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In the early hours of Thursday local time, a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake jolted the Molucca Sea off Indonesia’s Ternate Island, leaving one person dead and triggering panic across coastal communities in the country’s eastern region.

The United States Geological Survey recorded the tremor striking at 6:48 a.m. local time (22:48 GMT Wednesday) at a depth of 35 kilometers, with its epicenter located roughly halfway between the Sulawesi city of Manado and the North Maluku volcanic island of Ternate. Within an hour of the initial shock, Indonesia’s national geological agency confirmed structural damage to buildings and reported multiple injuries, though full casualty and damage assessments were still ongoing in the hours after the event. At least two aftershocks measuring 5.5 and 5.2 magnitude followed the main quake, with local authorities warning residents to prepare for additional aftershocks in the coming hours and days.

One confirmed fatality has been recorded: a 70-year-old woman in North Sulawesi who was crushed by falling building debris, according to Indonesia’s state-run national news agency Antara. A second person suffered a broken leg after jumping from a multi-story building to escape the shaking.

The powerful tremor immediately sparked a regional tsunami warning, with the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially noting that low-lying waves less than 0.3 meters high could reach coastlines stretching from Guam and Japan to Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Taiwan. The alert was fully lifted just two hours later after no abnormal tsunami activity was detected across the region.

For residents across eastern Indonesia, who live in one of the world’s most seismically active zones and experience frequent small tremors, the strength of Thursday’s quake stood out as unprecedented in recent memory. Multiple residents told international reporters it was the most powerful seismic event they had experienced in at least six years.

Isvara Safitri, a journalist based in central Manado, described the scene to BBC Indonesian: “It was really strong… My head even felt dizzy. Even the roads outside the house were shaking.” In Bitung, a coastal city on Sulawesi’s northeastern shore, Yayuk Oktiani was shopping at a local market when the tremors began. “Everything started shaking. Several stores experienced power outages, and as the tremors got stronger, everyone fled,” she recalled. Oktiani immediately rushed to her child’s school, located just steps from the ocean, where chaos had already broken out. “Teachers immediately told parents to bring their children home, even though they had only just arrived,” she said.

On Ternate Island, resident Budi Nurgianto told Agence France-Presse that the walls of his home vibrated for more than a minute, forcing him to rush outside into widespread panic. “There were many people outside… I even saw some people leaving their house without having finished their shower,” he said. At Manado’s Siloam Hospital, 69-year-old patient Admini described the frantic evacuation process. “We were sitting there drinking tea… Initially we didn’t realise it was an earthquake. And then we heard a child scream, ‘Come down, hurry up,’” he recalled. Medical staff quickly moved patients out of the hospital building, setting up makeshift treatment zones in open outdoor areas and inside parked vehicles. “Everyone was huddled together outside. Some were in wheelchairs, others were helping each other,” Admini said.

Footage captured by search and rescue teams operating in Manado shows first responders and local residents navigating the rubble of a damaged local sports complex, where large pieces of furniture were thrown across the ground and steel support structures were bent out of shape by the force of the quake. Search and recovery operations are ongoing, with teams working to clear damaged structures and account for any residents who may still be missing.

The Indonesian archipelago sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of intense tectonic activity that sees frequent volcanic eruptions and large earthquakes, making seismic risk preparedness a persistent priority for national authorities.

In a disruptive incident that underscores growing regional security tensions linked to Middle East geopolitical shifts, a drone attack targeted fuel infrastructure at Kuwait International Airport early Wednesday, igniting a large blaze at the site’s fuel storage facility. The Kuwait Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the attack in an official public statement, noting the assault has been tied to Iran-connected actors. Local emergency response units were dispatched to the scene immediately after the attack was reported, mobilizing rapidly to bring the fire under control and secure the damaged facility. As of the latest official update, preliminary investigations have confirmed that no injuries or fatalities have resulted from the incident. The attack comes amid a broader period of elevated unrest across the Middle East, with recent escalations between the U.S. and Iran already driving volatility in global energy markets and pushing Eurozone inflation above the European Central Bank’s targeted threshold, according to concurrent economic reporting. Kuwaiti authorities have not yet announced further details on ongoing investigations into the attack or potential impacts to airport operations in the coming days.

In November 2026, Nepal will complete its long-awaited transition out of the United Nations’ Least Developed Country (LDC) classification and move up to developing country status — a milestone widely seen as confirmation of a nation’s developmental progress. But a new analysis from the International Labour Organization (ILO) released on March 16 warns that this landmark shift comes with substantial near-term economic and employment risks: up to 132,000 existing jobs could be lost over five years, with total economic losses reaching nearly $1 billion. The report breaks down projected losses evenly by gender, with 67,000 jobs for men and 65,000 for women expected to disappear, almost entirely driven by shrinking export volumes that will follow the expiration of trade preferences exclusively reserved for LDCs.

