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Dan Jarvis, the security minister, says China is trying to contact MPs and peers to get sensitive information about parliament
Back at the Reform UK press conference, Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, has just finished outlining his plan to cut spending on foreigners
As he finished, Yusuf claimed this was “treachery”.
Labour is making the conscious and deliberate decision to continue funding extortionate amounts to foreign nationals, to the detriment of British citizens.
And I don’t know what to call that. Frankly, in my view, it’s treachery. I think it’s appalling. British people are sick and tired of it.
Just a few months ago, Rachel Reeves was saying she couldn’t afford to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Now it looks like becoming her latest U-turn.
This isn’t because the economic circumstances have improved. Quite the opposite.

Spy agency says Amanda Qui and Shirly Shen have been using LinkedIn to ‘obtain non-public and insider insights’
MI5 has issued an espionage alert to MPs and peers warning that two people linked to the Chinese intelligence service are actively seeking to recruit parliamentarians.
The two people, who operate as headhunters on the LinkedIn professional networking website aiming to obtain “non-public and insider insights”, MI5 said, are also targeting economists, thinktank staff and civil servants for their access to politicians.

Russia and China abstained in the vote, which provides a legal mandate for the Trump administration’s vision of how to move past the cease-fire to rebuild the war-ravaged enclave after two years of war.

Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi had suggested Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

Chinese airlines offer free cancellations and film releases postponed after Japanese PM’s comments on Taiwan
Chinese travellers are estimated to have cancelled hundreds of thousands of tickets to fly to Japan amid reports of suspended visa processing and cultural exchanges as a diplomatic dispute over Japan’s stance on Taiwan continues.
Under pressure from business groups, Japan has sent a senior diplomat to Beijing in an attempt to calm tensions after Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said her country if China attempted to invade Taiwan. Her comments from China’s government, which issued warnings against Chinese travellers and students going to Japan.

Decades ago, a Chinese village became an official symbol of revolutionary “self-reliance.” The slogan hasn’t changed, but nearly everything else has.

When an insurer for FBI and CIA agents was sold to a Chinese entity, it led the US to tighten investment laws.

Donald Trump’s trade wars and Chinese competition constitute formidable headwinds. But old economic orthodoxies are not the answer
Last March, following angst-ridden months as Europe came to terms with Donald Trump’s return to the White House, financial markets in Paris, Milan and Berlin were gripped by a of optimism. The cause was a historic deal brokered by Friedrich Merz, then Germany’s chancellor-elect, which loosened constitutional spending constraints in the EU’s powerhouse nation. Here at last, it was hoped, was the fiscal kickstart required to end a prolonged period of economic stagnation, and mitigate geopolitical headwinds blowing from the US and China.
Six months into Mr Merz’s premiership, the angst is back and there are the first murmurings of rebellion. The chancellor’s plan included “whatever it takes” levels of defence spending, designed to prepare Germany for a changed era in which the US was no longer a dependable ally, and a huge €500bn investment in infrastructure and the green transition. But last week, the chancellor’s team of economic advisers growth forecasts for 2026 to below 1%. And ahead of what would constitute a fourth year of near-flatlining, business has slumped.
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Interestingly, Tesla has been encouraging Chinese suppliers to set up shop in Mexico and Southeast Asia for years. This could potentially allow Tesla to sidestep tariffs that are aimed solely at China ...

Public safety in the Chinatown-International District (CID) takes an important step forward with a targeted educational campaign.

Japan’s hawkish new PM has angered Beijing after suggesting her country could become involved in a military conflict between China and Taiwan
Tokyo and Beijing are embroiled in a deepening row over Taiwan after Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, suggested that her country could potentially become militarily involved in the event of an attempted Chinese invasion of the self-governing island.
Why has Taiwan become a flashpoint between the north-east Asian neighbours and major trading partners, and is there a risk that the war of words could escalate?

Beijing is flexing its military and economic might to show its displeasure with the Japanese leader’s comments about defending Taiwan. But its aggressive approach risks backfiring.