Passenger train service from China to North Korea had resumed March 12. Flights and passenger trains to North Korea had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. North Korean carrier Air Koryo resumed flights between the capitals in 2023. North Korea banned all foreign tourists during the pandemic but has started easing the restrictions, with a Russian tour group entering the country in 2024.
mandag 30. mars 2026
China resumes direct flights to North Korea after 6 years
China’s flag carrier resumed direct flights between Beijing and North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang on Monday not long after the restoration of passenger train services between the capitals. The Air China flight was welcomed by the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, and other diplomats, according to Chinese state media.
Passenger train service from China to North Korea had resumed March 12. Flights and passenger trains to North Korea had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. North Korean carrier Air Koryo resumed flights between the capitals in 2023. North Korea banned all foreign tourists during the pandemic but has started easing the restrictions, with a Russian tour group entering the country in 2024.
Passenger train service from China to North Korea had resumed March 12. Flights and passenger trains to North Korea had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. North Korean carrier Air Koryo resumed flights between the capitals in 2023. North Korea banned all foreign tourists during the pandemic but has started easing the restrictions, with a Russian tour group entering the country in 2024.
What the West Misses About China’s Nuclear Build-up
Western strategists have spent years asking why China is expanding its nuclear arsenal. The answer they reach is usually the same: Beijing is seeking warfighting capability, regional dominance, or leverage over Taipei. The U.S. intelligence community’s 2024 Annual Threat Assessment offered a different explanation, one that deserves far more attention than it has received. China is expanding, it noted, because its leaders fear a U.S. first strike.
That fear is not irrational. And until Western strategic debate honestly grapples with what U.S. and allied conventional capabilities look like from Beijing, no stable strategic relationship with China is achievable, and disarmament and arms control becomes even less likely.
That fear is not irrational. And until Western strategic debate honestly grapples with what U.S. and allied conventional capabilities look like from Beijing, no stable strategic relationship with China is achievable, and disarmament and arms control becomes even less likely.
Taiwan opposition leader accepts Xi's invite to visit China
The leader of Taiwan's largest opposition party is set to visit China in April after accepting an invite from Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a statement on Monday, Kuomintang (KMT) said its chairperson, Cheng Li-wun, was "grateful" for the invitation and had "gladly" accepted it.
Cheng "expressed hope that the two parties (the KMT and China's Communist Party) would work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, strengthen cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, secure peace in the Taiwan Strait, and enhance the well-being of the people," her party said.
The former lawmaker assumed her role as KMT's chairperson after winning an election in October last year. She has publicly insisted on meeting Xi before an official visit to the United States, in a move that has garnered flak from both inside and outside of her party for being too pro-China. The KMT advocates closer economic ties and more exchanges with Beijing, which claims self-ruling Taiwan as its own territory.
Cheng "expressed hope that the two parties (the KMT and China's Communist Party) would work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, strengthen cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, secure peace in the Taiwan Strait, and enhance the well-being of the people," her party said.
The former lawmaker assumed her role as KMT's chairperson after winning an election in October last year. She has publicly insisted on meeting Xi before an official visit to the United States, in a move that has garnered flak from both inside and outside of her party for being too pro-China. The KMT advocates closer economic ties and more exchanges with Beijing, which claims self-ruling Taiwan as its own territory.
China Hits Out At US Visit To Taiwan
A bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation has drawn a protest from Beijing after it arrived in Taiwan to press lawmakers to boost defense spending amid a widening military gap across the Taiwan Strait.
“Taiwan firmly opposes official interactions between the U.S. and the Taiwan region and has lodged serious representations with the U.S. side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during Monday’s regular press briefing.While the U.S., like most countries, switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing,
“Taiwan firmly opposes official interactions between the U.S. and the Taiwan region and has lodged serious representations with the U.S. side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during Monday’s regular press briefing.While the U.S., like most countries, switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing,
Washington maintains robust unofficial ties with Taipei and supplies it with arms under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. A special defense budget requested by President Lai Ching-te, however, has for months been in a state of limbo in Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature, which favors closer ties with Beijing and has raised concerns over oversight and spending details.
Beijing’s surprise intervention on Meta’s Manus rattles tech founders
Tech circles from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen buzzed when Meta acquired Manus, a Singaporean AI startup with Chinese roots, for $2 billion late last year. For Chinese founders striving to build products that could rival American peers, the deal felt like a validation that an intricate offshore structure – known as “Singapore washing” where companies relocate to the city state – was the answer to circumvent scrutiny from both Beijing and Washington.
Within days, China’s surprise intervention on the deal quickly shattered that hope, as Beijing stepped up efforts to discourage Chinese AI founders from moving business offshore.
The Chinese government started reviewing whether Manus’ sale had violated laws governing technology exports and outbound investment, and barred co-founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao from leaving China for Singapore, according to a Financial Times report earlier this week.
