Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • Tesla recalls nearly 3M vehicles in China over door handle safety risks

    Tesla recalls nearly 3M vehicles in China over door handle safety risks

    In a sweeping safety action that marks the largest automotive recall of 2024, Tesla and four major Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are pulling more than 4 million vehicles off Chinese markets to address hazards linked to popular hidden flush door handles, China’s top market regulator announced Friday.

    The U.S.-based electric vehicle leader accounts for the vast majority of the recalled units, with 2.98 million affected vehicles including both China-produced and imported variants of its four core models: Model 3, Model Y, Model X, and Model S. Beijing-based technology conglomerate Xiaomi, which only recently launched its first line of consumer EVs, is recalling more than 390,000 units, while Hangzhou-headquartered EV startup Leapmotor is pulling over 370,000 vehicles. Established Chinese automaker Geely and leading EV brand XPENG are also conducting smaller recalls tied to the same safety issue, regulator data shows.

    The recall action comes roughly eight months after Chinese regulators first announced that hidden door handles — a design widely adopted by EV makers to improve aerodynamic efficiency and extend driving range — will be banned for all new vehicles starting in 2027. Chinese officials have ramped up regulatory scrutiny of the flush handle design after a series of traffic accidents both in China and abroad documented cases where electronic hidden door handles failed to operate after severe collisions, trapping occupants inside and slowing emergency rescue efforts.

    In the official notice posted to the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) website, the regulator outlined the specific risk: in extreme crash scenarios that cause total vehicle electrical system failure, the non-mechanical hidden handles can block quick exit for trapped passengers and prevent first responders from gaining immediate access to the vehicle cabin. To resolve the hazard, Tesla will roll out free over-the-air software updates to all affected vehicles to adjust handle functionality, according to the regulator. Tesla has not yet issued an independent public comment or response to requests for clarification as of Friday.

    People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, framed the industry-wide recall as a coordinated proactive safety upgrade for all existing vehicles ahead of the 2027 ban taking effect. The state publication noted that for China’s fast-growing new energy vehicle sector, industrial competitiveness depends not only on rapid technological innovation but also on meeting rigorous, consistent public safety standards.

    The large-scale recall is one of the most high-profile regulatory actions taken by China in recent years to tighten oversight of the booming EV sector, which has grown exponentially to lead global electric vehicle production and sales. Industry analysts note the move signals Beijing’s growing priority on passenger safety as the segment matures, moving beyond a focus purely on market expansion and technological firsts.

  • Exclusive: UK’s advertising regulator not investigating Great Israeli Real Estate Event

    Exclusive: UK’s advertising regulator not investigating Great Israeli Real Estate Event

    Exclusive reporting from Middle East Eye (MEE) has uncovered that the United Kingdom’s independent advertising regulator has declined to open a formal investigation into a London-based real estate event that promoted housing developments in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, despite a formal request from senior UK government ministers to launch an urgent probe. The controversy first erupted in mid-June, when MEE broke the story that the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, held at London’s Edgware United Synagogue, included advertisements for properties built in settlements deemed illegal under international law.

    The day after MEE’s initial report, then-Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced to Parliament that the government had formally referred the event to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), calling for an urgent review to ensure all UK advertising rules were being upheld. Two senior government ministers – Hamish Falconer of the Foreign Office and Ian Murray of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – followed up with a formal letter to the ASA on June 14, asking the regulator to examine evidence of settlement advertising and ensure compliance with UK domestic laws and guidance.

    Despite this high-level government referral, MEE has confirmed the ASA has never initiated a formal investigation into the event. A spokesperson for the regulator explained that it does not have grounds to open a probe without formal complaints from the public, and noted the agency would only move forward with an investigation if concrete evidence of unlawful advertising is submitted to it. The ASA’s position is rooted in its independent mandate, which grants the regulator full autonomy to decide whether to open formal inquiries, regardless of government requests.

    MEE’s own on-the-ground reporting from the event produced concrete visual evidence of settlement promotion, including brochures and leaflets from multiple Israeli real estate firms advertising developments in illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Developer Harey Zahav promoted two illegal West Bank settlements, Kfar Eldad south of Bethlehem and Teneh Omarim near Hebron, at the event. Leading Israeli agency Tivuch Shelly advertised a new housing project in Ma’ale Adummim, a large illegal settlement in the central occupied West Bank, marketing the development as an “exciting new project just 10 minutes from Jerusalem!” Another firm, Jerusalem Real Estate, advertised projects in French Hill and Ramat Eshkol – both illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.

