WATCH Linehan's testimony. 

The United States Treasury Secretary has cautioned that China may be positioning itself to challenge American leadership in digital assets, signalling heightened geopolitical competition in emerging financial technologies.

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury chief said that China’s activities, particularly through Hong Kong’s expansive digital asset “sandbox,” could enable Beijing to cultivate alternative financial instruments or systems that compete with US-based innovations.

While acknowledging that concrete details of specific Chinese projects are not confirmed, the Treasury head noted “rumours” that Chinese authorities might explore digital asset models backed by assets other than the renminbi, such as gold, highlighting Beijing’s potential ambitions in the sector.

He said this should prompt the United States to advance regulatory clarity and legislative action to solidify its own digital asset ecosystem and prevent strategic disadvantages.

The remarks come amid a broader push by the current US administration to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world” by encouraging firms to locate and innovate within domestic markets and by pursuing comprehensive digital asset legislation.

Treasury officials have underscored the importance of fostering a competitive environment for stablecoins, blockchain technology and other digital financial tools, while balancing consumer protection and financial stability considerations.

China’s longstanding ban on cryptocurrency trading on the mainland has contrasted with Hong Kong’s more permissive regulatory approach, which has sought to develop the city as a digital asset hub.

This divergence has fuelled speculation about how different approaches may affect global influence in digital finance.

The Treasury’s warnings reflect not only competition over technological innovation but also concerns that a rival digital ecosystem outside American regulatory influence could shift the dynamics of global capital flows and financial infrastructure.

In response, US policymakers and industry leaders have called for accelerated legislative work to establish clear regulatory frameworks, attract innovation, and reinforce the United States’ position at the forefront of digital financial markets.

Maintaining leadership in digital assets is seen as interlinked with broader goals of sustaining the global role of the US dollar and ensuring that technological advances serve economic growth and national interests.

Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings has commenced international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Panama after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that a long-standing concession contract for two key Panama Canal ports was unconstitutional, triggering a major commercial and diplomatic dispute.

The arbitration was filed by the company’s unit, Panama Ports Company (PPC), under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce, seeking to challenge the court’s decision and argue that Panama breached its contractual obligations and caused significant damages.

The move comes after the Panamanian court’s ruling, which concluded that the concession agreements granting CPC exclusive operational rights at the Cristóbal and Balboa terminals violated constitutional norms, ending nearly three decades of continuous operations by the subsidiary.

Panama’s president moved swiftly to reassure citizens and global markets that port operations at either end of the canal would continue without interruption, with interim arrangements under government oversight pending a new concession process.

CK Hutchison, majority-owned by the family of billionaire Li Ka-shing, said it strongly disagrees with the judgment and will pursue all available legal remedies, including potential further domestic and international litigation, to protect its rights and seek compensation.

The arbitration action may take years to resolve and, while it cannot directly overturn Panama’s top-court decision, could lead to a binding determination on whether Panama’s actions breached bilateral and contractual protections under international law.

The dispute has exacerbated geopolitical tensions, drawing a sharp rebuke from China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which condemned the ruling as damaging to foreign investor confidence, and coming amid broader U.S. strategic efforts to limit Chinese economic influence in critical infrastructure in the Western Hemisphere.

The controversy also clouds CK Hutchison’s ongoing planned sale of its global port portfolio, valued at around $23 billion and featuring a consortium including U.S. capital management firms and global partners, as uncertainties over the Panama assets weigh on negotiations and valuations.

The arbitration case underscores the complex interplay between sovereign judicial decisions, international investment protections and strategic geopolitical considerations surrounding the Panama Canal — a vital artery for global maritime trade that handles a significant share of world shipping traffic.

Uber Technologies has relaunched operations linking Hong Kong and Macau with a premium cross-border limousine service and in-app taxi bookings, marking the company’s first expansion into an Asian market in years.

The new offering allows travellers to reserve point-to-point transfers between Hong Kong and Macau via the Uber app with a minimum lead time of twenty-four hours, providing fixed pricing that includes bridge and tunnel tolls.

The cross-border service is operated in partnership with veteran transport provider Kwoon Chung Bus Holdings, and reservations can be made up to ninety days in advance, simplifying a journey that previously required multiple transfers and logistical coordination.

The move also coincides with Uber’s broader relaunch of local taxi services in Macau, enabling riders to book licensed metered cabs directly through the app with multilingual support and cashless payments.

This functionality was reinstated on February 3 following Uber’s suspension of operations in the city nine years ago, when regulatory challenges curtailed its earlier presence.

Vehicles and drivers engaged in the cross-border transfers carry the necessary licensing and permits for seamless immigration clearance, facilitating travel for both business passengers and leisure visitors who frequently traverse the Pearl River Delta.

