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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United Media Group, said on the weekend that three photos posted by Trump online were either digitally altered or outdated – and none were taken in China.The report, headlined “Fact Check: Trump Blames China for Pacific Ocean Pollution Using Doctored Images”, was shared on Chinese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…

“Our calculations show that low Earth orbit could get overcrowded with about 100,000 satellites,” Meng Lingjie, director of the China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) Earth observation and data centre, told the news portal Jiemian.com last week.“To keep space sustainable, the CNSA is working on a traffic management system to better organise satellite placement and operations. Without it, overlapping projects and repetitive competition could seriously hurt the industry’s development.”Industry data shows that China has 58 satellite factories either operating, under construction, or in the planning stages.Based on publicly available capacity estimates, the country’s satellite production is expected to exceed 5,000 units…

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…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe liquefied natural gas industry has warned the Trump administration it cannot comply with new rules aimed at forcing them to use US transport vessels by imposing levies on Chinese-built ships docking at US ports.It warns the rules published by US trade representative Jamieson Greer on April 17 could damage a $34bn a year export industry that is central to the president’s “energy dominance” agenda, according to lobbying letters sent by the American Petroleum Institute to the administration this week.…

Talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the United States to forge a “minerals-for-security” deal to help end violence in the country may threaten China’s mining dominance, but analysts say there are still many challenges ahead.In a proposal to cease hostilities in the country’s east, which worsened this year following the capture of strategic cities by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, Kinshasa has offered the US access to its vast mineral resources.In exchange, the DRC is seeking security guarantees and military support from the US, and hopes to attract American investment to reduce its reliance on China.Under…