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Just days after Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump held a two-hour phone call aimed at stabilising bilateral ties, the US confirmed it would play an active role at this year’s first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) senior officials’ meetings in Guangzhou, signalling intensified engagement with Beijing. The US State Department announced on…
Jeffrey Epstein’s sphere of influence among businessmen, politicians and academics also reached India, with the disgraced financier spending years cultivating a relationship with a scion of the nation’s wealthiest family, according to a trove of documents released by the US Justice Department. Epstein’s messages with the once-influential Indian businessman Anil Ambani stretch from early 2017…
Taiwan is moving to plug one-year conscripts directly into frontline combined-arms operations, mandating joint live-fire training with troops across all services to bolster resilience against a potential attack from Beijing. The Taiwanese cabinet’s latest policy report states that, starting this year, conscripts will be organised into full battalion-level units and attached to combined-arms brigades taking…
If you’re enjoying a cup of apple herbal tea, starting your day with tai chi, and winding down with a soothing foot bath, you may be part of an intriguing trend known as “Becoming Chinese.” Since January, a TikTok influencer has unintentionally ignited a global movement centred on adopting Chinese lifestyle habits, with videos showcasing…
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said on Saturday it had accidentally given away more than US$40 billion worth of bitcoin to customers as promotional rewards, triggering a sharp sell-off on the exchange. Bithumb apologised for the mistake, which took place on Friday, and said it had recovered 99.7 per cent of the 620,000 bitcoin, worth…
Hashim Djojohadikusumo is smiling almost beatifically, but the trademark feistiness is unmistakable. We are sitting down for a chat amid the turmoil gripping Indonesia’s capital markets and he says emphatically that “it’s good, it’s good” that it happened. This unvarnished answer is one of several he gives as we talk about his country, nearly two…
The Pentagon is cutting ties with Harvard University, ending all military training, fellowships and certificate programmes with the Ivy League institution. Friday’s announcement marks the latest development in the Trump administration’s prolonged stand-off with Harvard over the White House’s demands for reforms at the Ivy League school. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement…
Hong Kong’s commerce minister has condemned a court ruling to annul CK Hutchison Holdings’ right to operate two ports in the Panama Canal after summoning the country’s envoy in the city, warning the decision “seriously undermined” international trade rules. In a meeting with Panamanian Consul General Jose Ramon de Jesus Varela Fabrega, minister Algernon Yau…
China on Saturday launched the latest mission of its reusable experimental spacecraft – a potential rival to the US Space Force’s X-37B. It was China’s fourth launch of such a prototype spacecraft since 2020, all of them conducted at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre using the Long March-2F carrier rocket. The official name and technical…
Haiti entered political limbo on Saturday as the mandate of the Caribbean nation’s transitional governing council, a body intended to curb a bloody gang conflict and bring about long-delayed elections, ended with no succession plan in place. The nine-member Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) was installed in April 2024 after Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned. It…
