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Wei Qiang Lin, a Chinese national, pleaded guilty to smuggling about 850 protected eastern and three-toed box turtles from the US to Hong Kong between 2023 and 2024. The turtles, valued at $1.4m, were wrapped in socks and mislabeled as “plastic animal toys.”

According to BBC, both species are protected under international law and require export permits. Lin also smuggled other reptiles and faces up to five years in prison, with sentencing set for December 23.

This follows a similar 2024 case where another smuggler was sentenced for trafficking over 2,000 turtles.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke on Monday, emphasizing stronger cooperation between their countries. Xi called for China and Brazil to set an example of unity for the Global South and pledged support for Brazil’s sovereignty, Al Jazeera reported.

The leaders agreed to deepen ties in areas like health, energy, and the digital economy, and stressed the importance of multilateralism through groups like BRICS and the G20. Lula highlighted China’s key role in the upcoming COP30 climate summit in Brazil.

Their discussion comes amid growing trade tensions with the US, which recently imposed tariffs on both nations. China remains Brazil’s largest trading partner, with trade reaching $188bn last year, according to Al Jazeera.

Taiwan is preparing for Typhoon Podul, expected to hit the southeastern city of Taitung on Wednesday with winds up to 155 kph (96 mph). Nearly 700 people in Hualien County are being evacuated due to flooding risks from a landslide-formed dam, Reuters reported.

After hitting the southeast, Podul will move toward the densely populated west coast and then China’s Fujian province. Heavy rain of up to 600 mm has been forecasted in southern mountains.

The region is still recovering from July’s storms, which caused flooding, power outages, and four deaths. Authorities urge residents to stay alert and follow safety orders.

President Donald Trump has signed a 90-day extension to the US–China trade truce, averting a tariff hike set for Tuesday. The move keeps in place a May deal that paused some duties after a tit-for-tat tariff war nearly froze trade between the two nations, BBC reported.

Disputes remain over technology exports, access to rare earths, China’s purchases of Russian oil, and US demands for TikTok’s separation from ByteDance. Tariffs are still far higher than at the start of the year.

In the first half of 2025, US imports from China fell 15 percent and exports to China dropped about 20 percent year-on-year, according to BBC.

China’s coastguard has expelled Philippine boats from waters near the contested Scarborough Shoal, with Manila reporting a collision during the confrontation. Beijing said its coastguard acted lawfully and professionally after the Philippine vessels ignored warnings.

The Scarborough Shoal is located in the South China Sea, a critical maritime route claimed almost entirely by China despite an international ruling rejecting this claim. The Philippines, along with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan, also assert competing claims over parts of the area, according to Al Jazeera.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Monday his country would inevitably be drawn “kicking and screaming” into any war over Taiwan due to its proximity to the self-ruled island and the presence of large numbers of Filipino workers there, despite China’s strong protest over such remarks, Associated Press reported.

Marcos also told a news conference that the Philippines’ coast guard, navy and other vessels defending its territorial interests in the South China Sea would never back down and would stand their ground in the contested waters after the Chinese coast guard on Monday staged dangerous blocking maneuvers and used a powerful water cannon to try to drive away Philippine vessels from the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal.

It’s the latest flare-up of long-simmering territorial disputes in the busy waterway, a key global trade route, where overlapping claims between China and the Philippines have escalated in recent years. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay claims to parts of the contested waters, according to Associated Press.

Security experts warn China’s expanding control over undersea cables, data centres, and apps like TikTok poses serious risks to Western democracy and security. Salih Hudayar, Foreign Minister of the East Turkestan government-in-exile, calls it an “information war” where Beijing could access sensitive data and disrupt critical systems, Firstpost reported.

He also highlights China’s use of advanced Western tech in AI centres amid repression in East Turkestan. Hudayar urges the West to build secure infrastructure and block risky Chinese devices, saying the digital battle has already begun—and it’s time to fight back.

India has voiced serious worries about China building a massive hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet—the source of the Brahmaputra. The project, first announced in 1986, could threaten water security, ecology, and livelihoods across South Asia, Firstpost reported.

The Indian government is closely watching the development and has urged China to be transparent and consult downstream countries. India also wants hydrological data sharing, which China has stopped during important monsoon periods.

