Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • China’s Xi calls for step up of global effort in AI, as US curbs squeeze China’s tech access

    China’s Xi calls for step up of global effort in AI, as US curbs squeeze China’s tech access

    Against a backdrop of escalating technological competition between the world’s two largest economies, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a landmark call for inclusive global partnership in artificial innovation and governance during his keynote address Friday at the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai.

    Xi emphasized that the advancement of AI is a shared global mission, not a project to be controlled or dominated by a single nation. His remarks came in direct response to a series of U.S.-led export restrictions that have cut China off from access to cutting-edge global AI semiconductor and technology frameworks, a policy that has pushed China to accelerate domestic AI research and deepened the ongoing bilateral tech rivalry.

    “The development of artificial intelligence should not be a solo performance by any single country but rather a symphony of global cooperation,” Xi told attendees of the high-profile gathering, which included the heads of state of Kazakhstan, Cambodia and Thailand, as well as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

    In a reiteration of a long-standing Chinese policy position, Xi called on the international community to jointly push back against the overextension of national security frameworks in the AI sector. “We should together oppose the practice of overstretching the concept of national security in the field of artificial intelligence, and of placing one’s own security above that of other countries,” he said.

    To back its commitment to inclusive AI development, China announced a series of concrete cooperation initiatives targeting developing and emerging economies. Over the coming five years, Xi confirmed China will offer 5,000 specialized AI training opportunities to professionals from developing nations. The country will also expand institutional AI cooperation with major regional blocs, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the BRICS grouping of major emerging economies. Additionally, 30 partner countries will gain access to a Chinese-developed AI-powered meteorological early warning system designed to boost disaster preparedness in vulnerable regions.

    The conference came one day after a historic intergovernmental agreement established a new global cooperative body for AI: 29 countries including Pakistan, Russia, and Kazakhstan signed on to launch the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, which will be headquartered in Shanghai, per Chinese state media, with a core mandate of advancing inclusive global AI governance.

    This year’s conference drew more than 1,100 participating companies and 1,400 international and domestic guests, showcasing the rapid expansion of China’s domestic AI ecosystem. Leading Chinese technology giant Huawei is set to demonstrate its flagship high-performance AI computing platform, the Atlas 950 SuperPoD, during the event.

    Industry analysts have noted a marked shift in China’s position in global AI development in recent years. Long framed as a follower chasing U.S. technological leadership, China has now emerged as a genuine AI innovator, backed by national strategic planning that prioritizes AI advancement as a core frontier technology in its 2030 long-term development plan. Chinese open-source AI models such as DeepSeek have grown in global popularity, particularly across the developing world, as a lower-cost alternative to the largely closed-source proprietary AI models developed by U.S. tech firms.

  • Landslide in southwest China traps people, rescue efforts underway

    Landslide in southwest China traps people, rescue efforts underway

    A devastating landslide struck a residential area in Pengshui County, Chongqing Municipality in southwestern China on Friday morning, leaving multiple residential structures buried and an unknown number of people trapped under debris, according to official Chinese state media reports.

    The geological disaster occurred at approximately 9:08 a.m. local time in the mountainous county, which sits in the southeastern corner of Chongqing and shares borders with China’s Hubei and Guizhou provinces. State-owned national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) confirmed that emergency response teams have already pulled at least eight survivors from the rubble of the collapsed structures.

    Footage and photos released by the broadcaster show a large section of a mountainside breaking off and sliding down onto the populated residential zone. Several adjacent buildings remain located close to the edge of the collapse site, while trained search and rescue crews can be seen methodically combing through broken concrete and rubble in search of additional survivors. As of the latest official update, rescue and search operations are still ongoing, with emergency crews working around the clock to clear debris and reach any people still trapped.

  • Power of Siberia 2 deadlock belies Russia-China ‘no-limits’ pact

    Power of Siberia 2 deadlock belies Russia-China ‘no-limits’ pact

    Negotiations over the Power of Siberia 2, a flagship cross-border natural gas pipeline designed to connect Russia’s vast Arctic gas reserves to China, have reached an impasse, driven by a yawning gap in price expectations that has led Beijing to formally request Moscow stop pushing for a quick deal. While neither government has officially pulled out of the project, no timeline for a final agreement or the start of construction has materialized, exposing the shifting bargaining dynamics between the two global energy powers.

    First proposed years ago, the pipeline won conditional approval from both governments in September last year. The project plans to transport up to 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Russia’s Yamal Peninsula fields, routing through Mongolia before reaching Chinese consumer markets. According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, Chinese officials made clear months before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s May visit to Beijing that a deal was unachievable on the terms Moscow had put forward, and asked Russian negotiators to avoid raising the topic during the high-profile summit. The Kremlin has acknowledged that informal discussions are still ongoing at the corporate level, but no substantive progress has been reported.

