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Military briefing: the Israeli missiles used to strike Iran

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Mysterious wreckages photographed in Iraq have given the clearest indication yet of how Israel might have launched its counterstrike against Iran. The pictures, scoured by military analysts and open-source intelligence enthusiasts, suggest that Israel may have used an air-launched Sparrow ballistic missile to demonstrate to Tehran that it can successfully attack targets inside the country at range. One Israeli official also indicated that the country’s armed forces used a stand-off…

Censors block blogger after caller asks ‘Is Xi Jinping a dictator?’

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A Chinese celebrity blogger has been blocked by internet censors after someone called him up during a live stream and asked if President Xi Jinping is a dictator, according to video captured from the incident. “I wanted to ask if you think Xi is a dictator,” the caller asked, prompting blogger Hu Chunfeng to ask “What are you trying to say?” The caller repeats their question: “I’m trying to say, do you think Xi is a dictator?” Hu then cuts the caller off and launches into a furious rant denouncing…

Xi Jinping tightens grip on China’s military with new information warfare unit

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. China has established a new information warfare department under the direct command of its top military body as it begins its largest restructuring of the armed forces in more than eight years. The shift of information warfare to the direct command of the Central Military Commission — the top Communist party and state organ that controls the People’s Liberation Army — would hand Chinese leader Xi Jinping even more direct…

Israel launches calibrated retaliatory strikes against Iran

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Israel launched a strike against Iran in the early hours of Friday in what appeared to be a limited, targeted retaliation to last weekend’s drone and missile attack by Tehran. Both sides were muted in their response to the assault, signalling that neither country wanted a further escalation that risked triggering a full-blown regional conflict. Iranian commanders said there was no damage and that explosions near the central city of Isfahan were caused by air defence batteries taking out unidentified objects. Iranian officials made few public comments about the attack.…

PwC’s Evergrande audits set to face new probe by Hong Kong regulator

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hong Kong’s audit regulator said it would launch a fresh probe into PwC over an apparent whistleblower report that accused it of mis-steps in auditing defaulted Chinese developer Evergrande, intensifying pressure on the Big Four firm. The open letter, signed by “a group of PwC partners”, began to circulate in Chinese media last weekend. It cited “significant concerns regarding potential alleged deficiencies” in PwC’s systems of quality management and the…

Hong Kong regulator set to launch new probe into PwC Evergrande audits

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hong Kong’s audit regulator said it would launch a fresh probe into PwC over an apparent whistleblower report that accused it of mis-steps in auditing defaulted Chinese developer Evergrande, intensifying pressure on the Big Four firm. The open letter, signed by “a group of PwC partners”, began to circulate in Chinese media last weekend. It cited “significant concerns regarding potential alleged deficiencies” in PwC’s systems of quality management and the…

Chinese linked e-commerce companies shake up US market

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Two Chinese-linked online marketplaces are shaking up the e-commerce market with extremely low prices, even as the firms face concerns from consumers about labor practices. The rapid rise in popularity of Temu and SHEIN has been so sudden that Amazon now sees the two firms as its biggest rivals, according to a recent report by The Wall Street Journal. China-operated Temu launched in September 2022 and now has 51 million U.S. users, while Chinese-founded fashion and lifestyle retailer SHEIN has almost 14 million U.S. downloads. Christopher Tang, a professor at…

FBI chief says Chinese hackers have infiltrated critical US infrastructure

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Chinese government-linked hackers have burrowed into US critical infrastructure and are waiting “for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow”, the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has warned. An ongoing Chinese hacking campaign known as Volt Typhoon has successfully gained access to numerous American companies in telecommunications, energy, water and other critical sectors, with 23 pipeline operators targeted, Wray said in a speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday. China is developing the “ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time…

South China Sea: will Beijing hold back during the US-Philippine Balikatan military drills?

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But the drills and Manila’s continued pivot towards Washington could also reinforce Beijing’s view that Manila is increasingly relying on external interference to internationalise the maritime dispute and counter China, according to pundits. Philippine coastguard to join US drills for first time as China tensions swirl This year the annual exercise will for the first time be conducted beyond the 12 nautical mile territorial waters of the Philippines, including in areas facing Taiwan and the disputed waters in the South China Sea, both potential flashpoints between Beijing and Washington. In…

Apple removes WhatsApp from China store under pressure from Beijing

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Apple said it had removed Meta mobile communications applications WhatsApp and Threads from its online store in China under direction from the country’s internet regulator. The iPhone maker said on Friday that the Cyberspace Administration of China had ordered the applications’ removal from the Apple App Store in the country because of “national security concerns”. “We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when…