Struggling foreign automakers in China are looking for help from local tech giants to try to stay competitive in the world's biggest electric car market, where shiny smart screens, assisted driving and sophisticated map technology are in high demand.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talks with his Serbian counterpart in Belgrade on Wednesday, as Beijing seeks to deepen its political and economic ties with friendlier countries in Europe.

The platform said the measure will stifle free speech and hurt small businesses that rely on it

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday is to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees mountains, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia's war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade.

French President Emmanuel Macron was on Monday set to warn Chinese leader Xi Jinping against backing Russia in the conflict over Ukraine but also seek to enlist his help in finding an end to the war.

The latest incident happened near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, which has long been a potential flashpoint, during a mission to resupply Filipino fishermen.

Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday for his second trip in less than a year to China, meeting with top officials including Premier Li Qiang, as he worked to boost his company's fortunes in the world's biggest electric car market.

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated due to heavy rain and fatal floods in southern China, with the government issuing its highest-level rainstorm warning for the affected area on Tuesday.

Eleven people are missing following storms that battered southern China, state media said Monday, with tens of thousands evacuated away from the torrential downpours.

Mainland China has some of the world's most extensive internet censorship, with web users unable to access everything from Google to many foreign apps without workarounds such as a virtual private network (VPN).

A report showed that Beijing is subsidizing the manufacturing of materials used to produce the lethal opioid

Beijing officials last month set a target of around five percent growth for the year -- a goal they admitted would "not be easy" and which analysts said was ambitious given the headwinds the country is confronting.

The maritime activities took place days before US President Joe Biden was due to hold the first trilateral summit with the leaders of the Philippines and Japan, with growing tensions over the hotly contested South China Sea on the agenda.

A surge in cheap exports from China in industries like electric vehicles could create an oversupply and hurt economies, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned in a speech on Wednesday.

In rare and detailed public accusations against China -- Washington, London and Wellington described a series of cyber breaches over the last decade or more, in what appeared to be a concerted effort to hold Beijing accountable.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a rare visit to New Zealand on Monday, stressing the need to work with "friends" in the face of the "tumultuous international situation".

The performance of China's economy in the first two months of 2024 was mixed, official figures showed Monday, with sluggish household consumption alongside increased industrial production reflecting an uneven recovery.

China has sharply criticised the approval, slamming what it called Washington's "bandit" mentality and accusing lawmakers of "unjustly suppressing foreign companies".

China's leaders on Monday wrap up a week-long key conclave at which they admitted more was needed to revive a sluggish economy battered by an ailing housing market, poor domestic demand and record high youth unemployment figures.

Sergeant Korbein Schultz, who held a top-secret security clearance, was taken into custody at Fort Campbell, a military base on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, the Justice Department said in a statement.

China described the war in Gaza as a "disgrace to civilisation" and called on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire as the conflict stretched into its sixth month despite efforts by mediators to reach a truce.

The Philippine Coast Guard said one of its ships was damaged Tuesday in a collision with a China Coast Guard vessel during a resupply mission to Filipino troops on a remote outpost in the South China Sea.

China's annual political conclave kicks off in Beijing on Monday, with officials saying the flagging economy and youth unemployment are of "great concern" as they lay out plans for the coming year.

The decision, outlined in a new Army document, aligns with the Pentagon's refocus on countering Chinese and Russian military capabilities after decades of concentrating on the fight against terrorism.

The trove of documents from I-Soon, a private company that competed for Chinese government contracts, shows that its hackers compromised more than a dozen governments, according to cybersecurity firms SentinelLabs and Malwarebytes.

Mike Gallagher heads a five-member delegation that met on Thursday with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Lai Ching-te, who won last month's presidential election and will take office in May.

Chinese sporting officials have also confirmed Argentina's friendly games next month have been cancelled due to "the reasons that everyone knows".

The Asia-focused lender and its peers have been buoyed by rising interest rates for more than a year, but are bracing for greater economic uncertainties in 2024.

Guatemala is one of the rare countries that continues to maintain a formal connection with Taiwan as last year, Honduras broke its connection with Taiwan and shifted towards China. In return, Honduras received around $2.5 billion in aid from Beijing.

The Southern neighbor surpassed China