    After MEE’s initial reporting exposed the activity, event organizers publicly acknowledged that properties in illegal settlements had been promoted, claiming the inclusion was an accidental error.

    The controversy has also sparked regulatory action against the Edgware United Synagogue, which hosted the gathering. Last week, the UK Charity Commission issued a public rebuke to the synagogue’s trustees, criticizing their decision to allow the event on charity-owned property. The commission announced it would reopen a previously closed compliance case into the synagogue, noting that the trustees overrode an institutional ban on the event and failed to implement sufficient checks to enforce booking terms, despite holding personal misgivings about the gathering. “We share concerns about the potential impact, including on public trust and confidence, of registered charities being seen to actively assist in the development or expansion of illegal settlements in Palestine,” the commission said in a statement, adding that “charity premises must not be misused.” The regulator confirmed it would consider escalating its formal regulatory action if further concerns about the synagogue’s conduct arise.

  • Death of Syrian detainee sparks protest and conversation about prison reform

    Death of Syrian detainee sparks protest and conversation about prison reform

    ### Custody Death Sparks National Outcry as Syria Navigates Post-Assad Reform
    Nearly eight months after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year authoritarian regime, the in-custody death of a 29-year-old former rescue volunteer has ignited widespread public protest and renewed scrutiny of Syria’s transitional government’s efforts to dismantle the legacy of systemic detention abuse. Mohammed Ghamira, a father of two who previously volunteered with the White Helmets civilian rescue organization, was taken into custody earlier this month over an alleged financial dispute. He was transferred from a police station in Latakia province’s al-Haffah district in critical condition, and pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a local hospital.

    Official statements from Syrian authorities confirmed Ghamira’s death was caused by cerebral and gastrointestinal hemorrhaging stemming from a beating he received while in detention. The young man lived with hemophilia, a rare bleeding disorder that prevents the body from clotting blood properly after injury. Ghamira’s family confirmed they had explicitly warned detention officials of his pre-existing condition and requested he not be subjected to physical violence before his death.

    A three-day official investigation launched by the new Syrian administration concluded Thursday, finding that Ghamira died after being slapped by a police investigator. The officer responsible for the assault has been taken into custody and referred to judicial authorities for prosecution. The probe also uncovered multiple procedural failures and negligence on the part of the local police department’s chief and the investigating officer, most critically the failure to document Ghamira’s known medical condition in official detention records.

    News of Ghamira’s death quickly sparked public backlash across the country. Earlier this week, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Aleppo to demand full accountability for the killing. Many carried signs bearing the message: “Do not repeat the oppression that we revolted against,” echoing widespread public rejection of the abusive detention system that defined the Assad era. Syrian activist Nedal al-Amari called the case a devastating betrayal of the revolution that ousted Assad last December. “After liberation, every Syrian who is killed under torture in state prisons or institutions is a disgrace that we, as people of the revolution, have to carry,” al-Amari wrote on social media platform X.

    Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new government took power in December 2024 after a rapid offensive defeated Assad’s forces, ending decades of brutal authoritarian rule. During Assad’s time in power, the regime oversaw a sprawling network of more than 100 detention facilities where systematic torture, extrajudicial killing, and enforced disappearance were widespread. Rights groups documented that between the start of the 2011 pro-democracy protests that sparked the civil war and August 2024, more than 150,000 people—including more than 5,000 children and 10,000 women—were arrested by Assad’s security forces. Tens of thousands of detainees were tortured to death in facilities like Sednaya Prison, which Amnesty International labeled a “human slaughterhouse,” where mass executions, deliberate starvation, and mass unmarked graves of detainees were documented as crimes against humanity.

    International and local rights analysts say the public backlash over Ghamira’s death signals a key shift from the Assad era, when open discussion of abuse in custody was strictly forbidden and criticism of the regime carried severe punishment. Saana-Maria Jokinen, a Syria-based human rights researcher and writer, noted that unlike during Assad’s rule, Ghamira’s death is being openly covered by Syrian media, and citizens are freely expressing outrage and demanding accountability without fear of repression. “A very tragic case,” Jokinen wrote on X. “However, in stark contrast to the days of the Assad regime, Ghamira’s death is openly discussed in the Syrian media and Syrians aren’t afraid to voice their criticism.”

