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The stock market bounce last week showed once again just how dependent Wall Street has become on the whims of the White House. Case in point: The S & P 500 sank more than 2% this past Monday as President Donald Trump was attacking Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and providing scant details on tariff talks. Then on Tuesday , things started to turn around. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said there “will be a de-escalation” in the trade war with China. It was the first day of what turned out to be a three-session rally for the S & P…

The actions of Donald Trump are fanning growing uncertainty in Taiwan regarding the reliability of American support.Before the April 2 announcement, the Lai administration believed that Taiwanese exports to the US would face tariffs of 10 per cent at most. The 32 per cent levy instead blindsided Taipei and sent shock waves through key sectors such as hi-tech manufacturing, which depend heavily on stable trade ties with the US.The tariffs stunned policymakers who believed Taiwan had already made significant “protection payments” to the United States, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) US$100 billion investment in chip plants in Arizona, and…

President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a bilateral lunch with Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in the Cabinet Room at the White House on April 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. The leaders are expected to discuss security, trade, NATO and the war in Ukraine. Chip Somodevilla | Getty ImagesAmericans are delivering a negative verdict on President Donald Trump’s performance as he nears the 100-day mark of his second term, according to a new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey. That includes a sharp divide on his handling of immigration, long his strongest issue in polls, and deep disapproval of…

Chinese state media has accused US President Donald Trump of falsely attributing ocean pollution to China by sharing misleading images on social media, reflecting dim prospects for an improvement in ties between the two countries.The Paper, a digital newspaper run by state-owned Shanghai United Media Group, said on the weekend that three photos posted by Trump online were either digitally altered or outdated – and none were taken in China.The report, headlined “Fact Check: Trump Blames China for Pacific Ocean Pollution Using Doctored Images”, was shared on Chinese social media, including by state-owned People’s Daily, Global Times and Beijing Daily.In…

They came to America as refugees, after losing everything in a CIA-led “secret war” that ended in catastrophe. Now, decades later, members of the Laotian diaspora are facing another fight – this time against deportation.Across the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have carried out a wave of detentions targeting communities who trace their roots back to Laos. For many, a knock at the door now carries a chilling undertone.“ICE’s tactics have become more aggressive, unethical and inhumane,” Chanida Phaengdara Potter, founder of advocacy group the Southeast Asian Diaspora Project, told This Week in Asia.“People are being detained…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.President Donald Trump’s global trade war is expected to weigh heavily on April’s US jobs report, with hiring forecast to be sharply lower for the month.Friday’s data is expected to show that hiring slowed significantly this month, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg. The US is forecast to have added just 125,000 jobs in April, a significant drop from the 228,000 added in the previous month.April’s data will capture cuts to the public labour force exacted by Elon Musk’s so-called…

WASHINGTON: Global finance leaders came to Washington this past week seeking clarity on what it would take to get some relief from President Donald Trump’s multi-layered tariff assault and on just how much pain it will bring to the world economy. Most headed home with more questions than answers. Many participants in the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings had a sense that Trump’s administration was still conflicted in its demands from trading partners hit with his sweeping tariffs. During the whirlwind week, many finance and trade ministers sought to meet with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and…

Beijing has further tightened its management of rural government workers with revised anti-corruption supervision rules for grass-roots officials.The changes mean that after more than a decade of anti-corruption campaigns, China’s system for supervising rural officials has finally been defined, according to one scholar.The revised Regulations on the Honest Performance of Duties by Rural Grass-roots Officials came into force on March 28, state news agency Xinhua reported last week.The document was jointly issued by the Central Office of the Communist Party and the General Office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, and is the first revision of the rules since they…

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Taipei on the weekend as part of an opposition rally against Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te.The Kuomintang (KMT) organisers of the rally claimed that more than 200,000 supporters attended the event. Citing an unidentified police source, Taiwan news site UDN.com said that at least 60,000 people attended the rally.Protesters gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building on Saturday, holding Republic of China flags and banners denouncing Lai’s rule.Addressing the crowd, KMT chairman Eric Chu Li-luan accused Lai of being a “dictator” who was trying to “eliminate…

To generations of Filipinos, Nora Aunor was not just a film star – she was the embodiment of their hopes, hardships and quiet resilience.Celebrated as the Philippines’ one and only “Superstar”, the diminutive actress with a golden voice and uncommon charisma rose from poverty to become a national icon – not for her glamour, but for her ability to portray the unvarnished lives of ordinary Filipinos.“She was full of contradictions, simple yet complicated,” said screenwriter and long-time collaborator Ricardo Lee, who delivered one of the most poignant tributes following Aunor’s death on April 16 at age 71.Aunor was laid to…