Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has been urged by his country’s lawmakers to abandon a trip to Washington next week to talk with the US president, after Donald  Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order for an “impassable physical barrier” along the 3,110-kilometer border that will be built at Mexico’s expense. The wall could cost as much as 41 billion US dollars, according to MIT Technology Review.

The US technology giant is filing two lawsuits in the country against the chip maker, over what it calls unfair business practices that violate China’s anti-monopoly laws. Apple is seeking one billion yuan (145 million US dollars) in the case, as it accuses Qualcomm of seeking “onerous, unreasonable and costly” terms for its patents, with its baseband chips a critical component in current smartphones.

President Xi Jinping called on the military to improve its political awareness, push forward reform, and govern it according to law to aid the building of a strong military. Xi also underscored the importance of improving combat readiness through troop training. The president made the comments while visiting the 65th Army Group, which is stationed in northern China's Hebei Province, on Monday.

According to the BBC, ambulance workers counted at least 28 victims after bomb attacks on the Dayah hotel in the Somali capital. No official death toll has been released, but a government statement later said that four attackers had been killed by security forces. The attack, which has been claimed by Islamist militant group al-Shabab, involved two vehicles laden with explosives, according to eyewitness accounts. Lawmakers staying in the hotel may have been targets of the attack.

Transparency International’s list of countries in terms of corruption saw China improve by four places compared to the year before, ranking 79th in the world. Last year saw the ongoing anti-corruption campaign gather steam in the country, with 28 officials sentenced over graft and assets worth 2.3 billion yuan (330 million US dollars) seized. Denmark and New Zealand were ranked the least corrupt countries in the world.

French prosecutors announced on Wednesday that they would investigate media reports into suspicious payments of 500,000 euros to Penelope Fillon, the wife of Francois Fillon, the Republican's candidate in the upcoming French presidential election. The payments were made for her role as his assistant, despite there being no evidence of her doing any work. Francois Fillon said he was “outraged by the contempt and misogyny” of the allegations. Fighting wasteful public spending is a key campaign pledge for Fillon, ahead of the first round of polls in April.

Chile has received firefighting aircraft from the US, as well as support from France, Peru and Mexico, amid blazes that have destroyed 190,000 hectares of land. After issuing a state of emergency, President Michelle Bachelet admitted that the country had “practically exhausted its capacity to fight the blaze,” amid public anger over what has been deemed as a slow response.

Finnair is to team up with China’s Internet giant to make its payment services available on flights between Shanghai and Helsinki, as well as in the non-Schengen area of Helsinki airport, which is a popular transport hub for Asian travelers to Europe. Passengers will be able to make in-flight purchases and buy duty-free goods with the app from Friday.