    Local and international human rights groups acknowledge that the fall of the Assad regime brought an immediate end to the centralized system of mass arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and systematic torture that defined the prior era. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a leading independent monitoring group, told Middle East Eye that meaningful progress has already been made under the transitional government. The new Syrian constitution, adopted in March 2025, includes explicit legal protections: Article 18 enshrines guarantees for human dignity and physical integrity, and explicitly bans enforced disappearance as well as physical and psychological torture. SNHR data shows at least 993 detainees have been released from former regime detention facilities in the first half of 2025 alone.

    At the same time, the monitoring group documented 192 cases of arbitrary detention by the transitional government in the same six-month period, and warned that a fully compliant, rights-respecting detention system aligned with Syria’s international human rights obligations has not yet been fully built. “These facts show, at one and the same time, a measure of progress and the limits of this progress,” SNHR said. The group rejected claims that the new administration has recreated the abusive detention apparatus of the Assad regime, noting there is no evidence of centrally orchestrated torture or mass arbitrary detention under the current government. Instead, the risks to detainees stem from ongoing institutional gaps and procedural failures.

    “A detainee remains at risk when his arrest isn’t registered immediately, his family isn’t informed of his whereabouts, lawyers and doctors can’t reach him quickly, or when he is held in unofficial facilities, his transfers aren’t documented, and independent monitors can’t inspect places of detention without prior notification,” SNHR explained. The organization has called on the transitional government to implement urgent reforms, including creating a unified, public register of all detainees, guaranteeing timely access to legal representation, family visits, and medical care for all people in custody, shutting down unofficial detention facilities that operate outside formal judicial and administrative oversight, and opening all detention sites to independent inspection.

  • Myanmar military strike kills 14 people at a Buddhist monastery, opposition group says

    Myanmar military strike kills 14 people at a Buddhist monastery, opposition group says

    BANGKOK, Thailand – A deadly airstrike carried out Friday by Myanmar’s military against a Buddhist monastery in the country’s central Sagaing region has left 14 civilians dead, all of whom were attending a week-long meditation retreat, according to confirmation from a local opposition spokesperson and a village resident. The attack marks the latest in a sustained pattern of lethal aerial operations that have repeatedly targeted pro-democracy armed factions and ethnic armed groups across Myanmar, with civilians consistently bearing the brunt of the violence.

    Details of the strike were first shared by Nway Oo, spokesperson for the Civil Defense and Security Organization of Myaung Township (CDSOM), who confirmed the attack took place in Swel Le Oh village, located roughly 75 kilometers (45 miles) west of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest urban center. Nway Oo told reporters that a military fighter jet dropped an explosive directly onto the monastery’s compound, killing 14 people including three women and leaving an additional 20 people wounded.

    A local villager, who requested anonymity out of fear for personal safety after the attack, corroborated the 14-person death toll in an interview with the Associated Press. The villager – whose own mother-in-law was killed in the strike – shared that the fighter jet dropped two bombs spaced 15 minutes apart. The second blast damaged a private residence adjacent to the monastery, where more than 100 people had gathered for the retreat, held during the annual Buddhist Lent observance. Following the attack, survivors cremated the bodies of the deceased before fleeing to a neighboring community for safety, the villager added.

    Multiple Burmese-language media outlets, including the BBC’s Burmese service and independent local outlet Myanmar Now, have also reported on the attack, putting the confirmed death toll between 10 and 14. The outlets have published accompanying photos and video footage purporting to show the immediate aftermath of the strike, including images of deceased victims among the rubble.

    As of Saturday, Myanmar’s military junta had not issued any immediate public comment on the monastery attack. In previous statements regarding its counter-opposition operations, the military has maintained that it only targets legitimate military objectives, and has labeled anti-junta resistance groups as terrorist organizations.

    The attack comes against a backdrop of nearly three years of widespread civil conflict that has gripped Myanmar since the military seized control of the country from the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a February 2021 coup. After the junta violently suppressed mass peaceful protests against the takeover, opponents of military rule mobilized into an armed resistance movement, and today large swathes of the country remain mired in active fighting. Sagaing region, where the monastery attack occurred, is one of the most significant strongholds of the anti-junta armed resistance, particularly the People’s Defense Forces. The junta has increasingly relied on large-scale airstrikes to root out opposition groups in the region, and resistance factions lack any effective air defense to protect civilian populations from these attacks.