The manufacturing sector, Nepal’s largest export-driven employer, will bear the brunt of the impact: the *Employment Impact Assessment on Nepal’s LDC Graduation* estimates that roughly 142,000 manufacturing positions will face disruption, placing urgent pressure on the Nepali government to both offset existing losses and create new, stable roles to replace them. What makes the outlook particularly concerning for gender equity is that women, who already face far lower labor force participation rates across Nepal, will see a proportional share of losses. Urban areas will see steeper job declines than rural regions, with urban women facing twice the rate of job loss as their male counterparts. This imbalance, the report warns, could trigger reverse migration of displaced female workers from cities back to rural communities, where work is overwhelmingly informal, low-productivity, and frequently unpaid, deepening the economic precarity of already vulnerable groups.

Key export-reliant sub-sectors including apparel, textiles, and handwoven carpets are most exposed to losses, as these industries already contend with steep domestic transport costs and cutthroat global competition. Overall, the report projects total export losses will equal between 2.5% and 4.3% of Nepal’s total annual export value, varying by target market and product category.

Numan Ozcan, ILO’s country director for Nepal, framed the upcoming 2026 graduation as a critical turning point for the South Asian nation, but emphasized that the milestone is just the start of a challenging new phase. “It is a transition into a more competitive environment with fewer international support measures and higher expectations,” Ozcan said. “That can sound very technical, but it can also become very real and very personal. Maybe not for the people sitting in this meeting room, but for business owners, factory workers, and workers in small shops, hotels, transport or the informal economy. It can become very real and personal.”

The ILO’s analysis does not only outline risks, however: through simulated policy testing, the report found that targeted strategic investments can fully offset projected GDP losses and create new employment to replace the roles lost. The most promising areas for intervention, the report notes, include upgraded trade facilitation infrastructure, expanded investment in the tourism sector, and deliberate growth of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. The organization stressed that the success of these mitigation efforts will hinge entirely on proactive policy design and timely implementation ahead of the November graduation date, urging the Nepali government to begin preparations immediately to secure a smooth transition. Ultimately, Ozcan said, the true test of Nepal’s graduation will not be the milestone itself, but whether the country can convert its new developing country status into sustained, inclusive growth: “The real test is how Nepal can translate graduation into better jobs, stronger enterprises and greater economic security for everyone.”

A long-running legal dispute over a vast collection of historical documents from late former Chinese Communist Party cadre Li Rui has concluded with a California court ruling that Stanford University’s Hoover Institution is the rightful owner of the materials. The collection, which includes decades of personal diaries, official correspondence, meeting minutes, work notes, creative writing, and personal photographs spanning from 1938 to Li Rui’s death in 2019, is widely regarded as an irreplaceable firsthand historical record of modern Chinese history and the CCP’s period of governance.

Li Rui, a once-prominent party figure who held reformist political views and became known for vocal criticism of CCP leadership in his later years, had long intended to preserve his materials outside of China to avoid censorship, according to court findings. When Li was still alive, his daughter Li Nanyang began transferring the documents to Stanford’s Hoover Institution in 2014, a step she says was taken in direct alignment with her father’s explicit wishes. Following Li Rui’s death in 2019, however, his widow Zhang Yuzhen launched a parallel legal claim in Beijing, arguing that Li had granted her authority to decide which documents would be made public, and that the transfer to Stanford was unlawful. A Beijing court ruled in Zhang’s favor, ordering the materials be returned to China.

Stanford subsequently initiated its own legal proceedings in the U.S. to confirm its ownership of the collection, arguing that the transfer aligned with Li’s wishes and that the documents would face censorship, redaction, or even destruction if returned to China, framing the case as a defense of academic freedom and open access to historical records. In its ruling, the California court noted key irregularities in the Chinese legal proceedings: it found that the Beijing lawsuit was likely not initiated by Zhang of her own free will, but was instead backed and financed by the CCP, with Zhang herself having previously stated she had no personal desire to sue her stepdaughter. Zhang passed away during the course of the U.S. trial proceedings.

The court’s final judgment confirmed that the original donation to the Hoover Institution was lawful and fully consistent with Li Rui’s documented intentions. It further ruled that the Beijing court’s order had no enforceable standing in the United States. The court specifically highlighted Li Rui’s own stated belief that his papers would be suppressed or destroyed if kept within China, and that his explicit goal in transferring the materials was to make them openly accessible to researchers and the public globally.

Condoleezza Rice, current director of the Hoover Institution and former U.S. Secretary of State, praised the ruling in a public statement, noting that the decision guarantees that one of the most valuable firsthand accounts of modern Chinese history will remain freely available for academic study. Stanford’s legal team echoed this sentiment, saying the university was pleased that Li Rui’s final wishes would be honored, and that the materials would remain open to any interested researchers. The BBC has reached out to Zhang’s former U.S. legal representation for comment on the ruling, with no response reported as of yet.

As the armed conflict in the Middle East stretches into its second month, global energy markets have been thrown into chaos, with oil prices surging to multi-month highs amid disrupted supply chains. In this tense geopolitical landscape, China has emerged as an unexpected peace broker, joining Pakistan to table a five-point peace initiative aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire and reopening the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil supplies pass.

The move comes as former U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that direct American military action against Iran could wrap up within two to three weeks, though no clear timeline or post-conflict plan has been laid out to date. Pakistan, a long-time U.S. ally that has positioned itself as an unlikely intermediary in the U.S.-Israel led campaign against Iran, has reportedly already gained Trump’s ear for its mediation efforts. China’s entry into the fray comes just weeks ahead of high-stakes trade talks between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Trump, placing Beijing directly in a role as a diplomatic counterweight to Washington in the region.

Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Centre for Afghanistan Studies at Lanzhou University and a leading Chinese expert on Middle East affairs, described Chinese backing for the initiative as “very important.” He noted that “Morally, politically and diplomatically, China is providing comprehensive support with the hope that Pakistan can play a more distinctive role” in de-escalating the conflict. This marks a notable shift for Beijing, which had maintained a relatively muted public response to the war since it began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

The joint peace plan took shape after Pakistan’s foreign minister traveled to Beijing to formally request Chinese backing for Pakistan’s negotiation efforts. Following the meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials confirmed that the two countries were making “new efforts towards advocating for peace,” releasing a joint statement that reaffirmed dialogue and diplomacy as “the only viable option to resolve conflicts” and called for the protection of global key waterways including the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.

While energy security is a core consideration for Beijing, analysts note that the world’s largest crude importer currently holds enough strategic stockpiles to cover its domestic needs for the next several months. Instead, China’s decision to step into the mediation role is rooted in its broader pursuit of global economic stability, a priority that is closely tied to Beijing’s efforts to reboot its post-recovery sluggish domestic economy. A prolonged energy shock triggered by the conflict would drag down global growth, which would in turn hit Chinese factories and export-dependent sectors that are central to the country’s economic rebound.

Matt Pottinger, chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s China Program, explained that “If the rest of the world begins to slow down economically because of an energy shock, that’s going to be tough for China’s factories and exporters. That’s why I think when I see China’s foreign minister just this week advising Iran that we need to find a way to end this war, I think there’s some sincerity there. I think that Beijing is a little bit worried about where this could lead if it turns into a real energy shock that is protracted.”

A prolonged crisis would send ripples through China’s sprawling industrial supply chain, from raw material inputs for plastic goods and synthetic textiles to critical components for consumer electronics, electric vehicles and semiconductors – sectors that are foundational to China’s export economy. In recent years, the Middle East has become one of China’s fastest growing export markets, with Chinese sales to the region growing nearly twice as fast as exports to the rest of the world in the last year. The region is the world’s fastest growing market for electric vehicles, and China is the largest foreign investor in regional desalination projects, with major Chinese state-owned energy and infrastructure firms operating across Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iraq.

This deepening economic engagement has allowed China to build balanced diplomatic ties across the region, maintaining strong relationships with both U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia and geopolitical rivals of Washington such as Iran. China and Iran have maintained a close partnership spanning decades, with China serving as Iran’s largest trade partner and purchasing roughly 80% of Iran’s total oil exports.

This is not the first time Beijing has sought to play the role of peace broker in the Middle East, though previous efforts have yielded mixed results. In 2023, China famously brokered a landmark deal to restore diplomatic relations between longtime regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, a breakthrough that reduced the risk of open conflict between the two powers. A year later, Beijing hosted leaders from 14 competing Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, resulting in an agreement to form a national unity government for the Palestinian territories. While the agreement was largely an expression of intent rather than a binding final settlement, it further cemented China’s growing diplomatic profile in the region.

Unlike the United States, which maintains a heavy military presence across the Gulf region, China’s global engagement does not come with formal security guarantees or military alliances. For Beijing, economic development remains the top domestic and foreign policy priority, and Chinese leaders have long avoided direct entanglement in Middle East great power conflicts. This cautious approach also reflects practical limitations: China’s only overseas military logistics facility in the broader region is a small anti-piracy hub in Djibouti, opened in 2017, and it lacks the power projection capabilities that the U.S. maintains across the Gulf. During the 2025 Israel-Iran war, Beijing maintained a largely hands-off approach, highlighting the inherent limits of its regional influence.

To date, neither Washington nor Tehran has issued an official response to the new five-point peace plan. Analysts note that the initiative nonetheless allows Xi to position himself as a neutral broker and voice for de-escalation, a stark contrast to the Trump administration’s approach of military pressure. Still, Beijing’s credibility as a neutral global actor faces ongoing questions: its close strategic alignment with Russia has sparked widespread skepticism about its commitment to neutrality in regional conflicts, while its authoritarian governance model and expansionist territorial claims have drawn global criticism.

Despite these caveats, China remains a powerful global actor with clear strategic interests in regional stability, and it has already demonstrated that it can wield meaningful diplomatic influence in the Middle East. For Beijing, the current mediation effort marks another step in its long-term push to expand its geopolitical leverage across the region in the years ahead.