Within days, China’s surprise intervention on the deal quickly shattered that hope, as Beijing stepped up efforts to discourage Chinese AI founders from moving business offshore.
The Chinese government started reviewing whether Manus’ sale had violated laws governing technology exports and outbound investment, and barred co-founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao from leaving China for Singapore, according to a Financial Times report earlier this week.
China suppliers warn of higher prices for Americans due to Strait of Hormuz closure
Pickleball paddle producer Devi Wei has a message for U.S. shoppers.
“Americans will have to pay more,” the Chinese businessman told CNBC at a Beijing trade show last week at the China International Exhibition Center.
“Americans will have to pay more,” the Chinese businessman told CNBC at a Beijing trade show last week at the China International Exhibition Center.
Because of the recent swings in oil prices resulting from the Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Wei, who founded his own exporting business, Huijin Trade, has had to hike prices on his paddles and pickleballs by as much as 20%, he said.
Wei’s goods are made with polypropylene, a plastic material derived from oil and made in the Middle East, a dominant producer in the global industry. The war in Iran has stalled shipments of oil and its products through the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns among Chinese manufacturers at the trade fair about further disruption across the global supply chain.
Read more
Wei’s goods are made with polypropylene, a plastic material derived from oil and made in the Middle East, a dominant producer in the global industry. The war in Iran has stalled shipments of oil and its products through the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns among Chinese manufacturers at the trade fair about further disruption across the global supply chain.
Read more
India’s latest mega airport has opened. Now it just needs some flights
One of India’s most ambitious aviation projects, touted to be among the largest in South Asia, has been inaugurated more than four years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially kicked off the project.
“I am happy that I had the privilege of laying the foundation stone of this airport and also inaugurating it,” Modi said in a ceremony held at the airport on March 28.
The announcement provides much-needed PR for India’s struggling aviation industry, especially as the world copes with the fuel shortage amid the US and Israel’s war with Iran, which has blocked many ships carrying oil out of the Middle East. Noida International Airport, call sign DXN, is located in Delhi’s National Capital Region. The surrounding state of Uttar Pradesh is now India’s first to have five international airports.
“I am happy that I had the privilege of laying the foundation stone of this airport and also inaugurating it,” Modi said in a ceremony held at the airport on March 28.
The announcement provides much-needed PR for India’s struggling aviation industry, especially as the world copes with the fuel shortage amid the US and Israel’s war with Iran, which has blocked many ships carrying oil out of the Middle East. Noida International Airport, call sign DXN, is located in Delhi’s National Capital Region. The surrounding state of Uttar Pradesh is now India’s first to have five international airports.
China is the clean energy superpower, but there’s another snapping at its heels
Prem Chand is one of the many rickshaw drivers who spend their days darting and weaving along Delhi’s hectic roads. And like an increasing number of the city’s many thousands of rickshaws, Chand’s vehicle is electric. He used to drive a gas-powered cab but ditched it eight months ago when he did the math and realized an e-rickshaw was far cheaper to run. Plus there’s an added bonus: it pumps no tailpipe pollution into the city’s famously toxic air.
“This is good for my pocket and for my environment, so why wouldn’t I make the switch?” Chand said.
“This is good for my pocket and for my environment, so why wouldn’t I make the switch?” Chand said.
Behind the lobster merch, China’s latest tech obsession could be a game changer
At China’s hot new tech events, lobsters are everywhere –– lobster balloons, lobster headbands, lobster plushies in claw machines, even live lobsters in an inflatable kiddie pool.
But the attendees swarming the meet-ups are not here for the crustaceans –– they’re here for the new technology they represent: OpenClaw, an autonomous artificial intelligence tool, which can be programmed to run tasks nonstop with full control of the user’s device.
Rather than a simple question-and-answer format like most AI chatbots, OpenClaw uses the same underlying technology to independently operate apps, web browsers or smart home appliances based on commands via commonly used messaging apps like WhatsApp.
But the attendees swarming the meet-ups are not here for the crustaceans –– they’re here for the new technology they represent: OpenClaw, an autonomous artificial intelligence tool, which can be programmed to run tasks nonstop with full control of the user’s device.
Rather than a simple question-and-answer format like most AI chatbots, OpenClaw uses the same underlying technology to independently operate apps, web browsers or smart home appliances based on commands via commonly used messaging apps like WhatsApp.
søndag 29. mars 2026
Torbjørn Færøvik: The Woman with the Torch - The Night Persepolis Burned
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will hardly ever manage to make his way to Persepolis. But Alexander the Great did—and not only that: urged on by an intoxicated woman, he set the city ablaze. In the end, only a few lonely columns were left standing.
An intoxicated woman?
