Asia

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake off Indonesia's Flores island killed at least 51 people on Saturday. The toll rose through the day as rescuers reached outlying villages.

Geopolitics

Alibaba's openly available AI models have been downloaded three billion times, more than Meta's or Google's, according to Bloomberg. Bloomberg reported the figure on Saturday.

Technology

The Taliban marked five years in power on Saturday with a ceremony in Kabul and rallies across the country. The UN warned of a deepening rights crisis.

Geopolitics

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung proposed talks on Saturday to replace the 1953 armistice with a permanent peace regime. North Korea answered by denouncing coming US-South Korean drills and vowing stronger nuclear deterrence.

Geopolitics

A China-led team says its one-megawatt perovskite solar system produced more electricity than a silicon plant at the same site. The findings appeared in the journal Nature last Wednesday.

Technology

China has issued ecological assessment reports on nine disputed South China Sea features amid an escalating row with Washington over Beijing's establishment of a national nature reserve, the South China Morning Post reports. The Philippine defence chief rejected Chinese criticism and called the response a 'squid tactic', while China's embassy dismissed claims by Teodoro about Chinese workers as baseless.

Geopolitics

Myanmar says it has verified more than 300,000 Rohingya refugees for repatriation as the exodus enters its ninth year, The Hindu reports. Conditions for a safe return to Rakhine remain unaddressed.

Geopolitics

China's defence ministry criticised Japanese politicians for their moves at the Yasukuni Shrine on the 81st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender, marked on Saturday. Global Times also reports public commemorations in Beijing and new documents on the Japanese invasion handed to the Nanjing Massacre memorial hall.

Geopolitics

In his Independence Day address on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government would provide free online coaching for competitive exams and training in artificial intelligence, weeks after youth-led protests forced out the education minister. He also set out growth targets, among them 50 Indian companies in the Fortune 500.

Geopolitics

Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji has died, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. The paper wrote that Zhu took personal risks for better relations with Washington and that his death is a reminder of what US-China ties have lost.

Geopolitics

Xi Jinping called for disaster management to move from response towards prevention after weeks of floods and landslides, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Repair work is under way at the site of a levee breach on the Jialu River in Henan province.

Geopolitics

An official audit has found technical shortcomings in Taiwan's counter-drone systems and the collapse of a key procurement programme after repeated failures, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. According to the report, the island's defences are falling behind China's fast-evolving drone technology.

Geopolitics

India has published draft rules that would let private companies build and operate nuclear power plants, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. The step would end the state monopoly in one of the world's fastest-growing electricity markets.

Economy

India has raised $50bn from its diaspora and closed the accompanying swap facility ahead of schedule, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. The report is available only as a headline summary and gives no further detail.

Economy

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Indonesia's Flores island early on Saturday, collapsing buildings and killing at least five people. A tsunami warning that sent thousands to higher ground was later lifted.

Geopolitics

Levee breaches in three areas of Henan province triggered China's national disaster relief response on Friday, with no casualties reported. Global Times reported on Saturday that one breach has been sealed, while a rescue team from Yantai deployed amphibious craft in flood-hit Weishi.

Geopolitics

The Taliban marked five years in power on Saturday with a cricket match in Kabul that women may not attend. Their foreign minister asked the United States to return, while the UN warned that women's aid groups may fold.

Geopolitics

Record rainfall in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo has killed at least five people and forced evacuation orders for more than 400,000 residents. The New York Times reports eight dead.

Geopolitics

Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday, 81 years after the surrender, but stayed away herself. Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited in person.

Geopolitics

Taiwan slowed internet speeds in northern and central cities this week, its first drill simulating an attack on its undersea cables. US instructors are separately training Taiwanese coastguards.

Geopolitics

President Prabowo Subianto said on Friday that Indonesia will close more than 750 of its 1,074 state companies by the end of 2026, calling it perhaps the world's largest corporate restructuring.

Economy

Washington has pressed Apple to avoid Chinese memory suppliers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, part of a broader effort to keep Chinese chipmakers out of Western supply chains. Global Times reported on Friday that SMIC's second-quarter net profit rose nearly 262 percent on AI demand, while Wingtech posted a first-half loss under Dutch restrictions on Nexperia.

