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Beijing has amplified its warnings over cutthroat price wars among carmakers as deflationary pressure persists in the world’s second-largest economy, and economists say a reflation is likely to remain elusive.The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), party mouthpieces and a carmaker association aired concerns at the weekend over recent discounts offered by manufacturers, while collectively deeming price wars a threat to product quality and the long-term development of the industry.“Uncontrolled price wars among businesses are a classic example of ‘involutionary’ competition. They hinder companies’ sustained investment in research and development, ultimately affecting product quality, performance and service levels,” the…

Award-winning mathematician Professor Zhong Xiao has departed Finland after nearly three decades, bringing his foundational research critical to artificial intelligence back to China.Zhong, a fellow of Finland’s Academy of Science and Humanities and recent recipient of its prestigious Väisälä Prize, joined Sun Yat-sen University full-time in April, according to information on the university’s website.His groundbreaking work on the Poincaré inequality provides essential mathematical underpinnings for modern machine learning algorithms.Zhong was born in Changsha, Hunan province. In 1985, he was admitted to the top university, the University of Science and Technology of China.In 1995, he graduated with a master’s degree from…

Old Navy and Gap retail stores are seen as people walk through Times Square in New York City on April 9, 2025.Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty ImagesEconomic growth forecasts for the U.S. and globally were cut further by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as President Donald Trump’s tariff turmoil weighs on expectations.The U.S. growth outlook was downwardly revised to just 1.6% this year and 1.5% in 2026. In March, the OECD was still expecting a 2.2% expansion in 2025.The fallout from Trump’s tariff policy, elevated economic policy uncertainty, a slowdown of net immigration and a smaller federal…

The Philippines’ defence chief has called on Beijing to engage in good-faith negotiations over the South China Sea, stressing that China still has a long way to go to earn Manila’s trust.Observers warn that trust goes both ways, however, pointing to factors such as growing cooperation between Manila and Washington, and the reduced Chinese presence at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend.At the security summit, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr rebuked a Chinese delegate who raised the issue of South China Sea tensions.Senior Colonel Chi Zhang, had asked Teodoro whether Manila was concerned about a proxy war…

Alpha Cement Company Limited, a Karachi-based company, intends to acquire the majority stake and control of Attock Cement Company Limited (ACPL). The development comes as ACPL’s parent company, Pharaon Investment Group Ltd, signalled its intent to divest its shareholding in the cement manufacturer. As per a public announcement of intention (PAI) filed by Arif Habib Limited, appointed as Manager to the Offer by Alpha Cement Company, the “acquirer intends to acquire 84.06% shareholding, i.e. 115.5 million shares, and control of the target company, i.e. ACPL”. Moreover, Alpha Cement has expressed interest in acquiring a further 7.97% (10.95 million shares) through…

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday that parliament will hold a confidence vote on his government on June 11, as the country faces a “new political reality.”He called for the vote after his political ally, the liberal Warsaw mayor, lost Poland’s weekend presidential election to conservative Karol Nawrocki.“We are starting the session in a new political reality,” Tusk said, at the start of a Cabinet meeting in Warsaw. “The political reality is new, because we have a new president. But the constitution, our obligations and the expectations of citizens have not changed. In Poland, the…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, in which at least three people were killed and many others injured, was described by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “brutal.”According to authorities, a barrage of multiple rockets struck apartment buildings and a medical facility in the center of the northeastern city a day after direct peace talks made no progress on ending the 3-year war.Zelenskyy said one of the rockets fired at Sumy pierced the wall of an apartment building but failed to detonate.“That’s all you need to know about Russia’s ‘desire’ to end this…

A day after shedding over 800 points, bullish momentum returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, as the benchmark KSE-100 Index settled at a new all-time high of 120,450. A buying spree was observed throughout the trading session, pushing the KSE-100 Index to an intra-day high of 120,693.83. At close, the benchmark index closed on 120,450.87, an increase of 1,573.07 points or 1.32%. “Market participants showed positive sentiments today, following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement that talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the upcoming federal budget had been successful,” Waqas Ghani, Head of Research at JS…

Property deals in Hong Kong fell to a three-month low in May as caution prevailed amid heightened US-China tensions and stock market volatility, while distressed commercial real estate owners continued to offload assets at heavily discounted prices.Transactions for new and lived-in homes, offices, shops, car parking slots and industrial units dropped 11 per cent month on month to 6,434, the lowest tally since February, according to data from Centaline Property Agency. The value of the deals rose 1.3 per cent from a month earlier to HK$50.7 billion (US$6.4 billion), a six-month high.Last month’s biggest deal was Hong Kong Exchanges &…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. The US dollar weakened again yesterday, and (as Robin Brooks of Brookings noted) this happened even as Treasury yields rose, increasing the spreads over other developed countries’ bonds. This is an unusual combination, and suggests global repositioning and hedging of dollar assets is continuing. But perhaps…