East Asia
The world’s most advanced economies and its most contested flashpoint sit side by side here. Technology leadership, demographic decline, and a strait that could redraw the global order — all in the same neighborhood.
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Aug- 2026 -13 AugustCompass
Thailand is quietly winning the race for Chinese tourists from Japan
With 5.1 million Chinese arrivals projected for 2026, Thailand has overtaken Japan in the first half—a shift driven by airlift capacity, safety perceptions, and political friction between China and Tokyo.
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13 AugustCapital
Billions in yen purchases just lost half their value in two weeks
The US and Japan's first joint intervention since 1998 pulled the yen to 157.57 on July 31, but by August 11 it had fallen back to 159.29, exposing structural forces…
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12 AugustPower
China brings Indonesia into waters Taiwan claims as its own
The PLA's first joint naval drill east of Taiwan with an Indonesian frigate tests whether repeated foreign participation can normalize Beijing's contested presence.
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12 AugustEarth
Beijing shut down as Typhoon Dolphin’s rainfall shattered August records
Record daily totals of 209.5 mm in Wugang and 150+ mm in the capital exposed gaps in China's flood defences, forcing mass evacuations and transport collapse despite years of sponge-city…
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12 AugustTech & AI
China just unwound Meta’s $2 billion AI deal after it closed
The NDRC ordered Manus to reverse its acquisition on August 11, establishing Beijing's power to retroactively unwind cross-border tech deals regardless of offshore incorporation—a capability foreign acquirers assumed did not…
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12 AugustCapital
South Korea eliminates crypto transfer floor, pressures US exchanges
Seoul's zero-threshold Travel Rule takes effect February 20, 2027, while lobbying the FATF to force global compliance that would reshape US exchange architecture.
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11 AugustEarth
A sanctioned Russian tanker is poisoning Oman’s newest whale reserve
The Caroline Bezengi grounded near the Hallaniyat Islands in mid-2026, releasing an oil slick now covering up to 800 square kilometres—exposing how Western sanctions redirect crude into aging, uninsured shadow-fleet…
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10 AugustCapital
India’s $41 billion currency trick is reshaping how Asia defends reserves
The Reserve Bank of India pulled in $41 billion through a subsidised deposit window by July 31, setting a benchmark for incentive-based defense that other central banks are now copying—but…
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10 AugustEarth
China’s worst typhoon this year is only half the disaster
Typhoon Dolphin's 151 km/h winds forced over a million evacuations, but forecasters warn the real threat is 500 mm of rain falling on saturated ground across Zhejiang province through August…
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10 AugustEarth
China’s strongest storm stalls inland, threatening basin-scale flooding
Typhoon Dolphin made landfall near Yuhuan with 151 km/h winds on August 9, but forecasters warn the real danger is torrential rain that could linger through August 12, raising flood…