Ancient historians tell us her name was Thais. She may have been in her twenties or thirties when she joined Alexander on his bloody conquest of Persia. The empire was so vast it could make one dizzy, stretching from the Mediterranean to India. When the drama was over, tens of thousands lay dead on the battlefield.
We must go far back in time—to the year 334 BC. That was the year the young Alexander set out on a campaign that would shake large parts of the known world. He was only 22 when he took the field. Yet as the young king of Macedon and the son of the murdered Philip II of Macedon, he radiated a rare authority. Moreover, he had received military training from childhood and several years of instruction from none other than Aristotle.
An intoxicated woman?
Ancient historians tell us her name was Thais. She may have been in her twenties or thirties when she joined Alexander on his bloody conquest of Persia. The empire was so vast it could make one dizzy, stretching from the Mediterranean to India. When the drama was over, tens of thousands lay dead on the battlefield.
We must go far back in time—to the year 334 BC. That was the year the young Alexander set out on a campaign that would shake large parts of the known world. He was only 22 when he took the field. Yet as the young king of Macedon and the son of the murdered Philip II of Macedon, he radiated a rare authority. Moreover, he had received military training from childhood and several years of instruction from none other than Aristotle.
India’s calculated silence on the Iran war
The escalating confrontation in the Gulf is entering uncertain territory, with risks extending well beyond the region. For India, the stakes are unusually high—economically, strategically and politically—sparking calls for India to step in as a mediator.
Given its deep economic stakes and wide-ranging relationships in the region, India appears, at first glance, to be a natural candidate. Yet New Delhi has shown little appetite for such a role. This is not a missed opportunity, but a demonstration of a deliberate and evolving strategic choice.
Given its deep economic stakes and wide-ranging relationships in the region, India appears, at first glance, to be a natural candidate. Yet New Delhi has shown little appetite for such a role. This is not a missed opportunity, but a demonstration of a deliberate and evolving strategic choice.
India’s External Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has made it clear that India does not see itself as a “broker” in complex geopolitical conflicts. This position underscores a broader doctrine of strategic autonomy—one that prioritizes flexibility, avoids entanglement, and relies on calibrated engagement rather than high-visibility intervention.
China’s ocean-floor push blurs the line between mining and war
China is rapidly expanding its deep-sea research and mapping efforts across key global waters, raising concerns that these activities may support future undersea conflict. This month, Reuters and CNN reported that China is expanding a vast deep-sea research and mapping effort across the Pacific, Indian and Arctic oceans, combining resource exploration with strategic data collection that analysts say could support future submarine warfare against the US and its allies.
Dozens of state-linked Chinese research vessels have spent years surveying seabeds, deploying sensors, and mapping underwater terrain in areas near Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines, and key maritime chokepoints, generating data on temperature, salinity, and acoustic conditions critical for submarine navigation and detection, the reports said.
CNN shows at least eight Chinese vessels conducting deep-sea mining exploration missions over five years, often exhibiting patterns — such as disabling tracking systems and operating beyond licensed zones — that experts say suggest dual-use, military-civilian objectives aligned with China’s “military-civil fusion (MCF)” strategy.
CNN shows at least eight Chinese vessels conducting deep-sea mining exploration missions over five years, often exhibiting patterns — such as disabling tracking systems and operating beyond licensed zones — that experts say suggest dual-use, military-civilian objectives aligned with China’s “military-civil fusion (MCF)” strategy.
Ghost of Suez haunts Trump’s Iran war
To a student of Middle Eastern history, the parallels with October 1956 are not merely suggestive — they are, in their essential structure, almost embarrassingly precise. Recall the anatomy of the Suez adventure. Britain and France, chafing at the nationalist pretensions of Gamal Abdel Nasser and the loss of the canal, entered into a secret arrangement with Israel.
The plan was elegantly cynical: Israel would attack Egypt across the Sinai; London and Paris would then “intervene” as ostensible peacemakers, demanding both sides stand down from the canal zone — which they knew Egypt would refuse — thereby furnishing a pretext to seize the waterway themselves.
The justifications offered to the public shifted kaleidoscopically: it was about freedom of navigation; it was about containing Soviet influence; it was about preventing a dangerous authoritarian from acquiring too much power.
The plan was elegantly cynical: Israel would attack Egypt across the Sinai; London and Paris would then “intervene” as ostensible peacemakers, demanding both sides stand down from the canal zone — which they knew Egypt would refuse — thereby furnishing a pretext to seize the waterway themselves.
The justifications offered to the public shifted kaleidoscopically: it was about freedom of navigation; it was about containing Soviet influence; it was about preventing a dangerous authoritarian from acquiring too much power.
India: When floods come, survival is a roll of the dice
Last year, as monsoon rains pushed the Brahmaputra River over its banks in India's northeastern state of Assam, Amir Hussen knew one thing — he will need to rebuild his life. Again.