    The core of the dispute centers on staggering differences in the proposed gas price. China has opened negotiations with an offer of $50 per thousand cubic meters, matching the heavily subsidized domestic rate Russian consumers pay within Russia — a price far below standard commercial export terms. For its part, Russia is demanding roughly $250 per thousand cubic meters, a figure aligned with current global market benchmarks for pipeline gas.

    Publicly available trade data puts this gap in context. China already imports Russian natural gas via the operational Power of Siberia 1 pipeline at a rate between $240 and $280 per thousand cubic meters, while it purchases pipeline gas from Central Asian suppliers at approximately $200 per thousand cubic meters. Before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow sold pipeline gas to European buyers and Turkey at rates between $275 and $340 per thousand cubic meters.

    China’s opening bid has drawn attention for its stark mismatch with Beijing’s public rhetoric of a “no-limits” strategic partnership with Moscow. Chinese policy commentators argue that the hardline negotiating position reflects mounting external pressure on Russia across multiple fronts, which has shifted the balance of power firmly in China’s favor. Ukraine has ramped up long-range drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, while the European Union has passed legislation to phase out all imports of Russian liquefied natural gas by 2026 and implement a full ban on Russian pipeline gas starting in October 2027. At the same time, China has restored large-scale purchases of American LNG, adding another reliable supplier to its energy portfolio. Last week, the first U.S. LNG cargo in 12 months arrived at a Chinese import terminal, following a resumption of purchases after a mid-May meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.

    “In 2025, China paid an average of roughly $258 per thousand cubic meters for Russian pipeline gas, already far below the rates Europe once paid,” wrote Hebei-based commentator Riyue Xhige. “Beijing’s new demand pushes for a far steeper discount. Even Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally, has never received terms this close to Russia’s domestic regulated price.” The columnist added that the gap goes far beyond routine commercial haggling, noting “This reflects a fundamental shift in who holds the power at the negotiating table.”

    Where Russia once operated in a seller’s market when supplying Europe, where buyers had little alternative to Russian gas, that dynamic has completely reversed, commentators note. Today, China holds all the cards as a buyer with a diverse array of energy supply options to draw from.

    China’s diversified energy portfolio is the foundation of its strong negotiating position, analysts point out. Domestic natural gas production hit 262 billion cubic meters in 2025, a 6.2% year-on-year increase that marked the ninth consecutive year of output growth exceeding 10 billion cubic meters. Four existing cross-border pipelines from Central Asian nations — Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan — already have a combined annual capacity of more than 85 billion cubic meters, with additional expansion projects in the planning stages. Offshore, LNG tankers from Qatar, Australia and Malaysia deliver consistent cargoes to Chinese import terminals, leaving Russian gas as one of many available options rather than a critical necessity.

    “China wants to expand energy imports from Russia as part of a broader diversified supply strategy, but that does not mean Russian gas is irreplaceable,” Riyue Xhige explained. “This strategic composure gives Beijing unprecedented leverage at the negotiating table. No matter how Russia adjusts its position, it will have to come back to meet Chinese terms.”

    Jiangsu-based commentator New Day Student summed up the dynamic: “Russia is like a cat on a hot tin roof because of the war in Ukraine, while China has no shortage of gas sources. If Russia does not want to sell, we will simply keep buying from Central Asia, Australia and Qatar.” He noted that the $50 opening bid is simply an opening negotiating anchor, not a final take-it-or-leave-it offer, but emphasized that any final deal for Power of Siberia 2 will require a lower price than the existing Power of Siberia 1 contract.

    The project has faced hurdles long before the current price impasse. After Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy giant, approved a feasibility study in 2021, negotiations over the route created years of tension. Moscow long pushed for a route through Mongolia, arguing it would cut infrastructure construction costs compared to a direct pipeline across the Russia-China border. Beijing resisted the proposal, and its concerns deepened in August 2023 after Mongolia signed an open skies agreement with the United States and began discussing a rare-earth development partnership with Washington. Chinese leaders worried that a transit route through Mongolia could leave the pipeline vulnerable to political disruption that would threaten China’s energy security. Beijing ultimately relented and approved the Mongolia route in September last year, but only on the condition that Moscow agree to substantial price cuts for the gas supply.

    Since that agreement in principle, the global energy landscape has shifted even further in China’s favor. After China resumed U.S. LNG purchases in May, the U.S. Treasury issued a 60-day sanctions exemption in June that allows Iran to sell oil and petroleum products using U.S. dollars, expanding China’s access to affordable crude imports and helping replenish strategic reserves that were strained after earlier disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

    When Putin met Xi in Beijing in May, he found China’s pricing demands remained unchanged. Shortly after the summit, Putin traveled to Kazakhstan to explore an alternative transit route that would send Russian gas to China via Central Asia, bypassing Mongolia entirely. But commentators argue that changing the route will not resolve the core dispute.

    “Switching the pipeline route will not solve anything,” said another Hebei-based political columnist. “This is fundamentally a question of price and cost. It is true that Russia needs the Chinese market, and China needs a stable energy supply. But China has plenty of options and no reason to rush. We simply hold the stronger hand.”

    The commentator added that time is running out for Russia, not China, as the EU’s ban on Russian pipeline gas is set to take effect in autumn 2027. “Whether the Kazakhstan route can actually be realized depends on whether Russia is willing to show good faith on price and financing to China. If Moscow still clings to the old thinking of selling its energy at premium prices and passing all infrastructure costs onto buyers, this detour will lead nowhere either.”

    Shandong-based commentator Shan Hai argued that the impasse presents an opportunity for long-term reform of Russia’s energy-dependent economy. “Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow has relied on selling energy at high prices to fund government spending, importing most manufactured goods and failing to develop a diversified domestic industrial ecosystem,” Shan wrote. He suggested that Russia could reset its economic relationship with China by agreeing to competitive gas prices for the Power of Siberia 2 project and opening its market to Chinese manufacturing investment. Shan also noted that energy cooperation between the two nations is already becoming more reciprocal: after multiple Ukrainian drone attacks damaged Russian oil refining capacity, several Russian regions have begun importing refined petroleum products from China, expanding the scope of bilateral energy ties beyond Russian raw material exports to China.

  • Japan relaxes royal succession rules – but ban on female emperors remain

    Japan relaxes royal succession rules – but ban on female emperors remain

    Japan’s national parliament has signed off on a landmark bill revising the country’s imperial succession framework, a change crafted to address a growing crisis of shrinking royal membership that threatens the world’s oldest continuous hereditary monarchy. Yet the reform stops short of meeting widespread public demand to open the throne to women, leaving Emperor Naruhito’s only child, Princess Aiko, still barred from ascending to the highest royal position.

    The upper house of the Diet passed the bill on Friday, one week after the lower house gave its approval. The legislation will now complete final administrative formalities before entering into force. This marks the first major amendment to the core text of the 1947 Imperial House Law since 1949, representing the most sweeping shakeup of Japan’s imperial system in more than seven decades.

    Under the terms of the new law, two key changes are introduced. First, the imperial household will now be permitted to adopt male relatives from distant cadet branches who are aged 15 or older, bringing them back into the official royal family. These 11 branches were stripped of their imperial status after World War II by Allied occupation reforms, and their descendants could now replenish the shrinking pool of eligible succession candidates. Second, female imperial members who marry commoners will no longer be required to renounce their royal titles and leave the household – a policy change that follows high-profile cases like that of Princess Mako, who gave up her status in 2021 to marry her civilian college partner.

    Japan’s imperial lineage traces its claimed origins back more than 2,600 years, making it the longest unbroken hereditary monarchy in recorded history. But the current line of succession is extremely narrow. After Emperor Naruhito, first in line is his 60-year-old younger brother Crown Prince Fumihito. Second in line is Fumihito’s 19-year-old son Prince Hisahito, and the third eligible heir is the emperor’s 90-year-old uncle. Without reform, if Prince Hisahito does not father a male heir, the official line of succession would be broken, forcing a constitutional crisis.

    Despite the changes, the bill leaves intact the longstanding legal ban on female succession, despite overwhelming public support for ending the male-only rule. Opinion polling consistently shows broad majority backing for allowing women to become emperor. A June Mainichi Shimbun survey of more than 2,000 Japanese adults found more than 70% of respondents supported a female monarch, while a separate Kyodo News poll put support as high as 83%.

    Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other conservative political leaders have pushed to retain male-only succession, arguing that the centuries-old patrilineal system is core to the imperial institution’s legitimacy. The compromise reform, which addresses the shrinking royal pool but rejects changing gender succession rules, has resolved the immediate threat of a broken succession line while leaving the gender debate unresolved for future legislative action.

  • A simple pair of glasses is helping productivity gains in some Bangladesh garment factories

    A simple pair of glasses is helping productivity gains in some Bangladesh garment factories

    Bangladesh’s $45 billion ready-made garment sector, the second-largest globally behind only China, has uncovered a surprisingly simple, low-cost intervention to boost worker output, reduce waste, and improve quality of life for its 4 million strong workforce: affordable reading glasses. For thousands of frontline sewing operators like Ruma Aktar, this small, $10 tool has already transformed both their daily work and long-term professional stability.

    Aktar’s role demands extreme precision: every worker is tasked with producing thousands of individual garment pieces each day, and even minor missteps can slow entire production lines or result in full batches of rejected product that require costly rework. Before receiving her free pair of reading glasses through the new workplace program, Aktar struggled for minutes to thread a single needle on her machine, a repetitive task that left her with constant headaches and persistent eye strain. Today, she threads needles in seconds, makes far fewer mistakes that require alterations, and works far more comfortably through her full shift.

    “Before I got the glasses, it took me a long time to thread the needle. Now I can thread it in just a short time. I make far fewer alterations than before,” Aktar explained.

    Industry data estimates that roughly one in three Bangladeshi garment workers need corrective vision to do their work properly, yet lack access to affordable glasses, according to VisionSpring, a global non-profit social enterprise dedicated to delivering low-cost eyecare to low-income communities in developing nations. To address this gap, the organization has partnered with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the country’s leading factory industry group, to deliver on-site vision screenings and glasses that cost less than $10 per pair to participating factory workforces.

    Early results from the program have been immediate and striking, according to VisionSpring CEO Ella Gudwin. Workers who receive glasses can consistently meet production and quality targets, and the reduction in common errors like skipped stitches, uneven hems, and misplaced buttons cuts down the hours of rework that factories must schedule to fix flawed products. The program has also revealed that most workers do not report undiagnosed vision problems to management, leaving widespread unaddressed impairment invisible to factory leadership for years.

    That aligns with the experience of Masco Group, one of Bangladesh’s leading garment manufacturers, which has already rolled out screenings to 5,000 of its over 25,000 total employees. Fahima Akhter, a director at Masco Group, told reporters that roughly 30% of screened workers required reading glasses, and the company now plans to expand the program to all remaining employees. For Masco, the initiative is not an unnecessary expense, but a high-return core investment.

    “We don’t consider it a cost. It is an investment. If the workers are working with better vision, their productivity and workplace safety will improve, and eventually this will translate into better productivity and profit for the company,” Akhter said.

    Data from independent academic research backs up that claim. A randomized controlled trial co-authored by Gudwin, focused on sewing operators in India, found that workers who received free reading glasses saw a 6% jump in overall productivity alongside a measurable drop in error rates. The study, published in April in the *British Journal of Ophthalmology*, calculated that every $1 spent on combined vision screenings and glasses generated $3.37 in net productivity gains for employers over just 12 weeks.

    Scaled across the entire global garment and textile industry, researchers estimate that rolling out similar low-cost programs could unlock as much as $27 billion in additional annual global output, a massive gain for an industry that relies on thin profit margins and incremental efficiency improvements.

    Gudwin explained that the issue of unaddressed vision impairment in garment factories has flown under the radar for decades because corrective eyeglasses were incorrectly framed as a personal luxury rather than an essential workplace tool. Many frontline workers, who often develop age-related near-vision impairment in their late 30s and early 40s, assume that glasses will be too expensive for them to afford, so they delay seeking care and continue struggling with impaired vision on the job. Bringing screenings and low-cost glasses directly onto factory floors eliminates the financial and logistical barriers that keep workers from accessing the care they need.

    Akhter added that Bangladesh’s garment sector should formalize the practice by making on-site vision screening and affordable glasses a standard mandatory workplace benefit. For the millions of workers who power the country’s biggest export industry, clear vision is no longer a luxury—it is a basic work necessity that benefits both employees and employers.

  • Asian shares sink, with Tokyo down nearly 5% as slumping AI stocks drag world markets lower

    Asian shares sink, with Tokyo down nearly 5% as slumping AI stocks drag world markets lower

    BANGKOK – Global financial markets faced significant downward pressure on Friday, led by a sharp sell-off across Asian exchanges that was triggered by plummeting valuations in artificial intelligence-linked stocks and amplified by growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

    Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 bore the brunt of the selling, closing down 5.8% at 62,945.97, a drop of more than 5 percentage points that saw AI and semiconductor stocks leading the decline. While South Korean markets were closed for trading Friday, Taiwan’s key index also fell by more than 5%, mirroring the downward trend across East Asian financial hubs. Other major Asian indexes also recorded notable losses: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 2% to settle at 24,514.29, mainland China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 1.6% to 3,818.59, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.7% lower to close at 8,775.70.

