TLDR Hong Kong has not issued any HKD stablecoin licenses after the March target passed. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said authorities would begin issuing licenses in March. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has not announced any approved stablecoin issuers. An HKMA spokesperson said the authority is actively advancing the licensing process. Reports suggested HSBC…
Hong Kong boasts the strongest institutional environment of any major financial hub but lags in growth and future readiness, according to a new index launched by New York University Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. The inaugural Financial Centres Competitiveness Index (FFCI), unveiled at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, ranked Hong Kong fourth overall, behind New York, London…
High Fashion vs. Fast Fashion For some time, France’s fashion industry and regulators have been agonising over whether to fight the rapid rise of Shein, Temu and other ultra-fast-fashion competitors — and how to do so if they do. That tension came to a head when Shein opened its first permanent store in Paris earlier…
The European Union is gearing up for a new probe into Google’s parent company, Alphabet, focusing on how it ranks news publishers on search results. This action comes as Donald Trump considers new tariffs in response to the EU’s digital regulations. Meanwhile, SSE, a prominent UK energy group, has announced a sweeping 33 billion-pound…
China has accused the United States of “double standards” after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods in response to Beijing’s curbs on exports of rare earth minerals. China says its export control measures announced last week were in response to the US restrictions on its entities…
China tightened export controls for critical rare-earth metals on Thursday. The new restrictions were announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, and come ahead of an expected meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and United States President Donald Trump’s later this month. The world’s two largest economies have been locked in trade negotiations aimed at…
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he will impose a 100 percent import tax on pharmaceutical drugs. He also announced new tariffs on other products. Here’s what we know, and what it all means. What pharma tariffs has Trump announced? In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump wrote that…
United States President Donald Trump on Friday dramatically ramped up the application fee for companies hiring employees on H-1B worker visas, the principal mechanism for firms to bring in workers with specialised skills from around the world in fields ranging from technology to teaching. The increase, to $100,000 per application, is meant to deter companies…
Charlie Kirk’s assassination has prompted many to speak out on social media, including an assistant dean of MTSU. Administrators fired Laura Sosh-Lightsy after she posted what the school called “inappropriate and callous comments” about the conservative activist’s death. The employee stated online: “Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy.” Her post faced backlash and even caught the…
In July, the Trump administration announced its highly-anticipated AI Action Plan, which sets out a guide for achieving U.S. AI dominance by propelling innovation and adoption, easing regulation, and promoting the country’s tech stack abroad. Just three days later, China released its own vision, the Action Plan on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence. In stark…