Technology

Robot participation quadrupled at the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, in a country that counts more than 140 humanoid robot manufacturers and aims to become the world's leading producer and user by 2030. Le Monde reports that China is more quietly building its dominance in industrial robotics, while the capital's first commercial robot noodle eatery, where robots take orders, cook and serve, has begun trial runs before opening to the public in late August.

Technology

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said on Friday that talks with China on joint oil and gas exploration had moved forward, signalling hopes of a deal before he leaves office in mid-2028. China's defence ministry said it would continue rights-protection and law-enforcement operations in waters adjacent to Ren'ai Jiao, and Beijing rejected the Philippine defence chief's accusation of extortion.

Geopolitics

The Chinese developer Z.ai has released an AI model that it says matches leading American systems at coding, according to reports on Friday by Bloomberg and Nikkei Asia. Nikkei writes that the company presents it as a rival to Anthropic's Mythos, the latest Chinese entry into the most commercially valuable AI capability.

Technology

The yen has given back the gains it made after the US Treasury intervened to support it, with concern mounting over the direction of Japan's spending, the New York Times reported on Friday. Bloomberg reports that carry traders are using the intervention to rebuild short positions and that Senator Warren has written to Bessent asking him to justify the operation.

Economy

Power failed simultaneously in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on Friday afternoon, Meduza reported. The four states remain linked by a shared Soviet-era grid through which outages have repeatedly spread across borders.

Geopolitics

Hong Kong raised its 2026 growth forecast to between 3.5 and 4.5 percent after the economy expanded 4.3 percent in the second quarter, supported by external trade. Bloomberg reports that Taiwan expects its first year of double-digit GDP growth since 2010, driven by demand for AI hardware.

Economy

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called on Japan to respect the international order on the Kuril question, saying the results of the victory in the war against Nazism must be respected and defended. Analysts told the South China Morning Post that Vladimir Putin's first visit to the disputed southern Kurils points to a coordinated Russian and Chinese push to pressure Tokyo.

Geopolitics

Singapore has tightened its laws against online sexual abuse with a new offence of producing intimate images, including AI-generated content, without the consent of those depicted, Le Monde reported on Friday. Offenders face prison sentences.

Technology

China's first consolidated Ecological and Environmental Code came into force, the state-run Global Times reported on Saturday. According to the outlet, the code turns national ecological goals into everyday rules for industry and sets key targets for building a "Beautiful China" from 2026 to 2030.

Economy

Chinese health authorities recorded 522,000 new Covid-19 infections and one death in July, the Global Times reported on Friday. The authorities described the trend as fluctuating but upward: it is the highest monthly figure reported in the current wave.

Geopolitics

At least eight workers died after a toxic gas leak at a ship-breaking yard in the district of Chattogram in south-eastern Bangladesh, officials said on Friday. The industry, which dismantles a large share of the world's merchant fleet, has a long record of fatal accidents.

Geopolitics

Taiwan's digital ministry said on Thursday that hackers used AI agents from overseas against government agencies in July, without detailing scale, damage or targets.

Technology

Vladimir Putin visited Iturup on Thursday, the first trip by a Russian president to the disputed Kuril Islands. Tokyo summoned Russia's ambassador and called the visit absolutely unacceptable.

Geopolitics

SMIC and Hua Hong reported triple-digit profit growth for the June quarter on Thursday. China's memory makers passed milestones of their own.

Economy

On the fifth anniversary of the Taliban takeover, the UN's women's agency said the movement has systematically stripped Afghan women of their rights and erased them from public life.

Geopolitics

Surging waters along the Mekong have driven tens of thousands from their homes in Myanmar and Laos. Thai farming communities along the river are bracing for more flooding.

Geopolitics

Torrential rainfall around Tokyo caused flooding and forced evacuations, and several people died, FAZ reported. More than 20,000 households were left without electricity.

