Geopolitics & Policy
Geopolitics & Policy news — Friday 23 October 2026
39 stories from 4 sources, every one in English. Each links to its publisher.
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Kenya reports second Ebola death, a close relative of first patient
South China Morning Post Tech
Kenya’s health ministry announced the country’s second Ebola death on Friday, saying a 65-year-old woman who was a close relative of the first patient died after developing symptoms while in quarantine. The woman began showing symptoms 10…
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Zelensky hopes Beijing can use ‘influence’ over Moscow to help stop Ukraine war
South China Morning Post Tech
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Beijing has “influence” over Moscow it should use to stop the war in Ukraine, and that a proposed summit meeting of the US, Chinese and Russian leaders must not lead to the…
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Trump to lowers some Canada tariffs to help Maine lawmaker’s re-election bid
South China Morning Post Tech
The Trump administration is expanding tariff exemptions to more Canadian products, a move that may help boost Republican US Senator Susan Collins’ re-election campaign in Maine. Collins announced in a statement on Friday that the…
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Macron condemns ‘racist terrorist attack’ after deadly shooting near Paris
South China Morning Post Tech
A gunman firing from a car killed one person and wounded five – including a 12-year-old girl shot eight times – in the Paris suburbs on Friday, in what the French president called a “racist terrorist attack”. The man was “firing at random…
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South Korea’s Ruling Democratic Party Is Tumbling in the Polls
Its in-house gaffes and disputes are largely to blame for the DP's plummeting approval ratings.
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Gunmen kill 7 at Jordan church, king vows retaliation
South China Morning Post Tech
Gunmen killed at least seven people and wounded dozens at a church in southern Jordan on Friday, with the king vowing retaliation for the rare attack on Christians in the majority Sunni Muslim kingdom. Assailants stormed the compound of a…
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Xi Jinping May Have His Own Reasons to Avert a China-Russia-US Summit
A formal trilateral could raise strategic questions that are awkward for the EU, Ukraine – and China itself.
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Melania Trump brokers ceasefire in Russian-occupied Ukraine city, White House says
South China Morning Post Tech
Ukraine’s top negotiator involved in a humanitarian mission led by US first lady Melania Trump has said that a local ceasefire with Russia will start on Tuesday – two days before the mission begins – and last several days. Ukrainian…
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The China-Taiwan Diplomatic War Is More About Politics Than Economics
Taiwan’s formal relationships in Africa and Latin America point to the real factors driving recognition decisions – and it’s not “dollar diplomacy.”
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South China Sea Code of Conduct: A Deal Is Not Enough
A COC that lacks credible enforcement mechanisms would do little to address security challenges.
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With Strict Agendas and Silent Corridors Kazakhstan’s Kurultai Is Muzzling the Press
Journalists covering the country’s parliament are pushing back against new rules that constrict their ability to question officials.
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What States Make of Military Exercises: Ulchi and Beyond
Repeated military cooperation can help build predictability, trust, interoperability, and institutionalized relationships among participants.
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Meghan Markle ‘distressed’ as Philippines probes father over child sexual abuse images
South China Morning Post Tech
Authorities in the Philippines are investigating Thomas Markle, father of Meghan, the wife of Britain’s Prince Harry, the Philippine justice undersecretary said on Friday, after allegations he possessed child sexual abuse images. “Our…
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Karakoram 2026: Inside China-Pakistan Joint Military Training in Xinjiang
The deteriorating security environment in the region thus reinforces the importance of China-Pakistan military cooperation.
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Korean Dramas: Ukraine, Russia, and Where South Korea Begins
A diplomatic spat and a comment that caused controversy.
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France deploys 70,000 police for new protests as Macron delays Africa trip
South China Morning Post Tech
France will deploy some 70,000 police nationwide as it braces for new protests this weekend after some of the worst urban violence in years erupted on the sidelines of demonstrations a week ago, the government said on Friday. President…
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Japan Needs Higher Interest Rates
Japanese exporters enjoy high demand and strong profit margins, but importers are under severe pressure. The weak yen also hurts Japanese consumers.
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TenPayGo and China’s Digital Opening to Foreigners
Tencent’s new payment app shows how China’s tech companies can lower barriers for foreign users without fundamentally changing the systems behind them.
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The Daily Roundup
The Wire China
October 23rd, 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…
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Xi’s Military Purges Make US Deterrence More Urgent
“If we are serious about the CCP as our foremost long-term strategic challenge, we should end the Iran war and rebuild depleted stockpiles, immediately.”
