Xi calls it a ‘strategic choice’ to deepen ties in meeting with Russian PM

Vietnam has reportedly signed its largest-ever arms deal with Russia, a US$8 billion move that by any assessment marks a clear steer away from Washington’s orbit. According to a recent New York Times investigation, “Vietnam and Russia have reinvigorated their military and political relationship.” The report reveals Hanoi’s secret purchases of Russian weapons and the…

Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been found guilty on all three charges after a landmark national security trial, nearly five years after he was first denied bail following his arrest. The 78-year-old businessman turned opposition activist, who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily tabloid, was convicted on Monday of two charges of…

The Taliban released on Friday a British couple held in Afghanistan for more than seven months on undisclosed charges, an official said, as part of a wider effort to get their government recognised internationally years after taking power. The case of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, aged 80 and 75, underlined the concerns of the West…

Susie Wiles, US President Donald Trump’s understated but influential chief of staff, criticised Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and broadly defended the president’s aggressive second administration in a series of interviews published Tuesday in Vanity Fair. Wiles told the magazine in a wide-ranging, revealing series of conversations that she underestimated…

Britain is to rejoin the European Union’s popular Erasmus student exchange programme almost five years after leaving the scheme following Brexit, a joint UK-EU statement said on Wednesday. “The UK has successfully agreed terms to join the Erasmus+ programme in 2027, widening opportunities for young people from all backgrounds, learners, educational, youth and sport staff…

The United States has long been regarded as the world’s leading soft power. During the Cold War, the global appeal of American popular culture served as powerful tools of influence and propaganda. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, American democracy and capitalism emerged as the dominant political and economic models, further legitimizing Washington’s global…