CHINA

Japan has joined the United States and Australia in signing an agreement on a $95 million undersea cable project that will connect East Micronesia island nations to improve networks in the Indo-Pacific region where China is increasingly expanding its influence.

Senior diplomats from China and the United States have held “candid and productive” talks in Beijing and agreed to keep open lines of communication to avoid tensions from spiraling into conflict.

Hong Kong police have detained eight people on the eve of the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The United States and its allies clashed with Russia and China over North Korea’s failed launch of a military spy satellite this week in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, which Moscow and Beijing refused to condemn.

As the 34th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown approaches Sunday, many in Hong Kong are trying to mark the day in the shadow of a law that prosecuted leading activists in the city’s pro-democracy movement.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is stressing the importance of communication between Washington's and Beijing's defense authorities.

Hong Kong has criticized Amnesty International’s accusation that a Uyghur student disappeared after being interrogated at the airport.

The International Energy Agency says energy security concerns and policy support from rich countries are speeding up reliance on clean energy, but investments in coal power are on course to be nearly six-times beyond what is needed for the world to meet targets for achieving “net zero” carbon emissions.

A business group says foreign companies in China want “greater clarity” about changes in China’s cybersecurity and other rules and how the ruling Communist Party will enforce them after they were rattled by raids on consulting firms.

Delegates from the Group of 20 nations have arrived in Indian-controlled Kashmir to participate in a tourism meeting condemned by China and Pakistan.

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are sitting down with a carefully chosen set of counterparts from other countries during their summit in Japan in an effort to expand the G7’s sway and to include voices from the so-called Global South.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that he has begun a visit to Saudi Arabia where Arab leaders are holding a summit.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday there’s “work to do” on the global stage as he headed to Japan to consult with allies on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s assertive influence in the Pacific.

The symbolism will be palpable when leaders of the world’s rich democracies sit down in Hiroshima later this week.

European benchmarks are rising after Asian shares finished lower on looming worries over U.S. banks and lagging demand from China, the region’s major driver of growth.

The China-based solar panel company, Jinko Solar, sent a response to the News4JAX I-TEAM about a federal search warrant executed at its Jacksonville plant.

Councilman Matt Carlucci is calling for the Jacksonville City Council to hold off on voting on a $2.3 million grant for JinkoSolar on Tuesday night.

A union of government employees sued Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and President Joe Biden to try to stop them from complying with the law that limits the government’s total debt, which the lawsuit contends is unconstitutional.

Most Democrats and Republicans agree that the federal government should better regulate the biggest technology companies, particularly social media platforms.

Lexi Thompson made back-to-back birdies on the back nine and the United States earned the final spot in the semifinals of the LPGA’s International Crown team match-play event.

A port regulation adopted by Peru to combat illegal fishing by Chinese squid vessels appears to have driven the world’s largest overseas fishing fleet deeper into the shadows and raised the risk of forced labor.

A press freedom group says China was the biggest global jailer of journalists last year with more than 100 behind bars as President Xi Jinping’s government tightened control over society.

Canada’s foreign minister says the country is considering the expulsion of Chinese diplomats over an intelligence agency report saying one of them plotted to intimidate the Hong Kong relatives of a Canadian lawmaker.

India’s foreign minister is expected to hold bilateral talks with counterparts from China and Russia ahead of a Central Asian security forum meeting.

Starbucks has posted stronger-than-expected sales in its fiscal second quarter.

Ya Ya the giant panda has begun its trip to China from the Memphis Zoo, where it has spent the past 20 years as part of a loan agreement.

President Joe Biden will visit Japan and Australia next month to huddle with allies on their continued response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as ways to confront China’s assertive economic and military moves in the Indo-Pacific region.

Crabcakes, beef short ribs and a newfangled banana split have made the cut for this week's White House state dinner honoring South Korea.

India will be the most populous country, eclipsing an aging China, by month's end.

Coca-Cola reported higher-than-expected sales in the first quarter as it continued to hike prices and saw its business in China improve.

Imagine it’s April 22, 2027, and we're 72 hours into a first-strike Chinese attack against Taiwan.

Looking back at 2022’s weather with months of analysis, the World Meteorological Organization says last year really was as bad as it seemed when people were muddling through it.

The United Nations says India is on track to become the world’s most populous nation, surpassing China by 2.9 million people by mid-2023.

