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China's Xi Calls for Stronger Fintech Oversight, Security

File Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty and led to the founding of the Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 9, 2021. (AFP)
File Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty and led to the founding of the Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 9, 2021. (AFP)
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China's Xi Calls for Stronger Fintech Oversight, Security

File Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty and led to the founding of the Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 9, 2021. (AFP)
File Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty and led to the founding of the Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 9, 2021. (AFP)

A high-level Chinese government meeting led by President Xi Jinping has called for stronger oversight and better security in financial tech, state media reported, with the sector hit hard by a regulatory crackdown.

The government action has pummeled some of China's biggest tech firms, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in market value since last year, AFP said.

But with the Chinese economy hammered by Covid lockdowns, the government has rolled out a series of support measures, including a call for "predictable" tech regulation.

"Regarding large payment and fintech platform enterprises, Xi called for efforts to improve regulations, strengthen institutional weak links, ensure the security of payment and financial infrastructure, and guard against and defuse potential systemic financial risks," according to a readout of the Wednesday meeting by the official Xinhua news agency.

The Chinese leader also "called for these enterprises to be better supported in serving the real economy", Xinhua said.

The officials at the meeting discussed promoting the "healthy development" of fintech companies, it added, and said "China will tighten oversight" of financial holding firms and internet financial services.

Investors have been heartened in recent weeks by similar statements by the Chinese government, with some perceiving them as signals that the tech crackdown is finally easing.

Hopes also soared this month when dozens of new video games were approved, and tech stocks rose on reports that authorities were wrapping up a cybersecurity probe into ride-hailing giant Didi.

But regulators this month denied reports that they were discussing the potential revival of Ant Group's scuppered IPO, which would have been the world's largest public offering at the time.

Ant Group -- the payments affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba -- had its share offering cancelled at the last minute in 2020.

Alibaba was later hit with a $2.75 billion fine over alleged unfair practices.

Ant Group is set to apply for a financial licence as soon as this month, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

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World

Iran’s Former Top Diplomat Urges Deal with US to End War

A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
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Iran’s Former Top Diplomat Urges Deal with US to End War

A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
A newly constructed bridge struck by US airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)

Iran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief, a former Iranian foreign minister said.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, who served as foreign minister from 2013-2021, claimed in an op-ed for American journal Foreign Affairs that Tehran had the "upper hand" in the conflict against the US and Israel, but argued Iran needed to stop the war to prevent the loss of more civilian lives and damage to infrastructure.

"Iran should use its upper hand not to keep fighting but to declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one," Zarif said in the piece published late Thursday.

"It should offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions -- a deal Washington wouldn't take before but might accept now," he added.

Iran should also be prepared to accept a mutual "nonaggression pact" with the United States, as well as economic relations, he said. Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since shortly after the 1979 revolution.

Zarif, one of the architects of the now moribund 2015 deal over the Iranian nuclear program, is seen as a relative moderate within the regime’s elite, but has no official post in the current government.

However, this is one of the first times during this conflict that a high-profile figure in Iran has called for a deal and an end to the war, with top military and political officials urging daily for fighting to continue until the US is defeated.

US President Donald Trump has evoked ongoing talks with Tehran without giving details but also threatened to send the country "back to the stone ages" if it fails to agree terms.

"As an Iranian, outraged by Donald Trump's reckless aggression and crude insults, yet proud of our armed forces and resilient people, I am torn about publishing this peace-plan in Foreign Affairs," Zarif wrote in English on X Friday.

"Yet I'm convinced that war must end on terms consistent with Iran's national interests," he added.

Zarif in the Foreign Affairs piece warned that "although continuing to fight the United States and Israel might be psychologically satisfying, it will lead only to the further destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure".

World

China Says Peace Talks Advance Between Afghanistan, Pakistan

Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
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China Says Peace Talks Advance Between Afghanistan, Pakistan

Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
Local residents look at a damaged area of a police station after an overnight deadly bombing in the Bannu district of northwestern Pakistan, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)

Negotiations ‌between Afghanistan and Pakistan are advancing steadily, China said on Friday following reports that the South Asian neighbors were meeting there to try to end their worst conflict since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

China, which shares a western border with both nations, has been trying to mediate between the allies ‌turned foes, ‌holding telephone calls with their ‌foreign ⁠ministers and sending ⁠a special envoy on visits in March.

"Both Pakistan and Afghanistan attach importance to, and welcome, China's mediation, and are willing to sit down for talks again, which is a positive development," ⁠foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told ‌a daily press ‌conference.

Mao did not say where the ‌talks were being held, though the neighbors ‌have previously said they were in the northwestern city of Urumqi.

China has been mediating and promoting talks, in close communication with both ‌sides to build suitable conditions and provide a platform, Mao ⁠said, ⁠adding that the three countries would issue further information in due course.

The fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan that started in October has killed scores of people on both sides, with Afghans taking the brunt.

Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring militants who launch attacks in Pakistan, although Kabul denies this calling the militancy its neighbor's domestic problem.

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USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Departs Croatia

Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)
Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)
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USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Departs Croatia

Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)
Harbor tugboats and other civilian vessels approach the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at an anchor point off the Croatian coastal city of Split on March 28, 2026, for a scheduled port visit and maintenance stop following involvement Middle East war operations. (AFP)

The USS Gerald R. Ford has departed Croatia after a five-day port visit, the US Navy said Thursday without specifying where the world's largest aircraft carrier is headed next.

The carrier "remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation," according to the Navy, which said the ship "completed scheduled repairs and received supplies to sustain operations."

The carrier played a major role in the US-Israeli air campaign against Iran but sailed to Crete and then Croatia after a laundry fire broke out on March 12.

The blaze injured two sailors and caused major damage to some 100 beds, according to the US military. The Navy said Thursday that the "routine investigation into the ship's laundry and berthing fire is ongoing."

The Ford's exit from Iran operations left a gap in US forces in the region, taking the number of carriers deployed there from two to one.

But the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships left port for what the military described as a "regularly scheduled deployment" on Tuesday, and it is reportedly bound for the Middle East.

The Ford has been at sea for more than nine months -- a deployment that has already seen it take part in US operations in the Caribbean, where Washington's forces have carried out strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats, interdicted sanctioned tankers and seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.