    The monastery strike also comes exactly one week after the United Nations-established Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) released a report warning of a clear escalation in junta airstrikes in the months leading up to the junta’s December-January general elections, a vote widely rejected by the international community and opposition groups. The report noted that the intensified aerial operations have continued at full pace following the election.

    Just days before the monastery attack, Myanmar’s foreign ministry issued a formal rejection of the IIMM’s findings, claiming that all limited airstrikes and counterterrorism operations conducted by the junta exclusively target legitimate military objectives. The ministry stated the operations are carried out in response to insurgent and terrorist activity in line with international rules of engagement, and claimed that junta security forces exercise maximum restraint to prevent civilian casualties.

  • Priyanka Chopra Jonas on making a film about love and caste inequality

    Priyanka Chopra Jonas on making a film about love and caste inequality

    Global entertainment star Priyanka Chopra Jonas has added a new meaningful project to her growing production portfolio, signing on as an executive producer for the upcoming feature film *The Cycle of Love*. The upcoming project centers on a compelling real-life-inspired narrative rooted in modern Indian society, weaving together an extraordinary story of cross-continental love with the pressing, long-running conversation around caste inequality in South Asia.

    At the core of the film’s plot is an Indian artist whose profound commitment to reuniting with his beloved wife pushes him to undertake an unprecedented, grueling journey: traveling all the way from his home in India to Europe by bicycle. This sweeping, personal journey serves as more than just a backdrop for a romantic story; it creates a natural framework to unpack how systemic caste-based disparities shape intimate relationships and life trajectories for millions of people across the region.

    As a producer with a track record of elevating underrepresented stories from South Asia to global audiences, Chopra Jonas’ involvement brings both industry attention and creative weight to the project. The production aims to balance a heartfelt, accessible love story with nuanced, unflinching exploration of a persistent social issue that remains underrepresented in mainstream global cinema.

  • China moves to wrap up saga of troubled property giant Evergrande after founder gets life sentence

    China moves to wrap up saga of troubled property giant Evergrande after founder gets life sentence

    Nearly five years after Chinese property giant China Evergrande defaulted on a staggering $300 billion in total liabilities, Chinese authorities have launched the final phase of resolving one of the largest corporate collapses in global history.

    On Friday, a court in Guangzhou, the capital of southern China’s Guangdong province, confirmed it has accepted a bankruptcy liquidation petition targeting Evergrande’s core onshore property development unit — the entity responsible for the vast majority of the group’s total outstanding debt. The court filing comes just one day after a Shenzhen court handed down a life prison sentence to 67-year-old Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, on multiple financial crime charges. Dozens of other co-defendants with ties to the embattled conglomerate, including two of Hui’s sons, were also sentenced to prison terms ranging up to 18 years. The Shenzhen court additionally ordered full confiscation of Hui’s personal assets; once ranked China’s richest person, Hui currently has an estimated $7.7 billion in global assets that have already been frozen under a Hong Kong court order.

    Industry restructuring specialists say the sequence of legal actions makes clear that Chinese regulators have a clear timeline to bring the years-long Evergrande crisis to a close. “Beijing appears to already have a clear road map for wrapping up the entire Evergrande saga,” explained Foreky Wong, founding partner of Hong Kong-based restructuring advisory Fortune Ark. “These procedural steps were inevitable, but they have moved forward sooner than many market observers expected.” Still, Wong cautioned that given Evergrande’s unprecedented scale, the full bankruptcy and liquidation process will extend over multiple years.

    The Evergrande collapse first erupted in 2020, when Chinese regulators introduced strict new limits on excessive borrowing among real estate developers to cool overheated housing markets. The policy crackdown triggered a sudden liquidity crisis for Evergrande, which at the time was the world’s most indebted developer, and sparked a domino effect of defaults across China’s property sector that plunged the industry into a deep, prolonged downturn. For years prior to the crisis, real estate served as the primary engine of China’s economic growth, accounting for roughly a quarter of total national GDP as recently as the late 2010s. Today, three years after Evergrande’s first default, average national home prices have fallen by roughly 20% or more, and the sector has shown few signs of a sustained recovery. Oversupply continues to plague hundreds of smaller tier cities across China, while broad domestic economic slowdown has eroded household consumer confidence and purchasing power, leaving demand far weaker than pre-crisis levels.

