Geopolitics & Policy
Geopolitics & Policy news — Friday 30 October 2026
38 stories from 4 sources, every one in English. Each links to its publisher.
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Poland deploys riot police, as court chief’s ousting sparks crisis
South China Morning Post Tech
Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki called off a visit to Africa mid-flight and returned to Warsaw, where police surrounded the constitutional court on Friday after the suspension of its chief justice triggered a stand-off between the…
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Wall Street drops to its worst day since June after tech sell-off deepens
South China Morning Post Tech
A sell-off for tech stocks got even worse on Friday on worries that Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial intelligence technology sent prices too high. The S&P 500 tumbled 1.8 per cent for its worst day since June, and it closed out a…
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The flaw in Australia’s ‘China threat’ thesis
South China Morning Post Tech
Australia’s preparations for a possible conflict with China reflect “a relatively superficial understanding”, argues prominent economist John Edwards. Europe, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, he notes, are not preparing for such a…
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Russia’s top independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta shuts under Kremlin pressure
South China Morning Post Tech
Russia’s flagship independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta announced on Friday it was closing, saying it had been “killed” by state pressure after years of repression targeting its journalists whose reporting was critical of the Kremlin and its…
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Fire Devastated a Mongolian Nature Reserve. Who’s to Blame?
The fire in Numrug touches on cross-border capital compliance risks and geopolitical changes impacting Northeast Asia’s ecology.
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Carney expects to conclude talks on making Canada EU’s first associate member in June
South China Morning Post Tech
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday he expects to conclude negotiations with the European Union in June on an unprecedented partnership that would make Canada the bloc’s first “associate member”, even though the designation…
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Hong Kong’s Deadly 2025 Fire: Accountability on Lee’s Terms
A ministerial resignation, official apologies, and promises of reform leave a fundamental question unanswered: What power do Hong Kong citizens have to demand accountability beyond what their government is willing to offer?
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On a Remote Island, Japan Puts Its Deep-Sea Mining Ambitions on Display
Experts argue that Japan’s rush to exploit rare-earth mud from the sea floor near Minamitorishima is driven less by resources than by the political value of being seen to use the island.
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Will Islamic Finance Expand Financial Inclusion in Uzbekistan?
Does removing a religious objection make financing accessible and affordable?
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Japan-Taiwan Relations Enter ‘Deep Waters.’ Will They Sink or Swim?
Economic, technological, and societal ties between the two sides have never been stronger, yet political constraints are becoming more and more visible.
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Christa Pike says she’s in constant pain after failed US execution, slams ‘incompetence’
South China Morning Post Tech
Christa Pike said on Friday that she remained in constant pain and struggled to speak a month after surviving a lethal injection in Tennessee, a failure she blamed on “incompetence.” In her first public statement since the execution, Pike…
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What Tokayev’s Economic Agenda Means for Kazakhstan’s International Partnerships
The Kazakh president’s insistence that public spending mobilize private capital, rather than substitute for it, gives the initiative an international dimension.
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Russia-Ukraine truce for Oleshky allows aid mission to help starving residents
South China Morning Post Tech
Starving residents of a Russian-held town in southern Ukraine began evacuating on Friday as part of a joint relief operation by the opposing sides, the first of its kind in four years and eight months of war. Under a local ceasefire…
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India’s China+1 Dilemma: It May Need China to Depend Less on China
India wants to rely less on China. Interviews with executives and policymakers suggest that whether Chinese firms take part matters less than what India gets for letting them.
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Pope Leo becomes first pope ever to vote in US election, submits mail-in ballot
South China Morning Post Tech
Pope Leo has become the first pope to vote in a US general election. The Vatican confirmed on Friday that the Chicago-born pontiff had submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of November’s midterm elections, citing his long-standing…
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Pakistan’s Trump Bet Meets the US Midterms
The weeks after November 3 will test whether Pakistan’s moment in Washington was a strategy or a stroke of luck.
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Australia Raises Student Visa Costs and Cuts Working Holiday Maker Slots
To placate those drifting off toward One Nation, the government saw a couple of easy targets in international student and working holiday makers to signal that it was “doing something” about immigration.
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Amid India–China Border Tensions, Mega Hydel Project in Arunachal Pradesh Faces Local Heat
Locals are protesting India’s plans to construct a hydropower project on the Siang River. Delhi says the project is important for national security.
