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Taiwan’s defence ministry has warned that the People’s Liberation Army is stepping up its preparations for a blockade of the island, adding that it is sharpening its plans to break such a cordon in response. The assessment was made in the ministry’s “2026 China Military Power Report”, which was submitted to the legislature this week along with its five-year force development plan and next year’s p...
On August 26, a section of glacier collapsed at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres on the Nepalese side of the Himalayas. The falling ice and rock accelerated down a steep valley at about 50 metres per second, scouring debris and transforming into a high-speed mudslide that slammed into Gyirong Port on the Chinese side just seven minutes later. The force of the flow largely buried and obliterat...
The US Congress on Tuesday advanced a new bill that seeks to establish American global leadership in open-source artificial intelligence, an area where China currently dominates, by promoting adoption of US open-source models and publicising risks associated with using their Chinese counterparts. The legislation was one of several proposals marked up in the US House of Representatives targeting Ch...
Prime Minister Andy Burnham faced lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday for the first time since becoming UK leader six weeks ago, with wars in Europe and the Middle East weighing on his promise to kick-start the economy, ease the cost of living and oversee a radical redistribution of power from London to Britain’s regions. On the day parliament returned from its summer break, Burnham said ...
Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the leadership of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, according to a UN report seen Tuesday by Associated Press. Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work that confirmed the existence of a long-suspected nuclear site, according to the confidential report circ...
Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor in Deir el-Zour under the leadership of ousted former president Bashar al-Assad, according to a UN report seen Tuesday by Associated Press. Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work that confirmed the existence of a long-suspected nuclear site, according to the confidential report circ...
Inspectors with the UN nuclear watchdog visited several sites in Syria in August and carried out verification work, according to a confidential report circulated to member states and seen Tuesday by Associated Press. Based on this visit, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that it is “able to establish that the former Syrian authorities had failed to report nuclear material, facilities...
US President Donald Trump launched new air strikes on Iran on Tuesday, the latest chapter as the president has swung in recent weeks between economic and military pressure tactics, all the while claiming that Tehran was on its heels. US Military Central Command announced on social media that the attacks were in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s recent attempted attacks on commerc...
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Trump administration on Tuesday to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough”, as he pushed back against a fresh wave of attacks from Washington. Carney said US-Canada trade talks could resume if Washington became serious about negotiations, but he also accused the US of pursuing terms that he said could leave Canadian industrie...
The German government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives, and announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate among other measures against Moscow. The drone was found near a Ukrainian plane on the evening of August 4, and the device was defused. German officials said at the time that the incident posed a ne...
A Bank of America vice-president, Erin Piacenti, was killed in a stabbing at Times Square on Monday. Piacenti, 32, was a vice-president in BofA’s business selection and conflicts unit, according to her LinkedIn profile. “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to her family and all of her lo...
A Bank of America vice-president, Erin Piacenti, was killed in a stabbing at Times Square on Monday. “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague. She was a valued teammate who will be greatly missed. Our hearts go out to her family and all of her loved ones,” the US banking giant said in an emailed statement to Reuters. Piacenti – a vice-president of business selec...
Tram services between Wan Chai and Admiralty in Hong Kong were suspended Tuesday night due to a power failure, the second such incident in two days. The Transport Department issued a special traffic bulletin at 9.37pm, saying it had been notified by Hong Kong Tramways that eastbound and westbound services between Admiralty MTR station and Tonnochy Road were suspended because of an electricity faul...
The latest trade war between the United States and Canada marks a turning point with key lessons for China and other major US trading partners as well as risks, say analysts and former trade officials, as US President Donald Trump continues to put his blunt stamp on global institutions. The breakdown in ties between Washington and Ottawa, one of the largest trade relationships in the world, opens ...
Not even the world’s fastest sprinters could have outrun the devastating floodwaters that struck a border crossing between China and Nepal last week, according to one of the first peer-reviewed assessments of the disaster. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) calculated that the surface velocity of the debris flow was 19 metres per second (62 feet per second) when it struck the c...
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump says he plans to meet Kim Jong-un this year, citing good relationship US President Donald Trump said that he planned to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year, despite Pyongy...
