Apex says its reconnaissance aircraft detected the group more than 30 nautical miles off Hualien county, with the three vessels spread across a radius of about 10 nautical miles. The company documented the cluster with radar screenshots, infrared imagery and automatic-identification system data. It withheld the exact date, citing concerns about counter-reconnaissance against its operations.
søndag 11. oktober 2026
China’s Maritime Militia Surfaces Off Taiwan’s East Coast
A Chinese fishing boat that doubles as a militia vessel has been spotted off Taiwan’s Pacific coast for the first time. The sighting appears in a surveillance report by Taiwan’s Apex Aviation, which Reuters reviewed. The vessel, the Minfudingyu 07902, was seen in mid-August operating alongside a Chinese coast guard cutter and a research vessel.
Apex says its reconnaissance aircraft detected the group more than 30 nautical miles off Hualien county, with the three vessels spread across a radius of about 10 nautical miles. The company documented the cluster with radar screenshots, infrared imagery and automatic-identification system data. It withheld the exact date, citing concerns about counter-reconnaissance against its operations.
Apex says its reconnaissance aircraft detected the group more than 30 nautical miles off Hualien county, with the three vessels spread across a radius of about 10 nautical miles. The company documented the cluster with radar screenshots, infrared imagery and automatic-identification system data. It withheld the exact date, citing concerns about counter-reconnaissance against its operations.
India’s ‘Cockroach’ movement founder and leaders released from detention after Delhi protest crackdown
A New Delhi court Sunday released the founder and leaders of a surging youth-led political movement who were detained in a crackdown that stifled a major protest a day earlier in the Indian capital.
Abhijeet Dipke was detained along with other leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Saturday as their plane landed in New Delhi, according to the group. Footage showed Dipke shouting “go ahead and arrest us! Victory to Mother India! Long live the revolution!” Meanwhile in central Delhi, hundreds of the group’s followers were also detained.
On Sunday, the party’s legal head Ratna Singh said on X that the executive magistrate court released Dipke and the other two leaders on the condition there will be “no breach of peace for one year.” Delhi police on X confirmed the release, and conditions.
Abhijeet Dipke was detained along with other leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Saturday as their plane landed in New Delhi, according to the group. Footage showed Dipke shouting “go ahead and arrest us! Victory to Mother India! Long live the revolution!” Meanwhile in central Delhi, hundreds of the group’s followers were also detained.
On Sunday, the party’s legal head Ratna Singh said on X that the executive magistrate court released Dipke and the other two leaders on the condition there will be “no breach of peace for one year.” Delhi police on X confirmed the release, and conditions.
Stop hostile talk, Taiwan urges China
Taiwan yesterday urged China to stop its hostile rhetoric toward Taiwan as the US welcomed President William Lai’s commitment to Taiwan Strait stability in his Double Ten National Day speech.
Lai on Saturday described Taiwan as a “city upon a hill” and said that “Taiwan cherishes peace, but we will not give up our freedom. We are open to exchanges, but will not accept subordination.” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Lai’s speech “disregards facts, distorts the truth, misleads the public and reveals ulterior motives.” Taiwan is part of China and Taiwan’s future “can and must be decided jointly by all the Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan,” it added.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said China has no right to dictate Taiwan’s future, urging Beijing to stop hostile rhetoric that could heighten cross-strait tensions and to abandon the use of force or coercion to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait.
Lai on Saturday described Taiwan as a “city upon a hill” and said that “Taiwan cherishes peace, but we will not give up our freedom. We are open to exchanges, but will not accept subordination.” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Lai’s speech “disregards facts, distorts the truth, misleads the public and reveals ulterior motives.” Taiwan is part of China and Taiwan’s future “can and must be decided jointly by all the Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan,” it added.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said China has no right to dictate Taiwan’s future, urging Beijing to stop hostile rhetoric that could heighten cross-strait tensions and to abandon the use of force or coercion to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait.
China and EU reach deal on hybrid cars, rare earths
China and the European Union reached an "understanding" on hybrid vehicles on Friday, October 9, as their commerce chiefs concluded talks with an agreement to strengthen dialogue, dispelling fears of a full-blown trade war. The EU's Maros Sefcovic and China's Wang Wentao agreed both sides would adhere to "procedures concerning company price undertakings" of hybrid cars, Beijing's commerce ministry said, citing a joint statement.
The critical automotive sector was a focal point in the lead-up to talks, as cheaper products coming from China have strangled European industry and Brussels has sought to manage those exports. In a move that will bring further relief to Brussels, Beijing also committed to continuing the supply of vital items such as rare earth minerals to the European Union.
The critical automotive sector was a focal point in the lead-up to talks, as cheaper products coming from China have strangled European industry and Brussels has sought to manage those exports. In a move that will bring further relief to Brussels, Beijing also committed to continuing the supply of vital items such as rare earth minerals to the European Union.