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Chinese telecoms giants in Washington’s crosshairs as FCC weighs fresh curbs
South China Morning Post Tech
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing a ban on Chinese telecommunications companies obtaining American telephone numbers, citing national security concerns and the need to protect domestic networks. The proposed rules…
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‘People’s Republic of the Disappeared’: Stories of Horror But Also Resilience
“Residential surveillance at a designated location” – a form of enforced disappearance – is becoming a go-to tool for the CCP, as a new book details.
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A Xi-Trump-Putin summit in Shenzhen could kick-start peace in Ukraine
South China Morning Post Tech
At the recent Valdai Discussion Club, I asked Russian President Vladimir Putin if he would be open to meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in Shenzhen. I…
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China Owes Climate Accountability to South Asia
Beijing’s responsibility stems not only from its massive contribution to global gas emissions, but also from its capability as a green technology provider and its position as an upstream actor.
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The Daily Roundup
The Wire China
October 30th, 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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Is Half of China’s AI Making Slop?
ChinaTalk
Zilan Qian is a research scholar at GovAI researching AI development and regulation in China. On October 21, the People’s Daily published a commentary titled “Turning ‘Gunpowder’ into ‘Fireworks’? Beware the Claim That China’s AI Has Gone…
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Make Corruption Cringe Again
ChinaTalk
In February, Eric and Donald Jr. sat down with a reporter to explain why Abu Dhabi paid $500m for a stake in World Liberty Financial. Don Jr. said, “They tried all this nonsense the first time around. Frankly, it’s gotten old…They created…
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Saudi Arabia says Houthis-launched drone destroyed near Mecca, group denies
South China Morning Post Tech
Saudi Arabia said on Friday it intercepted and destroyed a drone launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels near Islam’s holiest city, a claim the Houthis denied. A coalition spokesman, Major General Turki al-Malki, said the drone was…
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Can the US Defense Industry Keep Pace with China’s Military Machine?
A quarterly index offers a way to find out.
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Trump’s days of running US-China relations on personal ties are numbered
South China Morning Post Tech
Amid attempts this year to impress each other with splendour, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping appear to have decided that the relationship between their two countries should primarily run through their personal…
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France network outage puts Nokia under scrutiny as EU pushes to phase out Huawei, ZTE gear
South China Morning Post Tech
A mobile network outage in France this week has raised questions about the reliability of Finnish telecoms giant Nokia’s products against the backdrop of continued European Union efforts to phase out Chinese suppliers Huawei Technologies…
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Cautious Hope For Mekong’s Irrawaddy Dolphins Amid a River in Crisis
Despite illegal fishing and the construction of hydropower dams, attempts to conserve the sacred dolphin are beginning to bear fruit.
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France on alert as 70,000 police mobilised for Halloween protests
South China Morning Post Tech
France’s interior minister has warned of a “very high risk of public disorder” and announced the deployment of around 70,000 police officers for a new wave of protests this weekend. France has been rocked by widespread anger over the…
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What Women in Indonesia and Malaysia Want From Research on Climate and Health
Women's knowledge and perspectives can strengthen the relevance and contextual grounding of climate-health research and policy action.
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Rights Groups Links Cambodian Security Companies to Scam Compounds
According to a new report by Amnesty International, many Cambodian enablers of the country's scam industry remain at large.
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Lula’s win aids China ties; Hong Kong official quits over Tai Po fire: 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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China’s Military Build-up Has Created ‘Pressure’ in Southeast Asia, Australian Defense Chief Says
His comments came as Beijing accused Manila of obstructing its attendance at this week's ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting in Cebu.
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‘Identity crisis’: UK passes British Nationality Bill in 1981 – SCMP archive
South China Morning Post Tech
A matter of identity By Christopher Wood This article was first published on October 31, 1981 The passage of the British Nationality Bill through Parliament has proved an emotional issue for Hongkong, sparking off fears that the Colony is…
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Pentagon accuses fired US general of leaking sensitive information
South China Morning Post Tech
The Pentagon has accused a newly ousted three-star general of leaking sensitive information to the media just hours after officials confirmed his removal from a top military planning post. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth fired US Army…
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France’s protests, like Hong Kong’s in 2019, risk being defined by violence
South China Morning Post Tech
No protester sets out expecting a friend to be arrested, injured or caught in a confrontation with the police. Yet when that happens, the reasons for returning to the streets can change. People may return not only because of the cause that…