China has banned emotional AI relationships involving minors as regulators try to curb chatbot dependency and address the country’s record low birthrate.

China’s crude oil imports fell 41.3% in June from a year earlier to 29.27 million tonnes, the lowest monthly total since October 2016, according to customs data released on 14 July. Five months into the Strait of Hormuz crisis, Beijing is buying less o…
DeepSeek, the Chinese large language model developer, is said to be preparing for a 2027 IPO debut as it also looks to raise around $1.5 billion in new funds at a $71 billion valuation.

China’s humanoid gold rush just minted another contender. LimX Dynamics has raised $200m at a $2.21bn valuation. And its founder says the race to list has become do-or-die. A Shenzhen humanoid startup has become the latest name in China’s robot boom to…

Coupang has won the first round of its fight with South Korea’s competition regulator. The Seoul High Court on Tuesday suspended the Fair Trade Commission’s decision to name founder Bom Kim as the e-commerce group’s controlling figure, freezing the dis…

For the fifth quarter running, fewer phones left Chinese warehouses than a year earlier. Shipments fell 4.3% to 66 million units in the second quarter, according to figures published on Tuesday by IDC, as manufacturers raised prices to cover the rising…

Cutting the West’s reliance on China would carry a staggering price. A new study puts the cost of decoupling from China at $23.6tn over 25 years, and warns the bill would land hardest on the industries building Europe’s tech future. The West has spent …

A Bengaluru startup called Vimag Labs just secured its fifth Indian patent for an electric motor that runs without any rare-earth magnets, using software and power electronics to generate its magnetic field instead.
It’s a small, $5-million company tak…

Shein is scheduled to face the Hong Kong stock exchange’s listing committee on Thursday, Reuters reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. It is the final procedural gate before the fast-fashion group, which has spent three years and …