Malaysia's Economy Minister resigns in protest at rise of Anwar’s daughter

Today’s Headlines: US Secretary of State Rubio announces “aggressive” action to revoke Chinese students' visas. Beijing launches space mission to explore an asteroid. Proposal for Iran’s uranium enrichment to be monitored by Arab countries and the IAEA in talks with Washington. Vietnam seizes copies of The Economist featuring To Lam on the cover.

MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s Economy Minister, Rafizi Ramli, has resigned from government after losing to the Prime Minister’s daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, in the race for deputy presidency of the People’s Justice Party (PKR). Alongside him, Environment Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad – a political ally – also stepped down. Nurul Izzah is increasingly seen as the designated political heir of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim; however, Rafizi Ramli’s resignation is widely viewed as a strategic move to free his hands to challenge her rise.

CHINA–UNITED STATES
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that the United States will begin “aggressively” revoking visas for Chinese students, including those with links to the Chinese Communist Party or those studying in sensitive fields. If applied broadly to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese university students in the US, the policy could severely affect a major source of income for American institutions. In a statement, Rubio said the State Department would also revise its visa criteria to increase scrutiny of future applications from China and Hong Kong.

CHINA
China has launched its first asteroid sample-return mission. The Tianwen-2 mission aims to shed light on the formation and evolution of asteroids and the early solar system. Over the course of a decade, after collecting samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 by 2027, the spacecraft is expected to continue its journey towards the main-belt comet 311P, which orbits beyond Mars.

IRAN–UNITED STATES
Talks are under way between the US and Iran over a provisional “broad nuclear deal” that would see uranium enrichment in Iran placed under the supervision of a consortium comprising Middle Eastern countries and the UN’s atomic agency (IAEA). The proposal was also discussed during a call between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in which the White House warned Israel not to take actions that could jeopardise negotiations. The agreement does not include Tehran’s ballistic missile programme and is not expected to extend to other issues.

VIETNAM
The latest edition of The Economist’s Asia issue, featuring Vietnamese leader To Lam on the cover, has been banned in Vietnam, according to Reuters sources at two local distributors. The incident marks a fresh case of censorship in the Communist-run country. The issue – still available digitally within Vietnam – shows Lam with two stars in his eyes, set against a red background resembling the national flag, under the headline: “The man with a plan for Vietnam.” The subheading reads: “A Communist hardliner must save Asia’s great success story.”

BELARUS
Local Wikipedia contributors in Belarus are at the centre of a wave of arrests. The latest to be detained – without formal charges – are Maksim Lepushenko, an administrator since 2007 who mainly wrote about the country’s ancient history and sought to moderate discussions, and editor Olga Sitnik. Several other contributors have disappeared in recent months, and are also believed to have been detained for political reasons.

TAJIKISTAN
Tajikistan’s Minister for Industry and New Technologies, Sherali Kabir, has met with representatives of UAE-based company Presight and US firm Scale AI to establish a strategic partnership in the field of artificial intelligence and to present a national strategy for AI development in the country.