CHINA-UNITED STATES
The first face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping lasted two hours this morning, after the White House delegation was received with full honours in the heart of Beijing. Trump described the talks as “excellent” without going into detail. Chinese state media, however, reported statements by Xi Jinping that China and the United States must be “partners, not rivals” to “build a bright future together”, but also warned of the risk of a possible “conflict” with the United States over the issue of Taiwan. Xi is also meeting with the delegation of leading business figures from strategic sectors that the White House insisted be included in the delegation.
PHILIPPINES
In Manila, Philippine Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa – a staunch supporter of Rodrigo Duterte and, like him, accused of crimes against humanity for his role in the infamous “war on drugs” – has left the Senate, where he had barricaded himself under “protective custody” whilst he and his lawyers sought legal remedies against an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court that the Marcos government appears intent on executing. Dela Rosa’s departure came a few hours after several gunshots were heard inside the Senate in Pasay City. His lawyer, Jimmy Bondoc, refused to reveal his client’s whereabouts, citing legal professional privilege.
ISRAEL
There are signs of a snap election in a few weeks for the parliamentary elections in Israel. At the urging of religious parties – which have long been up in arms over the issue of the law exempting rabbinical students from military service – the coalition supporting Netanyahu has tabled a motion to dissolve the Knesset. The most likely scenario at this stage is that the elections will be held in early September, rather than in late October as originally scheduled for the end of the parliamentary term. The choice of date will also be influenced by the Jewish festivals of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, which fall during those very weeks.
INDIA
VD Satheesan is set to become the new chief minister of the Indian state of Kerala. The announcement was made by the Indian National Congress following days of internal consultations in the wake of the victory that brought an end to ten years of left-wing rule in Kerala. Satheesan, formerly leader of the opposition in the state legislature during the rule of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), enjoys strong popularity and the support of allies such as the Indian Union Muslim League. Within the party, he was not the preferred candidate of the national leadership in Delhi, but he is expected to prevail thanks to greater public and political support.
SOUTH KOREA
The Hantavirus – which is currently dominating the news due to the incident involving the cruise ship Hondius travelling from Latin America to Europe – owes its name to an Asian event. It was in fact first identified in the Hantan River area, near the current border between the two Koreas.
During the Korean War, the virus infected over 3,200 United Nations soldiers between 1950 and 1953. South Korean virologist Lee Ho-wang succeeded in isolating the virus from a rodent captured near the Hantan River, which flows through the northern parts of Gangwon and Gyeonggi provinces. He subsequently also contributed to the development of the world’s first vaccine against this disease.
NORTH KOREA-RUSSIA
North Korea has earned up to $14 billion over three years by sending its troops to fight in the war against Ukraine and by supplying weapons to Russia. This sum is in fact equivalent to the republic’s annual GDP, according to the Japanese news agency Nikkei, and according to the Bank of Korea, economic growth thanks to participation in the war in 2024 was 3.7%, the highest figure in recent years. Pyongyang may have received between 7 and 13.8 billion dollars from Moscow for the supply of missile artillery alone.
KAZAKHSTAN
The level of the Caspian Sea continues to fall, and the surface area of some islands has expanded two to three times in recent years, as reported by a feature on Orda. kz which documents the research carried out by the Caspian branch of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with specialists from Kazakhstan, showing how the reduction in water depth is also altering the shoreline, with the emergence of new shallow areas.