Geopolitics

Taiwan is seeking to dissolve the China Unification Promotion Party over its alleged ties to Beijing, Al Jazeera reports. China's state outlet Global Times said a joint air force exercise with Thailand had begun with J-10C fighter jets deployed abroad, and that Chinese and Belarusian airborne troops had launched the Swift Eagle drill.

Geopolitics

DeepSeek launched V4 Pro on Thursday and raised its AI service prices several times over. Alibaba attached commercial conditions to its downloadable flagship Qwen3.8-Max.

Technology

Bloomberg reports that Japan's government supports faster rate increases by the Bank of Japan, following joint intervention with Washington to prop up the yen. The Economist writes that buying yen unwinds a dangerous trade, while Bloomberg describes domestic inflation as creating winners and losers.

Economy

New mining projects proposed last year would add 2.5bn tonnes to global coal supplies, with most of the increase in the Indian states of Odisha and Jharkhand, The Guardian reported on Thursday. The expansion comes despite a plateau in global demand.

Economy

Remembrances of the former Chinese premier, who died on Wednesday, dwell on his outspoken style and on his drive to integrate China into global commerce, in contrast with the rigidity of the Xi era. Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim recalled a relationship with Zhu that went 'well beyond affairs of state'.

Geopolitics

Global Times reported on Thursday that new archives on Unit 731 document the Imperial Japanese Army's biological warfare and the military's cover-up of it, while scholars trace the germ-warfare campaign across Asia. The same outlet reported that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering skipping a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender, which the experts it cites read as political manoeuvring rather than historical remorse.

Geopolitics

The PLA says Chinese and Indonesian frigates have completed their first joint drill east of Taiwan. Beijing separately rejected a statement by 41 countries on its missile-test notifications.

Geopolitics

Thousands of people were moved from flood- and landslide-prone parts of Beijing on Wednesday as the remnants of Typhoon Dolphin brought torrential rain. Forecasters warned the capital could get more than a third of its average annual rainfall in 24 hours.

Geopolitics

Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji died of illness in Beijing on Wednesday, aged 97 by most accounts. He drove the overhaul of China's state sector and its entry into the World Trade Organisation.

Geopolitics

New-energy vehicles took more than 60 percent of China's monthly car sales for the first time, Global Times reported on Wednesday. Chinese carmakers are at the same time shifting production to Spain and South Africa.

Economy

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Chinese censorship is leaking into answers from American AI models. A day earlier, DeepSeek publicised its push against Anthropic's Claude Code.

Technology

Bloomberg reports that Washington and Tokyo are preparing what would be the deepest seabed mining operation attempted so far, aimed at challenging China's dominance in critical minerals. The report published on Wednesday gives no further detail on the site or the timetable.

Economy

A US judge has dismissed the fraud charges brought against India's Adani group, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. No details of the ruling have been reported beyond the dismissal itself.

Economy

Natarajan Chandrasekaran announced on Wednesday that he will not seek another term as chairman of Tata Sons when his mandate ends in early 2027. Shares of Tata group companies fell after the announcement, with TCS down almost 6%, according to The Hindu.

Economy

Thailand's government has suspended the issuing of new firearms licences and promised tighter gun controls after an attack at a school that killed nine people. The New York Times reports that it remains unclear how far the government will go in a country that has seen a string of high-profile shootings in recent years.

Geopolitics

China and Indonesia will hold a joint naval exercise east of Taiwan in mid-August. Taipei calls the first such drill a dangerous provocation.

Geopolitics

North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, its second test in a week. It came five days before a large US-South Korean exercise begins.

Geopolitics

Chinese car sales fell 21.1 percent in July, the tenth monthly decline in a row, while exports jumped 88 percent from a year earlier.

Economy

The Chinese robot maker priced its Shanghai listing at 150.80 yuan per share to raise 6.1 billion yuan (about $904 million), Daily Sabah reported on Tuesday, while the Financial Times said retail investors oversubscribed the offering 5,500 times. Global Times put the winning rate for subscribers at about 0.018 percent.

Technology

UNESCO said on Tuesday that 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, and urged an end to the ban. The agency warns of lasting damage to the country's health care, economy and public administration.