A giant panda on long-term loan from China has died in a zoo in northern Thailand, six months before she was due to return home.

The European Union is closing in on approval for a plan to ramp up semiconductor production.

China has revealed new details of sanctions it previously announced against two U.S. weapons manufacturers, including a ban on Chinese companies doing business with them.

Asian shares are trading mixed Tuesday as pessimism about global uncertainties remained even as China reported a better-than-expected economic growth data.

Volkswagen is unveiling an electric luxury sedan that promises a 435-mile battery range as global and Chinese automakers display their latest SUVs, sedans and muscle cars at the world’s biggest auto show.

China’s gross domestic product grew 4.5% in the first quarter of the year, boosted by increased consumption and retail sales, after authorities abruptly abandoned the stringent “zero-COVID” strategy.

The fragmentation of the world economy into rival blocs led by the United States and China threatens to destabilize global commerce, increase inflation and weaken growth, Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, warned Monday.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to the Brazilian capital Monday and expressed gratitude for Brazil’s push for an end to hosilities in Ukraine — even as that same effort has irked both Kyiv and the West, and by afternoon had prompted an unusually sharp rebuke from the White House.

The Dutch national intelligence agency has painted a grim picture of a growing number of internal and external threats to the rule of law in the Netherlands compounded by Russia’s war in Ukraine, international cyber attacks and espionage.

Global and Chinese automakers plan to unveil more than a dozen new electric SUVs, sedans and muscle cars this week at the Shanghai auto show, their first full-scale sales event in four years in a market that its developing its own EVs, self-driving cars and other futuristic technology.

Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party has nominated Vice President Lai Ching-te as its candidate in next year's presidential election.

Japan’s Defense Ministry says it has signed contracts worth $2.8 billion with the country’s top defense contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to develop and mass produce long-range missiles for deployment as early as 2026 amid growing fear of China's increasing military strength.

India's population will surpass China's by the middle of this year.

Visitors at the Memphis Zoo have said goodbye to giant panda Ya Ya during a farewell party ahead of her departure back to China.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has welcomed Taiwan's president in a rare high-level meeting on U.S. soil.

Police, fire and other government agencies across Florida must ground millions of dollars in aerial drones because of a new state rule banning the agencies from using devices made by China-based DJI.

The International Tennis Federation will play tournaments this year in China.

The head of the U.N. World Food Program is warning that without billions of dollars more to feed millions of hungry people, the world will see mass migration, destabilized countries, and starving children and adults in the next 12 to 18 months.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says rules proposed by her department will help consumers save money on electric vehicles while strengthening U.S. energy and national security.

As Taiwan’s diplomatic partners dwindle and turn instead to rival China, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is aiming to shore up ties with the self-governing island’s remaining allies during a trip this week to Central America.

Scientists have discovered a new and renewable source of water on the moon for future explorers in lunar samples returned from a Chinese mission.

Vice President Kamala Harris will try to deepen and reframe U.S. relationships in Africa during a weeklong trip that's the latest and higher profile outreach by the Biden administration as it acts to counter China’s growing influence.

Australia’s defense minister says a deal to buy nuclear-powered attack submarines from the United States was necessary to counter the biggest conventional military buildup in the region since World War II.

The Pentagon intends to load up on advanced missiles, space defense and modern jets in its largest defense request in decades in order to meet the threat it perceives from China.

Kunwoo Park and Ha-Seong Kim hit grand slams in consecutive innings, and South Korea set a World Baseball Classic scoring record with a 22-2 rout over China in a game between already eliminated teams.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to increase U.K. military funding by 5 billion pounds ($6 billion) over the next two years in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the challenge posed by China.

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to travel to Africa at the end of March as the United States seeks to pitch itself as a better partner for the continent than China is.

Kyle Schwarber launched a three-run homer, Nolan Arenado had three hits and two RBIs, and the United States overcame a slow start to beat Britain 6-2 in the World Baseball Classic opener for both teams.

Skyscrapers in Beijing have disappeared into the haze and air quality plummeted as China’s capital is enveloped in a dust storm and heavy pollution.

Alarmed by China's success in wooing Pacific island nations, the Biden administration is proposing to spend billions to keep three of those countries in the U.S. orbit.

The top diplomats of Australia, India, Japan and the United States say their Indo-Pacific-focused bloc is not aimed at China, but their latest words reflect growing unease over China's influence in the region.

