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The Philippines is investigating claims that sand dredged from its coastal waters has been used in China’s artificial island construction in disputed parts of the South China Sea, raising concerns over domestic complicity, ecological damage and national security.President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has ordered a full inquiry into the allegations following testimony in a Senate hearing on Wednesday, where a top intelligence official said sand from Manila Bay and other areas might have ended up as landfill for Chinese military outposts.Ashley Acedillo, deputy director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, told senators that Chinese-linked reclamation and dredging activities had happened…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Britain’s trade deal with the US is “good news” but still leaves the effective tariff rate higher than before Donald Trump began increasing barriers on America’s partners, the governor of the Bank of England has said.Andrew Bailey on Friday warned that the impact of the trade war on the UK economy would depend in part on other countries’ deals with the US president, and stressed that uncertainty was hitting British businesses. “It will leave the effective tariff rate higher than it was…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Germany’s Dax index climbed to a record high on Friday, becoming the first major European benchmark to recoup the losses sparked by Donald Trump’s tariff threats, as investor optimism over US trade deals boosted global markets.The Dax was 0.5 per cent higher in afternoon trading, after Thursday’s announcement of a US-UK trade deal was followed by a call between the US president and Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, in which they agreed on the need to resolve trade disputes quickly. Merz, who…

Li, who is also the founder and chairman of the Beijing-based electric vehicle manufacturer, acknowledged how a single meeting last September with Liang enlightened him about DeepSeek’s “best practices” and the importance of “fighting against some of the laziness of human nature, like taking short cuts”, according to a video posted on Wednesday by the firm on various social media.“Anytime we want to go about changing and improving capabilities, the first step must be to do research,” Li said. “The second step is development. The third is to articulate the capability, while the fourth is to turn that capability into…

China’s military is a strong force for safeguarding national sovereignty and maintaining world peace, its mouthpiece said on Friday, calling for the global order against hegemony to be upheld.PLA Daily made the comments in an editorial marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.It pointed to China’s long fight in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which started in 1931 and ended in 1945.“For a long time, the Chinese battlefield pinned down and fought against the main forces of Japanese militarism, playing a decisive role in the complete destruction of the Japanese invaders,” the…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Some 40 world leaders announced their support Friday for the creation of a new international court to prosecute those most responsible for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.The special tribunal aims to target senior Russian leaders for the “crime of aggression,” which underpins the countless war crimes Ukraine accuses Russian forces of committing since the start of the war in 2022.Because Russia is not a member of the International Criminal Court, it cannot prosecute Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior leaders for starting the conflict. Ukrainian and European leaders came up with the special tribunal as…

Sterling fell in European trade on Friday against a basket of major rivals, expanding the gains for the third straight day against the dollar and plumbing three-week lows, on track for the second weekly loss in a row as a US-UK rate gap emerges.   As expected, the Bank of England cut interest rates to two-year lows, with Governor Andrew Bailey welcoming the US-UK trade deal, which reduces uncertainty.   The Price   The GBP/USD price fell 0.25% today to $1.3212, the lowest since April 17, with a session-high at $1.3253.   The pair lost 0.35% on Thursday, the second…

Phuket’s popularity with Russian and Chinese visitors is drawing Vanuatu’s citizenship-for-sale business to Thailand in a bid to cash in. While some law enforcement officials warn that Asia’s booming passport trade is fuelling cross-border crime and illicit finance, the strike-it-rich mood in Phuket remains undeterred.Investment Economics Ltd – a company owned by Russian nationals who also hold Vanuatu citizenship – has opened a Citizenship by Investment (CBI) office on Phuket, offering so-called “golden visas” to clients seeking greater global mobility and offshore investment opportunities.Vanuatu’s CBI programme, which begins at US$130,000 for a single applicant and US$150,000 for couples, promises visa-free…

The “extremely creepy” experience of a female online job applicant in India has underscored growing cases of cyber harassment on the labour market despite strong laws, after the woman said she was questioned about her marital status by a recruiter and asked to send over a photo of herself.She shared her ordeal on Reddit last month, expressing how the encounter left her “disheartened”.The post sparked several online comments, including one user who shared her own experience of how she “kept ignoring the red flags because I was so desperate for the job”, resulting in her getting molested and having to…

The first Balinese Hindu temple in Europe has formally opened in the Netherlands, a move that symbolises cooperation between the two regions and aims to encourage tourism to the Indonesian island.The Santa Citta Bhuwana Temple – located within Overijssel province’s Taman Indonesia, a zoological garden some 125km (78 miles) northeast of Amsterdam – offers a gateway to the island’s traditions for both its diaspora and a wider European audience.Bali Governor Wayan Koster, who attended the formal opening ceremony on Saturday, personally brought the ceremonial items needed for the temple’s purification ceremony, according to The Bali Sun.The inauguration coincided with Hari…