Latest news with #Weibo
Malay Mail
21 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Sister's online plea leads to rescue of missing Chinese model in Myanmar
BEIJING, July 6 — A 25-year-old Chinese model has been rescued from human traffickers in Myanmar after vanishing en route to what he believed was a modelling assignment in Thailand. VN Express reported that Zhong Hao Bin, who has been modelling professionally for the past four years, disappeared in early June after accepting what appeared to be a legitimate offer to pose for a magazine. He flew from Guangzhou to Bangkok on June 8 and was taken to Thailand's Tak province near the Myanmar border — where his family lost contact with him. Concerned for his safety, Zhong's sister took to the Chinese social media platform Weibo, describing how her brother had always been kind and trusting, and had shouldered the responsibility of caring for her and their mother since their father's death. Her post sparked widespread attention and a formal appeal to both Chinese and Thai authorities. Days later, on June 13, Zhong managed to briefly contact his family, revealing that he had been deceived and taken across the border into Myanmar, though he was unable to say where exactly he was. Following weeks of investigation and coordination between agencies, China Daily reported on July 3 that Zhong had been safely rescued. China's embassy in Thailand confirmed the operation was a joint effort but withheld specifics, citing the sensitivity of the case. Zhong's case is not an isolated one. Just months earlier, Chinese actor Wang Xing was similarly tricked into travelling to Thailand, only to be abducted in Tak province and later rescued in a raid that uncovered 60 trafficked Chinese nationals. Such incidents have raised serious concerns in China, with the Thai tourism sector particularly affected. According to Pattaya Mail, tourist arrivals from China have slumped significantly — dropping to under 6,000 on a day in April 2025, far below the 15,000 to 20,000 typically expected. In response, Thai authorities have stepped up efforts to reassure travellers, including launching emergency apps to help visitors seek assistance more easily. Zhong is now recovering after his ordeal, and his family has expressed deep gratitude for the efforts that brought him home safely.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Indian Express
iPhone 17 Pro Max to feature the biggest battery ever? Fresh leak hints at major upgrades
The iPhone 17 Pro Max is without a doubt the most awaited smartphone right now. While several smartphone brands are leaning towards slimmer phones, Apple seems to be going the opposite way. A user named Instant Digital on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo has revealed some details about Apple's upcoming flagship device. Based on the latest leak, the iPhone 17 Pro Max could sport a 5,000mAh battery, which is bigger than the one on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, making it the biggest ever battery on an iPhone. This means Apple could opt for a bulky design for its top-of-the-line phone, prioritising what the users want the most – extended battery life. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is likely to have a thickness of 8.725 mm, up from 8.25 mm on the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Although the size difference may seem minute, the increased thickness might allow Apple to pack in a much bigger battery. Reportedly, the new device will also offer battery life of up to 35 hours. This can also be attributed to the A19 Pro chip's efficiency gains, which means that the iPhone 17 Pro could last longer than the current Pro Max model. The iPhone 17 Pro is anticipated to have the same size as its predecessors, which means the upcoming phone may have the same battery capacity as the current gen model. Moreover, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are likely to have 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch OLED panels, which is the same size as their predecessors. Regarding the Pro models, Apple may be considering switching from titanium to aluminium in order to increase durability. According to reports, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max would include a horizontally aligned camera island that spans the width of the phone. It is anticipated that other models in the series will also adopt the redesigned camera island.
