China confirmed on Wednesday that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit China next week, as the Southeast Asian leader's relationship with its traditional ally the United States frays.

Russia said it’s working with China to counter U.S. plans to expand its missile-defense network, which the two nations see as targeting their military assets.

About 250 Philippine business executives will visit Beijing with President Rodrigo Duterte next week as he puts aside years of hostility to seek a new partnership with China at a time when tensions between Manila and its traditional ally, the United States, are mounting.

Insurance mergers and acquisitions rarely raise red flags with U.S. national security watchdogs. China's Fosun International Ltd (0656.HK) took that history to heart last year when it paid $1.84 billion for the remaining 80 percent stake of U.S. property and casualty insurer Ironshore Inc that it did not already own. But in December 2015, one month after Fosun completed the acquisition, it was approached by officials at the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government panel that scrutinizes deals over national security concerns, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because these details are not public. CFIUS was concerned about how Fosun would operate Ironshore's Wright & Co, a provider of professional liability coverage to U.S. government employees such as law enforcement personnel and national security officials, including the Central Intelligence Agency, according to these sources.

* FX reserves drop $19 bln to $3.166 trln from $3.185 trln in Aug * Third straight monthly fall and more than expected * PBOC intervention keeping yuan stable for now - analysts * But further weakening of the yuan expected

A climate treaty negotiated by more than 200 countries to cap emissions and curb the global rise in temperatures will go into force in November after the United Nations announced Wednesday the pact had reached the threshold necessary to formally take effect.

China will continue to use monetary, fiscal and structural reform policies to boost infrastructure investment and transform the country's economy into a consumption-driven one, People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Yi Gang said on Thursday.

China hopes to see progress at next month's summit in Peru of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) bloc in pushing ahead with a Chinese-backed trade liberalization framework, China's foreign minister said while on a trip to Lima.

China has overtaken the US in outbound mergers and acquisitions for the first time, underscoring a global buying spree driven by the Chinese economy’s growth over three decades and Beijing’s programme to encourage companies to buy assets and technology from abroad.

The U.S. and China are locked in negotiations over curbing North Korea’s energy trade in response to its fifth nuclear test last month, according to four diplomats from United Nations Security Council countries with direct knowledge of the talks. The world’s two biggest economies -- both of whom can veto any resolution -- are discussing restrictions on North Korea’s trade in coal, iron ore and crude oil, according to the diplomats, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Other nations also considering separate sanctions against North Korea once the Security Council acts, the diplomats said. The U.S. and its allies are seeking to further tighten sanctions against Kim Jong Un’s regime to prod him into abandoning a pursuit of nuclear weapons that has only intensified in recent years, with the latest test coming Sept. 9. The measures stand little chance of success without support from China, which has kept its neighbor from collapsing to avoid both a humanitarian crisis and the presence of American and South Korean troops on its border.