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China has reaffirmed its support for a Palestinian state after Donald Trump’s surprise proposal that the United States should take control of Gaza.

“Gaza belongs to Palestinians and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory,” Chen Xiaodong, China’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, told a group of ambassadors from Arab states in a meeting in Beijing on Friday.

Any arrangements regarding the future of Gaza must respect the will of the Palestinian people, Chen added, according to a statement from the foreign ministry.

“China has always firmly supported the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people and the effective jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority over all Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the West Bank,” he said.

He added that Beijing would continue to maintain “close communication and collaboration” with Arab countries.

Friday’s meeting was held upon the request of the Arab states, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The statement added that the ambassadors had said they “expected China to continue to play a constructive role in safeguarding international fairness and justice and supporting Palestine’s legitimate national rights”.

On Thursday, Guo Jiakun, the foreign ministry’s spokesman, also underlined Beijing’s long-held position against the forced displacement of people, saying that Gaza should never be turned into a “bargaining chip for political gains”.

Beijing has been a long-standing supporter of Palestinian statehood and has repeatedly said that a two-state solution is the only way out of the cycle of violence in the region.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his team was working with US counterparts to coordinate with Donald Trump’s administration, after the US president suggested earlier on Friday he would be willing to meet.

In a post to Telegram, Zelensky said that he valued cooperation with Trump and that Ukrainian and American teams are working out details. Separately, Zelensky said in an interview that he was willing to make a deal to secure more US backing in exchange for some of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals.

Trump, meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, was asked by a reporter if he would help coordinate a meeting between Zelensky and US Vice-President J.D. Vance, who is travelling to Europe for summits in Paris and Munich next week.

Trump seemed to mishear the question, and responded by saying that he himself “will probably be meeting with President Zelensky next week”.

“One of the things we’re looking at with President Zelensky is having the security of their assets,” he continued. “They have assets underground, rare earth and other things but primarily rare earth.”

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said talks with the US would be “unwise and dishonorable” after President Donald Trump said he wanted a new nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic.

“Negotiating with the US has no impact on resolving the country’s problems,” Khamenei said in a speech shown on Iranian state TV on Friday.

Khamenei did not explicitly rule out talks with the US but said that Trump chose to tear up the nuclear deal and Washington violated the agreement by not fully implementing sanctions relief.

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North Korean ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine by Russian forces since late December have been far more precise than salvoes of the weapons launched over the past year, two senior Ukrainian sources have said.

At a time when Moscow’s burgeoning ties with Pyongyang are causing alarm from Washington to Seoul, the increase in accuracy – to within 50-100 metres of the intended target – suggests North Korea is successfully using the battlefield to test its missile technology, the sources said.

A military source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information, described a marked improvement in the precision in all the more than 20 North Korean ballistic missiles that hit Ukraine over the past several weeks. A second source, a senior government official familiar with the issue, confirmed the findings when asked by Reuters.

Yang Uk, a weapons expert at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said such improvements in North Korean missile capabilities have troubling implications for its potential to threaten South Korea, Japan and the United States

North Korea’s military programmes have developed rapidly in recent years, including short- and intermediate-range missiles, which Pyongyang said can be tipped with nuclear warheads. However, until its involvement in Ukraine, the long-isolated nation had never tested the new weapons in combat.

Ukraine’s defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Ukraine does not usually disclose the outcome of Russian missile and drone strikes on military targets.

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China has formally launched a dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Chinese goods, the Geneva-based body said on Wednesday.

Trump on Saturday ordered tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, demanding they staunch the flow of fentanyl – and, in the case of Canada and Mexico illegal immigration.

He later froze tariffs against the two North American countries but went ahead with those on China.

China, which Trump subjected to a tariff of 10 per cent on goods exports, had vowed to challenge the step at the WTO.

In a statement cited by the WTO, China said the measures appeared to be inconsistent with US obligations under the agreement that led to the creation of the trade body, pointing to the discriminatory nature of the tariffs.

