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Australia is already deeply enmeshed within the US defence establishment and its security planning is increasingly reliant on stability in Washington
The Aukus pact has revealed its long-awaited plan that would make Australia the seventh member of an exclusive club of nuclear-propulsion states.
Aukus is, we’re told, a high-risk endeavour but one that will yield potentially high rewards in terms of Australia’s ability to defend its sovereign interests and shape the regional security environment. Indeed, it reflects Australia’s anxieties about the changing security environment in Asia, especially concerning a rising China, and its willingness to step into the role of a “regional power”.

A multibillion-dollar oil drilling and pipeline project is displacing thousands of people in Uganda and Tanzania, and ravaging pristine habitats. Environmentalists are fighting to stop it, but the governments are all in.

Also, U.S. markets seem to stabilize and Xi Jinping tightens his control over China’s economy.

Xi Jinping is revamping China’s regulatory framework so the ruling Communist Party can assert more direct control over financial policy.

Plans for the two countries to restore diplomatic relations are welcome, but are only a modest step forward
“Perhaps the first major diplomatic example of a post-America Middle East,” one analyst. He was describing Iran and Saudi Arabia’s agreement last week – a surprise to most observers, and something of a coup for China, which brokered it. The volatile rivalry between the two nations has been since the Iranian revolution of 1979. Security concerns, claims to regional leadership, ethno-sectarian rivalries and other factors have all played their part. The repercussions have been profound. The tensions contributed to Iran’s all-out support for the Syrian regime, fuelled the war in Yemen, where more than 150,000 have died, and accelerated the disintegration of the state in Lebanon. Ties were cut when Iranian protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic missions over Riyadh’s execution of a revered Shia cleric.
But while last week’s announcement was welcome, it is only a beginning. Assuming the deal goes ahead – there are two months for details to be ironed out – the containment of Saudi-Iranian tensions will not necessarily lead to a deeper rapprochement, let alone end Lebanon’s woes or in Yemen.

Dr Jiang Yanyong revealed true extent of 2003 outbreak and was put under house arrest for denouncing Tiananmen Square massacre
A military surgeon who exposed the Chinese government’s cover-up of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic 20 years ago and lived for years under intermittent house arrest has died in Beijing. He was 91.
Dr Jiang Yanyong died of pneumonia and other illnesses on Saturday, according to two of his friends. One said Jiang had contracted the virus in January in a wave that swept across China after zero-Covid curbs were lifted, although it was unclear if his death was directly caused by the virus.

A retired military surgeon, he blew the whistle in 2003 on Beijing’s cover-up of the epidemic. He was later punished for denouncing the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The bloodshed has intensified fears about gun violence among those in the Asian Pacific Islander community on the heels of a rising tide of hate crimes in recent years, reported the Los Angeles Daily ...

China's foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters that the US, UK and Australia 'are walking further down the path of error and danger'. The comments were made in a press conference in response to the Aukus partners' announcement of a multibillion-dollar deal on nuclear-powered submarines. The deal, made by leaders during a meeting in San Diego, will provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines in an effort to counter the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific. The Chinese government accuse the three countries of pursuing a deal 'for the sake of their own geopolitical interests disregarding the concerns of the international communities'

Authorities will resume issuing all visas after closing borders to international holidaymakers in 2020
China will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the Covid pandemic erupted by allowing all categories of visas to be issued.
The removal of this last cross-border control measure on Wednesday comes after authorities declared victory over the virus last month.

“I had a squeal come out that I was not expecting,” said Fariñas, who was watching Sunday from his Austin, Texas, home, complete with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” themed pastries from a local ...