Geopolitics & Policy
Geopolitics & Policy news — Wednesday 07 October 2026
41 stories from 6 sources, every one in English. Each links to its publisher.
-
Trade Agreement With US Close to Completion, Thai Prime Minister Says
Anutin Charnvirakul said that he expected to sign the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade during President Donald Trump's next visit to Asia.
-
Trump says he deserves Nobel Peace Prize but has doubts he’ll get it
South China Morning Post Tech
US President Donald Trump, who waged war with Iran and has yet to broker peace in Ukraine, said on Wednesday that he should win the Nobel Peace Prize but acknowledged doubt about his chances. “I don’t know what their decision is going…
-
Trump to give Musk top US science medal
South China Morning Post Tech
President Donald Trump will present close ally Elon Musk and other tech bosses with the top US scientific award at a ceremony on Thursday, the White House said. Google co-founder Sergei Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD chief Lisa Su…
-
Rubio touts US power, calls on Europe to emerge from ‘slumber’
South China Morning Post Tech
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday flexed American power and called on Europe to shake off its “long slumber” in a rousing speech delivered beneath the Acropolis in Athens. “We believe that Europe can awaken from its long…
-
Can the Gulf aviation superhub model survive the war?
South China Morning Post Tech
For decades, the Gulf superhubs of Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi performed an improbable trick. They redirected millions of people travelling between the West and Asia to connect through their airports. Last year, the three airports handled…
-
From Military Base to Pax Silica: Clark and Capas in Philippine History
The history of U.S. involvement in the region demonstrates how domestic political dynamics can get entangled with regional and global geopolitics.
-
Venezuela’s Maduro to face new US charges over alleged torture of Americans, official says
South China Morning Post Tech
Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are expected to face new criminal charges in the United States over allegations that Americans detained in Venezuela were tortured, a US official said on Wednesday. The…
-
Evicted 87-year-old woman Maricarmen, heart of Spain’s housing protests, has died
South China Morning Post Tech
Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Spanish woman whose dramatic eviction last month sparked mass housing protests that led to an early election, has died, the Madrid tenants’ union said on Wednesday, as thousands demonstrated over her…
-
New York’s famed Chrysler Building finally finds a buyer
South China Morning Post Tech
A US real estate firm announced on Wednesday it is buying the Chrysler Building and will undertake a vast makeover of the art deco landmark that dominates New York’s skyline. The Chrysler Building, which was opened in 1930 as a symbol of…
-
Canada will not allow assisted suicide for those with only mental illness
South China Morning Post Tech
Canada will not allow medically assisted suicide for people whose only condition is mental illness, the justice minister said on Wednesday, seeking to close debate on one of the country’s most controversial healthcare issues. Canada…
-
The Lessons the Taliban Have Learned
Afghanistan's leaders haven’t changed ideologically. But five years after returning to power, they have learnt from where the "first emirate" went wrong.
-
Trump wants to turn Florida golf course into presidential retreat
South China Morning Post Tech
US President Donald Trump wants to turn his luxury Florida golf course into retreat for future American leaders modelled on the historic Camp David getaway, the White House said on Wednesday. The plan would make the Trump International…
-
China’s High-Tech Ambitions Have a Blue-Collar Status Problem
Most Chinese still view vocational schools and skilled labor as low status and undesirable.
-
France halts use of stun grenades in policing of student protests
South China Morning Post Tech
The French government said on Wednesday it was pausing the use of stun grenades in its policing of student protests, after a 15-year-old boy’s hand was blown off during a clash with riot police, fuelling protesters’ accusations of police…
-
10 injured in knife attack at school in northeastern Poland
South China Morning Post Tech
Ten people were injured in a knife attack at a school in Ostroleka in northeastern Poland on Wednesday, the town’s mayor said, with police detaining the 19-year-old suspect, who was among those hurt, shortly after the incident. Masovian…
-
The Quiet, Careful Growth of Philippine-Taiwan Ties
Manila is exploiting the space between its One China policy and functional cooperation with Taipei.
-
Russia’s Wildberries Finding Fertile Ground in Central Asia
The Russian e-commerce retailer has announced yet another new logistics facility, this time in Uzbekistan.
-
Why China’s export engine may hit a ceiling as trading partners face limits
South China Morning Post Tech
While China’s export engine still has room to grow, many of its trading partners may be approaching the limit of how much more they can absorb, which could place a ceiling on further growth over the coming years, according to a Goldman…
-
The Strategic Implications of China’s Military Facility in Laos
Ban Keun poses only a limited direct threat to the South China Sea or Taiwan, but it will enhance China’s ability to place pressure on U.S. naval forces.
-
AI and the Risk to Democracy
Insights from Matthew Botvinick.
-
Poland’s President in the Philippines: Black Hawks, ASEAN, and US Defense Interests
Could Nawrocki’s visit to Manila serve to promote further Black Hawk sales across ASEAN, potentially benefiting U.S. industrial interests?
