Day: July 18, 2026

In Abidjan, the commercial capital and economic engine of Ivory Coast, the extent of Chinese infrastructure development is a permanent feature of the transport and trade networks. This includes the Alassane Ouattara Bridge, commonly known as the Cocody Bridge, which links the affluent eastern district of Cocody to the business centre of Plateau. The expansion of the Port of Abidjan’s second container terminal and the construction of the Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium also highlight the scale of Beijing’s involvement. For more than a decade, such megaprojects have formed the backbone…

The dispute escalated into the deadliest fighting between the neighbours in more than a decade last year, resulting in more than 100 military and civilian deaths and hundreds of injuries. A ceasefire reached in December 2025 has largely held, but both sides have continued to accuse the other of breaches. In his meeting with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on the sidelines of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Friday, Xi told him that resolving the conflict was in both countries’ “common and long-term interests”. He called for…

Taiwan’s biggest food safety scandal in years has become a political liability for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), giving the opposition valuable ammunition ahead of November’s local elections. The latest controversy centres on soybean salad oil produced by Central Union Oil Corporation, which was found to contain excessive levels of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The substance is classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. According to Taiwan’s food authorities, the Taichung-based manufacturer produced about 28,992 tonnes of soybean salad oil in 30 batches between April and…

Zheng Yongnian, a leading political scientist, said the claims were campaign rhetoric for November’s midterm elections and were unlikely to have a significant impact on the China-US relationship. Instead of repeatedly shifting blame onto other countries, Washington should reflect on how to reform its own democracy, he said in an interview. During a prime-time address from the White House that lasted nearly 30 minutes, Trump accused China of interfering in the 2020 US presidential race – which he lost to Joe Biden – and orchestrating “what is believed to be…

A fossil found in China suggests modern birds shed the long, bony tails of their dinosaur ancestors through a step-by-step process, rather than a sudden evolutionary transition as previously believed. The transition to a short, feathered tail was one of the most important steps in the evolution and survival of birds, the only living group of dinosaurs to survive a mass extinction event 66 million years ago. “The evolutionary assembly of the flight-adapted bird body plan encompasses some of the most profound morphological changes in terrestrial vertebrate history,” a team…