The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) submitted the 2025 National Trade Estimate (NTE) to President Donald Trump and the Congress on Tuesday.

The NTE is an annual report detailing foreign trade barriers faced by US exporters and the USTR’s efforts to reduce those barriers. The report lists the details of tariffs being imposed by the countries trading with the US.

"No American President in modern history has recognised the wide-ranging and harmful foreign trade barriers American exporters face more than President Trump," said Ambassador Jamieson Greer. "Under his leadership, this administration is working diligently to address these unfair and non-reciprocal practices, helping restore fairness and put hardworking American businesses and workers first in the global market."

Strongly condemning China's joint military drill around Taiwan, Taipei on Tuesday said that Beijing's provocations are threatening regional peace.

This comes after 19 Chinese Navy ships operating around Taiwan were detected on Tuesday morning.

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defence condemned the move, which it called a disruption to the status quo, and said it had deployed military vessels and aircraft in response to the threats.

In a major escalation of its efforts to combat campus anti-Semitism, the Trump administration has announced a "comprehensive review" of federal contracts and grants at Harvard University and its affiliates.

The decision, revealed on Monday by the Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the US General Services Administration (GSA), is part of an ongoing initiative led by the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.

The task force will examine over $255.6 million in federal contracts with Harvard, along with more than $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments, to ensure compliance with federal regulations, including civil rights obligations, according to a statement from the US Department of State (DoS).

"Harvard has served as a symbol of the American Dream for generations -- the pinnacle aspiration for students all over the world to work hard and earn admission to the storied institution," said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

South Korea's exports gained 3.1 percent from a year earlier in March, marking a second consecutive month of increase, driven by robust demand for semiconductors and other information technology (IT) products, data showed on Tuesday.

Outbound shipments came to US$58.3 billion last month, compared with $56.5 billion the previous year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, reports news agency.

Imports rose 2.3 percent on-year to $53.3 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $4.98 billion.

Outbound shipments of semiconductors jumped 11.9 percent on-year to $13.1 billion in March, rebounding from a 3 percent on-year decrease the previous month, thanks to strong demand for high-value products, such as high bandwidth memory and double data rate 5 (DDR5) memory chips.

Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn has transferred half of his stake in the group's holding company, Hanwha Corp., to his three sons, the company said on Monday, effectively completing the group's leadership succession.

According to a regulatory filing, Kim has transferred a combined 11.32 percent stake in Hanwha Corp. to his three sons.

Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan received 4.86 percent, while President Kim Dong-won and Executive Vice President Kim Dong-seon each received 3.23 percent.

Kim previously held a 22.65 percent stake in Hanwha Corp., the de facto holding company of the conglomerate. Following the transfer, he now retains an 11.33 percent stake.

The short selling of South Korean stocks was tallied at over 1.7 trillion won ($1.16 billion) on the first day of the resumption of the trading scheme, data showed on Monday.

The country imposed a temporary ban on short selling in November 2023 after a series of naked short selling violations involving several global investment banks were discovered, reports news agency.

Starting Monday, short selling is allowed for all listed firms for the first time since March 2020, when the authorities banned short selling for listed firms amid a market rout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ban was partially lifted in May 2021 before it was reimposed in 2023.

According to the Korea Exchange, investors' short selling reached 1.73 trillion won on Monday, which breaks down to 1.3 trillion won on stocks traded on the main bourse and 430 billion won on those listed on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market.

Pakistan law enforcement agencies have been ordered to arrest and deport thousands of Afghan refugees as the government's deadline for Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders to leave the country ends on Monday, local media reported.

The authorities, particularly in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, ordered the prompt evacuation of all the Afghan refugees.

The Rawalpindi police chief has directed the superintendents of the Rawal, Potohar, and Saddar divisions to take legal action against Afghan nationals residing or working in the district, according to a report in Pakistan's leading daily, Dawn.

"We have received directions that all Afghan nationals holding ACC cards must be expelled from Rawalpindi and Islamabad," a police official told Dawn.

Additionally, the directives state that Afghans holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards who are residing in the twin cities have to leave Pakistan in line with the government policy.

Myanmar's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology reported that 36 aftershocks, with magnitudes ranging from 2.8 to 7.5, have occurred as of Monday morning.

The aftershocks followed a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake that jolted Myanmar at 12:51 p.m. local time last Friday, news agency reported.

About 1,700 people died, 3,400 were injured, and 300 remained missing in the massive earthquake in Myanmar, according to the country's State Administration Council on Sunday.

A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake, followed by a 6.4 magnitude aftershock minutes later, struck Myanmar's Mandalay region on Friday, causing massive casualties and damage in multiple countries.

South Korean police, firefighters and relevant authorities on Monday conducted their first joint on-site investigation at the original point of ignition for the nation's worst wildfires in history that charred vast areas of woodland in the southeastern province of North Gyeongsang last week.

The forest fire was allegedly accidentally ignited by a 56-year-old man on a hill in North Gyeongsang county Uiseong's Anpyeong district, about 180 kilometres southeast of Seoul, on March 22.

It rapidly spread to Andong and three adjacent counties amid high winds and dry conditions for nearly a week, killing 26 people and destroying an estimated 4,000 structures.

Police booked the man without detention last Friday on suspicion of accidentally starting the fire while tending to his grandparents' grave site, with some news reports saying that he tried to burn tree branches over the grave with a cigarette lighter.

Police in Australia are searching for a man who allegedly shot one man and stabbed another, leaving both with life-threatening injuries.

The police service in the state of Queensland said that a 30-year-old man fled the scene after allegedly shooting one neighbour and stabbing another during a dispute in the early hours of Monday morning, news agency reported.

Police said that emergency services responded to a disturbance at an address in Surfers Paradise -- 70 km southeast of Brisbane on Queensland's Gold Coast -- just before 2 am local time.

A 21-year-old man was found at the scene with a gunshot wound to his stomach and stab wounds to his back, and a 44-year-old male was found with stab wounds to his head, neck and leg.