Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday that “the challenge of risk had risen,” as Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin downplayed concerns over the sailing of China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait, saying China’s navy “does not pose a threat to the security of this region,” as the carrier and other warships headed to the West Pacific for routine drills. A State Council report released earlier on Beijing's Asia Pacific policy reiterated its commitment to the "path of peaceful development."

An already infamous hashtag took Twitter by storm on Wednesday, following unsubstantiated reports that Russian intelligence had scandalous and compromising material on Trump, forcing the president-elect to react furiously to what he called “all fake news…phoney stuff, it didn’t happen,” which he claimed was put together by “sick people.” US intelligence officials briefed Trump and Barack Obama on the allegations last week, while the source of the leak to the media remains unconfirmed.

A spokesperson for the South Sudan Foreign Ministry said that the government was now “able to provide security and stability for the country,” with extra UN forces now unnecessary. The government’s insistence comes despite recent reports of violence, with the UN pleading for action on ethnic conflict in December. There are currently 13,500 UN peacekeepers in the country, including Chinese troops.

The virtual currency slumped more than 10 percent on Wednesday, reaching a three-week low after the People’s Bank of China carried out probes on Bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai, with the Beijing investigation focusing on “how the exchanges implement policies including forex management and anti-money laundering.” The central bank is looking to support the Renminbi and stem capital outflows. Chinese exchanges account for more than 90 percent of all trading in Bitcoin.

280,000 asylum seekers arrived in the country last year, compared to 890,000 migrants in 2015. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the drop was due to the closure of the route through the Balkans, thanks to the deal signed between the EU and Turkey. 2017 promises to be a tough year for Angela Merkel, with immigration set to dominate federal elections in the fall.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch confirmed on Wednesday that six men will be charged over a decade-long conspiracy to cheat emissions tests, as their former employer Volkswagen admitted liability over the 2015 scandal. Volkswagen has been ordered to pay a 4.3 billion US dollar fine, the largest ever levied against a car company by the US government.

Unveiling a brand new store in Shanghai, US fast-food giant Taco Bell is set to make a return to China in 2017 with reports of plans to open other restaurants nationwide. Taco Bell, which has 7,000 stores worldwide, departed China in 2008 after failing to reach the heights of KFC and McDonald’s, but this time the Yum China franchise is seeking a different approach, offering a menu more catered to Chinese tastes.

The Skywalker hoolock gibbon – a Star Wars-inspired name given by researchers – is officially a new species of primate. Observed by scientists for some time in the rainforests of China’s Yunnan Province, the primates have different facial markings and a unique call compared to other gibbons, are a genetically unique species that number at least 200, and are believed to also exist in Bangladesh, India and Myanmar.