China's forbidden memory of the greatest famine in history
Lu spent his entire career behind the wheel. After driving his taxi for days, years, then decades, he could have forgotten, given how much China has changed around him. The opposite happened. As he got older, his need to understand only grew stronger. It felt like a natural necessity in a country that so often forgets its own past. "I need to know what happened to me when I was a child, what happened to my family," said this man, dark-skinned and speaking with a strong accent from the Henan countryside.
He was 6 or 7 years old when four of the seven members of his household died, in 1959 and 1960. Despite his youth, he remembers the moment hunger swept through the village: his mother ordering him to eat tree bark while neighbors threw themselves on bird droppings. He remembers that his paternal grandfather was the first to die, during the Lunar New Year of 1959, before his 4-year-old sister, whose body was placed in an agricultural basket to be taken out of the house.
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He was 6 or 7 years old when four of the seven members of his household died, in 1959 and 1960. Despite his youth, he remembers the moment hunger swept through the village: his mother ordering him to eat tree bark while neighbors threw themselves on bird droppings. He remembers that his paternal grandfather was the first to die, during the Lunar New Year of 1959, before his 4-year-old sister, whose body was placed in an agricultural basket to be taken out of the house.
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One of the world’s wealthiest cities is enduring the world’s most polluted air. Here’s why
Singapore, one of the wealthiest cities in the world, has become the most polluted on the planet as it chokes under a blanket of thick, toxic smog caused by fires in neighboring Indonesia. Pollution has cast a pall on the city-state as it gets ready to host a packed weekend of marquee events ranging from international conferences to the glitzy Formula One Grand Prix night race. Air quality in the city-state was at the “very unhealthy” range with an air quality index (AQI) of 216 Friday mid-morning, according to Swiss air quality monitor IQAir.
lørdag 10. oktober 2026
Chinese court sentenced former mayor of Wuhan city to 14 years in prison for bribery
A former mayor of a Chinese city hit by the coronavirus outbreak more than six years ago was sentenced Saturday to 14 years in prison after being convicted of bribery.
While Zhou Xianwang has drawn criticism for his handling of the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, a city in central China, the court statement did not mention that, but focused on him receiving bribes. The court also fined him 5 million yuan ($747,000).
The Shangqiu Intermediate People’s Court said Zhou used his various positions to assist others on matters such as business operations and administrative approvals between 2003 and 2025. He accepted money and valuables totaling more than 60.5 million yuan ($9 million), it said, adding the amount was exceptionally large.
While Zhou Xianwang has drawn criticism for his handling of the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, a city in central China, the court statement did not mention that, but focused on him receiving bribes. The court also fined him 5 million yuan ($747,000).
The Shangqiu Intermediate People’s Court said Zhou used his various positions to assist others on matters such as business operations and administrative approvals between 2003 and 2025. He accepted money and valuables totaling more than 60.5 million yuan ($9 million), it said, adding the amount was exceptionally large.
A DAMOCLES SWORD OVER THE DEEP VALLEYS OF THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
Nearly four weeks after a devastating flood of water, ice, rock and sediment swept down the valley at Kyirong on the border of Tibet and Nepal, a catastrophic loss of life has been compounded by a climate of fear as Chinese authorities threaten reprisals for anyone expressing views that may differ from those of the Party state. One netizen was penalised after they gave a higher figure for those missing than the official line and said that the disaster was “heartbreaking”.
The image that will outlast the Kyirong catastrophe is of the port’s immigration building being swept away in seconds as people fled on the morning of 26 August. Border ports are routinely described as places of transit and bridges between nations. For Tibetans this one was neither: a crossing effectively closed to them in both directions, sealing a frontier that for centuries was no barrier at all.
The image that will outlast the Kyirong catastrophe is of the port’s immigration building being swept away in seconds as people fled on the morning of 26 August. Border ports are routinely described as places of transit and bridges between nations. For Tibetans this one was neither: a crossing effectively closed to them in both directions, sealing a frontier that for centuries was no barrier at all.
India’s ‘Cockroach’ movement founder and hundreds of others detained in crackdown on Delhi protest
Indian police detained the founder of a surging youth-led political movement and hundreds of other in a crackdown that stifled a major protest in the capital New Delhi.
Abhijeet Dipke was detained along with other leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party as their plane landed in New Delhi, according to the group. Footage shows Dipke shouting “go ahead and arrest us! Victory to Mother India! Long live the revolution!” His party vowed to continue the protest but with thousands of security personnel out on the streets and central Delhi sealed numbers turning out were small.
The CJP started out in May as a Gen-Z internet joke that went viral. In July, it forced the resignation of the education minister, the biggest government climbdown in years.
