US State Department report says Beijing has used covert purchases of foreign news outlets, plus sponsorships and data harvesting to generate more pro-China coverage

The cable could connect American Samoa with Guam, plus Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and Micronesia

China’s blue-chip dipped 0.8%, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the ASX in Sydney both tumbling 1.3%, while the BSE Sensex in Mumbai was also down 0.85%.

Tim Gurner apologised after proposing the country's unemployment rate should be allowed to rise by 40-50% to reduce "arrogance in the market"

Australian PM Anthony Albanese signed a strategic agreement with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Friday, which will see the two countries run joint naval patrols in the South China Sea

Australian PM meets Chinese Premier at ASEAN summit, says trade has stabilized. Keen for more progress, he will visit Beijing later this year to mark the 50th anniversary of bilateral ties

Guterres warned of fragmentation "in world economic and financial systems" amid differing views on technology and security; he also urged solutions for poor nations' debt and climate change

Chinese Premier told a summit of Southeast Asian leaders it was important to oppose taking sides, to avoid bloc confrontation or a new Cold War; after talks on the South China Sea made no progress yet again

Opposition MPs are calling for an inquiry into a disputed weapons shipment from China in March last year, amid concerns of increased militarization of the island chain

Impacts felt by currencies such as the Aussie dollar, and across many sectors such as New Zealand dairy products, shares of luxury goods, to miner BHP and the Las Vegas Sands casino firm

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped by over 2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and South Korea’s KOSPI were down 2% and 0.7%, amid fears of more hawkish signals from the Fed later today

Asian markets surge, with Hang Seng climbing 2% and the Nikkei rising by 0.9%, while investors wait for Fed chief's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday