fredag 26. juni 2026

South Korean court jails former first lady for seven years in bribery case

South Korea’s former First Lady, Kim Keon Hee, has been handed a seven-year sentence for taking bribes during and after her husband President Yoon Suk Yeol’s time in office.

Kim was found guilty of accepting jewellery, an expensive designer handbag and other luxury items in exchange for political favours by the Seoul Central District Court on Friday. “She exercised her power as first lady to offer jobs and business favours,” lead judge Cho Sun-pyo said, adding that she received the bribes “without hesitation”.

Kim was fined 64.8 million won ($42,000) and the court ordered the confiscation of the items she received. She denied the charges, saying the gifts weren’t bribes and her lawyers said she will appeal.

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North Korea jump-starts naval buildup by commissioning its largest-ever warship

North Korea on Tuesday commissioned its largest-ever warship, a 5,000-ton destroyer that military analysts say could give Pyongyang’s adversaries something more to think about in a time of crisis.

In a speech at Nampho Shipyard on the country’s west coast, leader Kim Jong Un said the introduction represented a new chapter in its military history, declaring that its navy has “put an end to over 70 years of its stagnation.”

“In terms of military hardware, the navy was the weakest of all the services of our armed forces,” Kim said, according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “Things have changed obviously now. The combat capability of our navy will grow to be admirable beyond imagination.”

Read more

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‘Salami slicing’: How China is trying to increase control in the Pacific

In a span of just a few weeks, China’s ships have carried out “law enforcement” activities farther from its mainland than ever before, mapped a highly sensitive seabed and conducted “research” inside a highly contested lagoon more than 500 miles from its shores.

China has long been accused of “salami-slicing” to advance its territorial claims in the Pacific, taking small steps well below the threshold of kinetic war to assert its control over areas where its claims to sovereignty under international law are unclear at best – and illegal at worst.

Analysts say the latest moves are an attempt to advance its presence beyond an island chain seen by Beijing and Washington as a critical line of control in the western Pacific. They add they could be particularly worrying for Taiwan, the self-ruled island China has vowed to “reunify” with one day – by force if necessary.

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India’s viral youth movement has moved from memes to the streets. Their leader tells CNN why

What started as an online joke has now spilled onto the streets of India’s capital.

Since Saturday, Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the satirical Cockroach Janta Party, has been camped out in the heart of New Delhi, leading a crowd of protesters who are refusing to leave until the country’s education minister resigns over a national exam system mired in scandal. “We are here for the long haul, no matter how many days it takes,” Dipke told CNN from the protest site on this week, as dozens gathered around him in support. “We are going to be here until Dharmendra Pradhan resigns.”

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The Meltdown: One day that captures how Trump has gone from unpredictable to chaotic

A desultory, grievance-filled speech on what should have been a joyous occasion. The last-minute cancellation of a rare bipartisan bill signing in favor of yet another push for doomed, unpopular legislation. A loud confrontation with members of his own party followed by sneering remarks about some of the nation’s oldest allies. And a nonsensical accusation that, if we have it right, blames the algae-filled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool not on his rushed renovations but on knife-wielding vandals … and maybe Barack Obama.

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The Faint Hope for Peace Between India and Pakistan

Around 14 long months have passed since India and Pakistan fought a four-day war. The brief and dangerous conflict has left relations between the nuclear-armed rivals dangerously tense. Still, a survey of historical precedents, an evaluation of contemporary geo-economics, and a growing awareness of the grim dangers of renewed escalation suggest the relationship could gradually improve. At least, until the next crisis hits.

The conflict in May 2025 was arguably the most serious between India and Pakistan since the war of 1971. Their last major military confrontation was in 1999, when they fought for nearly three months in the mountains of Kargil in the disputed region of Kashmir. But that clash was localized

.The four-day war was brief but fierce, with hostilities waged across vast geographies. Drones and missiles were fired deep into each country’s territory, and both militaries deployed weaponry and defense technologies sourced from multiple countries. Pakistan drew on Chinese and Turkish equipment; India relied on French and Israeli weapons.

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Race to record China’s vanishing Dong minority heritage

The Dong people in China are an Indigenous ethnic group who are known to have lived in the mountainous regions of southwestern China for about 600 years. They don’t have a written language – instead, their cultural knowledge is shared by word of mouth. This means that the outside world doesn’t know much about them.