Geopolitics

Chinese models took the top spots in major artificial intelligence rankings, including the Harvey Lab-AA legal benchmark, with Global Times attributing their uptake abroad to open-source availability and low cost despite US technology restrictions. Beijing is now pitching its models to European buyers, while regulators at home tighten oversight of the technology.

Technology

Meta is fully unwinding its acquisition of the Chinese-founded AI platform Manus, more than three months after Beijing blocked the deal on national security grounds. Manus is to return as an independent company.

Technology

Comac's narrowbody jet started a daily service from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday, the first international passenger route for a Chinese-built airliner. Experts told The Guardian it could take generations before the aircraft challenges the dominance of Airbus and Boeing.

Economy

The effect of the joint US-Japanese intervention in support of the yen has worn off, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Bloomberg reports that a public split between US Treasury chief Bessent and Japan's Prime Minister Takaichi over Bank of Japan policy could undermine any repeat rescue.

Economy

Thailand has suspended firearms licences after a teenage gunman attacked a school in Nonthaburi, leaving nine people dead, the Guardian reported on Wednesday. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called for tighter gun controls and 'decisive penalties'; the gunman and the grandparents he killed have been cremated.

Geopolitics

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio faced a criminal charge on Tuesday over an alleged death threat against President Marcos, the South China Morning Post reports. The allegation is a key part of the case against her at her ongoing impeachment.

Geopolitics

Bloomberg reports that Beijing is working on a framework for residential land leases that are starting to run out, with about $148 billion in property value at stake. In Hong Kong, a court ruled that Evergrande may recover about HK$6 billion from a third party, while the developer Wharf said it is leaning on the city's luxury-home market to offset weakness on the mainland.

Economy

Typhoon Dolphin came ashore in Zhejiang on Sunday evening with winds of 151 km/h, after more than a million people had been moved to safety. It then pushed north and inland.

Geopolitics

Chinese vendors shipped more than 97 percent of the world's humanoid robots in the first half of 2026, a US firm reported on Monday. China also took more than 85 percent of global demand.

Technology

US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn dismissed the criminal charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday. The Justice Department had said it was abandoning the fraud and bribery case.

Economy

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said Pyongyang plans to station tens of thousands of soldiers in Russia and tied that warning to a request to South Korea, FAZ reported on Monday. Seoul restated that it does not supply weapons to Ukraine, according to TASS, and South China Morning Post wrote that the request for air defence systems may be more than the government can accept.

Geopolitics

Nikkei Asia reported on Monday that expectations of faster interest rate rises by the Bank of Japan pushed up Japanese government bond yields. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the yen firmed slightly on prospects of coordinated intervention, while Nikkei put corporate Japan's quarterly profit growth at 70 percent, driven by the weak currency and AI spending.

Economy

A Chinese Long March 7A rocket exploded shortly after take-off on Monday night, destroying the communications satellite it was carrying. China said the launch failed after a flight anomaly, and the South China Morning Post reported knock-on effects for the country's launch schedule.

Technology

China's commerce ministry imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 54.3 percent, collected as deposits, on pecans from the United States and Mexico, and asked in Geneva on Monday to join Brazil's WTO consultations against US tariffs of up to 37.5 percent. More than 38 million dollars in tariff refunds from US Customs and Border Protection, plus accrued interest, have reached Chinese companies' accounts, the South China Morning Post reported.

Economy

Russian crude reached an all-time high of 48 percent of India's oil imports even as Washington prepares tariffs of up to 100 percent, The Hindu reported. Indian refiners are at the same time broadening their sourcing because of market volatility, TASS reported, citing local media.

Economy

Taiwan staged a 30-minute simulated disruption to test and build public resilience in the face of a potential Chinese attack, the New York Times reported on Monday. The exercise was part of the island's wider effort to prepare its population for such a scenario.

Geopolitics

Breitbart reported on Monday that the Chinese shipping company Sea Legend is opening an "Ice Silk Road" lane through the Arctic in order to avoid Middle East chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz. Other sources have not confirmed the report.

Economy

Pakistani security forces shot dead Mohammad Akhtar, 50, from Peterborough, during clashes with protesters in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the Guardian reported on Monday. The Hindu reports that final voting in parts of the territory has been postponed over security fears.

