Trump's trip, his first to China in his second term, is aimed at sealing a trade war truce the two leaders shook hands on when they met in South Korea in October.

The election has been dominated by Balendra Shah, the former mayor of ​Kathmandu, the capital, whose rap music critical of the establishment gained him near-rockstar-like fame on social media.

South Korea's transport ministry cut construction costs and approved improper airport safety structures for more than two decades, the state auditor said in a report on aviation safety management after a Jeju Air crash that killed 179 people.

The US and Israeli attack on Iran triggered the biggest spike in oil prices since the turmoil following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as Gulf producers reduce output after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Ambassadors from all of the Security Council's members, including Washington's rivals Russia and China, lined up to meet with Trump, representing the US as it takes over the monthly rotating presidency of the Security Council.

Analysts question whether Trump, who has ruled out deploying US troops on the ground, has a strategy that could unseat Iran’s longtime cleric-dominated government, which has proved resilient in the face of crippling sanctions and periodic mass protests.

Britain's media and privacy regulators on Thursday demanded that major social media platforms do more to keep children off their services, warning that companies were failing to enforce their own minimum age rules.

French President Emmanuel Macron will convene a call with leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) on Wednesday to discuss the Iran crisis and rising energy prices, the French president's office said.

Trump called Spain a "terrible" ally on Tuesday as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.

Trump threatened to delay a planned summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month if Beijing does not assist with reopening the strait.

The US president, in an interview with NBC News, said he thought Tehran was keen to come to the table but that Washington would fight on for better terms and might bomb targets on Iran's oil hub Kharg Island once, again, "just for fun".