    The sell-off in AI-related equities is not an isolated one-day event. For weeks, the sector has faced growing downward pressure as investors increasingly question the stretched valuations that have propelled AI stocks to historic gains over the past year. Core concerns center on whether the explosive rally in chipmakers and AI infrastructure providers is justified, with market participants weighing the risk that projected demand for semiconductors, memory chips, and AI processing hardware may not hold up if the sector fails to deliver the outsized profits and productivity gains that have been widely promised to investors.

    The market downturn was compounded by a sharp spike in global crude oil prices, which climbed to near one-month highs Friday amid intensifying military conflict in the Middle East. Fears are growing that escalating tensions involving Iran could disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which a large share of global crude oil exports from the Persian Gulf pass. A closure or disruption to shipping through the strait would cut off global supply and push energy prices even higher. On Friday, international benchmark Brent crude rose 1.1% to settle at $85.13 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 1.3% to $79.95 per barrel. U.S. stock futures also edged lower in pre-market trading following the Asian session.

    The downward momentum for AI stocks carried over from Wall Street’s previous trading session. On Thursday, the Nasdaq Composite, which is heavily weighted toward technology and AI stocks, dropped 1.5% even as a majority of S&P 500 components recorded gains. The S&P 500 overall fell 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2%, despite better-than-expected quarterly earnings from roughly three-quarters of the large U.S. companies that reported results this season.

    Industry giant Nvidia, the biggest single driver of the global AI stock rally over the past two years, fell 2.4% on Thursday, making it the largest single drag on the S&P 500 and erasing some of the stock’s stellar year-to-date gains. Other major semiconductor and memory chip firms also suffered steep losses: Micron Technology dropped 5.6%, pulling its 2024 gain below 199%; Western Digital sank 9.2% but remains up 171% for the year; and SanDisk plummeted 12.6%, even with its year-to-date gain still holding at 494%.

  • Saudi Arabia mulls military escalation in response to Houthi threats

    Saudi Arabia mulls military escalation in response to Houthi threats

    Tensions are rapidly building across the Arabian Peninsula, as escalating threats from Yemen’s Houthi movement have pushed Saudi Arabia into internal deliberations over how to respond – a decision that carries the potential to reignite full-scale war in Yemen and send shockwaves through global energy markets. Multiple U.S. and regional sources familiar with internal discussions have confirmed to Middle East Eye that Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman has signaled that the U.S. has granted Riyadh flexibility to launch offensive strikes against Houthi positions, though the kingdom’s top leadership has yet to reach a final decision on the course of action.

    Diplomatic insiders note that these ongoing talks have also exposed visible rifts within the Saudi royal court over the appropriate response to rising Houthi aggression, at a time when broader military conflict between the U.S. and Iran has already pushed regional tensions to a 40-year high. The fragile four-year informal truce between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, which grew out of an expired UN-brokered ceasefire, was first breached earlier this month amid a highly contentious dispute over an unscheduled flight landing at Sanaa International Airport.

    According to U.S. and regional intelligence sources cited by MEE, the inbound flight carried Lebanese, Iranian, Syrian, and Iraqi military specialists with expertise in drone and missile technology, while the outbound flight was set to transport senior Houthi political figures and militia members bound for military training in Iran. The Houthi movement quickly accused Saudi Arabia of launching an airstrike on Sanaa airport to block the flight’s departure, a claim that Riyadh has not formally addressed.

    This dispute shattered the unspoken rules that had kept the informal truce intact for years: for the duration of the expired UN ceasefire, all commercial and official flights to Yemen were restricted to routes originating in Amman, Jordan, and Cairo, Egypt. In retaliation for the alleged airport strike, the Houthis launched a coordinated barrage of missiles and drones targeting the southwestern Saudi city of Abha earlier this week, marking one of the largest direct attacks on Saudi territory since the 2025 truce went into effect.

    Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi doubled down on threats against the kingdom in a televised address Thursday, explicitly warning that all Saudi oil infrastructure and critical national installations would become legitimate military targets if Riyadh resumes offensive operations in Yemen. “Airports for airports, ports for ports, and a blockade for a blockade,” al-Houthi declared, drawing a clear line in the sand ahead of any Saudi military move.

    For Saudi Arabia, any decision to return to full-scale conflict carries massive, far-reaching risks. A resumption of major fighting would not only deepen what is already the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen – where more than 21 million people rely on aid to survive – but also threaten to disrupt critical energy shipping routes that are central to the Saudi and global economy. After Iran began asserting increased control over the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran war, the Red Sea has become the primary export artery for Saudi crude, with roughly 4.5 million barrels of oil per day moving through the waterway via the kingdom’s East-West Pipeline.

