News

Trial of Dong Yuyu, detained after meeting Japanese diplomat, comes as country’s espionage laws widened
A Chinese journalist at one of the country’s major state media outlets known for his relatively forthright and liberal writings has been arrested on charges of espionage, his family have said.
Dong Yuyu was detained in February 2022 after meeting with a Japanese diplomat who, it was reported at the time, was also taken for interrogation before being released. Dong’s family kept his detention secret in the hope of securing his release, but last month were told his case was progressing to trial.

Five schools preparing to close, according to local report, with others made to merge amid falling school enrolment numbers
Hong Kong schools are being forced to merge or prepare for closure as a decade-long decline in the birthrate and a recent exodus of residents from the city has led to a plunge in student numbers.
Local media have reported that at least five schools face closure in coming years after they failed to reach the minimum 16 enrolments in the first grade. There have been two recent cases of schools merging with each other due to insufficient student numbers.

During World War I, agents from Imperial Germany plotted sabotage efforts in the U.S. In 1916, they succeeded in blowing up a U.S. munitions depot on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor, murdering ...

Dong Yuyu was a longtime writer and editor at a top Chinese Communist Party newspaper who had frequently met with foreign diplomats and journalists.

No time to find a partner and struggles to make a living are a fact of life for two young men in the world’s two most populous countries
India has become the world’s most populous country, according to the United Nations’ latest projections, since the UN began keeping records.
Both countries are facing significant demographic challenges, be it dealing with the legacy of a disastrous one-child policy and ageing population or working out how to take advantage of a booming youth cohort while managing huge disparities in the growth rates of different states.

Secretive visa scheme has been used to fast-track Chinese staff to promote Communist party values at Confucius Institutes
UK government funding for Mandarin teaching at branches of the Chinese state-linked Confucius Institute is to be axed, but they will not be closed, .
The step is expected to be announced by James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, on Tuesday and comes as research shows that a secretive visa scheme has been used to fast-track Chinese government-vetted staff to come to the UK to promote Chinese Communist party (CCP) values at the institutes.

Also, Beijing is trying to control chatbots and Thailand prepares for tense elections.

Remarks by China’s ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of ex-Soviet states threatened to upset China’s efforts to balance courting Europe with supporting Russia.

When I was 12 years old, I attended my first international rhythmic gymnastics competition. After being named to the junior national team of the United […] ...

Hindu nationalism in India is writing an epitaph for the country’s experiment with multi-ethnic secular democracy
Becoming the world’s allows India to burnish its credentials as a global economic and political heavyweight. With a population that is much younger than those of China, the US and the EU, there will be renewed interest in India’s potential to be a beacon of liberal values. The west is eager to draw a democratic giant into its orbit. China and India will account for about half of all global growth this year. But India risks emulating its bigger northern neighbour’s economic ascent under tight political control by a dominant authoritarian party.
Hindu nationalism in India is writing an epitaph for the country’s experiment with multi-ethnic secular democracy. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has weakened institutions meant to keep the state both transparent and accountable. Information is censored, and protests suppressed. It is absurd that opposition leaders have been targeted to the extent that Mr Modi’s main rival – Rahul Gandhi – is currently disqualified from parliament. Such is the polarisation in politics that India’s last session was the least productive since 1952.

The GOP is slamming Democrats for appearing with a man now facing federal charges for allegedly running a secret Chinese police station in Manhattan.