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Biggest reduction since December 2021 will allow 1tn more yuan to be released in form of new loansChina’s central bank has announced a surprise cut to the amount of cash that banks must hold in reserve, hoping to boost the lending available to households and businesses as policymakers try to steer the economy through a fragile recovery.Pan Gongsheng, the governor of the People’s Bank...

Authorities warn of potentially widespread damage after the 7.0-magnitude quake, with tremors felt in neighbouring countriesA 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck along the China-Kyrgyzstan border, as authorities warned of potentially widespread damage.The China Earthquake Networks Center said the quake hit Wushu county in Aksu prefecture shortly after 2am local time, according to the state-run Xinhua press agency and about 200 rescuers were dispatched to the...

Fire broke out in dormitories of primary school in central Henan provinceThirteen pupils have died after a fire broke out in dormitories at a primary school in central Henan province, Chinese state media reported.All of the dead were third-grade students, a teacher at Yingcai school told Zonglan news, a state-backed media outlet from Hebei province. One person rescued from the scene was being treated...

Lai’s Democratic Progressive party wins unprecedented third term in result likely to anger ChinaTaiwan has voted for Lai Ching-te to be its next president, ushering in a historic third term in power for the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive party (DPP), in a result that will anger Beijing and heighten tensions across the Taiwan strait.The victory of Lai, who since 2020 had served as vice-president to...

Beijing has criticised frontrunner Lai Ching-te as a ‘separatist’ as it seeks to intimidate self-ruling islandVote counting got under way on Saturday in Taiwan’s presidential election, held under the shadow of threats from China that choosing a leader it disapproves of could set the stage for war on the self-ruled island.Beijing criticised frontrunner Lai Ching-te, the current-vice president, as a dangerous “separatist” in the...

China mediates truce that would halt months of conflict that has displaced half a million people in country’s northMyanmar’s military and an alliance of armed ethnic minority groups have announced a China-mediated ceasefire after months of conflict that has posed the biggest threat to the junta since it seized power in 2021.Fighting has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced more than half a million...

Mistranslation of ‘satellite’ to ‘missile’ in message causes alarm and confusion days before presidential electionA Chinese satellite launch has triggered a nationwide emergency alert in Taiwan days before its presidential election, prompting alarm and confusion as the English portion of the message erroneously translated satellite to “missile”.The bilingual air raid alert blasted over loudspeakers and was sent to every mobile phone in Taiwan shortly...

Wenheng Zhao, 26, pleaded guilty in October to passing sensitive military information to Chinese intelligence officerA US navy petty officer who pleaded guilty to providing sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Monday, the US justice department said.Wenheng Zhao, 26, and another US sailor, Jinchao Wei, were arrested in August on suspicion of...

Corruption and the cost of living have trumped concerns about a belligerent neighbour in close race for the presidencyDeep in the mountains of Hsinchu county in north Taiwan, a few dozen residents of Smangus are holding their daily morning meeting in a weatherboard hut, overlooking the towering peaks nearby.The remote Indigenous village, home to about 200 Atayal people, is preparing for Saturday’s presidential election....

Campaigners say testing is among methods used to surveil people in the tightly controlled regionThe US biotech company Thermo Fisher has halted sales of its DNA identification kits in Tibet, nearly five years after it made a similar commitment about the sale of its products in the neighbouring western Chinese region of Xinjiang.It decided to stop sales in Tibet after months of complaints from...

Analysts suggest popularity of A Guilty Conscience is down to portrayal of recent abuses in judicial systemHong Kong’s highest grossing Chinese language film of all time is a courtroom drama exploring themes of power and justice in a city where many feel both have been abused in recent years.A Guilty Conscience, the directorial debut of the Hong Kong screenwriter Ng Wai-lun, tells the story...

Hong Kong media mogul’s team raises concerns over testimony of former democracy activist who was imprisoned in ChinaThe international legal team for the imprisoned media mogul Jimmy Lai, who is on trial for national security offences in Hong Kong, has filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations special rapporteur on torture regarding one of the key prosecution witnesses in Lai’s trial.Lai’s lawyers say...