    Back in 2024, a Hong Kong court ordered the liquidation of Evergrande’s Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company, which was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, after the group failed to reach a viable debt restructuring agreement with international creditors. But legal experts note that cross-jurisdictional complexities will significantly slow asset recovery efforts. Most of Evergrande’s assets and core operations are located on mainland China, which operates under a separate legal system from Hong Kong, leaving Hong Kong-appointed liquidators with very limited authority to seize and distribute onshore assets to creditors.

    Jonathan Leitch, a restructuring partner at international law firm Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, noted that the Guangzhou court’s ruling has opened a host of untested legal questions that will take years to resolve. “One of the biggest open questions is how competing claims on Hui Ka Yan’s personal assets will be prioritized, between mainland authorities and the Hong Kong liquidation team,” Leitch explained.

    Beyond pursuing Hui and other former Evergrande executives, liquidators have also launched legal action against Big Four accounting firm PwC, seeking $8.4 billion in damages over PwC’s role auditing Evergrande’s financial statements in the years leading up to its collapse. Regulatory investigations confirmed that Evergrande inflated its total revenue by roughly $80 billion across 2019 and 2020 through widespread financial manipulation. In 2024, mainland Chinese regulators fined PwC approximately $62 million for its audit failures, while Hong Kong regulators secured a $166 million fine and compensation settlement from the firm in April 2024.

    Most industry analysts agree that Evergrande’s creditors — both domestic and international — will only recoup a tiny fraction of the total money they are owed. Wong projects that even after all asset recoveries are complete, total creditor payouts will amount to only a single-digit percentage of Evergrande’s $300 billion in total liabilities.

  • Indonesia warns against starting open blazes as haze from wildfires spreads to Malaysia

    Indonesia warns against starting open blazes as haze from wildfires spreads to Malaysia

    JAKARTA, Indonesia – As massive wildfires on the island of Borneo churn out toxic, choking haze that has blanketed urban centers and drifted across international borders into neighboring Malaysia, Indonesian law enforcement and environmental officials announced Friday that strict legal penalties will be pursued against any individual found starting illegal open burns.

    The vast majority of the fire activity is concentrated on Borneo, the world’s third-largest island, which is split between three Southeast Asian nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Indonesia controls around 75 percent of the island’s territory, and the country’s Ministry of Forestry has documented more than 5,000 distinct fire hot spots across its portion of Borneo. Local media reports confirm that the thick haze has smothered large swathes of Indonesia’s Kalimantan region, cutting visibility to as low as just 1 to 10 meters in the most affected areas. This reduced visibility has already sparked multiple traffic collisions and forced flight delays across the region.

    Broadcast television footage from impacted areas shows streets, residential and commercial buildings, and public infrastructure completely obscured by thick gray smoke. Motorists have been forced to drive with full headlights activated during broad daylight, and outdoor photos show residents of all ages, including school-age children, wearing protective face masks to limit smoke inhalation.

    Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency explained that a strengthening El Niño weather pattern and an unusually long, dry dry season have created ideal conditions for the fires to spread rapidly out of control. The dense smoke plume generated by the blazes has drifted across the maritime border into Malaysia, where the eastern state of Sarawak has borne the brunt of the cross-border pollution. As of Friday, one Sarawak district registered “very unhealthy” air quality readings, while eight additional districts posted scores that fall into the unhealthy range. In response, the Sarawak state government has ordered the closure of nearly 600 schools, disrupting learning for roughly 200,000 enrolled students.

    On Indonesia’s side of Borneo, Central Kalimantan Police Chief Iwan Kurniawan confirmed that investigators have already taken 12 suspects into custody over the past week. The detainees are linked to allegations of arson and illegal land clearing to prepare ground for agricultural or plantation development, the common driver of annual fire seasons in the region. “Every forest and land fire incident in Central Kalimantan is investigated,” Kurniawan said, noting that authorities are still working to map the full scope of fire causes and hold all responsible parties accountable.

    Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni, who toured fire-ravaged areas near the Central Kalimantan provincial capital of Palangka Raya earlier this week, doubled down on the government’s pledge of harsh enforcement. “Whoever they are, big or small, without exception, anyone who destroys nature and forests will face strict legal action,” Antoni said.

    Across social media, affected residents have shared widespread accounts of physical distress, reporting ongoing breathing difficulties and growing anxiety about long-term respiratory and cardiovascular health risks from prolonged exposure to the hazardous smoke.

    The scale of this year’s fire season has already far outpaced early 2024 activity. In the 24-hour period ending Friday, Indonesia’s Forestry Ministry detected 11,908 hot spots nationwide, almost double the 6,352 hot spots recorded just one day prior. Independent forest monitoring platform Nusantara Atlas reports that roughly 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) of land were consumed by fire in July alone — an area nearly twice the size of the total scorched across the first six months of the year. To date, the total burned area across Indonesia this fire season has reached approximately 285,000 hectares (704,000 acres).

    Transboundary haze has become a recurring annual crisis for Southeast Asia, particularly during intense El Niño cycles that extend dry seasons across Indonesia’s Sumatra and Kalimantan regions. Indonesian authorities have long confirmed that most wildfires in the region are deliberately ignited by parties seeking to clear forest and peatland inexpensively for commercial plantation development, most often for palm oil and pulpwood production. This annual fire activity repeatedly blankets large swathes of Indonesia and neighboring countries in hazardous air pollution that endangers public health across the region.

    Associated Press reporters Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed reporting to this article.

  • Remains found of American mountain climber who died in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak

    Remains found of American mountain climber who died in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak

    Nearly two months after a catastrophic avalanche swept away an international mountaineering expedition on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, search operations have concluded with the recovery of the last missing climber, 39-year-old American mountaineer Mallory Geis. Pakistan Alpine Club president Irfan Arshad Khan confirmed Friday that a crew of local volunteer searchers located Geis’ remains, bringing closure to the massive search operation launched after the July 31 incident that claimed the lives of all 10 members of the expedition.

    Geis, a resident of San Antonio, Texas, had embarked on the Broad Peak expedition as her first attempt to summit one of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters, which stands at 26,247 feet above sea level. Earlier this year, she shared her ambitious life shift on social media: she had closed her local Pilates studio to step into what she called “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes.” She added at the time that she suspected her future would hold “lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons,” leaning fully into her passion for high-altitude climbing.

    In the weeks following the avalanche, Geis’ family released a public statement honoring her memory, describing her as “a bright light who was loved deeply by family and friends.”

    The ill-fated expedition was led by Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former British Army soldier better known to the climbing community as Nims Dai. Purja earned global fame for his groundbreaking 2019 achievement of scaling all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in a record-breaking 189 days, a feat that was later chronicled in the popular Netflix documentary *14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible*. Purja’s speed record was ultimately broken by another climber in 2023.

    High-altitude climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan’s Karakoram Range, where Broad Peak is located, carry inherently high risk. Avalanches, falling ice and rock, severe altitude sickness, and rapidly shifting weather patterns make fatal accidents a common occurrence for climbing teams operating in the region.

  • Indonesia and China discuss increasing defense cooperation and energy security

    Indonesia and China discuss increasing defense cooperation and energy security

    High-stakes diplomatic meetings between top Indonesian and Chinese officials in Jakarta on Friday have opened a new chapter of bilateral cooperation, with the two nations committing to advance collaboration across defense, food security, energy, trade and cutting-edge technology while taking a unified stance against global coercion and historical revisionism.

    The talks brought together foreign and defense ministers from both countries, marking a formal step forward for the updated bilateral dialogue mechanism that the two sides have developed to align their policy priorities. Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono, who goes by a single name, outlined the broad scope of the talks after the meetings, noting that the new dialogue framework is designed to deliver tangible progress across five core pillars of partnership: political, economic, security, maritime, and people-to-people exchanges.

    Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasized that both sides have agreed to align their development and security priorities more closely, creating a robust foundation that will support each nation’s modernization goals. In a joint statement issued after the talks, Wang made clear the two countries’ shared commitment to upholding global order. “We will jointly oppose unilateral bullying and power politics. We must also remain vigilant against attempts in the region to challenge the outcomes of victory in World War II and turn back the wheel of history,” Wang said. “We should safeguard international fairness and justice, as well as the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.”