Abhijeet Dipke was detained along with other leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party as their plane landed in New Delhi, according to the group. Footage shows Dipke shouting “go ahead and arrest us! Victory to Mother India! Long live the revolution!” His party vowed to continue the protest but with thousands of security personnel out on the streets and central Delhi sealed numbers turning out were small.
The CJP started out in May as a Gen-Z internet joke that went viral. In July, it forced the resignation of the education minister, the biggest government climbdown in years.
India calls JD Vance’s comments about immigrants ‘deeply offensive’
India called comments by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance about immigrants from the country “deeply offensive” in an official government statement published on Friday.
Vance said on Thursday that the Trump administration wants foreign and local companies to “employ American workers,” and that they “cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.” He was speaking as the U.S. Department of Labor announced it would suspend Microsoft, Adobe and several major Indian information technology companies from its Permanent Labor Certification program, meaning they cannot apply for permanent residency for their employees on H-1 B visas.
Around 70% of H-1B beneficiaries in 2025 were born in India, per official data.
Vance said on Thursday that the Trump administration wants foreign and local companies to “employ American workers,” and that they “cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.” He was speaking as the U.S. Department of Labor announced it would suspend Microsoft, Adobe and several major Indian information technology companies from its Permanent Labor Certification program, meaning they cannot apply for permanent residency for their employees on H-1 B visas.
Around 70% of H-1B beneficiaries in 2025 were born in India, per official data.
Afghan road to China tests Pakistan’s power and leverage
China is increasingly trying to diversify its connections to the region as Pakistan’s actions in Afghanistan create new security and strategic problems for Beijing. The opening of a road through the Wakhan Corridor is an important step in that effort.
Afghanistan has formally inaugurated a 121-kilometer road through the corridor, running from Broghil to the Chinese border in Badakhshan Province. The road cost about 365 million afghani, roughly US$5.5 million, and was built by Afghan engineers without foreign engineers or advisers. It gives Afghanistan a physical link to China and gives Beijing a possible alternative route into Afghanistan and the wider region.
Afghanistan has formally inaugurated a 121-kilometer road through the corridor, running from Broghil to the Chinese border in Badakhshan Province. The road cost about 365 million afghani, roughly US$5.5 million, and was built by Afghan engineers without foreign engineers or advisers. It gives Afghanistan a physical link to China and gives Beijing a possible alternative route into Afghanistan and the wider region.
European Parliament condemns forced assimilation drive in Tibet
The European Parliament has on Oct 7 adopted a set of policy recommendations on EU-China political relations drafted by its Committee on Foreign Affairs which among numerous other things strongly condemns China’s intensifying campaign of mandatory “Sinicisation” and forced assimilation in Tibet. China’s official media on Oct 8 severely condemned the report and warned of dire consequences, but with focus on the report’s labelling of the country’s industrial policy as an “existential threat” to the EU’s industrial base and as a “decisive enabler” of Russia in its Ukraine war.
The European Parliament report – which is a set of Recommendation for the European Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on EU-China political relations – demands a stronger and principled EU-China policy that combines dialogue with more protection of European interests.
The European Parliament report – which is a set of Recommendation for the European Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on EU-China political relations – demands a stronger and principled EU-China policy that combines dialogue with more protection of European interests.
Taiwan president says defence spending boost aims to ‘deter war’
Taiwan President William Lai Ching-te says the island “cherishes peace” and will “not give up our freedom” in a National Day speech outside the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Lai made the remarks on Saturday in front of thousands of people, including foreign guests and diplomats. Fighter jets and two Chinook helicopters carrying giant Taiwan flags flew over Taipei before his speech.“We are open to exchanges but will not accept subordination,” he said. “Our aim by increasing investment in national defence is not to provoke; rather, it is to deter war.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office condemned Lai’s speech, saying it “disregards facts, distorts the truth, misleads the public, and reveals ulterior motives”. It said Lai “stubbornly clung to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist thinking” and exaggerated the “threat from the mainland”.
Lai made the remarks on Saturday in front of thousands of people, including foreign guests and diplomats. Fighter jets and two Chinook helicopters carrying giant Taiwan flags flew over Taipei before his speech.“We are open to exchanges but will not accept subordination,” he said. “Our aim by increasing investment in national defence is not to provoke; rather, it is to deter war.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office condemned Lai’s speech, saying it “disregards facts, distorts the truth, misleads the public, and reveals ulterior motives”. It said Lai “stubbornly clung to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist thinking” and exaggerated the “threat from the mainland”.
Satire silenced: Indian artists face censorship as anti-Modi protests grow
Stand-up comic Brijesh Jha posted a parody video on Instagram last week to protest the removal of his name, along with his father’s and sister’s, from a voter list in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
The video, which alleged that India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had disenfranchised millions of voters at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), garnered 1.7 million views after it was posted on September 29. Two days later, Meta, the United States-based company that owns Instagram, took the video down, citing “local laws” without giving further explanation.
