Local statistics officials said retail sales plummeted by 18.9% in March, while industrial output was also hit.

Toyota-backed tech firm gets a licence to operate 100 vehicles in Guangzhou's Nansha district. Rival groups are also testing self-driving cars in Shenzhen, Changsha and California.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce warns that totalitarian China built bases in the South China Sea after vowing never to do that. US to expedite plan to build an embassy in Honiara

State officials say China needs to improve its air quality standards because pollution is still taking a serious toll on citizens' health.

Shanghai's long-running Covid lockdown continues while big cities and neighbouring states – Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore – are easing restrictions or set to open up.

Britain and India are looking to ramp up business with a bilateral free-trade deal before the end of the year plus closer defence ties

Taiwan has set its sights on playing a role in green energy systems to slash carbon emissions – and profit from the massive transition to cleaner power over coming decades

The fundraising target for the LIC listing has reportedly been slashed to 300 billion rupees ($3.9 billion) because of cool investor sentiment

Strict Covid lockdown measures halted production in key factories. The banking regulator says it will step up support to help restart production.

People's Bank of China governor Yi Gang said China's financial market is not immune to external shock and the pandemic has also applied more pressure

The factory in the city of Suzuka will also slash its production by half for the month of April, expanding the scale of the cutback

The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices but includes fuel costs, jumped 0.8% in March from a year earlier, data showed