    Beyond diplomatic alignment, the talks covered concrete cooperation across economic and technological domains. Sugiono said ministers discussed strengthening food, energy, and mineral supply security by building strategic domestic industries that boost national resilience. The partnership will expand into new cutting-edge areas in coming years, including artificial intelligence research, co-development of communications satellites, and other advanced technology initiatives. The two sides also reached agreement to expand bilateral trade, with a focus on opening new markets and increasing access for Indonesia’s key commodity exports to China.

    Wang noted that the revitalized bilateral dialogue sends a powerful message of unity to the global community. “It [sends] a clear signal to the world of solidarity and cooperation between our two major emerging-market countries,” Wang added.

    In a separate meeting held alongside the foreign minister talks, defense ministers from both nations hammered out details for expanded defense cooperation. Indonesia’s Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said his counterpart, China’s Defense Minister Dong Jun, and he discussed expanding cooperation across multiple areas, including defense equipment supply, personnel training exchanges, and collaboration between the two countries’ domestic defense industries. Sjamsoeddin also extended an invitation to Chinese armed forces to take part in Indonesia’s Heping Garuda joint exercise, a step he described as a tangible demonstration of the growing military ties between the two nations.

    Economic relations between Indonesia and China have expanded rapidly in recent years, with total bilateral trade hitting roughly $167 billion in 2024. China has held the position of Indonesia’s largest trading partner for multiple consecutive years, and has invested tens of billions of dollars in large-scale infrastructure projects across Indonesia as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative. Notable completed projects include the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, the first high-speed rail line in Southeast Asia, and the Cirata floating solar farm, the largest facility of its kind in the region, located on a reservoir in West Java roughly 80 miles outside Jakarta. While minor disputes over project timelines and pricing have emerged during implementation, China has reaffirmed its commitment to completing all agreed projects in line with bilateral agreements.

    Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing contributed reporting to this article.

  • Gandhi’s handwritten notes on life sold for $1.69m at Indian auction

    Gandhi’s handwritten notes on life sold for $1.69m at Indian auction

    A one-of-a-kind archive of handwritten messages from Mahatma Gandhi, the iconic leader of India’s independence movement, has fetched $1.69 million (£1.3 million) at a Mumbai auction, breaking the record for the highest price ever paid for an Indian historical document at public sale.

    The 688 personal notes, which were held and cared for nearly eight decades by the family of Gandhi’s close associate and fellow freedom fighter Anand T Hingorani, were composed between 1944 and 1946. This period fell in the final stretch of India’s campaign to end British colonial rule, a turning point in modern South Asian history that Gandhi shaped through his unwavering commitment to nonviolent resistance.

    Beyond their historical significance, the collection offers an intimate, unfiltered look at Gandhi the person, separate from his public role as the “Father of the Indian Nation.” Most of the notes were written as a source of comfort, guidance, and encouragement for Hingorani in the two years following the death of Hingorani’s wife, Vidya. Many of the texts center on Gandhi’s core teachings: truth, nonviolence, and self-discipline. The messages were eventually compiled into the published volume *A Thought for the Day*.

    The archive was the centerpiece of Saffronart’s 86-lot auction titled “Gandhi: From the Collection of Anand T Hingorani,” which brought together decades of artifacts preserved by the Hingorani family spanning more than 20 years of Gandhi’s friendship and collaboration with Anand Hingorani. Alongside the 1944-1946 notes, the auction featured additional rare pieces: Gandhi’s reflections on the Hindu sacred text the Bhagavad Gita and concepts of God, his personal portable spinning wheel (a symbol of his self-reliance movement), and two letters discussing the spiritual practice of spinning. The entire collection traces key moments of the independence struggle while documenting the deep personal bond between the two men.

    “These reflections offer a rare insight into how Gandhi lived the principles he advocated publicly, making this an especially valuable record of his thought and practice,” Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder of auction house Saffronart, explained in a prepared statement. Vazirani added that the unique collection allows modern audiences to engage with Gandhi “through the lens of a close, personal relationship,” rather than solely as a towering political figure.

    While Saffronart has chosen not to release any identifying details about the winning bidder, the auction house confirmed one key detail that will resonate with Indian cultural heritage groups: the historic notes will stay within India’s borders, remaining accessible for future study and appreciation of Gandhi’s legacy.