“I felt very helpless that day. I have only one thing in this country – that I can vote. If you take that away from me, then I have nothing left. So I didn’t know what to do. As an artist, I can just make art, or I can protest,” the Mumbai-based artist told Al Jazeera.
The video, which alleged that India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had disenfranchised millions of voters at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), garnered 1.7 million views after it was posted on September 29. Two days later, Meta, the United States-based company that owns Instagram, took the video down, citing “local laws” without giving further explanation.
“I felt very helpless that day. I have only one thing in this country – that I can vote. If you take that away from me, then I have nothing left. So I didn’t know what to do. As an artist, I can just make art, or I can protest,” the Mumbai-based artist told Al Jazeera.
India’s ‘Cockroach’ leaders detained; New Delhi in lockdown
Police in India’s capital New Delhi have detained more than 1,000 protesters, opposition politicians, journalists, student union leaders, lawyers and the founders of the “Cockroach” youth movement in an effort to quash their demonstration demanding the resignation of the election chief.
The satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other youth groups had announced a protest in the subcontinent’s capital for Saturday, aimed at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The protesters accuse the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using the SIR to sway election results, in collusion with its appointees in the election commission, including Kumar.
The satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and other youth groups had announced a protest in the subcontinent’s capital for Saturday, aimed at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The protesters accuse the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using the SIR to sway election results, in collusion with its appointees in the election commission, including Kumar.
Bit by bit, the Taliban is losing control of Afghanistan
Five years after seizing Kabul, the Taliban’s strongest argument for international acceptance rests on control.
The Taliban governs every provincial capital and faces no conventional army capable of marching on Kabul. It repeatedly cites improved security as proof that Afghanistan’s post-2021 order is settled.But armed resistance is becoming more geographically dispersed, more organizationally diverse and harder to dismiss as a residual and largely spent northern rebellion. The Taliban may have won Afghanistan’s last war while creating the conditions for its next one.
In the first years after the takeover, the National Resistance Front and the Afghanistan Freedom Front dominated anti-Taliban armed activity, concentrating their operations in Panjshir, Badakhshan, Takhar, Baghlan and other northern and northeastern provinces.
The Taliban governs every provincial capital and faces no conventional army capable of marching on Kabul. It repeatedly cites improved security as proof that Afghanistan’s post-2021 order is settled.But armed resistance is becoming more geographically dispersed, more organizationally diverse and harder to dismiss as a residual and largely spent northern rebellion. The Taliban may have won Afghanistan’s last war while creating the conditions for its next one.
In the first years after the takeover, the National Resistance Front and the Afghanistan Freedom Front dominated anti-Taliban armed activity, concentrating their operations in Panjshir, Badakhshan, Takhar, Baghlan and other northern and northeastern provinces.
Japan’s Okinawa calls for review of US forces pact after killing
The prefectural assembly of Okinawa has called for a review of an agreement overseeing the stationing of United States military forces on the Japanese island.
The assembly adopted the resolution on Friday. The vote came after a US Marine was accused of robbing and killing a local woman. The call to adapt the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement to urge the US military to prevent such incidents will be sent to the US embassy. The assembly also passed a statement to the same effect addressed to the Japanese government.
Ryotaro Odo, who heads the assembly’s special committee on US military bases, said the US military was “not functioning as an organisation”, pointing to failures in training and discipline.
The assembly adopted the resolution on Friday. The vote came after a US Marine was accused of robbing and killing a local woman. The call to adapt the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement to urge the US military to prevent such incidents will be sent to the US embassy. The assembly also passed a statement to the same effect addressed to the Japanese government.
Ryotaro Odo, who heads the assembly’s special committee on US military bases, said the US military was “not functioning as an organisation”, pointing to failures in training and discipline.
Malaysia shuts schools as haze from Indonesian fires chokes Southeast Asia
Malaysia has closed schools in its capital and several states as smoke from Indonesian forest fires pushes air pollution to unhealthy levels. Schools were ordered to close on Friday across Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital Putrajaya and in the states of Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Selangor. The move, which affected roughly two million students, came as Kuala Lumpur recorded an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of about 170. The API is a government-run measure of air quality.
Singapore, at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, saw its air quality fall into the “very unhealthy” range, according to IQAir.
“The haze issue is indeed at a worrying level,” said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. He added that he had spoken to Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, who had agreed to take “the necessary steps”. However, he offered no details on what that might entail.
Singapore, at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula, saw its air quality fall into the “very unhealthy” range, according to IQAir.
“The haze issue is indeed at a worrying level,” said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. He added that he had spoken to Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto, who had agreed to take “the necessary steps”. However, he offered no details on what that might entail.
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