Liu Yandong, Rare Woman Among China’s Political Elite, Dies at 80

New York Times - Oct 31, 2026

The former vice premier was one of just six women to have served on the Chinese Communist Party’s elite Politburo, though she was excluded from the top ranks of power.

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How One Country Became the Unlikely Crossroads of the Global A.I. Boom
Oct 31, 2026
How One Country Became the Unlikely Crossroads of the Global A.I. Boom

In Malaysia, U.S. and Chinese tech giants are pouring billions into vast data centers, straining local resources and testing the limits of Washington’s restrictions on advanced chips.

As AI cyber risks grow, Chinese chip expert urges shared ethics standards with US rivals
Oct 31, 2026
As AI cyber risks grow, Chinese chip expert urges shared ethics standards with US rivals

The co-founder of Chinese chip giant Cambricon Technologies urged the introduction of universal ethical requirements for leading Chinese and American artificial intelligence models on Friday to mitigate growing risks to society. Chen Yunji’s remarks at an event in Shanghai come as the rapid advance of AI systems globally has resulted in a string of high-profile cyberattacks that have threatened critical infrastructure and breached government servers. Predicting that AI advances would develop...

Will Digging Up Vietnam’s War Dead Heal Old Wounds or Reopen Them?
Oct 31, 2026
Will Digging Up Vietnam’s War Dead Heal Old Wounds or Reopen Them?

A 500-day campaign to find and identify fallen soldiers has unearthed hundreds of bodies, but not everyone gets a chance at closure.

Kim Jong-un urges drone expansion as North Korea showcases new unmanned tech
Oct 31, 2026
Kim Jong-un urges drone expansion as North Korea showcases new unmanned tech

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended an exhibition devoted to drones and called for rapidly expanding the country’s drone technology, state media reported on Friday, as his military escalates threats against South Korea and the United States. Acquiring advanced drones is a top priority for Kim, who now wants to strengthen conventional and nuclear capabilities to counter what he calls US-led security threats. It is unclear how far North Korea’s drone programme has progressed. Experts say...

Dark past of Japan’s Unit 731 buried under airport expansion
Oct 31, 2026
Dark past of Japan’s Unit 731 buried under airport expansion

A village that sent hundreds of men to one of imperial Japan’s most notorious wartime units is being demolished to make way for a runway at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. Unit 731 carried out lethal experiments on captives, many of them Chinese, to develop biological weapons during the second world war. Around 300 of its roughly 3,000 personnel came from Kamo, a neighbourhood in Shibayama town, Chiba prefecture, east of the capital. Its founder and commander, Lieutenant General Shiro...

‘I’m terrified’: AI comes for Southeast Asia’s graduate jobs
Oct 31, 2026
‘I’m terrified’: AI comes for Southeast Asia’s graduate jobs

Nafeesa Azman has applied for hundreds of jobs over the past two months, yet the 24-year-old Malaysian marketing graduate is yet to find a permanent role that pays what she needs or uses the skills she spent years, and a good deal of money, developing. Natthanicha Intawong, a final-year media arts student in Bangkok, describes the terror many of her peers feel as they prepare to enter a jobs market that artificial intelligence is already beginning to scythe through. For Joshua Nai, a Singaporean...

China helps dismantle major meth trafficking network in Southeast Asia
Oct 30, 2026
China helps dismantle major meth trafficking network in Southeast Asia

China has broken up a major transnational drug trafficking network in cooperation with Indonesia and Malaysia, seizing around 1.2 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine, China’s Ministry of Public Security said on Friday. The operation was carried out on October 21 by Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency (BNN), which raided and shut down a large-scale drug processing and purification facility in Aceh, Indonesia, and arrested 11 people, with help from China’s National Narcotics Control Commission...

The flaw in Australia’s ‘China threat’ thesis
Oct 30, 2026
The flaw in Australia’s ‘China threat’ thesis

Australia’s preparations for a possible conflict with China reflect “a relatively superficial understanding”, argues prominent economist John Edwards. Europe, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, he notes, are not preparing for such a conflict. Why should Australia? Edwards, a former senior economic adviser to former Labor prime minister Paul Keating, makes the observation in a Lowy Institute paper released in October and in a newspaper interview. Instead, he sees US-China rivalry as a...

I Covered the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It Still Weighs on Me.
Oct 30, 2026
I Covered the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It Still Weighs on Me.

The day that changed modern China also taught me how to recognize true courage.

Fire Devastated a Mongolian Nature Reserve. Who’s to Blame?
Oct 30, 2026
Fire Devastated a Mongolian Nature Reserve. Who’s to Blame?

The fire in Numrug touches on cross-border capital compliance risks and geopolitical changes impacting Northeast Asia’s ecology.

U.S. to Send Dozens Back to Afghanistan, Despite Risk of Persecution
Oct 30, 2026
U.S. to Send Dozens Back to Afghanistan, Despite Risk of Persecution

The Trump administration plans to fly the Afghan immigrants from Louisiana to Pakistan, where they are expected to be expelled over the border to Afghanistan.

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