We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribingChina has hit back against a round of US sanctions with a barrage of counter-sanctions targeting a group of American entities and a tightening of export restrictions on the drone supply chain, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Wednesday.