“China reserves the right to raise additional measures and claims regarding the matters identified herein during the course of consultations and in any future request for the establishment of a panel,” the Chinese statement said.

It did not detail what measures those could be.

Since December 2019, the WTO’s dispute settlement system has been effectively paralysed following the collapse of its Appellate Body which has the final say on disputes.

Trump’s first administration and that of Joe Biden blocked the appointment of new judges to the Appellate Body over what they saw as judicial overreach in disputes.

The body is unable to function with less than three judges.

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Argentina has declared it will withdraw from the World Health Organization, further imperilling an international agency charged with coordinating public health responses.

The announcement on Wednesday echoes a similar move last month from the United States.

Far-right administrations currently govern both countries, and President Javier Milei of Argentina has a close relationship with his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

The two leaders have each criticised the World Health Organization for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A United Nations agency, the organisation cannot mandate governments to follow its guidance, but it does offer research and recommendations for how countries might collaborate to address public health crises like pandemics.

Still, on Wednesday, Milei blamed the World Health Organization for its advice about physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That is why we have decided to leave such a nefarious organization that was the executing arm of what was the greatest experiment in social control in history,” Milei wrote on social media.

He punctuated his message with a campaign slogan: “LONG LIVE FREEDOM, DAMN IT.”

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US President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to present a long-awaited plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference in Germany next week, according to people familiar with the matter.

The blueprint would be presented to allies by Trump’s special representative for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, the people said on condition of anonymity. They declined to say how detailed they expected the discussions to be or what format they would take.

The proposal would be delivered at the February 14-16 conference in the Bavarian city a week before Russia’s war hits the three-year mark. Kellogg and others have dropped hints in recent weeks of what Trump allies have referred to as “peace through strength”.

Elements include potentially freezing the conflict and leaving territory occupied by Russian forces in limbo while providing Ukraine with security guarantees to ensure that Moscow cannot attack again.

Spokespeople at the office of the Ukrainian president declined to comment. General Kellogg would continue to engage allies to help fulfil Trump’s promise to end the war, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.

The US president has also threatened Moscow with massive sanctions if it does not engage in talks.

Both Putin and Zelensky signalled that their previous refusal to talk to each other has softened as Trump’s plan approaches. In an interview late on Tuesday with television host Piers Morgan, Zelensky reiterated his readiness to talk to Putin to end the war, in the presence of Ukraine’s partners.

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South Korea has blocked access to DeepSeek AI services from government devices, joining a list of companies and countries taking action to limit usage of the Chinese startup’s artificial intelligence chatbot due to security concerns.

The South Korean government is conducting a security review of the service, the foreign ministry said, declining to confirm what specific safety measures it has taken. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has temporarily restricted access to DeepSeek in computers that can connect externally, it said in a text message to Bloomberg News.

Australia has banned DeepSeek AI services from all government systems and devices, while Italy ordered for it to be blocked to protect consumers’ data. Ireland has asked for more information from the company over potential breaches of European Union privacy law.

China’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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China’s central bank set a stronger-than-expected fixing rate for the yuan against the US dollar on Wednesday, signalling that China does not plan to offset the impact of US tariffs by allowing its currency to weaken.

The fixing rate – also known as the midpoint rate – plays a crucial role in determining the onshore yuan’s exchange rate, as the PBOC only allows trading to rise or fall up to 2 per cent above or below its set rate each day.

Many analysts had expected the PBOC to set a lower rate for the yuan this year, as a weakening of the Chinese currency would mitigate the impact of US tariffs on Chinese exporters. The US government raised duties on Chinese imports by 10 per cent on Tuesday.

“Today’s fixing rate was set stronger than market expectations. This sends a signal that China is unlikely to counter the impact of tariffs through yuan depreciation,” said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

“The trade negotiation between China and the US hasn’t started. Setting a strong fixing rate could contribute to a good negotiation atmosphere, as the US does not want the yuan to depreciate sharply either.”

