Our daily voyage around the world

🇨🇳🇭🇰 Chinese real-estate giant Evergrande was ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong court. Chinese regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing in the property industry in 2020, causing Evergrande – previously China’s largest property developer by sales – to default on its $300 billion debt in 2021. The order to liquidate Evergrande came after it failed to agree on a restructuring plan with its overseas creditors. Evergrande currently holds ~$240 billion in assets and has ~$327 billion in liabilities.

🇮🇱🇺🇳 Israel presented evidence accusing members of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency of aiding terrorist groups. A newly publicized Israeli intelligence dossier, which was viewed by multiple countries and independent news orgs in recent days, alleges that ~1,200 of the UN Relief and Works Agency’s 12,000 employees in Gaza have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The dossier also claims 12 UNRWA workers participated in Hamas’ October 7 attack that killed 1,200 Israelis. Nearly a dozen countries, including major donors like the US and Germany, have halted their funding to the UNRWA in response to Israel’s dossier.

🇬🇧 The UK is banning disposable vapes. Officials say the move is aimed at preventing the rising popularity of vaping among minors, with the number of 11-to-17-year-old UK vapers rising ~9x over the last two years. It’s also intended to prevent waste, as the ~5 million disposable UK vapes thrown away each week is equivalent to the lithium-battery waste from 5,000 EVs. The new measure also details the UK government’s plan to gradually raise the minimum age to buy cigarettes, making it illegal for all residents born after 2008.