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Authorities in China's far-west are collecting DNA samples, fingerprints, eye scans and blood types of millions of people aged 12 to 65, according to a new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. Xinjiang, the only Chinese territory apart from Tibet where ethnic Han Chinese are not in the majority, has long been subject to tight controls and surveillance not experienced elsewhere in China. In April, authorities banned the region's 10 million Muslims from wearing long beards or veils in public, as well as banning home schooling and introducing new restrictions on downloading allegedly extremist materials. Those new rules came on the heels of a series of steps to increase surveillance in the region that include the surrender of passports and mandatory GPS trackers in cars. "The mandatory data banking of a whole population's biodata, including DNA, is a gross violation of international human rights norms," Sophie Richardson, China director for...

China has warned its citizens in Pakistan to be on alert after receiving intelligence reports about possible attacks targeting Chinese. The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad said on its website on Friday that it had information about a “series of terror attacks” planned against Chinese organizations and personnel, without giving details. It urged its citizens to stay inside and avoid crowded places. China’s exposure to militant attacks has risen in recent years as its overseas footprint expands. The Islamic State (IS) group said in June it kidnapped and killed two Chinese teachers in Quetta. China has invested heavily in Pakistan, where thousands of Chinese workers are employed in $60-billion worth of infrastructure projects under Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative. The port and road-building projects in Balochistan province have come under frequent insurgent attacks. For decades, a small number of Uighurs, an ethnic minority in western China that has c...

Best known for its mobile messenger WeChat, Tencent had been threatening to unseat its Silicon Valley rival after a blockbuster year that saw its share price more than double. Investors have piled bets on the company's forays into mobile gaming and video streaming. Tencent (TCEHY) shares closed more than 2% higher in Hong Kong on Tuesday, valuing the social media and gaming giant at around $522 billion, according to FactSet. Facebook is currently worth a little over $519 billion. But while Tencent trumps Facebook in terms of market value, it still falls short on one big yardstick. Facebook is still the world's most popular social network, with around two billion users worldwide. Tencent is little known outside China, even though WeChat has close to one billion users. The Chinese company also enjoys a privileged status in its home market, where Western rivals like Facebook and Twitter are blocked by the government. Tencent is also ...

Alibaba has been bolstering its presence in traditional retail over the past couple of years. Its Hema groceries brand combines elements of online and offline shopping. Alibaba's appetite for grocery stores shows no signs of letting up. The Chinese e-commerce giant said it would pay $2.9 billion for a 36% stake in Sun Art Retail Group (SURRY), widely considered China's answer to Walmart (WMT). Sun Art Retail runs nearly 450 hypermarkets across China under its Auchan and RT-Mart brands. The investment is being made via Alibaba's popular online shopping platform Taobao. The strategy is part of the company's efforts to capture a big slice of China's online food market, which is expected to be worth $180 billion by 2020, according to research firm IGD. China's overall grocery market is valued at more than $660 billion, DBS data shows. Earlier this year, Alibaba spent $2.6 billion to snap up Intime Retail, which operates 29 department stores...

LiAngelo Ball, along with two other players, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, were arrested last week on suspicion of stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store while their team was in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Trump had said he personally asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to intervene in the case. President Donald Trump on Sunday shot back at Lavar Ball, the father of one of the UCLA basketball players arrested in China, for belittling the President's role in the students' release. "Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal," Trump tweeted. "I should have left them in jail!" Later Sunday evening, the President tweeted again, saying, "Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during m...

A strong earthquake hit Tibet (also known as the  Xizang Autonomous Region or Xizang) in southern China early today morning.  According to an assessment of the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), the earthquake's intensity was measured at magnitude 6.9. However, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a lower intensity of magnitude 6.4. The epicentre of the quake, which struck minutes after 4 am (IST), was located close to the India-China border and was more than 150 kilometers away from the nearest Indian city.

The players were seen checking into a Los Angeles-bound Delta flight at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport, airline staff told The Wall Street Journal, who first reported that the players were heading back to the U.S. LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who have been detained in China for the past week on suspicion of shoplifting, are headed back to the United States and are scheduled to arrive later Tuesday in Los Angeles. The players were questioned last week about allegedly stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team's hotel in Hangzhou, where the Bruins had been staying before leaving for Shanghai to face Georgia Tech on Saturday.  They were released on bail early Wednesday morning and had been staying at a lakeside hotel in Hangzhou since then. There is surveillance footage of the players shoplifting from three stores inside a high-end shopping center, which houses Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent ...

The strains between the world’s two biggest economies are fueling anxiety among global companies and advocates of free trade that they could retreat into protectionism, dragging down growth. Washington accuses Beijing of backsliding on market-opening promises, and Mr. Trump said last week that the U.S. trade deficit with China $347 billion last year is “so bad that it’s embarrassing.” “I don’t want to embarrass anybody four days before I land in China, but it’s horrible,” said Mr. Trump. If they discuss trade during the two-day visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government is unlikely to offer enough “to appease U.S. negotiators,” said John Davies of BMI Research. That is likely to lead to “more protectionist measures on the part of the U.S.,” said Mr. Davies. While Mr. Trump is looking to boost sagging public approval ratings, the Chinese leader enters their meeting on a political high.