On Tuesday, the Chinese government responded to the US tariff hike by announcing that it would impose its own tariffs on certain US imports from February 10. It also placed export restrictions on several mineral products and launched an anti-monopoly investigation into US tech giant Google.

China may choose to counteract US tariffs by boosting domestic demand through fiscal stimulus, rather than resorting to currency tools, Ding said, meaning that depreciation of the yuan may be limited in the future.

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Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is up against the AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, which runs New Delhi and has built a vast support base on its welfare policies and an anti-corruption movement. Kejriwal, a popular crusader against corruption, suffered a setback as he himself faced corruption allegations.

The AAP won 62 out of 70 seats in a landslide victory in the last election, held in 2020. leaving BJP with only eight and the Congress party with none. The AAP had also swept the 2015 state elections, winning 67 seats, with the BJP taking three.

Modi and Kejriwal have both campaigned vigorously in roadshows with thousands of supporters tailing them. They have offered to revamp government schools and provide free health services and electricity, and a monthly stipend of over 2,000 rupees (US$25) to poor women.

Delhi, a city of more than 20 million people, is a federal territory that Modi’s party has not won for over 27 years despite having a sizeable support base there.

Kejriwal was arrested last year along with two key leaders of his party ahead of national elections on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor. They have consistently denied the accusations, saying they are part of a political conspiracy. The Supreme Court allowed the release of Kejriwal and other ministers on bail.

Kejriwal later relinquished the chief minister’s post to his most senior party leader.

The BJP, which failed to secure a majority on its own in last year’s national election but formed the government with coalition partners, has gained some lost ground by winning two state elections in northern Haryana and western Maharashtra states.

Modi’s party hopes to benefit after last week’s federal budget slashed income taxes on the salaried middle class, one of its key voting blocks.

Opposition parties widely condemned Kejriwal’s arrest, accusing Modi’s government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken political opponents, and pointed to several raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures in the months before the national election.

Kejriwal vowed to be an anti-corruption crusader and formed the AAP in 2012 after tapping into public anger against the then-Congress party government over a series of corruption scandals. His pro-poor policies have focused on fixing state-run schools and providing cheap electricity, free healthcare and bus transport for women.

The BJP was voted out of power in Delhi in 1998 by the Congress party, which ran the government for 15 years. In the 2015 and 2020 elections in Delhi, the AAP won landslide victories.

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China's finance ministry announced the measures in response to 10% tariffs on Chinese products imposed by President Trump's administration, which took effect Tuesday.

China's government would impose 15% tariffs on U.S. coal and LNG starting this coming Monday, per a finance ministry statement.U.S. crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars and pickup trucks would face 10% tariffs.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said tariffs "will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains."China's government said Trump's action "seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization" and it's announced plans to file a legal complaint with the WTO.

The WTO's dispute system has been hampered since 2019 when the first Trump administration blocked the appointment of judges.

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Billionaire Elon Musk, who is heading US President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, gave an update on the effort early on Monday, saying they were working to shut down the US foreign aid agency USAID.

Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, discussed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a Monday social media talk on X, which he also owns. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel.

The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“It’s beyond repair,” Musk said, adding that Trump agrees it should be shut down.

On Sunday, it was reported that the Trump administration had removed two top security officials at USAID during the weekend after they tried to stop representatives from Musk’s DOGE from gaining access to restricted parts of the building, three sources said.

The website of USAID appeared to still be offline on Saturday and some users could not access it on Sunday. USAID has a staff of more than 10,000 people.

Speaking more broadly about cutting US expenses and fraud, Musk estimated the Trump administration can cut US$1 trillion from the US deficit next year.

Musk did not offer any evidence to support his fraud claim or explain how he reached the amount of US$1 trillion.

Since taking office 11 days ago, Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.

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