China’s Leader Xi Seeks to Extend Truce with Trump During U.S. Summit

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has revamped its online payments operations by creating a new business group for Alipay, as it sharpens its artificial intelligence focus on “agentic commerce” to drive new growth. Ant, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate, merged its Digital Payment Business Group, Alipay Business Group and Zhima Credit Business Group into a new business unit dedicated to Alipay, according to an internal letter from CEO Cyril Han Xinyi on Monday, according to a report by Chinese...

Malaysia’s Sabah state has ordered a full investigation into the Semporna resort where a female tourist from China was allegedly molested and assaulted inside her room by an intruder early last Saturday. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Jafry Ariffin said he instructed tourism authorities and enforcement agencies to investigate the security lapses that led to the incident and the resort’s licensing status. “I have instructed the relevant tourism authorities to immediately look...

The poet and lyricist Gulzar has profoundly shaped the idea of tender romance in India through his verse and songs in more than 150 musicals.

Japan’s prime minister will meet President Trump to discuss China’s economic and security pressure while also seeking to de-escalate tensions with Beijing.

Manufacturers are struggling with constrained supplies as U.S. and Chinese officials negotiate over export restrictions with consequences for global industry.

President Trump should demand that North Korea freeze, not eliminate, its nuclear weapons program, President Lee Jae Myung said in an interview.

In China’s hardware hub in Shenzhen, the speculative frenzy around consumer multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) has cooled into a sharp price correction, but prices for artificial intelligence server components remain elevated. Spot prices for consumer-grade MLCCs, often dubbed the “the rice of the electronics industry”, have fallen by two-thirds from their peak two months ago, according to Wang Jun, an MLCC distributor in Huaqiangbei, a commercial zone in the city known for electronic...

More than 200 Japanese companies still operating in Russia face growing uncertainty following Moscow’s seizure of three Western firms’ assets, amid deteriorating diplomatic relations. The Kremlin announced on Friday that the assets of Swiss food giant Nestlé, French retailer Auchan and home improvement chain Lemana Pro had been transferred to Russian entity LEV Management under a decree signed a day earlier by President Vladimir Putin. “These are unfriendly nations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry...

The September 24 summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump is no ordinary engagement. Their May summit took place in Beijing and largely centred on economic issues. This one will be on Trump’s home turf and is expected to put strategic questions on the table. Will the Korean peninsula and North Korea’s nuclear programme again be pushed to the margins? In Beijing, both sides focused on their immediate national interests, such as trade, semiconductors, rare earths and...

The Filipino government is exploring nuclear power options to guard against global energy shocks. One proposal is to switch on a plant in Bataan that has been mothballed for 40 years.

Indonesia’s rising public anger reflects deeper structural pressures – from elite impunity to digital manipulation – eroding trust in democratic institutions.