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Good afternoon and welcome to your afternoon news update from AP. Today, China stages military drills around Taiwan to warn "external forces;" a look back at President Donald Trump’s changes to U.S. trade policy in 2025; and and how some people are finding refuge on analog islands as the world wades into deeper digital seas.

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In this image taken off video, Sun Li-fang, Taiwan Defense Ministry spokesperson speaks about China's latest military drills during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan on Monday. (AP Photo/Wu Taijing)

China stages military drills around Taiwan to warn ‘external forces’ after US, Japan tensions

China’s military on Monday dispatched air, navy and missile units to conduct joint live-fire drills around the island of Taiwan, which Beijing called a “stern warning” against separatist and “external interference” forces. Taiwan said it was placing forces on alert and called the Chinese government “the biggest destroyer of peace.” Read more.

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Trump overturned decades of US trade policy in 2025. See the impact of his tariffs, in four charts

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has overturned decades of U.S. trade policy — building a wall of tariffs around what used to be a wide open economy. His double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on earth have disrupted global commerce and strained the budgets of consumers and businesses worldwide. They have also raised tens of billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury. Still, the erratic way the president rolled out his tariffs made 2025 one of the most turbulent economic years in recent memory. Read more.

‘The past gives comfort': Finding refuge on analog islands amid deepening digital seas

As technology distracts, polarizes and automates, people are still finding refuge on analog islands in the digital sea. The holdouts span the generation gaps, uniting elderly and middle-aged enclaves born in the pre-internet times with the digital natives raised in the era of online ubiquity. They are setting down devices to paint, color, knit and play board games. Others carve out time to mail birthday cards and salutations written in their own hand. And a widening audience is turning to vinyl albums, resuscitating an analog format that was on its deathbed 20 years ago. Read more.

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