Category Archives: China

Oil price slides amid China slowdown and easing Middle East fears

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Brent crude slides by almost $3.50 a barrel to below $74 after Opec cuts forecasts for demand growth

Global oil prices have tumbled by almost $3.50 a barrel amid ongoing concerns about a slowdown in China and as fears ease about the possibility of an attack by Israel on Iran’s energy facilities.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has reportedly offered assurances to the White House that its retaliation against Iran for its missile attack at the start of October would not target oil export terminals or nuclear facilities, which could send market prices soaring.

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‘Hi my sweetheart’: China’s love-heart propaganda labelled creepy in Taiwan

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Image dispersed during Monday’s military drills likened to sexual harassment or abusive partner

A Chinese propaganda image dispersed during Monday’s military drills around Taiwan was supposed to send a positive message to the island’s people, but instead has been decried as weird, creepy, and akin to “sexual harassment”.

On Monday China targeted Taiwan with major military exercises, surrounding its main island and outer territories with planes and ships to practise a blockade and attack. Alongside a record number of warplanes, dozens of navy and coastguard vessels, and cyber-attacks, China also launched a torrent of propaganda.

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Chinese film star Fan Bingbing to make comeback after five-year purgatory

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Fan, who disappeared after tax scandal, stars in thriller – but experts say she is unlikely to regain previous fame in increasingly authoritarian nation

Fan Bingbing, once one of China’s most famous film stars, is returning to the screen after a more than five-year hiatus following her alleged involvement in a massive tax evasion scandal.

Fan stars in Green Night, a Hong Kong-produced neo-noir thriller set in South Korea, which is released on US streaming services on 18 October. The film has been billed as Fan’s comeback from professional purgatory since she disappeared from public view for nearly a year in 2018. During her year of silence, she was hit with a bill of more than 880m yuan (£99m) by the Chinese tax authorities.

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Battery-operated items from Temu tested by Choice fail Australian safety standards

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Consumer advocate says results are a ‘worrying reminder’ children are at risk from insecure battery components on most items

An LED-lit tutu skirt, a spinning top and a set of building blocks are among a number of dangerous toys that were sold by Chinese-owned shopping platform Temu, Choice has found.

Choice tested 15 toys operated by circular coin or button-style batteries, including watches, a writing tablet, a musical keyboard, a cartoon projector and a electronic pet game from Temu in May.

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China conducts military drills around Taiwan in warning to island’s president

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PLA and Chinese coastguard approach Taiwan by sea and air in move linked by state media to ‘separatist’ National Day speech

Chinese military and coastguard personnel surrounded Taiwan’s main island on Monday for a day of large-scale drills that Beijing said were a warning against “separatist acts”, in the wake of a recent speech by Taiwan’s president.

State media linked the drills to a National Day speech last Thursday by Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, in which he repeated that the People’s Republic of China “has no right to represent Taiwan”, but that he was willing to work with it to maintain peace and stability.

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Russia and China accused of blocking Asean statement due to dispute over South China Sea

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Russian foreign minister says final declaration not adopted because of attempts by US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and NZ ‘to turn it into a purely political statement’

Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by south-east Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a US official said on Saturday.

A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said.

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Foreign Office ‘asked for UK visit by Taiwan ex-president to be deferred’ to not anger China

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Exclusive: Request to postpone Tsai Ing-wen’s trip came before ‘goodwill visit’ to China by David Lammy next week

The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) asked for a visit by the former Taiwanese president to be postponed so as not to anger China ahead of a trip by David Lammy, the Guardian has learned.

Lammy is due to travel to China next week for high-level meetings in his first trip to the country as foreign secretary.

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Chinese stocks suffer worst fall in 27 years over growth concerns

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Investors disappointed after hoped-for policy plans by Beijing to stimulate economy failed to materialise

Chinese stocks have suffered their worst fall in 27 years after efforts by Beijing to stimulate the world’s second-largest economy disappointed investors.

Stock markets in Asia fell sharply after China’s top economic planning authority failed to announce further measures to improve flagging growth.

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China to head green energy boom with 60% of new projects in next six years

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IEA says faster clean energy rollout being led by solar power in China with country set to boast half of world’s renewables by 2030

China is expected to account for almost 60% of all renewable energy capacity installed worldwide between now and 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

The IEA’s highly influential renewable energy report found that over the next six years renewable energy projects will roll out at three times the pace of the previous six years, led by the clean energy programmes of China and India.

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China puts tariffs on EU brandy in escalating trade row with Brussels

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Beijing also considering duties on European petrol cars after EU imposed extra levies on Chinese electric vehicles

China has imposed tariffs on EU brandy imports in an escalating tit-for-tat trade row with Brussels over extra levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

Beijing also said it was considering duties on imported petrol cars from Europe.