Geopolitics

Thousands of firefighters and dozens of helicopters are battling growing wildfires across Indonesia, Al Jazeera reported on Monday. Officials cite El Nino as one of the causes.

Geopolitics

Thousands of young job-seekers clashed with police in the eastern state of Jharkhand on Monday, accusing authorities of irregularities in qualifying exams for civil service posts. Police used teargas to break up the protest, whose participants are demanding an overhaul of the examination system.

Geopolitics

A gunman shot the chairman of a provincial administrative organisation and his driver in Nonthaburi, near Bangkok, and one person died, according to reports on Monday and Tuesday. Police accuse a former member of parliament of the attack, which came days after a 14-year-old went on a killing spree.

Geopolitics

Typhoon Dolphin, China's strongest storm this year, made landfall in Zhejiang on Sunday evening after more than a million people were moved to safety. It also pushed Hong Kong to its hottest day on record.

Geopolitics

Taiwan intends to lift defence spending in 2027 by about 16 percent to a record, according to official media. The plan surfaced during the island's annual war games against a simulated Chinese assault.

Geopolitics

China's producer and consumer price inflation both slowed in July as the oil shock from the war on Iran eased. Weak home demand leaves exports as the growth engine.

Economy

Apple is testing memory chips from the Chinese manufacturer CXMT, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. An industry-wide shortage of memory chips is pushing costs up.

Technology

Nagasaki marked 81 years since the US atomic bombing on Sunday, its mayor calling nuclear weapons an "absolute evil". Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi again left Japan's three non-nuclear principles open.

Geopolitics

Chinese AI chip developer Moore Threads said on Sunday it will seek a Hong Kong listing after first-half revenue rose 147 per cent. It is the latest sign of Chinese capital flowing into artificial intelligence and robotics.

Economy

The Bank of Japan's summary of its July meeting showed board members discussing scope to speed up rate increases and flagging upside risks to prices, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. Japan also posted its first current account deficit in nearly one and a half years, and executives called for exchange-rate stability as the weak yen raises import bills.

Economy

Police said on Sunday that the 14-year-old who killed eight people in Thailand had an air gun confiscated by a teacher at school last year and had watched violent content online. According to Le Monde, he shot his grandparents with his grandfather's pistol at their home north of Bangkok on Friday before opening fire at his school, where six of the victims died, and the case has revived debate about the nearly 10 million firearms in circulation in the country.

Geopolitics

Myanmar's military-backed government rebuffed ASEAN's renewed demand for the unconditional release of the detained former leader and questioned the need for a special envoy, the South China Morning Post and Nikkei Asia report. The refusal follows Thailand's reception for junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Geopolitics

Nikkei Asia reports that the two companies will build an advanced image-sensor plant in Kumamoto. The investment extends Japan's effort to rebuild domestic semiconductor capacity.

Technology

A hacking group linked to the North Korean state has developed its own AI tools to support cyberattacks, Reuters reported on Monday, citing a new report. Details of the campaigns and of the group's targets were not available beyond the report summary.

Technology

The South China Morning Post reported on Sunday that physicists in the United States and Israel have hailed as a triumph the strongest evidence yet for the glueball, presented by a Chinese-led team. The particle consists purely of the strong force, and independent confirmation is still outstanding.

Technology

A 12-year-old girl wounded in Friday's school shooting near Bangkok died on Saturday, raising the death toll to nine including the attacker and his grandparents.

Geopolitics

Typhoon Dolphin injured six people and cut power to more than 50,000 buildings in Okinawa and Kagoshima on Saturday. Chinese forecasters expect it to reach the east coast between late Sunday and early Monday.

Geopolitics

The US State Department has accused China of using a declared 'national nature reserve' at Scarborough Shoal to keep Filipino fishermen from their traditional fishing ground. It said on Saturday it rejects Beijing's attempts to enforce it.