But an ambitious university-led research project to document the Dong people’s distinctive architecture is revealing a great deal about this marginalized Indigenous group’s way of life.

There are an estimated 3 million Dong people living in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan and Guangxi. They are renowned for their polyphonic choral singing, which has been inscribed by UNESCO since 2009 as an example of world-class intangible cultural heritage. Their architecture, landscape and refined agricultural terracing are also distinctive, but less well known and never digitally recorded.

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China’s humanoid robots moving in as Asia’s workforce ages out

While the world focuses on the “tech cold war” and “de-risking” between the US and China, a quiet “tech truce” is unfolding at the baggage loading areas of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. As Japan faces a critical labor shortage and an aging workforce, it is turning to Chinese-made humanoid robots to handle baggage — a pragmatic move where biological limits override geopolitical friction on the airport floor. When an advanced humanoid can cost a mere US$4,900, “de-risking” becomes a geopolitical luxury that aging societies can no longer afford.

This commentary moves beyond the “Drunken Fist” spectacles of robot exhibitions to explore the brutal reality of Asia’s logistics landscape. I argue that the universal agony of the human spine has become the only true “neutral ground” left in an era of geopolitical friction.

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China built Indonesia’s nickel boom. Will it stay for the bust?

When PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) began operating in North Morowali, it represented everything Indonesia wanted its nickel industry to become.

Built with US$2.7 billion in Chinese investment, inaugurated by then-President Joko Widodo in 2021 and designated a National Strategic Project, the smelter was supposed to prove that Indonesia could move beyond exporting raw ore and become a manufacturing powerhouse.Its latest troubles tell a different story. The Jakarta Commercial Court recently placed GNI under temporary debt restructuring after petitions from two shipping companies over unpaid obligations.

The timing is telling. GNI is affiliated with Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry, one of China’s largest stainless steel producers, which has itself been struggling financially. Whether GNI ultimately recovers is less important than what its predicament says about the direction of Indonesia’s broad nickel industry.

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tirsdag 23. juni 2026

Apart from China, Asia isn’t afraid of a remilitarizing Japan

China is harping non-stop about resurging Japanese “militarism” – but almost nobody in the Asia-Pacific region is listening – or believes it.  The more China blusters and warns of a dangerous Japan, the more ridiculous it looks and the better Japan appears by comparison.

Make no mistake, Japan caused plenty of misery in the region during the 1930s and 1940s. But World War II ended 81 years ago and today’s democratic, consensually governed Japan is another country. That’s been obvious for a long time. Even in 1990, when US Marine General Hank Stackpole described US forces in Japan as the “cap in the bottle” that kept Japanese militarism in check, the idea seemed outdated.

Japan is well-liked in most of Asia, and has been for decades. Japanese investment and economic assistance are welcomed across Asia, and Japan’s role in regional security is now widely taken for granted.

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China’s humanoid robots moving in as Asia’s workforce ages out

While the world focuses on the “tech cold war” and “de-risking” between the US and China, a quiet “tech truce” is unfolding at the baggage loading areas of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

As Japan faces a critical labor shortage and an aging workforce, it is turning to Chinese-made humanoid robots to handle baggage — a pragmatic move where biological limits override geopolitical friction on the airport floor. When an advanced humanoid can cost a mere US$4,900, “de-risking” becomes a geopolitical luxury that aging societies can no longer afford.

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China sanctions US defense, rare earth firms in retaliation

China hit back at Washington on Monday with a sweeping two-pronged retaliation, barring government departments from buying products from 46 US defense contractors and blacklisting 10 American companies from receiving Chinese dual-use exports.

The Ministry of Finance announced that procurement entities are prohibited from purchasing products manufactured by the 46 US firms, a list headed by Lockheed Martin Corporation and Raytheon Missiles & Defense. The restrictions, which exempt US-funded enterprises operating within Chin, took effect immediately.

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The future of oil prices may depend on China

As the US and Iran hammer out how to permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart the flow of Middle Eastern oil, the market’s next move may depend on one country absent from the negotiations: China.

The world’s second-largest consumer of crude oil, China, has pulled out all the stops to preserve supplies as the war in Iran has cut off access to more than 11 million barrels of oil per day. By cutting down on imports, relying on vast stockpiles and utilizing more clean energy, China has been able to cushion the impact of higher prices at home, if not alleviate it completely.

Those actions have been felt in the global market as well.