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The Next Chapter of Africa-China Climate Cooperation
China’s climate cooperation with Africa is becoming more investment-led, with a focus on industrialization.
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China, Europe should coordinate on carbon pricing, border tax: energy transition expert
South China Morning Post Tech
China and Europe should jointly introduce a system like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), a levy on carbon-intensive imports designed to account for the carbon costs domestic producers face, which “applies against the rest of…
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The EU is its own worst enemy
South China Morning Post Tech
Beijing has told Brussels not to “fantasise” that pressure will extract concessions. This came after China made a goodwill gesture in the recent hybrid-car trade deal. The European Union responded by doubling down on a proposed trade “kill…
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Rubio’s Unusual Visit to India Marks a Paradigm Shift in India-US Ties
The U.S. secretary of state’s itinerary skipped the corridors of power in Delhi for boardrooms and a refinery.
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Could Europe’s cost-of-living protests sharpen EU-China trade tensions?
South China Morning Post Tech
As violent protests fuelled partly by the cost-of-living crisis shake parts of Europe, most notably France, analysts say the unrest could add to pressure on European policymakers to take a tougher trade stance towards China. “One could…
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Where is China’s Groq?
ChinaTalk
In late 2025, HBM was all the rage. You need HBM for AI inference; inference decode is a memory-constrained operation, and only HBM was able to reach bandwidth speeds to serve models effectively. But the market has matured since then, and…
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Girl arrested after taking US$111 from Russia to poison Ukrainian troops
South China Morning Post Tech
Ukrainian police said on Friday they had detained a 17-year-old girl suspected of helping Russia’s security services to poison Ukrainian soldiers and that two had died. Ukraine and Russia have throughout their war since 2022 accused each…
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Netanyahu orders West Bank closure after deadly checkpoint shoot-out
South China Morning Post Tech
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened a military operation in the occupied West Bank on a scale unseen in decades after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers on Friday in an attack near Hebron days before the national…
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Rubio’s India Visit Focuses on Energy
He visited Jamnagar, home to the world’s largest oil refinery, which is run by Reliance Industries. The latter plans to build a refinery in Texas.
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Why Durga Puja’s Celebration in West Bengal This Year Was Different
The BJP government in the state stripped the festival of its secular-cultural uniqueness to impose religious and ritualistic practices that are anathema to Bengalis.
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WHO warns Africa faces ‘complex’ Ebola outbreak as virus reaches Nigeria
South China Morning Post Tech
The World Health Organization has warned that Africa faced a “complex” Ebola outbreak after the virus crossed from east Africa to Nigeria, marking the first case in the west of the continent. Nigeria on Tuesday had announced an imported…
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France braces for more unrest as police tactics and weapons face scrutiny
South China Morning Post Tech
Police across France are under pressure to maintain security during further protests expected in some cities, while facing scrutiny over their riot-control tactics used during previous unrest that left some teenagers seriously injured…
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North Korean silence signals Trump-Kim summit unlikely: US, South Korean officials
South China Morning Post Tech
US and South Korean officials see the chances fading of a meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year, according to five people with knowledge of the situation. Trump, the only US president to have…
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Honduras squeezes Chinese firms; Super Typhoon Champi nears Taiwan: SCMP’s 7 highlights
South China Morning Post Tech
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting…
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El Salvador deploys special forces to Haiti after soldiers seized by gangs
South China Morning Post Tech
El Salvador deployed 100 special forces soldiers to Haiti on Thursday to help rescue four missing soldiers from the Central American country who recently came under attack by gangs, two officials told Associated Press. The special forces…
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Indonesia’s Stock Market Crisis Is Self-Inflicted
Jakarta has serious questions to answer about the credibility of its capital markets and the effectiveness of the institutions responsible for regulating them.
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Malaysian PM Anwar Bans Civil Servants From Using Israel-developed Navigation App
Anwar Ibrahim said that Waze, which was developed in Tel Aviv before being acquired by Google in 2013, could be "exploited by the Israeli regime."
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‘Either blood or blown’: graphic details of botched US execution revealed
South China Morning Post Tech
Tennessee execution team members failed multiple times to establish working IV lines in Christa Pike’s arms before her attempted execution and warned that some of her veins may have ruptured, or “blown”, before she was injected with the…
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US police officer accused of taking over dead man’s home after finding body
South China Morning Post Tech
A Florida police officer who found a man dead during a welfare check in 2022 is accused of taking possession of the man’s home and impersonating him for years while fixing up the place, authorities said. The officer said he took possession…