Beijing weighs a weakened Trump as Democrats take both chambers of Congress

China is watching Washington closely after the Democratic Party won control of both chambers of the United States Congress in this week's midterm elections. The result leaves Donald Trump as a lame duck president for the remainder of his term, and Beijing is among the capitals assessing most carefully what the new balance of power will mean for its interests.

Professor Steve Tsang of the SOAS China Institute told FRANCE 24 that a weakened Trump could strengthen Beijing's negotiating position. At the same time, he said, the Chinese leadership is well aware that Congress has relatively little sway over foreign policy, so the change of control on Capitol Hill does not fundamentally transform the relationship between the two powers.

For that reason, Tsang said, Beijing remains keen to maintain the warm personal ties between the Chinese and American presidents, viewing direct engagement between the two leaders as more consequential than the partisan map in Congress.

The programme also covered Hong Kong, where Joshua Wong, one of the best-known faces of the city's pro-democracy movement, was sentenced to a further 10 years in prison under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law.

Wong was convicted of 'colluding with foreign forces' and is the only person to have been prosecuted twice under the controversial law. The ruling has drawn criticism from human rights groups and Western governments.

In film news, the Indian production 'Ramayana' has arrived in cinemas worldwide. Based on a beloved ancient Hindu epic, it has been described as Bollywood's answer to 'Star Wars'. With a mega-budget of more than 400 million euros, it is the biggest production in Indian cinema history, and it has been dubbed into nearly 40 languages for its global release.

And in Japan, Hiroshima Prefecture has appointed two cats as its tourism ambassadors. The siblings, Yamato and Chidori, serve as stationmasters at Shiwaguchi Station, one of many unmanned stations on a railway line that faces possible partial closure because of declining passenger numbers.