Argentina has renewed its currency swap with China for five years, preserving a US$19 billion lifeline that Washington spent more than a year pressing it to give up. The Argentine central bank and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) signed the extension of the 130 billion yuan line on Wednesday, a day before the existing deal was due to expire. The new term runs to 2031, two years longer than any previous renewal since the two countries first signed it in 2009. The decision ends months of...

China has ⁠bought at least another ⁠10 cargoes of US soybeans, three ⁠Asian traders said on Thursday, the latest in a flurry of purchases ahead of President Xi Jinping’s expected US visit next month. State-run buyer Sinograin bought 10 to 15 cargoes on Wednesday, the traders said. At least 10 cargoes were ‌for October-November shipment, one trader said. The deals follow trade talks between Washington and Beijing that, according to the White House, included Chinese commitments to buy 25 million...

Congolese health authorities were screening more than 300 people ⁠travelling on a ⁠river boat intercepted near Kinshasa on ⁠Thursday after the death of a passenger suspected of having Ebola raised concerns the virus may have spread on board, officials said. Authorities deployed a mobile laboratory to the vessel after it was stopped in Maluku, around 65km (40 miles) upstream from the capital on Wednesday. The secretary general of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry, Body Ilonga...

The United States sanctioned Cuba’s senior military representative in Beijing on Thursday, accusing him of helping procure military-related equipment from China for the island’s armed forces. Waldo Perez Cortes, Cuba’s military, naval and air attache in Beijing, was among six Cuban nationals and five entities added to the US Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list. The US State Department said Perez Cortes was an official of Cuba’s Ministry of the...

A swimming pool at a private housing estate in Hong Kong’s Happy Valley has been ordered to close after authorities discovered a lifeguard on duty was suspected of using fraudulent credentials. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) said on Thursday that the lifeguard’s credentials did not match records held by the Hong Kong China Life Saving Society. The licensed pool at the private estate at 1-5 Ventris Road was ordered to close immediately because the attendant’s qualifications...

China honoured two coastguard personnel who died in a vessel collision in the South China Sea last year, state media reported on Thursday, marking the first official confirmation that the incident resulted in fatalities. The People’s Armed Police (PAP) on Thursday announced the latest recipients of its “Loyal Guards of the Chinese People’s Armed Police” honour. Among the four posthumous awardees were Yi Xinyu and Cheng Long, two China Coast Guard officers. They died during a “maritime rights...

Beijing and Washington’s latest tit-for-tat measures could test ties, but observers say they are little more than a “speed bump” on the road to a potential summit between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. China’s Ministry of Commerce sanctioned seven US entities and tightened export controls on drones and related technologies on Wednesday, citing the need to “safeguard national security”. The ministry separately launched a national security investigation into imported printing and copying...