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A senior US official on Wednesday released the text of an agreement reached between Washington and Tehran to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after months of conflict had battered the global economy and sent oil prices soaring. The outline of the agreement, titled “Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran”, was rel...
As national EU leaders meet in Brussels to thrash out a possible new China policy, speculation is high as to where they all stand amid fluid member-state dynamics. In the last part of this three-part series, we look at whether the conventional wisdom will be fundamentally changed in the EU and how the bloc could forge a united front in dealing with China. Over dinner on Thursday, leaders from the ...
As national EU leaders meet in Brussels to thrash out a possible new China policy, speculation is high as to where they all stand amid fluid member-state dynamics. In the last part of this three-part series, we look at whether the conventional wisdom will be fundamentally changed in the EU and how the bloc could forge a united front in dealing with China. Over dinner on Thursday, leaders from the ...
US President Donald Trump is happy with Canada’s arrangement to allow a capped number of Chinese electric vehicles to be imported at a low-tariff rate, Prime Minister Mark Carney said. When asked about Carney’s comment, Trump did not express explicit approval, but said he could understand the quota. The deal, unveiled during Carney’s trip to Beijing in January, allows as many as 49,000 Chinese EVs...
Nobody knew how the tree grew popular online, but for about two months, villagers near Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, found drones flying over their wheat fields. One video captured a tree in the middle of a farmer’s field, just as the fog was about to dissipate, “like an ink painting”, Beijing News said. Then people began flocking to the area to take photos. It was the only tree in hundre...
Nobody knew how the tree grew popular online, but for about two months, villagers near Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, found drones flying over their wheat fields. One video captured a tree in the middle of a farmer’s field, just as the fog was about to dissipate, “like an ink painting”, Beijing News said. Then people began flocking to the area to take photos. It was the only tree in hundre...
A top Huawei Technologies executive’s admission that the Chinese telecoms company illegally conducted business in Iran can be used in the coming US trial against Huawei, according to a judge’s ruling filed in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday. Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou made the admission as part of a 2021 deal to dismiss the criminal charges she faced in the case. In a four-page statem...
The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, but policymakers expect a hike in borrowing costs later this year amid growing concerns about inflation lodged above the US central bank’s 2 per cent target. New quarterly projections showed nine Fed officials now anticipate a hike in rates by the end of 2026, and an updated policy statement removed language that had been used to fla...
Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive in Manhattan, plans to argue at his murder trial that he was undergoing an extreme mental health crisis at the time of the alleged killing, a judge revealed at a hearing on Wednesday. The strategy poses steep legal hurdles but could lead to a jury convicting Mangione of the lesser crime of manslaughter, which carries s...
US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attempted to defuse escalating tensions over the recent killing of three Indian sailors by American naval forces off the coast of Oman. Speaking to the media after their first bilateral meeting in 16 months, Trump said both Washington and New Delhi continue to “work together” on the issue, calling commercial vessel oper...
US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attempted to defuse escalating tensions over the recent killing of three Indian sailors by American naval forces off the coast of Oman. Speaking to the media after their first bilateral meeting in 16 months, Trump said both Washington and New Delhi continue to “work together” on the issue, calling commercial vessel oper...
US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attempted to defuse escalating tensions over the recent killing of three Indian sailors by American naval forces off the coast of Oman. Speaking to the media after their first bilateral meeting in 16 months, Trump said both Washington and New Delhi continue to “work together” on the issue, calling commercial vessel oper...
US President Donald Trump sought on Wednesday to frame his vague arrangement aimed at ending a questionable war as a major win that would bring the conflict to a close, reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from “ever” obtaining a nuclear weapon. “On Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish, everything and much more,” the US presi...
US President Donald Trump sought on Wednesday to frame his vague arrangement aimed at ending a questionable war as a major win that would bring the conflict to a close, reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from “ever” obtaining a nuclear weapon. “On Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish, everything and much more,” the US presi...
US President Donald Trump sought on Wednesday to frame his vague arrangement aimed at ending a questionable war as a major win that would bring the conflict to a close, reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from “ever” obtaining a nuclear weapon. “On Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish, everything and much more,” the US presi...
After decades waiting for justice, relatives of women murdered by New York’s Gilgo Beach serial killer laid into him on Wednesday before he was sentenced to life in prison. He told them: “I am responsible” for the crimes. “The words I would say would have no meaning,” added Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect who lived a secret life of violence for years before admitting he killed eight women...
