The world consumption of oil is set for its first fall in a decade, as global investors continue to focus on the coronavirus outbreak and whether or not it will derail the world economy this year.

There was a whiff of desperation about the abuse heaped on Sinn Féin and its economic plan by Simon Coveney and Paschal Donohoe, their denunciations echoing around the City Assembly rooms yesterday morning.

Hong Kong's streets turned into rivers of umbrellas as hundreds of thousands of people marched through heavy rain down a major road. Organisers said at least 1.7 million participated.

Hong Kong police have used tear gas to disperse protesters outside a police station, hours after flights resumed at the city’s airport following two days of disruption that descended into clashes between demonstrators and officers.

Flights have resumed at Hong Kong’s airport after two days of disruption marked by outbursts of violence that highlight the hardening positions of pro-democracy protesters and the authorities in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

While science and technology have vastly improved human lives, they have also given certain visionaries the means to transform entire societies from above, writes Daron Acemoglu.

Australia’s government has joined Ireland, Britain and Japan in putting out a Hong Kong travel warning.

A ruling Chinese Communist Party newspaper has taken a hard line against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, saying demonstrators who broke into the local legislature showed their "arrogance" and had no regard for the rule of law.

Expressions of ‘deep sorrow and regret’ are unlikely to be enough to save embattled Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam, write James Pomfret and Greg Torode.

Greg Torode explores the controversial plan to allow extraditions from Hong Kong to mainland China which has a deeply flawed justice system

Hong Kong police have used tear gas, pepper spray and high-pressure water hoses against protesters who have massed outside government buildings.

China’s digital system overtly seeks to monitor the behaviour of its 1.4bn people, writes John Lloyd

The rise of pro-Putin parties in the recent Italian elections has again underlined how American leverage has waned in comparison, writes John Lloyd.

Xi Jinping has been reappointed as China's president with no limit on the number of terms he can ser

China's foreign ministry has accused the American and German embassies of interfering in its affairs after they objected to the prosecutions of an activist and a lawyer who handled sensitive cases.

A prominent activist who calls himself the Ultra Vulgar Butcher for mocking and pressuring Chinese officials has been given an eight-year prison sentence for subversion.

The UN’s human rights chief has said China’s Communist Party has taken a "hostile position" on the universality of human rights, and that "the rhetoric from the White House" is heading in the same direction.

China has sent a high-level envoy to North Korea in a bid to improve relations after US President Donald Trump urged Beijing to pressure Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons programme.

China has taken what it called a major step toward opening up its financial industry, with a promise to ease limits on foreign ownership of banks and securities firms.

The Catalans’ decision to declare independence showed contempt for democratic norms, writes Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt.

The president’s increasing authoritarianism is unwise and will only foster dissent and protest in the long-term, says John Lloyd.         

China's Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has unveiled the line-up of the party's highest body who will rule alongside him as he embarks on a second five-year term as party leader.

Chinese president Xi Jinping has urged a reinvigorated Communist Party to take on a more forceful role in society and economic development to better address "grim" challenges facing the country as he opened a twice-a-decade national congress.

Chinese president Xi Jinping is primed to consolidate his already considerable power as the ruling Communist Party begins its twice-a-decade national congress tomorrow.

China is worried about a US missile defence system deployed in South Korea to head off an attack by the North. What is at stake, asks David Tweed.

China's president Xi Jinping has said there will be no tolerance for any acts seen as jeopardising stability and security.

There is growing concern that Beijing was steadily eroding the "one country, two systems" principle put in place after it took control of the Asian financial hub.

President Donald Trump has said he is restoring some travel and economic restrictions on Cuba that were lifted by Barack Obama's administration.

A Chinese company that made shoes for Ivanka Trump has denied allegations of excessive overtime and low wages made by three activists who have been arrested or disappeared.

China has granted preliminary approval for 38 new Trump trademarks, fuelling conflict of interest concerns and questions about whether President Donald Trump is receiving special treatment from the Chinese government.

China has launched a renewed crackdown on golf, closing 111 courses and telling members of the ruling Communist Party to stay off the links in an effort to conserve water and land.

China has said it is willing to have constructive dialogue with the Vatican - as long as its Catholics are loyal to Beijing and their religion is adapted to Chinese society.

China has said military officials are in contact with their American counterparts on "appropriately handling" the Chinese navy's seizure of a US Navy unmanned underwater glider, one of the most serious incidents between the forces in years.

Tourists who went to Havana for salsa music and mojitos ended up wandering through a city turned silent by nine days of national mourning for Fidel Castro.

Cuba has announced the launch of five days of nationwide military exercises to prepare troops to confront what the government calls "a range of enemy actions".

More than 1,000 protesters walked and chanted in front of China's defence ministry today, the latest apparent demonstration by soldiers as the world's largest standing military modernises and downsizes.

Two of journalism’s most radical figures, Julian Assange and Nick Denton, have, for different reasons seen their power and influence in the modern world decline, writes John Lloyd.

A Chinese lawyer has been jailed for seven years in the third in a series of subversion trials demonstrating the ruling Communist Party's determination to silence independent human rights activists and government critics.

The leaders of Russia, Turkey, and China have cast off quasi democratic checks and balances, but the more autocratic their rule, the more they have to lose, writes Nina L Khrushcheva