Clouds loom over China’s Box Office

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a video call with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun as the two countries seek to restore dialogue amid rising regional tensions.

Solomon Islanders began voting on Wednesday in a crucial election that will decide China's foothold in the Pacific region. Polling booths opened at 7 a.m. local time on Wednesday (2000 GMT on Tuesday), with almost 420,000 registered voters to elect 50 members of the national parliament. There are more than 1,000 polling stations scattered across the Solomons archipelago, 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) off Australia's coast.

Indonesia is aiming to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, with 30 percent of the country's energy slated to come from biodiesel by 2030. But the plan has caused alarm among environmental groups.

In the latest speculative fiction from British director Alex Garland, Kirsten Dunst stars as a war reporter documenting a conflict she once never thought possible: a new civil war in the United States. With the US in the midst of another divisive election year, the scenario may seem cliché, but FRANCE 24 film critic Lisa Nesselson says the film is engrossing, entertaining and unsettling.

European heads of state and government came together in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss ways to heighten the European Union's (EU) economic competitiveness. At the special summit, they were issued a stark warning that the EU's economic performance was falling behind that of other key global players, most notably the United States and China.

The vote was seen as a referendum on President Mohamad Muizzu's pledge to abandon the country's "India First" policy for closer ties with China. Electoral authorities reported a turnout higher than 73%.