Day: June 21, 2026

China’s state broadcaster CCTV has aired footage showing the launch of a DF-17 hypersonic missile, a weapon that analysts believe could strengthen deterrence across the first island chain. On Saturday, a military news programme carried footage of two live-fire exercises, one of which showed a Dongfeng-17, or “east wind”, missile launcher by the side of a road, followed by a vertical launch. The other segment showed training exercises involving multiple branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at a rocket force training area somewhere in the Gobi Desert. Advertisement A…

Less than three years ago, residents of a small rural township in the US state of Michigan packed a community hall to celebrate what many saw as a victory for local democracy over a Chinese-headquartered battery manufacturer. As the new board quickly rescinded the Gotion plan, the residents applauded the defeat of a project they viewed as a “Trojan horse” that could bring undue Chinese Communist Party influence, environmental risks and irreversible changes to their way of life. Advertisement But the town could face a staggering financial price for that…

Top negotiators from the United States, Iran and Pakistan have arrived in Switzerland ahead of talks that aim to secure the fragile ceasefire and reach a deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear programme. The US team was led by Vice-President J.D. Vance, who arrived in Burgenstock, the resort hosting the talks on Sunday. He joined special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, who were already on the ground, the Associated Press reported. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir, the chief of the defence…

For decades, moving Benin’s cotton harvest from the north of the country to its southern ports was a slow, difficult journey along unpaved roads. Benin is Africa’s largest cotton producer, but it lacked the infrastructure needed to connect its northern cotton-growing belt to the coast and processing plants in the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ) near Cotonou, the country’s largest city and economic capital. The GDIZ – part of the government’s efforts to end raw cotton exports – now processes a fifth of the national cotton harvest into finished clothing for…