Headlines

Bank Indonesia chief’s resignation signals a deep, hidden crisis

JAKARTA – Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo’s abrupt resignation marks a watershed moment for Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Coming midway through his second five-year term, Warjiyo’s departure — tendered for personal reasons and quickly accepted by President Prabowo

Asia •

After Pakistan judge killing, a fight over who claims it

Modern terrorist attacks no longer end when the shooting stops. Increasingly, a second battle begins immediately afterward: the struggle over who receives credit. In an era of encrypted communications, instant messaging and digital propaganda, attaching an organization’s name

Asia •

The South China Sea consensus no ASEAN chair can move

The Philippines came into the 2026 ASEAN chairmanship with the strongest possible hand on the South China Sea. It held the pen on the communique. It had built new domestic legal infrastructure and secured bilateral partner commitments. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM)

Asia •

China’s zero-tariff play aims to lock in African loyalty

China’s expanding zero-tariff access for 63 lower-income countries — 53 of them African — is far more than a developmental courtesy or a technical adjustment of customs schedules. It is a deliberate geostrategic lever in Beijing’s long-term competition with the United States

Asia •

China’s Fields Medals triumph raises bigger math questions

When Hong Wang and Yu Deng received Fields Medals at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia on July 23, they became the first citizens of the People’s Republic of China to hold mathematics’ highest honor in its 90-year history. Wang is also only the third

Asia •

AI’s ceiling: intelligence, too, faces diminishing returns

“[I]ntelligence, that counterentropic conjoined twin of information, must become the most powerful force in the universe, the energy to which all other physical laws must eventually kneel…Intelligence was destiny, manifest.” — Ian McDonald, “Verthandi’s Ring” Not a lot of

Asia •

China takes satellite race with SpaceX to sea

China’s latest sea-based rocket launch shows how mobile launch platforms, onboard artificial intelligence and expanding commercial constellations are converging into a broader Chinese effort to strengthen military resilience, accelerate satellite deployment and compete for

Asia •

Ukraine’s worst week becomes much better, but not the best

Last week was a momentous one for Ukrainian democracy, and possibly for how the war develops over the next period. After two and a half years, overall command of the Ukrainian army was transferred from General Oleksandr Syrskyi to General Mykhailo Drapatyi. The move was greeted

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