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Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa apologises after being accused of racism

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  • Badosa pulled eyes back with chopsticks in photograph
  • ‘I didn’t know this was offensive. I take responsibility’

The Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa has apologised after she was accused of racism over a photo that appeared to show her pulling her eyes back with chopsticks while in China for a series of tournaments.

Following her defeat on Saturday in the semi-finals of the China Open, Badosa’s coach, Pol Toledo, posted the photo on his Instagram, tagging the official China Open account. Comments soon began pouring in, accusing Badosa of racism.

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Scientists create surgical stitch to aid healing by electrical stimulation

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Researchers in China say their suture can speed up wound healing and reduce risk of infection by producing a charge

The humble stitch plays a crucial role in surgery, holding a gash together while tissues repair. Now scientists have created a type of suture they say can help speed up wound healing and reduce the risk of infection.

Researchers in China have created a suture that when put under strain – as occurs during movement – electrically stimulates the wound.

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Biden to visit Angola as global powers vie for African influence

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US and EU are supporting infrastructure projects in Angola, which has historically been closer to Russia and China

When Joe Biden travels to Angola on Sunday, it will be the first trip to an African country of his presidency and the first to the continent by a sitting US president since Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015.

It is a marker of how Africa’s 54 countries are increasingly courted by global powers, drawn to the continent by geopolitical shifts and an abundance of minerals needed for electric cars and other battery-powered technologies.

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Communist China not the motherland, says Taiwan’s president, because our republic is older

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Lai Ching-te argues the reverse may be true because the Republic of China – the mantle that nationalists carried with them to Taiwan – predates the People’s Republic

It is “impossible” for the People’s Republic of China to become Taiwan’s motherland because Taiwan has older political roots, the island’s president has said.

Lai Ching-te, who took office in May, is condemned by Beijing as a separatist. He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying the island is a country called the Republic of China that traces its origins back to the 1911 revolution overthrowing the last imperial dynasty.

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Two killed in explosion near Karachi airport targeting Chinese nationals

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Baloch Liberation Army claims it carried out the vehicle-borne attack in the southern Pakistani city

An explosion near the international airport of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi has killed two Chinese nationals and injured several others, officials from both countries said.

Police and the provincial government said a tanker exploded outside the airport, which is Pakistan’s biggest, on Sunday night. The nature of the blast was not immediately clear, the local broadcaster Geo News cited a provincial official as saying.

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EU leaders back extra Chinese EV tariffs despite split vote

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Decision opposed by five countries including Germany, where car firms say it could be ‘fatal’ blow for industry

EU leaders have given the green light to extra tariffs on electric vehicles from China despite opposition from five countries including Germany, where car manufacturers condemned the decision as a potential “fatal” blow for the auto industry.

The European Commission – which provisionally approved the step in June after an inquiry found that Beijing’s state aid to auto manufacturers was unfair – now has free rein to impose steep tariffs for five years from the end of this month.

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Mount Everest is having a growth spurt, say researchers

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River erosion has pushed the mountain upwards and added an extra 15 to 50 metres over the past 89,000 years

Climbing Mount Everest has always been a feat, but it seems the task might be getting harder: researchers say Everest is having something of a growth spurt.

The Himalayas formed about 50m years ago, when the Indian subcontinent smashed into the Eurasian tectonic plate – although recent research has suggested the edges of these plates were already very high before the collision.

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Vauxhall owner warns on profits amid falling sales and tougher Chinese competition

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Stellantis slashes growth forecast, with Aston Martin maker also warning of problems as car industry’s woes deepen

The owner of Vauxhall, Fiat and Peugeot has issued a profit warning, blaming a hit to sales from a deterioration in the global automotive market and increased competition from Chinese rivals.

Stellantis shares plunged by 14% on Monday after it said it expected profit margins to be between 5.5% and 7% for the year, down from the previous forecast of double-digit growth.

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British judge Nicholas Phillips steps down from Hong Kong court

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Phillips, who the court of final appeal said was stepping down for ‘personal reasons’, is fifth foreign judge to leave city’s judiciary this year

The British judge Nicholas Phillips has stepped down from Hong Kong’s top appeals court, the fifth overseas judge to leave the city’s judiciary this year.

Phillips, 86, is leaving Hong Kong’s court of final appeal (CFA) after 22 years for “personal reasons” after his fourth term ended on Monday and he said he did not wish to extend it, the court said.

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Stock markets hit record highs after news of a fall in US inflation

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S&P 500 index of major US companies registers near 100% gain on year ago amid expectation of interest rate cuts

A fall in US inflation expected to pave the way for further cuts in interest rates pushed stock markets to record highs on Friday.

Ending a week of gains that began when the Chinese authorities approved a huge economic stimulus package, the S&P 500 index of major US companies soared above 5,750 to register a near 100% gain on a year ago.

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