China’s exports surged in the first two months of this year despite trade tensions with the US.

Official figures show exports jumped by more than 20% in January and February, which is almost three times the rate predicted by economists. It puts the country on track to top the record-breaking annual trade surplus it saw in 2025.

The announcement comes as US President Donald Trump is expected to visit China in early April to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The world’s second largest economy is heavily reliant on exports as it faces a number of issues including weak consumer spending, a shrinking population and a property market crisis.

Beijing typically combines January and February trade data to adjust for distortions caused by the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on different dates each year.

Trade with European countries grew by 27.8%, while exports to Asian countries – a group of South East Asian nations including Thailand, Singapore and Philippines – climbed by nearly 30%.

But China’s exports to America fell more than 10% as Trump imposed tariffs and other measures to address trade imbalances between the two countries.

Last week, China set an annual economic growth target of 4.5%-5%, down from its 5% goal in 2025, which had been met largely due to exports.

Exports have been the key driver of China’s economy, lifting it in spite of poor domestic spending and a property slump.

The meeting between Trump and Xi come as China, like many country’s in Asia, is dealing with the economic impact of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which has disrupted the global energy market.

By Anthony Solly

A high school teacher in Georgia was accidentally run over and killed outside his home when a toilet paper prank carried out by his students went terribly wrong, officials said.

Jason Hughes, 40, came out of his home to surprise the students who were tossing toilet papers over trees as part of a practical joke.

But Hughes tripped and fell on the ground which was slick from rain, and as the students tried to run away from the scene in two separate cars, he was inadvertently run over by the driver of one of the cars, police said.

The student who was driving the car has been charged with vehicular homicide, but the teacher’s family say they want the charges dropped.

In a statement to the New York Times, Laura Hughes, Jason Hughes’ wife, who is also an instructor at the same high school, said that her husband was beloved by the students.

She said he knew about the prank and “was excited and waiting to catch them in the act”.

The student driver, identified as Jayden Ryan Wallace, 18, and two others stopped to try to help Hughes before emergency responders arrived and took him to the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

Wallace and the four other 18-year-olds involved were also charged with criminal trespass and littering on private property.

Hughes’s wife told the New York Times the family fully supported “getting the charges dropped for all involved”.

“This is a terrible tragedy, and our family is determined to prevent a separate tragedy from occurring, ruining the lives of these students,” she said. “This would be counter to Jason’s lifelong dedication of investing in the lives of these children.”

The BBC has contacted the sheriff’s office for comment.

A Hall County school district spokesperson told local outlet WXIA that Hughes would be remembered as a “passionate teacher, mentor and coach who was loved and respected by students and colleagues”.

Community members have set up a memorial in front of the school where Hughes coached and taught.

BBC -Twenty-three people have been rescued by helicopter crews in Ontario, Canada, after the ice shelf they were standing on broke, sending the group floating into Lake Huron.

Ontario Provincial Police said on social media that the rescue began around noon (16:00 GMT) on Sunday after “winds and current moved the ice shelf away from shore” approximately 2km (1.2 miles).

The rescue involved two helicopters making multiple trips to pluck people off the shelf as it continued to fracture into more pieces in the Owen Sound, about 200km north-west of Toronto.

One member of the group said that he only realised the ice he was fishing on had detached from shore when he noticed that his GPS showed him moving.

Members of the rescued group described harrowing moments, with several of them becoming partially submerged in the cold waters as they sought out the thickest ice on the floe, or sheet.

“I looked at my GPS. We were moving,” fisherman Kevin Fox wrote, identifying himself on Facebook as one of those who were caught up in the incident. “I turned around and saw waves forming behind us.”

He said that he and several others started running towards a route that they hoped still connected to shore.

“We decided to run toward one side of the bay, but when we got there the ice had already separated from shore. We turned and ran the other way, but the ice there was breaking apart too,” he wrote.

Some started phoning their families, said Fox, adding: “It’s something I will never forget – seeing grown men crying while saying goodbye to the people they love.”

Fellow fisherman Alfie How told The Owen Sound Sun Times that they eventually “just sat down as a group and said this could be the end”.

Fox told the paper that the rescue occurred during high wind, and the group was concerned that the helicopters would not be able to fly.

“It was being eroded,” Fox said. “It kept getting smaller, and smaller.”

Police say several members of the group suffered hypothermia, but that everyone was expected to make a full recovery.

“Great teamwork and a quick response by all involved,” police added.

Last month in the US state of Vermont, police rescued a group of ice skaters who had also become trapped on floating ice.

Using kayaks and ferry boats, rescuers brought the group back from the icy Lake Champlain.

Officials warn that ice fishing conditions can change rapidly during the relatively warm daylight hours.