Geopolitics

Taiwanese leader William Lai rehearsed a late-night emergency evacuation during the island's largest annual military exercise, held amid growing concern about possible 'decapitation' strikes by the People's Liberation Army, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday. Taiwan also slowed its internet as part of the drill, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Geopolitics

Apple Intelligence has formally integrated Alibaba's Qwen model on macOS, and Apple says Mac users in China can connect to the Qwen AI service. The step gives a Chinese model a place inside the software of a US technology company.

Technology

Consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in July and factory-gate inflation eased to a three-month low, Reuters and Global Times reported on Sunday. Inflation cooled more than expected, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Economy

The Financial Times reports that a wave of protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has turned deadly, confronting the country's military rulers with one of their sharpest domestic challenges. The unrest is unfolding in a territory at the centre of the dispute with India.

Geopolitics

India carried out the first test of its home-grown Kusha long-range surface-to-air missile system. The South China Morning Post describes the test as a milestone toward reducing dependence on imported air defence, as India and Pakistan expand their arsenals.

Geopolitics

A New York Times analysis details how police in New Delhi stopped a march by unarmed young protesters in July with pellet guns, batons and tear gas, prompting accusations of excessive force. The South China Morning Post reports that the marchers were led by a group calling itself the Cockroach Janta Party and formed part of a wider wave of Gen Z protests in South Asia.

Geopolitics

Thailand welcomed Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing with a red-carpet reception, according to the FAZ, and some rebel groups have now signalled willingness to negotiate. Critics of the opening call it a betrayal.

Geopolitics

An international team led by Chinese scientists has confirmed the glueball, a rare form of matter made entirely of force, the South China Morning Post reported. The newspaper calls the finding a historic breakthrough in the physics of the strong nuclear force.

Technology

Nagasaki marked the 81st anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing with a warning that the risk of nuclear war is rising, Nikkei Asia reports. The commemoration comes as Japan debates extended deterrence and its own rearmament.

Geopolitics

A 14-year-old student shot dead his grandparents and then opened fire at his high school outside Bangkok on Friday before killing himself, Thai authorities said. Reported death tolls range from five, according to local police cited by TASS, to eight, according to Daily Sabah, with 23 people injured; the New York Times reports the attack has revived debate about Thailand's gun laws.

Geopolitics

Chinese exports rose almost a quarter year on year in July, and chip exports nearly doubled between January and July, according to the Financial Times and Global Times. The New York Times reports that factories keep finding eager buyers abroad even as weak consumer spending and a prolonged property slump weigh on growth at home.

Economy

Chinese rare-earth exports fell 10% between January and July, with shipments to Japan and the United States plunging after new export restrictions, according to Global Times and Nikkei Asia. Beijing plans to raise annual output capacity by 50% at the Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia, the world's largest rare-earth deposit, investing more than $74 million, the South China Morning Post reports.

Economy

SK Hynix will spend $38 billion to expand its chip production capacity in South Korea, the company announced. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, which reported the plan, give no timeline for the factory expansion.

Technology

The yen surrendered nearly half of the gains it made after the joint US-Japan intervention, and hedge funds slashed their short bets on the currency, Bloomberg reported. Nikkei Asia attributes the limited impact to market doubts about Japan's policy, while BlackRock warned that US sales of euros to buy yen add geopolitical risk.

Economy

China has overtaken the United States to lead global research and development spending, reaching $615 billion, Nikkei Asia reported. The South China Morning Post reports that a Chinese chip toolmaker achieved a breakthrough in wafer polishing and that research at Peking University suggests graphite could enable graphene-based quantum chips.

Technology

Authorities told almost 260,000 residents of Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures to move to safety as Typhoon Dolphin approached, and more than 500 flights were cancelled, the FAZ reported on Friday. Japan's weather agency warned of flooding and possible damage to buildings.

Geopolitics

China's defence ministry has promised firm countermeasures against what it calls Philippine provocations at Huangyan Dao, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal, the Global Times reported on Friday. The ministry did not specify what measures it intends to take.

Geopolitics

India's nuclear-armed submarine is accelerating the arms race with Pakistan, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday. The report gives no detail on what steps Islamabad has taken in response.