    Yemen experts warn that Riyadh faces a no-win dilemma regardless of the path it chooses. “I’d hate to be a Saudi today. There is no easy solution to Yemen,” said Mohammed al-Basha, a Washington-based Yemen analyst. “A peace deal [with the Houthis] would mean billions of dollars in reparations, while a return to war has 50-50 odds of a Saudi victory.”

    The current crisis grows out of a long-stalemated “no war, no peace” dynamic that has persisted since the 2025 truce halted large-scale Saudi-Houthi fighting at sea. The Houthis had paused major attacks on global commercial shipping in the Red Sea that they launched in October 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, a move that won the group widespread support across the Arab and Muslim world. After the U.S. launched a large-scale bombing campaign against the Houthis in early 2025, then-President Donald Trump halted the strikes ahead of a Gulf visit following extensive lobbying from Saudi Arabia, leading to the May 2025 maritime truce that has held until now.

    Though the Houthis have not formally joined the ongoing war between the U.S., Israel and Iran that erupted in February 2025, U.S. and Gulf officials tell MEE they believe the group has carried out multiple limited land strikes against Saudi targets in recent weeks. Independent Yemen analyst Ibrahim Jalal notes that the long-expired UN ceasefire framework has failed to create any path toward a permanent political settlement, leaving the door open for steady escalation. “The no war, no peace stalemate has not produced any outcome closer to a political settlement,” Jalal said. “The Houthis’ anti-Saudi rhetoric has also flared up.”

    As tensions rise, Saudi Arabia has moved quickly to shore up military and diplomatic support from Washington. On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command Deputy Commander Lieutenant General Patrick Frank met with Saudi Chief of the General Staff First Lieutenant General Fayyad al-Ruwaili in Riyadh to discuss regional security. The U.S. State Department also announced Wednesday that it had approved a major arms deal to sell 20,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems to Saudi Arabia, a move widely seen as a show of support ahead of any potential military action.

    Internationally, key partners have already begun weighing in: Pakistan, which holds a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia while maintaining cordial diplomatic ties with Iran, issued a public warning to the Houthis Thursday not to launch further attacks on the kingdom, according to Reuters reporting.

    Most analysts agree that the recent tit-for-tat strikes have been carefully calibrated by both sides, with few expecting an immediate closure of the strategically vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden that carries roughly 10 percent of global trade. Basha argues that the Houthi movement has no incentive to close the strait, as that would draw direct U.S. military intervention into the conflict – an outcome the group wants to avoid. “Iran and Israel media leaks are emphasising the Bab el-Mandeb to try to bring the US into this fight, but the Houthis don’t want that,” Basha said. “Trump also has enough problems in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.

  • More than 500 Rohingya vanished at sea – what happened?

    More than 500 Rohingya vanished at sea – what happened?

    It has been nearly three weeks since two overcrowded boats carrying 530 Rohingya asylum seekers departed from Myanmar’s Rakhine State on June 29, and no contact has been made with anyone on board. Advocates working on Rohingya rights warn the entire group is likely lost, with the dangerous monsoon season and the unseaworthy condition of the converted vessels making mass casualties almost inevitable.

    The two boats, modified old fishing trawlers packed far past their safe capacity to carry as many people as possible, set out amid already rough monsoon seas and carried unreliable engines. Roughly half of those on board are believed to be women and children, and Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project — a group that advocates for Rohingya rights — says it is highly probable both vessels capsized, with few to no survivors. Due to the ongoing conflict that has crippled communications across Rakhine State, a full accounting of what happened may never be possible.

    Rakhine State has been mired in active conflict for years, with the Arakan Army insurgent group pushing Myanmar’s military out of most of the territory and laying siege to the junta’s last major stronghold in the state capital Sittwe, which is only accessible by air and sea. Nearly all telecommunications networks across the region have been cut off, leaving advocates like Lewa without direct access to on-the-ground sources in Sittwe and Sin Tet Maw, the Arakan Army-controlled departure point for the missing boats.

    Through a network of secondary contacts and scattered information, Lewa has confirmed the two boats departed hours apart on June 29, bound for southern Myanmar, where passengers were to be transferred to smaller vessels before moving overland through forest transit camps, across Thailand, and to the Malaysian border. Under normal smuggling routes, families would expect to hear from their loved ones within 7 to 10 days; after nearly three weeks of total silence, fears for their safety have grown unavoidable. So far, authorities in Bangladesh have recovered one woman’s body washed ashore, and local fishermen found multiple additional bodies off the coast between Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta and Mon State nine days after the boats’ departure. These findings align with Lewa’s assessment that the first boat capsized just hours after leaving Sin Tet Maw, while the second sank several days into its southeast journey.