After more than three months of war, some analysts predicted oil prices could surge as high as $200 a barrel this year. However, even as total estimated supply losses have surpassed 1 billion barrels of oil, crude prices have remained relatively muted. Many analysts point to China as a primary reason.

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China reports completion of first large-scale hydropower station on main stream of Yarlung Tsangpo

China has formally completed on Jun 14 the first large-scale hydropower station on the main stream of the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet, following the conclusion of its final acceptance check. An acceptance check is the final testing phase used to confirm that a product or system meets the original business requirements and is ready for release. China is also building the world largest hydropower dam on the same river system before it enters India and then Bangladesh, raising serious ecological, geological, and geostrategic concerns both within and outside occupied Tibet.

The acceptance opinions state that the key project of the Zangmu hydropower station has been fully completed in accordance with the approved design scale and plans. Since the reservoir began water impoundment, it has withstood 11 flood seasons, reported China’s official globaltimes.cn Jun 14, citing Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited under Power China which was responsible for the planning, demonstration and full-stage survey and design.

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Another Xi Jinping thought is made China’s official party doctrine

China’s ruling Communist Party has coined a new phrase to make Xi Jinping the country’s ideological Czar on Party Building, stressing governing the party with discipline and unified leadership, under him of course. In this connection, the Central Leading Group for Party Building of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has issued a notice on studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building, reported China’ s sate news agency Xinhua Jun 18. The aim is, of course, to strengthen the party’s grip on power in a changing world.

China already has Xi Jinping thoughts in other areas such as the economy, military, diplomacy (Xiplomacy), and culture under the overarching rubric of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

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‘This Land is My Land’ – Remembering Lhasang Tsering

It was late in the night of June 14, 1988, in Geneva. Lhasang Tsering and I had checked into a cheap hotel room. All the while, I was wondering how I should justify giving Lhasang Tsering, the president of TYC, a copy of the Strasbourg Declaration, which the Dalai Lama was due to announce the following day in Strasbourg.

When I look back on that night and consider the extent to which Lhasang Tsering would shape the debate over Tibet’s future in the years that followed—a debate that shook the Tibetan exile community—I am struck by how quietly it all began.

In the preceding weeks, my task as a volunteer at the Tibet Office had been to enter corrections for the final printed version of the Strasbourg Declaration. And there were quite a few corrections. Kelsang Gyaltsen, then the Dalai Lama’s representative in Switzerland, had been charged with preparing the print of the declaration together with a small offset printing shop near the office, at Waffenplatz in Zurich. Before leaving for Geneva, I took a copy for myself. I can still vividly remember the elegant printing in pastel yellow. Kelsang Gyaltsen had chosen glossy paper.


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India raises its guard as China accelerates building of world’s largest, potentially most dangerous hydropower dam in Tibet

India is monitoring with high alarm the site in Tibet where satellite imagery and intelligence inputs reveal a sharp acceleration in China’s construction of the world’s largest hydroelectric dam in a seismically active area on the Yarlung Tsangpo river, just 50 kilometres from its Arunachal Pradesh state border, said Indian media reports Jun 18-20. New Delhi is also taking measures to counter what China may throw at it through this dam in potential future conflict situations.

Reportedly the world most expensive infrastructure project ever, the massive 1.2 trillion-yuan (($167-170 billion) Medog Hydropower Station features a five-stage cascade system. It sits at the world’s highest river’s dramatic U-turn before it enters India’s Arunachal Pradesh state as the Siang River and flows into Assam as the Brahmaputra before continuing it course into Bangladesh.

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From Ama Drime to Artificial Intelligence: Tibet’s High-Purity Quartz Discovery and the New Global Resource Frontier

For centuries, Tibet has been known as the “Roof of the World,” a land of high mountains, sacred landscapes, vast grasslands, and the source of many of Asia’s great rivers. To geologists, however, Tibet is one of Earth’s most extraordinary natural laboratories, where the ongoing collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates continues to reshape continents and generate new geological resources. I have been analyzing Chinese exploration of Tibetan natural resources for years. 

Over time, extraction activities have become increasingly aggressive, resulting in the depletion of Tibetan generational wealth. (Patterson, 2024). I am left questioning how to communicate the urgency of this situation to the world and the Tibetan community: how can we prevent the complete exploitation of Tibet and the resulting environmental catastrophe?

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