tools threaten the security of millions of older iPhones. Cybersecurity experts weigh in.