    The crisis of the missing boats is rooted in the decades of systemic persecution and escalating instability that have left millions of Rohingya with no viable path to safety. More than one million Rohingya currently live in overcrowded, underfunded camps in southern Bangladesh, where aid resources have dwindled, formal employment is almost non-existent, and transnational smuggling networks operate with impunity. An additional 600,000 Rohingya remain trapped in Rakhine State: one quarter are confined to squalid internal displacement camps, while the rest eke out a precarious existence in communities caught between warring factions. Myanmar’s military junta has increasingly forced Rohingya men into conscription, while the Arakan Army — which claims to represent ethnic Rakhine people — has been repeatedly accused of severe human rights violations against the Rohingya population it distrusts. With prospects for safety and dignity at home nonexistent, fleeing to neighboring countries is the only option many see for survival.

    Malaysia, which already hosts 200,000 Rohingya, has become the most popular destination for asylum seekers, creating a lucrative, brutal trade for transnational human smuggling rings with established networks across Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Smugglers’ business model relies on packing as many people as possible into inadequate vessels, moving them undetected to Malaysia, and collecting fees ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 per person. Families that cannot pay face having their relatives detained, beaten, or even killed, with graphic videos of abuse sent to pressure relatives into raising the required funds.

    Smuggling routes have shifted repeatedly over the past decade in response to regional enforcement efforts. In 2015, after mass graves of trafficking victims were discovered in primitive jungle transit camps, the Thai government cracked down on overland smuggling routes, closing camps in mangrove swamps and rubber plantations where captives were held until ransoms were paid. This crackdown forced many smuggling operations to redirect boats toward Aceh, Indonesia, where local fishing communities initially welcomed the Rohingya as fellow persecuted Muslims. That welcome has since eroded, with anti-Rohingya social media campaigns spreading hostility across the country in recent years.

    Direct sea routes to Malaysia remain largely blocked: the Malaysian Navy regularly intercepts refugee boats and pushes them back into international waters, and local fishing communities refuse to assist smuggling operations. As a result, smuggling networks have reverted to using Thailand as their primary transit hub. Today, large mother vessels pick up Rohingya off the coasts of Rakhine or Bangladesh’s Teknaf, staying only long enough to unload passengers before moving on to avoid detection by authorities from both countries. Smugglers use satellite phones to coordinate with local networks, paying fishermen to transfer passengers to smaller craft that land on southern Thai or eastern Sumatran coasts. Once full payment is received, refugees are moved secretly overland to Malaysia. Other groups are dropped on southern Myanmar’s coast, then transported overland through border crossings to Thailand and on to the Malaysian border. For Rohingya fleeing Rakhine State, however, every escape route begins with a dangerous open sea crossing, since all land routes out of the conflict-torn region remain closed.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that as of mid-2026, at least 4,700 Rohingya have fled the region this year alone on 74 boats, and Lewa estimates the total number of departures since September 2025 may be as high as 10,000 — a sharp increase from previous years, directly driven by the worsening intolerable conditions facing the community in both Rakhine and Bangladesh. The UN has called for the creation of formal safe passage routes for Rohingya seeking asylum, but no country in the region has been willing to accept more refugees or facilitate safer passage, leaving thousands of desperate people to the mercy of brutal smuggling networks and dangerous monsoon seas.

  • Australia ‘deeply frustrated’ over Laos methanol poisoning charges

    Australia ‘deeply frustrated’ over Laos methanol poisoning charges

    A cross-border diplomatic dispute has erupted between Australia and Laos over the planned legal outcome of a 2024 toxic alcohol tragedy that killed six foreign tourists, including two 19-year-old Australian travelers. The fatal incident unfolded in November 2024 at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular Southeast Asian backpacking destination. Six guests — Australians Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, alongside victims from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Denmark — died after drinking complimentary hostels shots laced with illegal methanol, a toxic industrial solvent commonly found in paint thinner that is often cut into illicit alcohol to reduce production costs.

