After an apparent conciliatory move by China, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday made one of his own, announcing that he agreed to delay an increase in tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods by two weeks.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the United States on Thursday to make efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, warning that applying "maximum pressure" would never work.

Eritrea is the world's worst country for press censorship, a media watchdog said Tuesday in a report which also cites extreme measures in nine other countries including North Korea, China and Saudi Arabia.

China on Wednesday said it would spare a number of US products from punitive tariffs in what is seen as an olive branch by Beijing in the protracted trade war ahead of high-level talks next month.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday bid almost £32 billion for its London rival to bring together the largest financial hubs in Asia and Europe, it said Wednesday.

Scientists warn that sex ratios could be skewed even further by the discovery of physical differences between sperm. The finding that some chemicals slow down sperm that carry the X chromosome could lead to gels for home use that make a couple less likely to conceive a girl, scientists have warned.

Nigeria and China have sealed a pact to tackle illegal wildlife trade in line with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

A senior executive at beleaguered Chinese telecom giant Huawei said Tuesday that Washington's trade ban on its products hits the US economy more than the company.

China on Tuesday removed limits on foreign institutions wanting to invest in its stocks and bond markets, as it seeks to attract overseas investment amid a slowing economy and a trade spat with the United States.

Injured Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot has been having treatment at Chinese club Shanghai SIPG under a Brazilian physio known as the "Miracle Doctor".

China lashed out at the United States on Monday after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Beijing's treatment of the country's ethnic Uighur minority among "the worst stains on the world".

Taiwan's president on Monday urged the Solomon Islands not to switch diplomatic allegiance to China, as the Pacific nation deliberates whether to recognise the far more economically powerful Beijing instead.