Geopolitics

China launched a cybersecurity investigation into products made by the US firm Palo Alto Networks. Bloomberg reports the move is part of an expanding legal arsenal that Xi is using to warn Trump ahead of the two leaders' summit.

Economy

More than one million people in India's Assam state have been affected by flooding, Al Jazeera reported. Monsoon rains since July have displaced thousands.

Geopolitics

China's foreign trade expanded 17.3% in the first seven months of the year, and the Wall Street Journal describes a new export engine built on supplying factories abroad. Bloomberg reports that Chinese banks are expanding direct settlement to widen the yuan's role in global trade and finance.

Economy

The Financial Times says Alibaba's latest AI model puts the company back in the great game among leading developers. Bloomberg reports that DeepSeek has resumed an $8 billion funding round, with Monolith among those in the running.

Technology

Tensions between China and Japan have escalated after Tokyo labelled Beijing its greatest strategic challenge, The Hindu reported on Thursday. The report is a headline summary and gives no further detail.

Geopolitics

A record heatwave gripping most of Asia is driving fears of an energy crisis and health risks, the South China Morning Post reported. In the South Korean city of Gwangju, 69-year-old retired government employee Chae Young-sun has stopped taking daily walks since the heat set in.

Geopolitics

North Korea fired a ballistic missile, South Korea's military said in a report carried by The Hindu on Thursday. No further detail on the missile type or where it came down was given in the report.

Geopolitics

SoftBank secured a $10 billion margin loan backed by its stake in OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Its quarterly profit beat expectations, helped by an $8 billion gain on its Intel holding, according to the Financial Times.

Economy

The United Nations says child deaths in Afghanistan are rising as food distribution programmes are cut, The Hindu reported on Wednesday. The report links the cuts to funding shortfalls; no figures were given in the available reporting.

Geopolitics

Japan continued its foreign exchange interventions this week with backing from the US Treasury, with the yen stuck at about 157 per dollar as markets weigh the limits of the operation. Bessent said the aim was to stop instability spreading to other Asian markets; Le Monde notes Washington intervened similarly for Argentina in October 2025.

Economy

Taiwan began a ten-day military exercise on Wednesday rehearsing its war plans against a Chinese invasion, responding to growing military pressure from Beijing. For the first time the drills deliberately throttle mobile internet to test civilian communications under scarce resources.

Geopolitics

Washington has reopened discussions on billions of dollars in arms sales to Taiwan, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday, weeks before a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The move casts a shadow over a summit already burdened by bilateral trade frictions.

Geopolitics

Flight testing began last week for the air-launched variant of Japan's upgraded Type 12 anti-ship missile, part of a long-range capability to strike Chinese warships, the South China Morning Post reported. North Korea's Kim Yo Jong warned of new military options in response to Tokyo's growing strike capabilities, according to The Hindu.

Geopolitics

The People's Liberation Army released the first official footage of the nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile Jing Lei-1 mounted on an H-6N bomber in combat-ready status during an anti-ship exercise, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday. State outlet Global Times defended separate Chinese warship movements as freedom of navigation and rejected Japanese criticism.

Geopolitics

Cloudbursts in the Pir Panjal mountains of Kashmir, including one before dawn in July, have destroyed homes, crops and livestock, the Guardian reported on Wednesday. Residents are still searching for missing relatives, and the paper links the increasingly erratic rainfall to climate change.

Geopolitics

Pakistani authorities imposed restrictions barring foreign media from reporting across most of the country and curbing local journalists, the Guardian and the New York Times reported. The Guardian says the rules came soon after dozens of protesters were killed, news of which was reported only by overseas outlets, as a protest movement in Kashmir challenges Islamabad's authority.

Geopolitics

Xi Jinping needs to promote a new generation of generals after removing much of the People's Liberation Army's senior leadership, Nikkei Asia reported on Wednesday. The report does not specify how many officers were removed.

Geopolitics

The US Treasury has publicly explained why Washington bought yen together with Tokyo. It says the operation was meant to contain currency risks across Asia.

Economy

The UN says hunger and malnutrition are rising sharply in Afghanistan, where more than a third of the population needs urgent food assistance. The World Food Programme said on Tuesday it can currently feed only one in nine of the acutely hungry.