    Months after the tragedy, new reports of expected extraordinarily lenient charges against those responsible have triggered sharp condemnation from the Australian government. Australian media first reported Thursday that Lao authorities had notified families of the Australian victims that the most severe charges pending against the accused carry a combined maximum penalty of just one year of imprisonment and a fine of roughly A$1,600, equal to approximately $1,100 USD or £829 GBP. This comes months after 10 people linked to the hostel already received suspended sentences and small fines of just $185 USD each on charges of destroying evidence — a outcome the brother of one victim previously labeled an “absolute joke”.

    In an official statement, the Australian government expressed it is “deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed” by Laos’ failure to pursue more severe charges that match the scale of the tragedy. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has already summoned Laos’ ambassador to Canberra to relay Australia’s formal objection, and the government has appointed special envoy Pablo Kang to travel to Laos on Friday to explore all possible avenues for action and deliver Australia’s stance directly to local authorities. Wong also confirmed she will raise the issue directly with her Lao counterpart during an upcoming ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Manila next week.

    “This devastating news will only add to the immense pain and grief suffered by the families and friends of Holly and Bianca,” the Australian Foreign Ministry statement said. “We have consistently made clear our expectations that charges should reflect the gravity of the tragedy. This includes the Prime Minister and I expressing these expectations directly to our respective counterparts.”

    Family members of the Australian victims have spoken out publicly to express their overwhelming anger at the planned sentence. “Feeling furious would be an understatement,” Bianca Jones’ father Mark Jones told Australian public broadcaster ABC. “To think that the lives of my daughter, and another five people, are worth less than a year in prison and less than $1,600. I’m calling on the Australian government to do all they can to intervene. For Prime Minister Albanese to reach out to his counterpart in Laos to insist that some form of genuine justice is served for the deaths of two Australian citizens.” Holly Morton-Bowles’ father Shaun Bowles added that the expected lenient charges were “very hard to comprehend”.

    As of Friday morning, Lao authorities have not officially confirmed the pending charges, though the BBC understands a public press conference is scheduled for later the same day to address the case. The Lao embassy in Canberra has also been contacted by media for comment, with no response issued as of yet.

  • China hits out at British Steel nationalisation

    China hits out at British Steel nationalisation

    A major diplomatic dispute between China and the United Kingdom has erupted after London moved to fully nationalise loss-making British Steel, a move Beijing has condemned as an unfair seizure of private property.

    Last year, the UK government already took over day-to-day operational control of British Steel’s primary facility in Scunthorpe, while formal ownership remained with China’s Jingye Group. That arrangement severely constrained Whitehall’s ability to make long-term strategic decisions about the plant’s future. This deadlock broke this week, when Parliament passed emergency legislation on Wednesday authorizing public takeover of steel assets that pass a public interest test. On Thursday, Downing Street formally executed the nationalisation, arguing that bringing the struggling steelmaker into public hands is the only way to protect thousands of domestic jobs and preserve what officials call a “vital national capability” for the UK’s industrial base.

    Beijing immediately pushed back against the decision. In a formal statement released Friday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said the country “firmly opposes and is strongly dissatisfied with the British government’s decision.” The ministry accused the UK of disregarding the tangible economic and social contributions Jingye has made to the UK since acquiring the steelmaker, adding that the forced nationalisation carried out under the banner of national security “seriously infringed upon Jingye’s legitimate rights and interests and severely undermined the confidence of Chinese companies investing in the UK.” Beijing has called on London to uphold its binding obligations under the China-UK Bilateral Investment Treaty, and noted that it will closely track developments while supporting Jingye in pursuing all legal avenues to defend its interests. No specific countermeasures were outlined in the statement.

    Jingye, which has confirmed the company was losing approximately £700,000 per day prior to the full takeover, has already stated it intends to pursue financial compensation for the nationalisation. The BBC has so far been unable to secure an on-the-record response from Jingye’s leadership regarding Thursday’s formal announcement.

    For the UK government, the nationalisation resolves the operational uncertainty that has hung over the Scunthorpe plant for months. With full public ownership, officials now have full authority to map out the facility’s future while keeping its critical blast furnaces operational. However, the long-term financial burden is substantial: the UK’s National Audit Office estimated in March that the Scunthorpe works already costs public coffers roughly £1.3 million per day, a figure Business Secretary Peter Kyle acknowledged the government would cover “for the immediate future.” Analysts broadly agree that Downing Street has no intention of retaining permanent ownership of the loss-making business.

    The timing of the dispute is particularly awkward for UK politics, as incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to take office on Monday. Burnham will now be forced to navigate a delicate balancing act: managing the fallout from the nationalisation while preserving the economic benefits that come from strong trade and investment ties with the world’s second-largest economy. The row threatens to create an early foreign policy strain on the new premiership, adding another layer of complexity to already fragile Sino-British relations.