Month: August 2025

China launches world’s most powerful detector for ‘ghost particles’

Media Library

China launched the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (Juno), the world’s largest detector for elusive “ghost particles” called neutrinos, in Guangdong province on Tuesday. Advertisement The massive facility has started collecting data for its mission to track the mysterious particles with no electrical charge, very little mass and moving at near-light speed. The Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said Juno had successfully completed filling its 20,000-ton (18,000kg) liquid scintillator detector – a giant acrylic sphere measuring 35m (115 feet) in diameter. The detector is housed…

China urged to take pragmatic view as South Korea and Japan pledge closer ties

Media Library

Beijing has been urged to take a pragmatic approach towards South Korea’s new government following a recent summit that signalled a thaw in relations with Japan. Advertisement Analysts said Lee’s approach to foreign policy focused on shared international challenges and interests. Zhan Debin, director of the Centre for Korean Peninsula Studies at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, said: “Whether in the context of South Korea-Japan, US-Japan-Korea, or US-South Korea cooperation, the common denominator is addressing the so-called ‘China challenge’. “From Beijing’s perspective, there is little reason to have…

China to expand carbon market to major industries by 2027

Media Library

China will accelerate the expansion of its carbon market to incorporate major industries by 2027, according to guidelines issued by top policymakers. Advertisement By 2030, China hopes to have in place “a transparent, standardised and internationally aligned voluntary reduction market”, according to a document on Monday from the Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council. The measures will help deliver President Xi Jinping’s pledge to peak China’s emissions by the end of the decade. The plan also calls for setting absolute limits on emissions, a tougher standard than the…

Australia blames Iran for antisemitic firebombing attacks

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Australian government has accused Iran of being behind a spate of violent antisemitic attacks in the country and ordered the expulsion of its ambassador from Canberra.  Australia blamed Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for being involved in at least two antisemitic attacks last year, including the firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne and an arson attack on a delicatessen in Bondi, Sydney. The government moved to introduce legislation…

India holds firm as Trump’s punitive tariffs loom

Media Library

India is holding firm on its long-standing ties to Moscow as US President Donald Trump’s administration readies punitive tariffs over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. Hopes are dimming that Trump, who threatened to double levies on Indian exports to 50 per cent last month over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, will lower or postpone the tariffs before a Wednesday deadline. A planned visit to New Delhi by US trade negotiators this week was called off, Indian officials said. A draft notice published on Monday said the extra tariff…

Trump says he will allow 600,000 Chinese to study in US – double current figure

Media Library

US President Donald Trump said he would allow 600,000 Chinese students to enter the United States which is double the current figure, and reiterated that President Xi Jinping had invited him “to come to China”. Advertisement The significant shift in tone from the US government came soon after the Chinese embassy in the US advised students to “be cautious when choosing” Houston as their destination when entering America, saying some students have been “unjustifiably questioned and harassed” recently. On Monday, Trump told reporters in the White House that the US…

French and Korean nuclear groups in stand-off over foreign subsidy probe

Media Library

This article is an on-site version of our Europe Express newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday and fortnightly on Saturday morning. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters Good morning. US President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs and export controls on countries whose taxes or regulations “discriminate” against US tech companies, in an outburst that will give EU officials pause for thought this morning. “As the President of the United States, I will stand up to Countries that…

Nissan shares sink after Mercedes-Benz offloads its stake

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Nissan shares tumbled 6.3 per cent on Tuesday after its second-biggest shareholder Mercedes-Benz offloaded its entire 3.8 per cent stake in the embattled Japanese auto producer. The German carmaker’s pension fund sold shares worth about ¥47.83bn ($323mn), according to a person familiar with the matter, piling pressure on Nissan as it fights to execute a turnaround plan. The sale of the stake on Monday comes as Ivan Espinosa, who took…

US tariff threat over Indian imports of Russian oil could backfire

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is co-founder and director of market intelligence at Energy Aspects If Donald Trump really wanted to drive India’s oil imports from Russia down to zero, the consequences might not be what the US president intended. Trump has threatened to impose an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods from Wednesday over the country’s purchases of Russian oil. That would increase total tariffs to 50 per cent. Indian…

Temu resumes direct shipping from China to US after Trump truce

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Bargain ecommerce platform Temu has resumed shipping goods from Chinese factories directly to US consumers and increased its advertising spending in the country, following a trade truce between Washington and Beijing. Multiple Temu suppliers, partners and investors said the company had restored so-called fully managed shipments — where it handles most of the logistics and customs formalities on behalf of suppliers — in July. It had suspended the service in…