Asian stock markets have followed Wall Street higher after a Federal Reserve official raised hopes the U.S. central bank might not step up its anti-inflation fight as much as feared.

TikTok says every account held by a user under the age of 18 will have a default 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks.

Asian shares are higher after key measures of China manufacturing showed a strong recovery after anti-virus controls were lifted late last year.

Two surveys show China’s factory activity accelerated in February as the economy revived following the end of anti-virus controls that kept millions of people at home and disrupted travel and trade.

Three years after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan, China, a classified report from the U.S. Department of Energy says the coronavirus most likely came from a laboratory leak in China.

Shares have climbed in Asia after Wall Street benchmarks clawed back some losses from their worst week since early December.

Georgia lost, and then celebrated.

China has sharply criticized a visit to Taiwan by a senior Pentagon official and reaffirmed sanctions against Lockheed Martin and a unit of Raytheon for supplying military equipment to the self-governing island.

Traffic has more than doubled last year at Dubai’s airport, the world’s busiest for international flights, but has yet to fully recover after the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Energy Agency on Tuesday accused fossil fuel industries of doing too little to curb methane emissions and undermining global climate goals to limit warming.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has amended a plan to overhaul how the federal government works after Democrats repeatedly seized on it to accuse Republicans of looking to cut Medicare and Social Security.

The U.S. military says it has ended its search for airborne objects that were shot down near Deadhorse, Alaska, and over Lake Huron on Feb. 10 and 12.

Hugo Calderano is a Brazilian who has beaten many of China's top table tennis players.

As the war rages on in Ukraine, the United States is doing more than supporting an ally.

China has come in for a grilling over its human rights record as a two-day hearing opened at the United Nations human rights office.

The head of China's national soccer federation has been arrested on corruption charges in the latest blow to the country's effort to grow its standing in the international game.

Concerns are mounting over the four objects that were shot down over North America in eight days.

Asian shares have fallen after Wall Street retreated for a second day as market watchers considered earnings reports and various indicators about whether inflation is waning in the U.S. and elsewhere.

China's orbiting space station crew has completed their first spacewalk of their six-month mission.

South Korea says it will remove the entry restrictions it placed on short-term travelers from China since the start of the year as officials see the COVID-19 situation in that country as stabilizing.

The International Energy Agency says Asia will for the first time use half of the world’s electricity by 2025.

After the U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of the Carolinas, people are curious as to what will happen next.

Eyes were locked on the Carolina skies Saturday as a suspected Chinese spy balloon ended a weeklong traverse over the U.S., drifted over the Atlantic Ocean and was shot down by a fighter jet.

The Chinese balloon drifting high above the U.S. and first revealed over Montana has created a buzz down below among residents — and raised a chorus of alarm from elected officials.

Starbucks reported lower-than-expected sales in its fiscal first quarter, hurt by COVID restrictions in China and lower consumer demand in other markets.

Europe’s economy has scraped out meager gains at the end of last year as galloping inflation fed by high energy prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine deterred people from spending in shops and restaurants.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in Japan as part of his Asia tour, said “our security is closely interconnected” and called for stronger ties with Japan as Russia’s war on Ukraine has made the world more dangerous and unpredictable and believers of democracy and freedom need stronger partnerships.

Florida gas prices are inching lower after another week of increasing, according to AAA. The state average rose 17 cents per gallon last week, reaching a 2-month high of $3.58 per gallon on Thursday.

Japan and the Netherlands have agreed to a deal with the U.S. to restrict China's access to materials used to make advanced semiconductors.

The beaches and temples of Asian travel hotspots like Bali and Chiang Mai are the busiest they've been since the pandemic struck three years ago, but they're still relatively quiet.

A popular online chatbot powered by artificial intelligence is proving to be adept at creating disinformation and propaganda.

Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka has made it back to the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park for the first time since 2016 by coming back to beat Zhu Lin 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Unlike Thanksgiving, when pie is a given in many households, desserts and confections celebrating the Lunar New Year are as varied as the Asian diasporas around the world that celebrate it.

The European Union is pushing forward with a major clean tech industrial plan that not only should keep the continent in the vanguard of plotting a greener future but also guarantee its economic survival as it faces challenges from China and the United States.

The World Health Organization has appealed to China to keep releasing information about its wave of COVID-19 infections.

Shares have advanced in Asia after news that U.S. consumer inflation slowed last month pushed Wall Street benchmarks higher.