Hong Kong public schools have slashed a record 126 Primary One classes for the 2026-27 academic year amid a shrinking student population, prompting a sector leader to warn that the “worst is yet to come”. According to the latest Primary School Profiles, the total number of Primary One classes across public schools dropped from 1,558 in 2025-26 to 1,432 in 2026-27, representing a net decrease of 8 ...
A Chinese court’s order to freeze 2.14 billion yuan (US$318 million) in Nexperia-affiliated assets has cemented the operational independence of its Chinese manufacturing engine from its European headquarters, leaving its local facilities increasingly isolated amid a prolonged custody battle. The Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court in the southern province of Guangdong, where Nexperia’s biggest as...
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has urged US companies to deepen their presence in China, pledging to address their concerns while calling on Washington to reciprocate, as Beijing gears up for President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to the United States later this month. The remarks came as Li met a delegation from the US-China Business Council – led by its chair, Visa CEO Ryan McInerney – at the Great Hall...
Apple’s new CEO John Ternus takes the helm of the iconic tech giant on Tuesday, ending Tim Cook’s 15-year tenure during which the company’s value skyrocketed to US$4.6 trillion thanks to the iPhone’s enormous popularity. The transition to a new CEO comes at a pivotal time for Apple. Artificial intelligence has unleashed the greatest upheaval within the industry since Steve Jobs unveiled the first ...
The private data of about 33,000 customers of TVB-owned group-buying platform Neigbuy has been compromised in a suspected cyberattack, with police saying they have received six reports of scammers posing as staff. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data confirmed on Tuesday that it had received a data breach notification from the company on Sunday, and had initiated a formal inves...
The private data of about 33,000 customers of TVB-owned group-buying platform Neigbuy has been compromised in a suspected cyberattack, with police saying they have received six reports of scammers posing as staff. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data confirmed on Tuesday that it had received a data breach notification from the company on Sunday, and had initiated a formal inves...
As Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, gears up for an attempt to finally reach Earth’s orbit, experts say the risk of an in-flight catastrophe – and a cloud of debris – “needs to be of concern”. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to launch the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster for the launch system’s 14th test flight and first orbital test flight later this month. Accord...
A Hong Kong man has surrendered his dog after authorities detained it and classified it as a fighting breed during a vaccination visit — the third known such case in a week, following a spate of attacks in the city. The case came as animal welfare groups called for clarity on the government’s breed-classification procedures and a transparent appeal mechanism. They warned that heightened anxiety co...
Improvised explosive devices were used on Tuesday to target power lines near a coal-fired power plant in Germany, with several electricity lines damaged and supply briefly interrupted, police and a grid operator said. Several makeshift bombs were found around 8am local time at the Preilack substation, which distributes power from the nearby Jaenschwalde plant that runs on lignite and also burns ru...
Explosive devices have been found at an electrical substation in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, dpa has learned. Police said possible damage to a power line was discovered at around 8am local time on Tuesday at the facility in Turnow-Preilack, about 100km (62 miles) from Berlin. “Evidence is being secured,” a police spokeswoman said. “Bomb disposal experts are on site.” The objects found...
Smoke from Indonesian wildfires blanketed Manila on Tuesday, turning fires nearly 2,000km (1,242 miles) away into a public-health warning for the Philippine capital and reviving concerns over Southeast Asia’s recurring transboundary haze problem. The haze, carried by southwesterly winds from fires in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, prompted health experts to urge people to wear N95 mask...
China has demanded protection of its interests in Venezuela after a US-backed energy company was granted 100-year concessions covering oilfields previously operated by Chinese and Russian firms. “China-Venezuela cooperation is protected by international law and the laws of both countries. China’s legitimate rights and interests in Venezuela must be guaranteed,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiaku...
Michael Pettis says a great rebalancing is coming and China will pay for it. It’s strange how the man who insists that power decides who pays never tests his claim on Washington. The Beijing-based economist has been warning that a great rebalancing is coming since he published a book called The Great Rebalancing. That was in 2013. His latest Foreign Affairs offering? You guessed it: “A Great Rebal...
Britain’s former prime minister Keir Starmer, who stepped down as leader this summer after a tumultuous two years in power, announced on Tuesday he would quit parliament to focus on “international affairs”. In a statement on social media, Starmer said it was the “right time” to resign as the MP for the Holborn and St Pancras seat in London after 11 years, triggering a by-election. “It is now time ...