Analysts said the limo service’s premium pricing — which can run up to HK$3,500 per trip — is expected to attract not just affluent tourists, but also executives and small groups attending major events or conducting cross-border business.

Uber executives have emphasised that the relaunch reflects a strategic, compliant re-entry into Macau, partnering with local authorities and taxi operators to support tourism infrastructure and provide enhanced mobility options for residents and visitors alike.

There is nothing more frustrating than the moment we realise that artificial intelligence has simply invented information we relied on — only for us to discover it has no connection to reality.

And what is even more frustrating?

There is no one to scold and no one to blame — except ourselves (you will understand why later in the article).

For hundreds of tourists in Tasmania, this became the disappointing reality of the holiday they had set out on.

The travel website “Tasmania Tours” used artificial intelligence (AI) to generate content and images for its site, and mistakenly created a natural attraction that does not exist at all: the “Weldborough Hot Springs.”

The problematic article went online in July 2025 and has since attracted significant web traffic.

Alongside an enticing image, it described the imaginary springs as a “peaceful retreat in the heart of the forest” and a place offering an “authentic connection to nature.” The seductive text promised visitors a soak in waters “rich in therapeutic minerals,” and even ranked the location as one of the “seven best hot spring sites in Tasmania for 2026.”

“At the height of the madness, I was getting about five phone calls a day, and whole groups would come into the hotel asking where the springs were,” said the owner of a local pub.

“I told them: ‘If you find the hot springs, come back and tell me, and I’ll take care of your beer all night on the house.’ No one ever came back.”

What caused tourists to fall into the trap was the fact that the AI was sophisticated enough to blend truth and falsehood: the invented springs appeared on a list alongside entirely real and well-known attractions, such as the Hastings Caves, which gave the information a high level of credibility.

The article was accompanied by pastoral AI-generated images of steaming pools in the wilderness, which finally convinced even the hesitant.

The reality on the ground in Weldborough, a rural town in the island’s northeast, was completely different.

There are no hot springs there, and there never have been.

The only attractions in the area are forests, a local pub, and a river whose water is freezing cold.

Christie Probert, the owner of the local pub, was forced to deal with a wave of helpless tourists.

“At the peak of it, I was receiving about five phone calls a day, and every day two or three groups would come into the hotel asking where the springs were,” Probert said.

“The Wild River that runs through here is absolutely freezing. Honestly, you have a better chance of finding a diamond in the river than hot water.”

According to her, the AI mistake created local chaos.

“Two days ago, a group of twenty-four drivers came from the mainland, making a special detour from their route just to reach the springs. I told them: ‘If you find the hot springs, come back and tell me, and I’ll take care of your beer all night on the house.’ No one came back.”

Following the many inquiries, the company “Australian Tours and Cruises,” which operates the site, removed the false content.

The owner, Scott Hensy, admitted the colossal failure and spoke of the heavy personal cost.

“The hatred we received online was devastating to the soul,” Hensy said in interviews with the global media.

“We are just a married couple trying to move forward with our lives.”

Hensy explained that the company outsourced content writing due to a “lack of manpower” to produce enough material independently, in an effort to “compete with the big players on Google.” He said the materials were published without sufficient human oversight while he was overseas.

“Sometimes it works wonderfully, and sometimes it fails massively,” Hensy added.

“I saw the software generate animals I had never seen before, like a wombat with three legs or creatures that looked like a strange combination of a crocodile.” The company apologised and clarified that it is a legitimate business, and that a comprehensive manual review of all website content is now underway. The Weldborough case is an extreme example of a broader phenomenon known as “AI hallucinations,” in which text generators invent facts with complete confidence.

Professor Anne Hardy, a tourism expert, warns that blind reliance on the technology can ruin holidays.

“We know that today, about ninety percent of travel itineraries generated by artificial intelligence contain at least one mistake,” Hardy says.

“Despite that, about thirty-seven percent of travellers rely on AI to plan their trips.” The Tasmania case serves as a painful reminder: before packing a swimsuit based on an online recommendation, it is worth making sure a human has verified that the destination actually exists.

This is not the first case in the past year in which artificial intelligence has sent people on absurd or dangerous missions.

At the end of 2025, two tourists in Peru were reported to have gone searching for the “Sacred Canyon of Humantay” following a chatbot recommendation.

They found themselves climbing to an altitude of four thousand metres with no cellular reception, only to discover that the place did not exist and that they were in fact in serious danger.

Another phenomenon troubling travellers in 2025 was Amazon being flooded with fake travel guides written by AI under fictional author names.

The guides, sold in the thousands, contained recommendations for restaurants that had closed years earlier and meaningless tips.

Even the fast-food chain Taco Bell experienced the force of the technology, when its new voice ordering system malfunctioned and placed an order for no fewer than eighteen thousand cups of water for a single customer.