Asia
Asia
Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte re-elected as mayor of Davao far ahead of his competitors, is currently imprisoned in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity as thousands of people were killed in his war on drugs
India and Pakistan agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, Donald Trump writes on Truth Social that the decision followed a long night of talks mediated by the United States
IMF approves USD 2.4 billion support for Pakistan of which 1 billion for an economic reform program and 1.4 billion to address vulnerabilities related to climate change and natural disasters
India launches military operation against Pakistan in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, says they have hit terrorist infrastructure in a focused and non-escalatory manner where no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted, Pakistan says the heinous provocation will not go unanswered
20,000 security personnel from three states have surrounded over 1,000 Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur in the largest-ever operation against the Maoist rebels, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has set a deadline to eliminate Naxalism before April 2026 and nearly 150 Naxalites have been gunned down this year
At least 26 killed and several injured after terrorist attack against tourists in Indian Pahalgam during Tuesday afternoon, offshoot of the Pakistan-based Salafist terror group Laskhar-e-Taiba claims responsibility for the attack where picknicking and pony-riding tourists in an area nicknamed Mini-Switzerland were shot and Hindu men were forced to recite an Islamic call to prayer before they were killed
Hong Kong's oldest and largest pro-democracy political party The Democratic Party disbands after 30 years following warnings from Chinese government officials, the party is widely seen as moderates willing to work with Beijing and analysts say the move shows the Chinese unwillingness to allow even the mildest of dissenting voices to be heard in Hong Kong
Japan's Supreme Court overturns verdict and rules that a 58-year-old bus driver in Kyoto losing his USD 84,000 pension due to being fired for stealing USD 7 from passengers' fares is not excessive, states that the man's conduct could undermine public trust in the system and the sound operation of the bus service
Japan's population drops for the fourteenth year running, the non-foreign population dropped by record 898,000 and the population including foreigners fell by 550,000 people to 123.8 million, Tokyo and neighboring Saitama the only of 47 prefectures with population increases
Chinese authorities urges residents weighing less than 50kg to stay home to avoid being blown away in orange-level storm alert with winds up to 150 kph, gusts reaching level 13 out of 17 in northern part of the country, uprooting trees and damaging vehicles
At least 16 Maoist rebels killed by Indian security forces in Chhattisgarh in escalating action against the decadeslong Naxalite rebellion where more than 10,000 people have been killed, Home Minister Amit Shah writes on X that they have recovered a massive cache of automatic weapons and vows to eradicate Naxalism before the 31st of March 2026
Two killed and several injured in Kathmandu as monarchy activists clash with police, Nepal officially abolished the monarchy in 2008 two years after King Gyanendra Shah was ousted due to his coup d'état but there has been a growing demand in recent months for him to be reinstated as king and Hinduism to be brought back as a state religion
At least 154 dead and the death toll is expected to rise in Myanmar and Thailand after 7.7 magnitude earthquake with epicenter near Myanmar's second-largest city Mandalay and aftershocks of up to 6.4 magnitude
Australian leaders call the surge in antisemitic attacks across the country a national crisis, more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in Australia during the year after Hamas' attack on Israel which is three times the figure for the same period a year earlier, cars and schools set on fire or spray-painted with anti-Israel messages and arson attacks against a synagogue in Melbourne as well as against a Jewish child care center in Sydney, two nurses in a Sydney hospital suspended this week for saying on TikTok that they would kill Jewish patients or refuse to treat them
The Cook Islands signs comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with China, contents not disclosed with New Zealand prior to ratification despite repeated requests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun says the relationship between China and the Cook Islands does not target any third party and should not be disrupted or restrained by any third party
India sets up deregulation commission to further reduce the State's role in governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says it is his conviction that there should be less interference of the government in the society, hundreds of compliances already ended and the income tax has been lowered and property rights have also been strengthened
Kim Jong Un declares that serving hot dogs constitutes treason and that people caught selling or cooking them could face time in labor camps, Korean-American hot dog hotpot budae-jjigae which was created from meats discarded by US soldiers during the 1950s as well as steamed rice cakes tteokbokki also banned recently
179 of 181 people onboard suspected dead in crash during landing for a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 travelling from Bangkok to Muan International Airport in South Korea, the plane suffered from malfunctioning landing gear and veered off the runway into a wall, witnesses also report seeing the plane collide with birds
North Korea launches aggressive campaign against unmarried couples living together, declares such arrangements symptoms of a decadent capitalist culture and police has legal authority to intervene as it is already branded a non-socialist practice, couples caught face an ultimatum where they can register their marriage within 15 days or face public criticism sessions at neighborhood watch units or workplaces
India intensifies border surveillance after reports that Bangladesh has deployed Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones in the area, the development follows intelligence reports indicating increased terrorist activity along the border after the August fall of the Bangladesh government
Martial law declared in South Korea by President Yoon Suk Yeol, recinded 6 hours later after vote by parliament, Yoon claims the political opposition is engaged in anti-state activities and sympathizes with North Korea and that all forces opposing the state must be eliminated
Four members of Pakistan's security services killed as thousands of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's supporters break through government barricades in Islamabad, the protesters demand his release from jail and government resignation over rigged elections, Khan sentenced for graft and revealing offical secrets and faces more than 150 other criminal cases, the clashes follow a court decision to ban rallies in the city, arrests of more than 4,000 Khan supporters and suspended mobile and internet services
Kurdish PKK claims responsibility for Wednesday's terrorist attack on state-owned arms manufacturer TAI outside Ankara, Turkey, in which five people died, claiming the company's weapons have killed thousands of Kurds, including children and women
