Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Tehran had offered Washington a plan that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened to maritime navigation within seven days once agreed. Araghchi met with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff for talks on Tuesday, and previously set out conditions for ending the war and reopening the vital energy shipping channel. “Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are...

Investigators believe Tasia Fortune was already dead before the black woman’s body was hanged from a tree behind an abandoned home in the Mississippi capital this summer, a detective testified on Friday. The hanging of Tasia Fortune’s body, which was found on August 3, was “staged”, Jackson police detective Samuel Dukes testified, citing the medical examiner’s opinion. Authorities have not disclosed the exact cause of Fortune’s death, but they did rule it a homicide and have arrested two men,...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has completed a whirlwind 43-hour trip to the United States, his first state visit to the country in more than a decade, with US President Donald Trump pulling out all the stops to make it a grand affair. The two leaders met several times during the visit, including at a ceremonial airport welcome, the White House reception and bilateral talks on a wide range of topics including trade, tariffs and Taiwan. They also attended a state dinner in Xi’s honour with top...

China is poised to decide which of two Latin American women becomes the first to lead the United Nations, after three rounds of informal voting in the Security Council failed to produce a favourite. Several UN delegations that spoke to the South China Morning Post over the past three days said Beijing was weighing Rebeca Grynspan, the Costa Rican economist who heads UN Trade and Development, and Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Guyana’s ambassador to the UN. The same delegations said China had ruled...

US television networks resumed coverage of President Donald Trump’s White House events on Friday, providing the first live pool access for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, as a legal battle continues over restrictions on CNN, MS Now and Politico. Trump last week banned the three outlets from the White House, before a judge ordered the administration to restore their access. The White House television press pool aired video of Xi’s arrival at the White House for tea on the final day of the...

US President Donald Trump raised concerns about yen weakness at a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Friday, offering an unusually detailed account of the leaders’ talks on currencies. “At the recent Japan-US summit meeting, President Trump expressed concern about the yen’s weakness,” Katayama said at a regular news conference, adding that she was disclosing the exchange for the first time after consulting with the ‌Prime...

Hong Kong businessman Jason Poon Chuk-hung and his wife have been charged with defrauding a government financing scheme for businesses out of HK$6 million during the Covid-19 pandemic, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said on Friday that construction businessman Poon, 56, and his 54-year-old wife, both out on bail, had been charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering and would appear at Kowloon Court on Monday. Poon, director of mask manufacturer Lockill...