As victims are counted and efforts are underway to save hydroelectric plant workers in Nepal, questions are mounting about the sustainability of the development model adopted in recent years in the shadow of the Himalayas. For its part, the Nepali government is demanding “climate compensation”.
In the second quarter of 2025, Vietnam's GDP grew by 7.96 per cent thanks to booming exports. The new trade agreement with the US has improved the climate of confidence, but transhipped goods from China risk affecting the entire regional production chain.
In January, Japan will try to mine the seabed in its Exclusive Economic Zone. Like the United States, India and Australia, Japan wants to compete with China for leadership in this sector. The test to recover sediments at a depth of 5,500 metres is the first in the world. The aim is to “test the function of all mining equipment.”
An investigation by Finance Uncovered has revealed that almost US$ 40 million from state development funds from the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark have been invested in a company that operates digital surveillance infrastructure and technologies in Myanmar. The accusations involve software developed in China used to intercept communications, block VPNs, and monitor users. After the 2021 coup d'état, these systems have allowed the military to expand its control over the Internet.
In the Chinese province of Zhejiang, the authorities have recently detained priests, nuns and ordinary Catholics who made a trip abroad last year; their goal is to induce underground Bishop Shao Zhumin to join a government-controlled Church body. Places of worship and the relatives of underground priests have also been targeted. One priest says, “we want to follow our conscience” without having to submit to the political whims of the Party.
On the eve of his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama announced that the Gaden Phodrang Trust will recognise his next reincarnation. Religious tradition will thus be respected while China will be excluded from any role. However, Beijing immediately responded by claiming control over the process. This heralds a future with two Dalai Lamas and a major legitimacy crisis that could turn into a wider geopolitical confrontation.
The largest foreign investment in the history of Sri Lanka has been on hold since the start of the year. Differences between the government over local market share have stopped the Sinopec project in Hambantota. The economic recovery plan has raised fears that it will damage the country’s oil sector and energy security.
Gold smuggling is on the rise along the border with China as a means of earning money in one of the poorest areas of the Russian Federation. No licences are required in the People's Republic: any citizen can sell the extracted material to banks in any form, receiving more than double the price quoted in Moscow.
The Czech intelligence service's complaint against agents of the People's Republic of China, which denies the charges and speaks of “interference in internal affairs”. Meanwhile, today is the deadline for Chinese immigrants in Taiwan to prove that they have renounced their registration in the People's Republic. 2,237 have not yet done so, but authorities promise to ascertain their intentions before revoking benefits for residents.
Kazakhstan will sign an agreement with Moscow by the end of the year for the construction of its first nuclear power plant, but it already has plans for a second one to be built together with the Chiona National Nuclear Corporation, which could be completed more quickly. And Tokaert is also leaving the door open to Western consortia for a third plant.
Five other sanatoriums report having administered ‘Koha’ on an experimental basis during World War II. The drug was developed by the army, which imposed its use in several centres despite its side effects and associated deaths. The army imposed its use by ‘instilling terror’.
The top officer’s removal from the Central Military Commission marks a new phase in the anti-corruption campaign launched by Xi Jinping in the Chinese military. Considered a trusted ally of the president, Miao was responsible for political loyalty in the military. The affair is just another in a long list of dismissals that include a couple of defence ministers and officials linked to the country's nuclear arsenal.
On World Drug Day, a well-known South Korean journalist and former addict, Huh Jae-hyun, spoke out against a short-sighted war on drugs that marginalises rather than reintegrate in society. While local media chase after celebrities accused of drug abuse, the number of young users explodes.
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