Former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to become Japan's new prime minister after a vote in parliament next week after winning the Liberal Democratic party leadership vote with 215 votes to female challenger Sanae Takaichi's 194 votes
Armed faction of the West Papua National Liberation Army in Indonesia, led by Egianus Kogoya, are according to audio message published by spokesman willing to release the New Zealand pilot Phillip Mehrtens who was kidnapped over a year ago, the Indonesian army has said that military intervention would be dangerous and has instead prioritized diplomacy
Philippines and China reach agreement on Philippines-controlled reef Second Thomas Shoal which is also claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, the US has repeatedly warned that attacks on Philippine ships in the South China Sea might lead to intervention as the US and the Philippines have a joint military agreement
Pakistani man who applied to set up the nation's first gay club thrown into a mental hospital, widespread dislike for the application among local citizens and politicians alike in conservative Abbottabad, local MP says he would have doused the club with gasoline and set it alight
North Korea sends excrement and trash filled balloons across border into South Korea in response to propaganda leaflets sent over country, the military analyzes the contents and public is asked not to touch them
North Korean dissident and defector Park Yeon-mi claims North Korean leader Kim Jong Un annually gets a pleasure squad of 25 female virgins to satisfy him, after officials visit every class to not miss someone pretty, but Bangladeshi website Blitz claims she is a pathological liar and employed by South Korean intelligence service
40-year-old man kills six people and injures three in a shopping center in Sydney, Australia in a knife attack and is shot dead on the spot by a female police, is not suspected to be an act of terrorism as the man previously known to the police
The candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, William Lai, wins the presidential election in Taiwan, while mainland China views Lai as a separatist and urged Taiwanese voters not to vote for him
More than a third of unmarried Japanese under the age of 50 have never been in a relationship, according to research by Recruit Holdings Co. who since 2017 have conducted research on the topic, among men who do not want to get married the most common reason was the cost involved and for women it was that they did not want to compromise their freedom and independence
Poppy and opium production in Afghanistan has fallen by more than 90 percent since the US left and the Taliban banned the crop in April 2022, according to a report by the United Nations agency UNODC, leading to USD 1 billion in reduced income for farmers
Riots as pro-palestinians storm Dagestan airport in Russia where a plane from Israel were due to arrive, Russian defense ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Ukraine helped plan what she calls an externally-led provocation
Pakistan announces that the 1.73 million Afghans living illegally in the country have until November 1st to leave, Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti says the government will confiscate their assets and set up a public reporting system for suspected illegal Afghans
China bans seafood imports from Japan after Japan began releasing filtered and treated cooling water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea, according to a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, it is irresponsible and selfish to shift the risk of contamination to other countries
India bans the export of rice abroad except for basmati due to concerns about under-harvest, the country accounts for more than 40 percent of the world's rice exports that go to more than 140 countries
China's exports down 12.4 percent and imports down 6.8 percent in dollar terms in June compared to June 2022, in May the decline was 7.5 percent and US imports from China was down 24 percent in June
Thailand's 69-year-old Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha resigns after nearly nine years in office, seized power in 2014 by military coup
China begins to control the export of the rare earth metals gallium and germanium citing national security and now a license is needed to sell abroad, gallium is most common in semiconductors and transistors and germanium in rectifiers and transistors
Europeans and Americans cannot distinguish between Asians and Asians cannot become Westerners and should know where their roots are, said Wang Yi, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, during a meeting of the International Forum for Trilateral Cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea, the three countries expressed willingness to make efforts to improve cooperation between the countries
Vietnam bans new Barbie movies from cinemas because map in the film shows China's claims to territory in the disputed South China Sea, previously the movie Uncharted has been banned for a similar reason
Monkeypox outbreak among homosexuals in Thailand, 48 infected last month which is more than double compared to May, the head of the agency for disease control Dr. Tares Krassanairawiwong says 46 percent of those infected have HIV
Damages appeal by two Japanese women in their 60s and 70s for their sterilization under now-defunct eugenics program gets rejected by court due to 20-year statute of limitations, plaintiffs had sought the equivalent of over USD 500,000 on the grounds that they were deprived of self-determination in giving birth and raising children, something guaranteed by the constitution
China plans manned lunar mission by 2030 and announces it has reached the lunar landing phase of the project, three taikonauts will on Tuesday in another project be sent to its fully operational space base along with its first ever civilian in space
The Philippines places navigational buoys in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea to assert sovereignty over the disputed Spratly Islands, China has in recent years advanced its positions in the area and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has sought closer relations with the United States, China's embassy has yet to comment
Japanese traditional festival where babies dress up in sumo suits and compete to see who screams first takes place again after pandemic break, children are held up by parents in a sumo ring and people wearing demon masks try to scare them, organizer Shigemi Fuji says in Japan it is believed that babies who cries vigorously also grows up healthy
Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio escaped unhurt after explosive device detonated shortly before he was to give a speech outside as part of the election rally, 24-year-old suspect arrested on the spot, in May the G-7 summit will be held in Hiroshima
Alibaba founder Jack Ma was spotted in China visiting a school in Hangzhou after being believed to have been out of the country since 2021 as authorities tightened controls on his company over his criticism of the country's regulators and banking sector
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calls on all ministries and government offices to cut spending by 15 percent and asks his ministers and advisers to forgo salary, allowances, luxury cars, foreign and business-class travel as the government looking to receive a $1 billion IMF loan,