"I have lost my house 17 times to riverbank erosion," said Hussen, 47, a resident of Kharballi village in Assam's Barpeta district. "Wherever there are floods, there is erosion… When we try to find our footing, due to floods, our house gets washed away."
In villages like Kharballi, built along shifting riverbanks, floods routinely erase homes, farmland and livelihoods. Families move repeatedly, often rebuilding on borrowed land or narrow strips of earth left behind by the river.
For them, a flood means losing their homes and livestock but also documents and land records. This is especially risk for Muslim families in Assam. The state has been at the center of India's citizenship crackdown, where recent policies and verification drives have placed Muslims under closer scrutiny. Lost papers could mean legal troubles and even loss of citizenship.
"I have lost my house 17 times to riverbank erosion," said Hussen, 47, a resident of Kharballi village in Assam's Barpeta district. "Wherever there are floods, there is erosion… When we try to find our footing, due to floods, our house gets washed away."
In villages like Kharballi, built along shifting riverbanks, floods routinely erase homes, farmland and livelihoods. Families move repeatedly, often rebuilding on borrowed land or narrow strips of earth left behind by the river.
For them, a flood means losing their homes and livestock but also documents and land records. This is especially risk for Muslim families in Assam. The state has been at the center of India's citizenship crackdown, where recent policies and verification drives have placed Muslims under closer scrutiny. Lost papers could mean legal troubles and even loss of citizenship.
US rebuilding WWII Pacific airfields amid China threat
Airstrips that were constructed on remote islands in the Pacific to target Japan in the closing stages of World War II are quietly being repaired and restored as the US builds up its defensive posture amid the growing challenge of China in the region.
Chinese vessels frequently test maritime claims by South Korea and Japan in the northern Pacific. To the south, Beijing carries out frequent large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, which it says will one day be "reunited" with mainland China.
Beijing also claims most of the South China Sea as Chinese territory, despite a 2016 international tribunal rejecting these claims. "China is, of course, the big concern in the region and this appears to be a response to China building out its own capacity," Dan Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University and a former US Air Force officer, told DW.
Chinese vessels frequently test maritime claims by South Korea and Japan in the northern Pacific. To the south, Beijing carries out frequent large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, which it says will one day be "reunited" with mainland China.
Beijing also claims most of the South China Sea as Chinese territory, despite a 2016 international tribunal rejecting these claims. "China is, of course, the big concern in the region and this appears to be a response to China building out its own capacity," Dan Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University and a former US Air Force officer, told DW.
US lawmakers say they’ll visit Taiwan before Trump’s summit with China’s Xi
A bipartisan group of four senators has plans to visit Taiwan, Japan and South Korea in the coming days on a trip meant to bolster U.S. alliances seen as important to countering China’s dominance in Asia.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced the trip Saturday. She will be joined by Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. Their visits to Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul are coming before President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing in May for a rescheduled summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The lawmakers’ stop in Taiwan could draw scrutiny from China, which opposes such relations and sees them as a challenge to its claim of sovereignty over the self-governing island. Taiwan relies on American backing for its democracy, but recent moves by Trump, such as discussing a potential weapons sales to Taiwan with Xi, have raised questions about the future direction of U.S. policy.
North Korea conducts engine test for missile capable of targeting US mainland
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed a test of an upgraded, high-thrust, solid-fuel engine for weapons and hailed it as a signficant development to boost the country’s strategic military capability, state media reported Sunday. While the test was in line with Kim’s stated goal of acquiring more agile, hard-to-detect missiles targeting the United States and its allies, some experts speculate North Korea’s claim may be an exaggeration.
The Korean Central News Agency reported Kim watched the ground jet test of the engine using a composite carbon fiber material. It said the engine’s maximum trust is 2,500 kilotons, up from about 1,970 kilotons reported in a similar solid-fuel engine test in September.
Ross Andersen: The Shocking Speed of China’s Scientific Rise
If China finally eclipses the United States as the world’s preeminent scientific superpower, there won’t be an official announcement. Neither will there necessarily be a dramatic Promethean demonstration, a bomb flash in the desert, a satellite beeping overhead, a moon landing. It will be a quiet moment, observed by a small, specialized subset of scientists who have forsaken the study of the stars, animals, and plants in favor of a more navel-gazing subject: the practice of science itself.
This moment may now be at hand. American science has been the envy of the planet since the Second World War at least, but it has recently gone into decline. After President Trump took office last year, his administration started vandalizing the country’s scientific institutions, suspending research grants in bulk and putting entire lines of cutting-edge research on ice.
This moment may now be at hand. American science has been the envy of the planet since the Second World War at least, but it has recently gone into decline. After President Trump took office last year, his administration started vandalizing the country’s scientific institutions, suspending research grants in bulk and putting entire lines of cutting-edge research on ice.
Abonner på:
Kommentarer (Atom)