HONG KONG — Chinese authorities have announced measures to improve the mental health of primary and secondary school students by reducing academic pressure, cutting screen time and mandating two hours of physical ex-ercise daily.

The initiatives announced last month by the Ministry of Education include a classroom ban on mobile phones and a period of “screen-free” time to reduce excessive reliance on the internet.

Schools must “strictly control” the total amount of homework and offer “at least” two hours of physical activity for primary and secondary students every school day.

Schools are also encouraged to “ensure students get enough sleep” by arranging arrival and dismissal times in a “reasonable” manner and allowing for adequate lunch breaks.

“Strictly enforce sleep management regulations, resolutely curb violations such as excessive studying and prevent excessive academic burdens,” the ministry said in a statement announcing the measures.

The measures were intended to help students cope with stress and anxiety, particularly around exams.

Heavy homework loads are common in schools across China, leading to a lack of sleep and increased anxiety and depression, experts said.

In a separate notice also released in October, the Education Ministry said it was reducing workloads for teachers by limiting their out-of-school duties and preventing them from working on holidays and weekends.

China in 2021 passed an education law that sought to cut back on homework and banned after-school tutoring in core school subjects. However, many parents have continued to seek tutoring services to give their children a leg-up in China’s highly competitive education system. — Reuters

HANOI — Vietnam is working to sign a trade agreement with the United States soon, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said on Wednesday, as a new round of negotiations gets underway in Washington.

In October, the two countries agreed to finalize a trade deal within weeks that would maintain US tariffs of 20% on its imports of Vietnamese goods but exempt some unspecified products from the new duty imposed by US President Donald J. Trump in August.

Mr. Son urged US businesses at a conference in Hanoi to help in bilateral negotiations so that the two parties could “soon sign a fair and balanced trade agreement.”

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Michael DeSombre, told the conference in a recorded statement that the trade deal should rebalance commercial flows between the two countries, reducing the US deficit with Hanoi, which is the largest after China and Mexico.

For the first 10 months of the year, Vietnam has recorded a $111-billion trade surplus with the US — pointing to another potential annual record — according to Vietnamese data, which is usually more conservative than US trade figures, currently unavailable because of an ongoing federal government shutdown.

TALKS ON EXEMPTION LIST
A Vietnamese delegation led by Trade Minister Nguyen Hong Dien is in Washington this week for a new round of talks with US officials to work on finalizing the trade agreement, the Vietnamese trade ministry said on its web por-tal.

A person briefed about the talks said negotiations would focus on identifying Vietnamese items that could be exempted from US tariffs, such as coffee, and on the scope of the preferential access to the Vietnamese market that Hanoi has pledged for US products, such as cars and farm goods.

The Vietnamese side aimed to finalize the deal ideally after the US Supreme Court decides on the legality of US tariffs imposed by Mr. Trump, and possibly by December, the person said, declining to be named because the in-formation was not public. The court ruling is expected any time before the end of this year and mid-2026.

Vietnamese negotiators are keen to mark the signing of a trade deal with a meeting between Mr. Trump and Vietnam’s top leader To Lam, multiple officials have said.

Mr. Son urged US businesses at Wednesday’s conference to support Vietnam’s efforts to set up the high-level meeting. Past attempts have not been successful, according to multiple officials.

He also called on US businesses to encourage Washington to recognize Vietnam as a market economy and lift its restrictions on the export of high-tech products, such as advanced semiconductors.

Mr. DeSombre said Vietnam could play a role in global supply chains for critical minerals. Vietnam has large resources of rare earths and gallium but has been slow in exploiting them. — Reuters

SYDNEY — Australia’s spy chief said hackers working for the Chinese government and military had probed Australia’s telecommunications network and critical infrastructure, warning on Wednesday of the potential for disruption to the economy if a sabotage attack were carried out.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization’s (ASIO) director general of security, Mike Burgess, told a business conference in Melbourne that espionage was estimated to have cost Australia A$12.5 billion ($8.1 billion) last year, including the loss of A$2 billion in trade secrets and intellectual property.

Mr. Burgess highlighted the threat of cyber sabotage, describing the activities of the Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon Chinese hacking groups, which he said where “hackers working for Chinese government intelligence and their military.”

China’s embassy in Australia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China routinely denies hacking.

Salt Typhoon had not only penetrated US telecommunications systems in a strategic spying operation but also “have been probing our telecommunication networks here in Australia too,” he said.

Volt Typhoon had intention to disrupt, he said, compromising US critical infrastructure to pre-position for potential sabotage.

“We have seen Chinese hackers probing our critical infrastructure as well,” he added.

Mr. Burgess warned of the potential impact on the community of widespread telecommunications disruption, including banks and transport, and through cut-off water supplies and power.

“I assure you; these are not hypotheticals foreign governments have elite teams investigating these possibilities right now,” he said.

Other potential scenarios included an Australian company being crippled as a trade competitor or causing panic during an election, he added.

Chinese officials made multiple complaints to the Australian government and private sector about ASIO whenever he spoke publicly about China, Mr. Burgess said last week during a speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. “It won’t stop my resolve,” he said. ($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars). — Reuters