The Star
2 days ago
- Business
- The Star
In Trump/Musk feud, social media users in China side with Musk
Not all users on Weibo were siding with Musk. — Reuters With the feud between President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk reigniting this week, social media users in China are siding with the world's richest man, according to The Guardian . Users of Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website, expressed their support for Musk after the billionaire said he would create a new political party if a tax and spending bill featuring major pieces of Trump's agenda were passed. 'If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,' Musk wrote on X this week. 'Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.' On Wednesday, the hashtag #MuskWantsToBuildAnAmericaParty went viral on Weibo, according to The Guardian . Members of the social media platform also expressed their support for Musk in their posts. 'If Elon Musk were to found a political party, his tech-driven mindset could inject fresh energy into politics. The potential for change is significant – and worth watching,' one user wrote, according to The Guardian . 'Brother Musk, you've got over a billion people on our side backing you," another user wrote. Musk is viewed positively in China thanks to his technological achievements, according to The Guardian . 'Tesla's electric vehicles are the only western brand on Chinese roads that can rival domestic firms and the company's biggest factory by volume is in Shanghai,' according to The Guardian . 'Musk is known to have a close relationship with China's premier, Li Qiang, while Musk's mother, Maye Musk, is a social media celebrity in her own right in China.' Not all users on Weibo were siding with Musk. 'These two grown men argue nonstop over the smallest things – and the whole world ends up knowing about it,' wrote one user, according to The Guardian . 'Every day, Musk is basically live-streaming 'How Billionaires Argue,'' wrote another. After Musk blasted the tax and spending legislation, known as the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' Trump was asked by a reporter on Tuesday whether he would consider deporting Musk, a naturalized US citizen, to South Africa, where he was born.. 'I don't know, we'll have to take a look,' Trump replied. 'We might have to put DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) on Elon, you know.' – News Service
American Military News
2 days ago
- General
- American Military News
Censor-busting dissident shines light on overworked Chinese students
This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. An 8th grader from Hunan province was 'extremely stressed' — for good reason. His top-ranking middle school demanded he study 85 hours a week, with just two days off a month. 'Teachers threatened us that if we reported it, we would be expelled from school,' the student wrote. His story and more than 4,000 like it have been submitted anonymously to a crowd-sourcing website that is shining a light on overworked Chinese students who are nervous about speaking about their plight to authorities. The site is called The creator says that is a dark reference to the brutal schedule common at Chinese middle and high schools: classes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. which leaves students 'sick in ICU' – or 'intensive care unit.' And while it's not state-sanctioned, the site appears to be having an impact. Within two months of its launch, many Chinese schools have announced a return to regular class schedules. is the brainchild of an exiled Chinese pro-democracy activist, Li Ying, better known by his handle on the social media platform X, 'Teacher Li is not your teacher.' Li, 32, is a former artist turned dissident influencer. He has become one of the most prominent voices challenging Beijing's censorship. He's best known for reposting online content that is too sensitive for China's social media platforms, such as public protests. Li innovates not just in promoting the free flow of information but also in funding it. In December 2024, he launched a meme coin, or form of cryptocurrency, called $Li. With the proceeds from coin sales, Li says he wants to build a decentralized youth community that promotes democracy, free speech and positive change in China. The $Li community has also focused on the plight of China's overworked labor force, but the biggest impact to date has been with Climb over the firewall Li said he did not expect so many Chinese students to be willing to 'climb over the firewall' and report to him on X, which is banned in China. Mainlanders need to use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access and comment on his posts. Li, who is based in Italy, has more than 2 million followers on X and is one of the most influential young Chinese dissidents overseas. During the pandemic, when many citizens chafed against authorities' 'zero' tolerance of social interactions, people sent him videos and photos of protests against Chinese policies. At first, he reposted them on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, but after his Weibo accounts were deleted by Chinese authorities multiple times, Li migrated to X. Since then, he's served as a hub for sensitive news about China, putting him firmly in the crosshairs of Beijing. Li recounted to Radio Free Asia his epiphany in how he could help publicize the concerns of citizens that go unaddressed by authorities. He received a video showing petitioners lining up outside the State Bureau for Letters and Calls in Beijing at midnight, where they hoped to submit their grievances when the office opened the next day. He said he was struck by how difficult and exhausting the petitioners' journey must have been. 'Many people jokingly say that petitioning inside China doesn't solve their problems, and it's only after I post about them that things actually get resolved,' Li said. This inspired him and his team to develop the concept of a 'China Overseas Petition Bureau' — a virtual platform where people wouldn't have to queue, and one that operated beyond the reach of China's censorship. The goal was to present Chinese citizens' appeals in full, without filters or restrictions. In January, after receiving several messages from high schoolers complaining that they were being forced to return to school too soon after the winter break and were feeling overwhelmed — Li decided to first apply the 'China Overseas Petition Bureau' concept to students, which led to People can anonymously fill out data through the website, including daily and weekly school hours, days off each month, reports of suicides, and other information about their school – such as extra costs for after-hours classes. These submissions are then reviewed multiple times by content moderators who flag suspicious entries. The website also provides data analysis based on the submissions. It shows that 56% of students reported spending 60 to 100 hours at school per week, and 35% reported studying more than 100 hours per week. Sixty percent reported that their classes start before 8 a.m., which violates regulations from the Chinese Education Bureau that prohibit middle and high schools from starting