-
The Daily Roundup
The Wire China
October 7th, 2026 | Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations. The post The Daily Roundup…
-
US and China must set rules before autonomous fighters cross paths
South China Morning Post Tech
In December 2022, a Chinese J-11 fighter came within metres of a US RC-135 surveillance plane over the South China Sea, according to the US military, which criticised it as an unsafe manoeuvre. China, however, held the American crew…
-
Yemen’s Houthis attack Aden airport as fighting intensifies
South China Morning Post Tech
Yemen’s Houthis attacked Aden’s international airport with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones on Wednesday, the country’s transport ministry said, as fighting between the Iran-aligned group and Saudi-backed government forces…
-
Why the Mecca Agreement Might Fail
If each member preserves its own partnerships while expecting the others to absorb its security risks, what does the promise that an attack against one is an attack against all mean when a crisis arrives?
-
Chinese consortium to build Latin America’s longest cable-stayed bridge in Brazil
South China Morning Post Tech
Chinese contractors will build Latin America’s longest cable-stayed bridge, a trans-bay span in Brazil, as their latest stamp on new infrastructure overseas. A consortium of Chinese companies is set to construct much of the…
-
Russia glosses over Stalin-era repression in reinvented museum
South China Morning Post Tech
In a Moscow museum that once housed evidence of Stalin-era repression, serene family scenes flickered on a screen as a narrator hailed the tranquillity of pre-World War II life in the Soviet Union. The museum – set up to commemorate the…
-
As Tide Turns Against Modi, More Parties Back INDIA Bloc Protests
Police detained scores of opposition lawmakers, who held a sit-in to press their demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
-
China, the FCC, and the Logic of Transceivers
ChinaTalk
Quinn has joined the ChinaTalk team after studying semiconductor physics at Yale. Reach out to quinn@chinatalk.media to chat energy, BRI, robots, trade, industrial policy, or anything else! Over the past year, the FCC has released a series…
-
Conflict in the Red Sea is forcing cloud giants to find a new route for the internet
Rest of World
U.S. cloud giants are facing steep prices to secure backup internet routes around the Red Sea as fighting rages over the Red Sea strait that carries most data cables between... © AFP/Getty Images Fishermen motor past a commercial vessel…
-
Despite rising yields and political gridlock, France not facing a debt crisis: analysts
South China Morning Post Tech
Despite the recent surge in French borrowing costs that pushed the country’s 10-year bond yield spread with Germany to a level unseen since the euro zone crisis, analysts are urging calm, saying France is not facing a debt crisis but…
-
Nobel Chemistry Prize awarded to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai
South China Morning Post Tech
Scientists Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving a long-standing riddle of asymmetric “mirror image” molecules, a discovery hugely important for pharmaceutical manufacturing, the award-giving body…
-
Nasa releases striking image of dawn on Mars
South China Morning Post Tech
Nasa has released a striking image of dawn on the Martian surface taken by its Curiosity rover, showing sunlight bathing jagged crags formed billions of years ago as the car-sized vehicle continues to explore Earth’s planetary neighbour…
-
US risks ceding AI governance leadership to China and the EU
South China Morning Post Tech
Standing alongside prominent technology executives, US President Donald Trump announced a voluntary agreement under which major artificial intelligence (AI) companies will use internal controls and monitoring, outside audits and board…
-
Israel continues demolishing buildings in Gaza a year after ceasefire
South China Morning Post Tech
It’s perhaps the most dramatic wound inflicted on the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military campaign over the past three years: the city of Rafah, once home to a quarter million people, has been erased. Satellite imagery shows the Israeli…
-
Renault’s plan for Chinese EV motor assembly in small French town sparks job loss fears
South China Morning Post Tech
In the industrial heartland of Normandy, more than 100km (62 miles) away from Paris, lies the small town of Cleon. Home to fewer than 5,000 residents and a Renault factory, the town and its environs are a near-perfect reflection of the…
-
The Navy’s Missing Welders Are Stocking Shelves
War on the Rocks
The U.S. Navy’s May 2026 shipbuilding plan, signed by Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, uses the word “innovative” eight times. The plan applies that word, among other things, to the Columbia-class submarine, an acquisition strategy…
-
How to Defend Against AI-Designed Viruses
War on the Rocks
Anthropic recently disclosed five cases in which users hid their countries while asking Claude for help enhancing pathogens or toxins. This added fuel to the ongoing debate over whether progress in AI should be slowed. Insider warnings of…
-
Russian barrage hits Kyiv hours after Zelensky warns of impending attack
South China Morning Post Tech
At least 24 people were killed in Russian strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday, including four young children who died when a missile slammed into a residential block in the north of the country as they slept. Windows shattered in the…
-
Israel marks 3 years since October 7 attack that sparked war in Gaza
South China Morning Post Tech
Israel marked the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Wednesday with silent tributes, new strikes on Gaza and intense political debate, weeks before elections in which the country’s deadliest day will be front and centre. At…
-
Pakistan’s Solar Revolution is Reshaping its Power Sector
Solar power generation has expanded rapidly in recent years and has overtaken nuclear power generation for the first time.