Day: September 9, 2026

US President Donald Trump kicked off the Republican Party’s midterm campaign season in Dallas on Wednesday night, headlining the opening of a highly unusual convention aimed at rallying voters ahead of November’s high-stakes battle for control of Congress. “This has been the most successful two years financially and every other way in the history of the presidency,” he said, as the crowd chanted “USA! USA!” In the almost two-hour-long speech, Trump also made a bold promise to give every adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterm elections, calling it a…

China’s ruling Communist Party has signalled a renewed push for social stability by quietly setting up a high-level party group about a year ahead of its 21st national congress. The creation of the Leading Group for Social Governance of the party’s Central Committee underscores the growing focus on internal security and grass-roots governance ahead of the next five-yearly congress, expected to be held in autumn 2027. Beijing has never officially announced the formation of the body, nor disclosed who leads it. However, a trail of local government reports in recent…

The Trump administration on Wednesday said that China is on track to meet its agricultural purchase commitments, with the sector expected to feature prominently in the deliverables for US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s talks in Washington later this month. “China is ramping up their purchases,” said Luke Lindberg, the US Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). “We’re seeing that progress happen.” Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event, Lindberg added that China is on track to…

Multiple people familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post that Beijing was stepping up to play an “active” and “constructive” role in reviving US-North Korea diplomacy, underscoring its resolve to remain a central player in negotiations on the Korean peninsula as Trump seeks to reignite engagement with Pyongyang. According to two sources, Beijing will support all credible efforts that could lead to resumed dialogue. North Korea launches second 5,000-tonne nuclear destroyer in 75 days But they argued that Kim was likely to demand a high price for…

The Trump administration sanctioned Chinese-language marketplace Xinbi Guarantee on Wednesday, along with two affiliated organisations, as part of a wider crackdown on transnational cybercrime. The US Department of Justice also announced it had seized Telegram channels and cryptocurrency wallets tied to the platform, which has over 650,000 users, freezing more than US$52 million in potentially laundered funds in just one day. “This is not a distant overseas crime story,” said Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, at a press conference. “It is an industrial extraction of…

Greg Reverdiau, an Arizona-based drone trainer, said he saw something highly unusual for politically polarised America when he waded through public comments on a US government proposal to restrict foreign-made drones: a consensus. Reverdiau, the founder of Pilot Institute, which helps aviators obtain licences, said he reviewed over 3,800 comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and estimates that about 98 per cent opposed the proposal or raised concerns about it. “Those numbers are pretty damning for the FCC as to what they’re trying to propose,” Reverdiau said. “I…

Brazil on Wednesday eliminated its federal import tax on small overseas parcels, moving in the opposite direction from US and European Union efforts to close a loophole that saw such Chinese retail giants as Shein and Temu expand rapidly. The elimination will hurt the country’s tax base, but the levy on lower value shirts, electronics, toys and kitchen gadgets ultimately proved too unpopular among Brazilians ahead of the October 4 presidential election, forcing Brasilia to back down. In an apparent attempt to minimise media exposure over a domestic scandal involving…

The risk of a conflict over Taiwan is shaping Japanese defence planning, with Tokyo shoring up security at home and abroad for a potentially prolonged fight. But there are economic, demographic and political constraints on how far its military transformation can go. In the third of a three-part series, Gabriel Dominguez examines the various challenges confronting Japan in its bid to expand its military. Driven by the growing risk that a conflict over Taiwan could draw Tokyo into a high-intensity confrontation with Beijing, Japan is pursuing its most ambitious military…

A year after China unveiled the world’s first operational air-breathing hypersonic missiles, the United States is launching a programme to double down on developing similar weapons. The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) will bring contractors together later this month to lay out what it wants from the Next Generation Hypersonic Cruise Missile, with air-breathing propulsion at the heart of the project, according to the agency’s website. Unlike rocket-powered missiles, air-breathing weapons draw oxygen from the atmosphere instead of carrying all they need on board, freeing up weight for…

Beijing has reinforced its military firepower facing the Taiwan Strait by deploying more 155mm PLZ-05 self-propelled howitzers, according to state media reports. Replacing its older 122mm artillery, a heavy combined-arms brigade under the People’s Liberation Army’s 71st Group Army has been equipped with a batch of the 155mm self-propelled howitzers over the past two months and conducted its first live-fire test of the weapons, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday. The 71st Group Army belongs to the Eastern Theatre Command, which has the main responsibility for operations facing Taiwan, the…