The river flows through sensitive, earthquake-prone Himalayan areas before reaching India and Bangladesh, making environmental impacts potentially severe. India and China continue talks, but India stresses the need for cooperation to protect the region’s people and ecosystems, according to Firstpost.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday briefed the leaders of China, India, and several allies on his recent talks with US President Donald Trump’s envoy over ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The calls followed Putin’s meeting in Moscow with envoy Steve Witkoff, after which the Kremlin said a Putin–Trump summit could be held as early as next week. Trump has given Moscow a deadline to agree to peace or face new sanctions.

China’s Xi Jinping welcomed the dialogue, while India’s Narendra Modi thanked Putin for the update despite facing new US tariffs over Russian oil imports. South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa backed peace efforts, and UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed offered his country as a possible summit venue, according to Reuters.

Putin also shared the developments with Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

At least 10 people have died and 33 remain missing after flash floods swept through Gansu province in northwestern China, state media reported Friday. The floods, triggered by days of heavy rain since August 7, have damaged roads and villages, leaving streets coated in silt and debris, according to Al Jazeera.

President Xi Jinping has ordered “all-out” rescue efforts and urged authorities to step up disaster prevention amid increasingly frequent extreme weather. China has faced record rainfall in recent weeks, with severe flooding killing over 60 people across the north, including Beijing, since late July.

China has lodged a strong protest against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s recent remarks that the Philippines could not stay out of a conflict over Taiwan. Speaking during a visit to India, Marcos highlighted the country’s large Filipino community in Taiwan and said the Philippines would be drawn into any all-out war there to protect its people, Firstpost reported.

In response, China reaffirmed its “One China” policy, stressing that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and that the issue is a core internal matter. Chinese officials warned Manila against interfering in what they consider China’s sovereign affairs, despite geographic proximity and Filipino ties to Taiwan.

Marcos’s comments come amid escalating South China Sea tensions and reflect the Philippines’ push for stronger strategic partnerships, including with India, to bolster regional security. The Chinese embassy in Manila also lodged formal protests over the remarks, according to Firstpost.

Taiwan has confirmed its first chikungunya fever case this year, linked to a major outbreak in southern China’s Guangdong province. The infected woman had traveled to Foshan, where over 8,000 cases have been reported recently, according to Xinhua.

The virus, spread by mosquitoes, causes fever, rash, and joint pain. The outbreak grew rapidly due to low immunity and heavy rains that helped mosquitoes breed. Chinese authorities have responded with strict measures, including fines and fogging.

Though cases in Foshan are now declining, Taiwan’s health agency has raised travel warnings for the region and advises travelers to stay cautious, Xinhua reported.

One of Thailand’s top art galleries removed, at China's request, materials about Beijing's treatment of ethnic minorities and Hong Kong from an exhibit on authoritarian governments, according to a curator and communications seen by Reuters.

In what the artists called the latest attempt by Beijing to silence critics overseas, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre changed multiple works by artists in exile in the exhibit on authoritarian governments collaborating across borders.

When Reuters visited on Thursday, some works previously advertised and photographed had been removed, including a multimedia installation by a Tibetan artist, while other pieces had been altered, with the words “Hong Kong”, “Tibet” and “Uyghur” redacted, along with the names of the artists.

China is turning to AI to boost its propaganda efforts abroad, a new report reveals. A Chinese firm linked to the state, GoLaxy, has been tracking individuals and gathering data on US lawmakers, while running influence operations in Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to Firstpost.

Though no direct activity has been seen in the US, officials are watching closely, warning that AI could soon be used to sway political debates or elections.

Experts say AI is reshaping propaganda, making it faster, broader, and harder to detect—marking a new chapter in global information warfare, Firstpost reported.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1, according to CNN.

This marks his first trip to China since ties between the two countries soured following the 2020 border standoff in Ladakh, which included the deadly Galwan Valley clash. Further updates are expected as the situation develops.

Rescue crews raced on Wednesday to clear debris and flooded roads as southern China braced for more extreme rainfall and spreading infection after some of the worst downpours this century, brought by a peak in East Asian monsoon rains, Reuters reported.

Forecasters warned of more thunderstorms after the century's second-heaviest August rains pounded Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, forcing its Baiyun airport, one of the world's busiest, to cancel 363 flights and delay 311.

The day before, the skies above Hong Kong and the high-tech cities of China's Pearl River Delta turned livid and dumped the heaviest August rainfall since 1884 on the Asian financial hub, according to Reuters.