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The Philippines is drafting a long-term strategy to safeguard its claims in the South China Sea, aiming to preserve its assertive maritime stance beyond the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, according to the country’s national security chief.The move, observers said, could help Manila avoid the “pendulum” swing that had seen its foreign policy shift repeatedly between Washington and Beijing in recent years, and instead forge a more consistent approach rooted in national interest.At a security forum on Tuesday, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said the initiative was a direct response to “China’s baseless, excessive and expansive territorial claims, militarisation,…

Chinese companies are stepping up efforts to unlock business opportunities in the Middle East to hedge against worsening US-China trade ties, hoping to use the region as a springboard to expand into new markets in Africa and Europe.They include Hong Kong start-up NEXX Global, a logistics platform operator backed by CK Asset Holdings, and Beijing-based franchise platform operator Tojoy, according to the company officials.NEXX, which uses generative artificial intelligence to help warehouses reduce costs and improve efficiency, will sign a memorandum of understanding with Qatari logistics group Milaha and Hong Kong-based Kerry Logistics during a trade mission this week. They…

Take a week away to the Low Countries, on an art barge no less, and you are conscious of an actual boom in Europe. Each stop in town and at museums that we made in our floating hotel, we saw cranes everywhere. Barely an empty storefront. No graffiti all over abandoned buildings. Streets packed. It’s almost as if you can see why these European markets are roaring, and we are way behind. Of course, your eyes are always anecdotal, and Belgium and the Netherlands, up 3.0% and 2.50% respectively, aren’t poster children for the continent. But Germany, Spain, and Britain…

This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters hereGood morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter: US expresses optimism over China trade talksFragile India-Pakistan ceasefire holds Scotch makers toast UK-India trade dealTreasury secretary Scott Bessent yesterday said the US and China had made “substantial progress” over two days of trade talks in Geneva. The optimistic comments were the first sign that Washington and Beijing may start to ratchet down economic tensions.…

The impact of China’s latest measures aimed at boosting property market sentiment remains to be seen, as analysts cautioned that more needs to be done to revive buyer confidence and address structural weakness in the sector.The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the National Financial Regulatory Administration on May 7 unveiled 10 major monetary measures, one of which was a cut in interest rates on housing provident fund loans.The PBOC announced a 25-point cut in the benchmark rate for first-home buyers, bringing the five-year rate down to a historic low of 2.6 per cent. The…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Chinese companies are accelerating a purge of foreign components from their supply chains, as trade tensions with the US threaten to hasten the decoupling between the world’s two largest economies.In the weeks since President Donald Trump hit China with steep tariffs, more than two dozen companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen have told investors that they were increasing efforts to source domestic inputs to replace foreign products or expected to benefit as their peers localised purchasing.The financial filings, reviewed by the Financial…

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will on Monday unveil plans to tighten immigration rules, confronting an issue that has bedeviled successive governments and fueled the rise of a new anti-immigrant party that could threaten the country’s political establishment.Starmer, whose center-left Labour Party won a landslide victory last July, is facing pressure from voters who are increasingly frustrated by high levels of immigration that many believe have strained public services and inflamed ethnic tensions in some parts of the country.Starmer is pledging to end what his office described as “Britain’s failed experiment in open borders,’’ less than two…

The victims were mostly children and elderly people, with an additional 28 injured.Heavy overnight floods have washed away several villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing more than 100 people, according to local officials, in a nation suffering war and mass displacement. The floods were triggered by torrential rains and surged through the Kasaba village, in South Kivu province, during the night of Thursday into Friday, regional official Bernard Akili told news agency AFP on Saturday. Torrential rains caused the Kasaba River to burst its banks overnight, with the rushing waters “carrying everything in their path, large stones,…

U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One for travel back to Washington, D.C., at Palm Beach International Airport, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. May 4, 2025. Leah Millis | ReutersPresident Donald Trump is preparing to accept a luxury jet from the royal family of Qatar, which he will use as Air Force One, four sources familiar with the planning confirmed to NBC News.The plane, a Boeing 747-8 jet, is set to be transferred to Trump’s presidential library foundation at the conclusion of his second White House term, two sources confirmed to NBC.The administration will retrofit the plane so…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldTreasury secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said the US made “substantial progress” over two days of trade talks with Chinese officials in Geneva, in the first sign that Washington and Beijing may start to ratchet down tensions.“We will be giving details tomorrow, but I can tell you that the talks were productive,” Bessent told reporters after he and US trade representative Jamieson Greer finished their meetings with Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng. Greer said it was “important to understand how quickly we…