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China posts 5.4% GDP growth in first quarter, beating forecasts
China’s economy grew 5.4 percent in the January-March quarter, the country’s statistics agency has said, a stronger-than-expected performance that comes as exporters are bracing for the fallout of United States President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs.
Industrial output rose 6.5 percent, the biggest gain among individual sectors, while the service sector expanded 5.3 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics of China said on Wednesday.
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Biden attacks Trump in first speech since leaving White House
Joe Biden has used his first speech since leaving office to criticise the Trump administration’s welfare policies.
The ex-US president told a conference in Chicago that the government had “taken a hatchet” to Social Security, a system which Donald Trump and Elon Musk – who is leading the White House’s cost-cutting efforts – have said is beset by fraud.
The administration is seeking to cut staff at the agency responsible for paying out $1.6 trillion (£1.2 trillion) in benefits a year.
Biden did not refer to Trump by name during his speech on Tuesday, but said: “In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. It’s kind of breathtaking.”
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Can China use US debt in its tariff war against Trump?
The United States and China are in a trade war face-off.
The US exported $143bn worth of goods to China in 2024 and has a trade deficit of $295bn.
To curb that, President Donald Trump has ratcheted tariffs up to a never-before heard of 145 percent on China, which has retaliated with 125 percent taxes on US goods.
While Trump has paused tariffs on most countries for 90 days, China is not on that list, escalating tensions between the two countries.
Earlier this week, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it is willing to “fight to the end” and has accused the US of violating the rules of the World Trade Organization.
For his part, Trump has said the tariffs are bringing in $2bn a day. According to Treasury Department data, the tariffs have brought in $200m a day.
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Top UK barrister: Israel is carrying out ‘destruction of humanity’ in Gaza
Ten British citizens, including dual nationals, who have served in the Israeli army are being accused of war crimes in Gaza.
They are suspected of acts such as “murder, extermination, attacking civilians, and deportation or forcible transfer of population”, according to the Palestine-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the UK-based Public Interest Law Centre, which last week submitted a 240-page report to the Metropolitan Police’s War Crimes Unit.
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US pastor kidnapped during church service in South Africa found after shoot-out
An American pastor who was kidnapped by armed men during a church service in South Africa last week has been rescued following a “high-intensity shoot-out” that left three people dead, authorities say.
Josh Sullivan was found unharmed in the township in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday evening – the area where the 45-year-old was snatched from last Thursday.
There were no immediate details on the kidnappers who are suspected of having been familiar with the family’s movements.
Over the past decade, there has been 264% increase in kidnappings in South Africa, according to police statistics.
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Xi arrives in Malaysia with a message: China’s a better partner than Trump
China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in Malaysia as part of a Southeast Asian tour which is seen as delivering a personal message that Beijing is a more reliable trading partner than the United States amid a bruising trade war with Washington.
Xi arrived in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday evening in what is his first visit to Malaysia since 2013. He flew in from Vietnam where he had signed dozens of trade cooperation agreements in Hanoi on everything from artificial intelligence to rail development.
UK Judges to announce ruling on definition of a woman
The UK Supreme Court is to deliver its verdict on how a woman should be defined in law.
The announcement marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle between the Scottish government and a women’s group.
The outcome could have far-reaching implications on how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales.
The Scottish government argues transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to sex-based protections, while For Women Scotland argues they only apply to people that are born female.
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China appoints new trade envoy in face of tariff turmoil
China has unexpectedly appointed a new trade envoy, as officials said the US’ practice of “tariff barriers and trade bullying” is having a serious impact on the global economic order.
Li Chenggang, a former assistant commerce minister and WTO ambassador is taking over from veteran trade negotiator Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen.
The shift comes as Beijing refuses to back down in an escalating trade war with Washington triggered by US President Donald Trump’s hefty tariffs on Chinese goods.
Seperately on Wednesday, Beijing announced its GDP grew by 5.4% between January and March, compared with the same period a year earlier – a figure that has exceeded expectations.
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Nvidia expects $5.5bn hit as US tightens chip export rules to China
Microchip maker Nvidia said it would be hit with $5.5bn (£4.2bn) in costs after the US government tightened export rules to China.
The chip manufacturing giant, which has been at the heart of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, will require licences to export its H20 AI chip to China, which has been one of its most popular.
The rules come amid an escalating trade war between the US and China, with both countries introducing steep trade tariffs on each other covering various goods.
Nvidia shares plunged almost 6% in after-hours trading.
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Brazilian butt lift ads banned by UK regulator
Adverts from six companies selling liquid Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs) have been banned in the UK for trivialising the risks and exploiting women’s insecurities around body image.
All of them appeared on Facebook or Instagram and used time-limited deals to “irresponsibly pressurise” customers into booking, says the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
One ad, for example, tried to entice customers with an “exclusive opportunity” to get a “perfect peachy look”.
Liquid BBLs involve injecting filler into the buttocks to lift them and make them look bigger or rounded.
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Hacked pedestrian crossings play fake messages from Musk and Zuckerberg
Pedestrian crossings in several areas of northern California have been hacked with fake greetings mocking the tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Officials in Silicon Valley are investigating and have disabled the audio feature on the crossings which usually plays instructions to “walk” or “wait”.
The surprise message were noticed over the weekend in Palo Alto, Redwood City and Menlo Park – which is home to Zuckerberg’s sprawling Meta campus.
One Musk impersonation offered to buy passing pedestrians a Tesla Cybertruck if they agreed to be his friend. Another from a false Zuckerberg said “real ones call me The Zuck”.
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Nothing has been done’ – judge warns Trump officials in deportation case
A federal judge has given the Trump administration two weeks to submit evidence on how it is trying to return a Maryland man who officials have conceded was wrongly deported last month to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
Judge Paula Xinis accused government officials of inaction in the case of Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García, warning “there will be no tolerance for gamesmanship”.
She said she would decide if the government acted in good faith or was in contempt of court.
The Supreme Court has ordered the administration to “facilitate” the 29-year-old’s release, though El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on a visit to the White House he did not “have the power” to return him.
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Trump threatens Harvard’s tax-exempt status after freezing $2bn funding
President Donald Trump has called for Harvard University to lose a valuable tax break, hours after his administration announced it is freezing more than $2bn (£1.5bn) in federal funds for the elite institution.
The White House has demanded the oldest university in the US make changes to hiring, admissions and teaching practices which it says will help fight antisemitism on campus.
Since returning to office, Trump has pushed to reshape top universities by threatening to withhold federal funds that are mostly designated for research.
Harvard became the first major US university to reject his administration’s demands on Monday, accusing the White House of trying to “control” its community.
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Peru’s ex-president and first lady sentenced to 15 years jail
Peru’s former president, Ollanta Humala, has been found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
A court in the capital, Lima, said that Humala had accepted illegal funds from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to bankroll his election campaigns in 2006 and 2011.
His wife, Nadine Heredia, who co-founded the Nationalist Party with Humala, was also found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years.
Heredia was granted asylum by Brazil and will have safe passage to travel there with her son, Peru’s foreign ministry said.