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1. China’s Hainan free-trade hub reinvents itself as Hong Kong’s rival – and partner

   As Hainan pushes ahead with its free-trade port, the tropical island is emerging as a potential rival to Hong Kong’s long-standing role as a regional shopping and low-tax hub – even as both sides signal interest in closer cooperation. Since launching a separate customs regime three months ago, Hainan – now a gateway to the Chinese market – has positioned itself as a “super partner” to Hong Kong...

2. South Korean factory fire injures at least 55

   A fire at a car parts factory in South Korea’s central city of Daejeon injured at least 55 people on Friday, with officials warning the toll could rise. The National Fire Agency said 24 were seriously hurt in a blaze likely caused by an explosion. Officials could not immediately confirm whether any of the injured were in life-threatening condition. Nam Deuk-woo, fire chief of the city’s Daedeok...

3. Trump to praise Japan in China, Xi summit delayed, PLA-Nato talks

   US President Donald Trump said he will be “speaking Japan’s praises” when he makes a delayed trip to China, even with the two Asian nations engaged in a long-running dispute over Taiwan. The Beijing visit, including a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has been postponed “for about a month and a half”, Trump told reporters in the White House alongside Japanese Prime Minister Sanae...

4. Trump ally Steve Daines will be first sitting US senator to visit Hong Kong since 2019

   US Senator Steve Daines, a close ally of President Donald Trump, will make the first visit to Hong Kong by a sitting US senator since 2019 at the end of this month, according to sources. Sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly on the matter said Daines would meet American business leaders in Hong Kong on March 30. Daines has played a...

5. Gulf states again under fire as Iran says still building missiles

   Firefighters battled a blaze at a giant oil refinery in Kuwait on Friday after a fresh drone attack as Iran kept up a wave of strikes on its neighbours and vowed there was “no concern” about its missile production. Despite calls for an end to targeting Gulf energy infrastructure by European leaders on Thursday, Kuwait reported a fire at its Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, a day after a direct hit on...

6. US Section 301 tariffs set to trigger fresh wave of trade disruption

   If there is a thread that provides coherence to Donald Trump’s mad emperorship, it is the frenetic invention of new, evermore dramatic diversions: no week can be allowed to pass without new melodrama that erases the chaotic melodramas of weeks past. Nor can a week be allowed to pass without the seeds being sown for next week’s melodramas. This week it is Iran, and the computer-gaming unreality...

7. Chinese stocks shake laggard image amid oil shock as green transition pays off

   Chinese stocks have emerged as outperformers in the latest oil shock, reversing their reputation as laggards, as crude takes a back seat to renewable fuels in the world’s second-largest economy. The CSI 300 Index of stocks trading on the mainland’s exchanges has dropped 3.1 per cent since the US and Israel began attacks on Iran on February 28, outperforming the S&P 500, the Euro Stoxx 50 and...

8. NIH-awarded life scientist Shu Xiaokun abruptly shifts research from US to China

   Eminent life scientist Shu Xiaokun has received numerous awards and significant funding from the US government over the past two decades. Earlier this year, he was appointed the prestigious Herfindahl Endowed Chair professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), capping a career that included pioneering fluorescent protein tools in Nobel laureate Roger Yonchien Tsien’s...

9. Preview of Alibaba’s strongest AI model tops Chinese peers in ranking, lags US rivals

   Alibaba Group Holding unveiled the preview version of its most powerful artificial intelligence model to date, solidifying its position as China’s leader in the race to catch American giants like Anthropic, Google and OpenAI. Qwen3.5-Max-Preview, the flagship model of Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5 family, is now available on Arena, formerly known as LMArena, a model performance community created by...

10. 5 jailed, 20 more arrested in Hong Kong crackdown on illegal employment

    Five people have been jailed and another 20 arrested as part of a Hong Kong Immigration Department crackdown on illegal employment. The department said on Friday that it had raided 23 locations, including restaurants, cleaning companies and commercial buildings, during an operation carried out from Monday to Thursday. Those arrested comprised 19 people found or suspected to be working illegally...