Geopolitics

North Korea said on Wednesday it will pursue unspecified "additional military options" against Japan. Tokyo had published its annual defence white paper a day earlier, naming China, North Korea and Russia as growing threats.

Geopolitics

Prominent American AI researchers are publicly arguing that Chinese open-weight models are safer to use than closed US systems. The debate comes as DeepSeek's V4 Flash undercuts frontier pricing.

Technology

Taiwan begins its annual Han Kuang exercises on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported. Over ten days the drills test for the first time how the island would counter a maritime blockade by the People's Liberation Army in the western Pacific.

Geopolitics

Heavy rain set off floods and landslides that killed at least 15 people in the Indian state of Kerala, The National reported on Tuesday. The Hindu reported six deaths in Sri Lanka, where the same rains triggered landslides and flooding.

Geopolitics

The Wall Street Journal argues that China's economy keeps holding down the yuan, against Xi Jinping's wish for a currency that looks strong. The South China Morning Post reported that the Politburo set economic priorities for the second half of the year with growth having slowed to 4.3%, and that the shift may hinge on what migrant workers do next.

Economy

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that a wave of protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir is posing the most significant challenge in years to Islamabad's authority in the region. The report did not detail the protesters' demands or the government's response.

Geopolitics

Alibaba unveiled Qwen3.8-Max, its most capable AI model to date, on Monday and made its weights downloadable. A research firm put DeepSeek's new V4-Flash at more than 100 times cheaper than Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.

Technology

Official Chinese media released rare footage of several DF-17 hypersonic missiles in formation, which an expert cited by Global Times read as a sign of full combat readiness, while a state television documentary presented an AI 'intelligent strike planning' system for operations involving more than 100 units. FAZ reported that China is catching up rapidly in satellite technology, weakening American military superiority.

Geopolitics

The China Coast Guard conducted comprehensive exercises in the waters of Huangyan Dao, including simulated deployment of water cannon, Global Times reported, adding that the Philippine presidential palace has backed calls for 'pro-China' officials to resign. Analysts told the South China Morning Post that Manila's push for seabed rights could complicate its work as this year's Asean chair on a South China Sea code of conduct.

Geopolitics

Border trade through the Nathu La pass resumed after a suspension of several years, following the earlier reopening at Shipki La, Global Times reported on Monday, describing it as a return to normal relations. The outlet also cited Indian media saying New Delhi is easing curbs on Chinese investment and trade.

Economy

China set a target for non-fossil sources to account for 50 percent of its electricity generation by 2030, Global Times reported. The report did not detail the measures planned to reach the target.

Economy

The number of people killed by an explosion during a peace rally in northwest Pakistan rose to 17, The Hindu reported on Monday. The report does not name anyone as responsible for the blast.

Geopolitics

Survivors of a fire aboard a ferry in Indonesia were brought ashore, Al Jazeera and Global Times reported on Monday. Both reports say the blaze was deadly, but neither gives a casualty figure or the vessel's route.

Geopolitics

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited the south-western prefecture of Kumamoto almost a week after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake killed 38 people there, the Guardian reported. Soaring temperatures are hampering recovery work.

Geopolitics

Premier Li Qiang signed a State Council decree promulgating revised regulations on the protection of chip designs, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday. Beijing presents the step as a push for technological self-sufficiency while US export controls restrict its semiconductor sector.

Technology

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned after weeks of nationwide protests over the NEET entrance exam, Daily Sabah reported on Monday. The outlet describes the youth-led revolt as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's toughest political test.

Geopolitics

Washington blacklisted 43 Chinese companies over forced labour, among them producers of dumplings and roasted seeds, Global Times reported on Monday. The Chinese state outlet, which calls the forced-labour grounds a pretext, said the selection drew ridicule from Chinese social media users.

Economy

A suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt at the entrance of a police station in Pakistan's Swat Valley on Sunday after officers tried to search him, killing at least 14 people, among them police, and wounding around 20 near an anti-militant rally. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility; Le Monde put the toll at at least nine dead.

Geopolitics