After decades waiting for justice, relatives of women murdered by New York’s Gilgo Beach serial killer laid into him on Wednesday before he was sentenced to life in prison. He told them: “I am responsible” for the crimes. “The words I would say would have no meaning,” added Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect who lived a secret life of violence for years before admitting he killed eight women...
After decades waiting for justice, relatives of women murdered by New York’s Gilgo Beach serial killer laid into him on Wednesday before he was sentenced to life in prison. He told them: “I am responsible” for the crimes. “The words I would say would have no meaning,” added Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect who lived a secret life of violence for years before admitting he killed eight women...
From free marketeers to long-term interventionists, EU countries of all stripes are converging on the need for urgent action to prevent a Chinese-driven European deindustrialisation ahead of a key summit in Brussels, multiple sources said on Wednesday. A broad coalition of members now support the development of a tough new trade strategy that could involve multiple new instruments and a more rapid...
When Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced the interim deal this week to end the war with the United States, he declared his country the victor. To many Iranians, it does not feel that way. More than three months of US and Israeli air strikes, and a blockade of Iranian ports, have poured new misery on a people already toiling under years of sanctions. Although the war is over – for now...
The US Navy has redeployed an amphibious strike group originally bound for the Middle East to the South China Sea, a move experts say may signal Washington shifting its focus back to the Pacific region after months of distractions from the Iran war. The United States began turning its military attention to the Middle East early this year, moving global military assets, including those in the Pacif...
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that his country’s negotiations with Israel in Washington were independent of the US-Iran deal to bring an end to the Middle East conflict. Lebanon and Israel have been holding direct talks in Washington since April, seeking to end the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and separate their conflict from the wider regional war. But the announcem...
Officials from key US farm-belt states joined their Chinese provincial counterparts on Tuesday in a cooperation dialogue, the latest pivot towards closer engagement following President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing and ahead of the critical US midterm elections. The major subnational dialogue – co-hosted by the Henan provincial government in central China and the Chinese People’s Association for...
Government workers in different parts of Afghanistan have started switching off their smartphones, following an order imposed on Wednesday that they said came from Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. A letter announcing the ban on smartphones for all government employees started circulating on social media last week under the emblem of the Supreme Court, which has not responded to requests to co...
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the recently announced framework with Iran remained a work in progress rather than a finalised agreement, indicating that negotiations were still ongoing. He warned that if he was dissatisfied with the final terms, the situation could rapidly deteriorate and potentially return to active military conflict. “The text is not final; it’s a memorandum of...
Liu Ren, a central figure of a criminal group masterminded by Chinese tycoon Chen Zhi, has been extradited from Cambodia to China. Chinese police recently escorted Liu from Cambodia back to China, the criminal investigation department of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on Wednesday. The statement said Chen – who was extradited to China earlier this year and is accused b...
Sexual abuse cases against children aged under 17 jumped 20 per cent in 2025 from the previous year, with Hong Kong’s security minister vowing to tighten laws that will better protect victims by next June. Police figures presented to legislators on Wednesday showed that there were 797 cases of sexual offences against children last year, up from 663 in 2024. In 2021, there were 599 such cases. The ...
Sexual abuse cases against children under 17 jumped 20 per cent in 2025 from the previous year in Hong Kong, with the security minister vowing to tighten laws that will better protect victims by next June. Police figures presented to legislators on Wednesday showed that there were 797 cases of sexual offences against children last year, up from 663 cases in 2024. In 2021, there were 599 such cases...
Chinese lithography and integrated circuit manufacturer Circuit Fabology Microelectronics Equipment (CFMEE) is set to launch a Hong Kong listing next week, as China continues its drive for semiconductor self-sufficiency amid US sanctions. The company, based in Hefei, Anhui province, said on Wednesday that it would offer more than 12.8 million H shares globally at a price range of HK$240.09 to HK$2...
In 1996, the bestselling China Can Say No, co-authored by a group of intellectuals, reflected a nascent rejection of worship of the West and a rise in Chinese nationalism. Thirty years on, China is not just saying “no” to the West, it possesses the strategic leverage to hit back, underpinned by its dominance in global supply chains, rare earth minerals and critical green technologies. China’s conf...