classes before 8 a.m. On Feb. 1, shortly after went online, information began to circulate on Chinese social media platforms indicating that schools listed on the site were delaying the start of the spring semester. In mid-March, Li posted two photos on his X account that purportedly showed Beihai middle school principal Wang Jiangang publicly denouncing him during a school assembly. In a message on a large screen, Wang alleged that students unwilling to study were 'being brainwashed into feeding information' to Li. The school had restored a two-day weekend after winter break, and according to the message, the principal said this was due to the impact from Li. Li's opponents downplay his impact in this instance and say the photos of the school principal's message were doctored. They also say that education bureaus across China already had plans to reduce students' workload, and that the emergence of around the same time was just a coincidence. Alang, a staff member of who is being identified by a pseudonym for security reasons, disputed that version of events – as do other supporters of Li, who hope that ordinary citizens might be able to push the Chinese government to make policy changes through collective action. 'I'm not saying the two-day weekend policy was entirely pushed by Li,' Alang told RFA. 'But I do think Teacher Li played a certain role in it.' Breaking through China's information blockade team includes a dozen young Mandarin speakers scattered across the globe, including in mainland China. The project coordinator, identified using the pseudonym Jiangbu due to safety concerns, knows only the time zones and internet identities of the interviewees. To ensure team safety, applicants must pass security tests, including proficiency in using Telegram groups and in using two-factor authentication for their email accounts. Raised in Hong Kong, Alang, a design college student responsible for creating graphics for was always curious when his relatives in mainland China talked about the intense academic pressure there. Alang says his family members remain unaware of his association with Li. Despite security measures, Jiangbu revealed that some team members, including himself, have had their identities exposed. Their parents in China were questioned by authorities in China, who labeled them as 'foreign anti-China forces.' According to Li, the website faced serious cyber attacks in May, with 'dozens of AI-generated deepfake submissions flooding the site every second.' Despite the intense pressures, the team members said they're committed to what they are doing and to combating what Jiang calls 'this greatest and most authoritarian empire.' 'Everyone knows about the problem of overtime studying in China,' a staff member using the pseudonym Aaron Zhang for security reasons said. 'But there was no way to understand how severe it really is, or its regional distribution.' For Zhang, the far-reaching significance of the ICU project lies in overcoming China's control of official data, to which the public has gradually lost access. At the same time, the Chinese government has tightened restrictions on third-party data providers working with foreign entities. Researchers warn that these moves will make it increasingly challenging for companies, governments and academics to assess China's future developments in key sectors. Li's projects attempt to overcome the information blockade by prompting citizens to submit data voluntarily, although there is a downside. When data is submitted anonymously it's hard to verify its authenticity. Not long after the overworking student project took off, Li and his team launched another initiative: a crowdsourcing project targeting workplace overtime in China. At the time of publication, it has collected data from 4,962 entities across China, including responses from state-owned enterprises and government departments. The statistics show that 79% of respondent entities work six to seven days a week. Nearly 40% reported working more than 12 hours per day. In a flagging Chinese economy, has not created the kind of stir that has. Li attributes that to the benefit that the government derives from the status quo where few workers enjoy a two-day weekend. 'The more intensely factories exploit workers, the more profit the [Chinese] government can extract from it,' he said.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
After Trump's deportation threat, Musk gets love from China, backs Tesla CEO's bold move to start his own party
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is drawing unexpected support from Chinese social media users as they are rallying behind him after the world's richest man suggested that he will form his own party amid an ongoing public feud with US President Donald Trump, as per a report. Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Feud Sparks Over 'Big, Beautiful Bill' The tension between both of them erupted over Trump's controversial 'One Big, Beautiful Bill,' which Musk fiercely criticized for ballooning the national debt by an estimated $5 trillion, as per Benzinga report. While the US president criticised Musk, saying that without subsidies, Musk would have to "have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa" in his social media site Truth Social, as per the report. The Tesla CEO had warned that if the Senate passed the bill, he would consider founding his own political party, called the 'American Party', according to the report. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Most Gorgeous Female Athletes Ranked. But Did We Get It Right? Click Here Undo ALSO READ: Panic in the sky: American Airlines flight diverted after passenger triggers alarm — what we know Elon Musk Finds Fans in China Musk's bold statement gained traction on China's popular social platform Weibo, often dubbed the country's version of X (previously Twitter), users have been vocally siding with him for his stance against Trump, as per the Benzinga report. Live Events According to the report, the hashtag #MuskWantsToBuildAnAmericaParty is viral on the X's Chinese counterpart. With many users posting in Musk's support on Weibo, one user said that, "Brother Musk, you've got over a billion people on our side backing you," as quoted by Benzinga in its report. One more user wrote that, "When you've had enough, there's no need to keep putting up with it," as quoted in the report. ALSO READ: Will Trump's economic policies mirror Nixon's impact on the US Dollar's global dominance? A few Weibo users even offered deeper insights into what it could mean if Musk were to actually enter politics, as one user said that, "If Elon Musk were to found a political party, his tech-driven mindset could inject fresh energy into politics. The potential for change is significant – and worth watching," as quoted by Benzinga in its report. ALSO READ: 4th of July 2025 store hours: What's open, what's closed, and where to shop FAQs Why are Elon Musk and Donald Trump fighting? They clashed over Trump's massive spending bill, which Musk says would add $5 trillion in national debt. What did Musk say about starting a political party? He said if the bill passes, he might form his own party — the 'American Party.'
