Evergrande Group, once the biggest property developer by sales, was ordered by a Hong Kong court to begin its liquidation process, which may take up to five years to complete. The Shenzhen-based company had tried to buy time to implement its debt-restructuring plan and deliver more apartments to its customers since Top Shine Global, one […]

The post Hong Kong court orders Evergrande to liquidate appeared first on Asia Times.

A drone attack on a US base in Jordan that left three US troops dead and 34 wounded underscores the urgent need to upgrade and revolutionize the US Army’s air defenses. It is unclear why US base defenses failed to intercept the drones, which were allegedly launched by Iran-backed militias from neighboring Syria on Sunday. […]

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The US Marine Corps (USMC) is set to deploy its advanced Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) to the Pacific despite questions about its readiness, maintenance and operation amid recent restrictions on surf-based use of the platform. The ACV deployment, expected in or around March, aims to fill a looming amphibious warfare ship shortage amid rising tensions […]

The post US Marines rush wonky amphibious vehicles to the Pacific appeared first on Asia Times.

Since it was detected in August 2023, the JN.1 variant of Covid has spread widely. It has become dominant in Australia and around the world, driving the biggest Covid wave seen in many jurisdictions for at least the past year. The World Health Organization (WHO) classified JN.1 as a “variant of interest” in December 2023 […]

The post JN.1 ‘step change’ evolution cause for new Covid concern appeared first on Asia Times.

Talk of war is getting louder in the West. The German minister of defense proclaimed this month that Germany has to rebuild its army, as did his British colleague. At the start of the war in Ukraine two years ago, the Western media depicted the Russian military as hopelessly ineffective, outdated, and corrupt. Yet in […]

The post The Western fight against the tide of history appeared first on Asia Times.

We were born Born to be wild We can climb so high I never wanna die – Steppenwolf The Great American Novel (GAN) is the Super Bowl of world literature. Every February, America showcases its most dazzling display of athleticism. But the rest of the world barely knows who’s playing. Of course, Americans are similarly […]

The post China’s rise and the Great American Novel appeared first on Asia Times.

A couple of years ago, many compared China to the eternal phoenix rising from the ashes: only in this case from the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the miracle did not happen, and instead of a rapid recovery of business activity and consumer demand, stagnation set in. Moreover, Beijing found itself with a deflation problem that will […]

The post When will the Chinese phoenix be reborn? appeared first on Asia Times.

An American coalition consisting mainly of Iraqi forces destroyed the city of Mosul in northern Iraq in 2017, with civilian casualties estimated at somewhere between 2,500 and 40,000. The Associated Press count was 11,000 civilians dead but it might have been much higher. ISIS fighters prevented civilians from leaving as the US and its allies […]

The post When genosuicide feels like genocide appeared first on Asia Times.

The Chinese are increasingly angry with Iran. Reuters reports that Chinese officials have asked Iran “to rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing.” That may not sound like much of a threat, but the hidden text is that a lot of the parts for Iranian missiles […]

The post Houthis and Iran are hurting China’s Red Sea trade appeared first on Asia Times.

There is breaking news that suggests Tuvalu’s prime minister, Kausea Natano, has lost his seat in local elections. This sets the stage for Seve Paeniu and Enele Sopoaga to make a move for the prime ministership. In Taipei, these events will be seen as the latest in a series of extremely unwelcome foreign-policy developments. While Natano was […]

The post Taiwan: Next domino looks set to fall in Tuvalu appeared first on Asia Times.

Myanmar all but fell from the international conscience in 2023, with the world subsumed by the Ukraine war, conflict in the Middle East and the dumpster fire of domestic American politics Myanmar, which competed with Sudan for most neglected conflict, was further marginalized by misconceptions that its post-coup civil war had settled into a grinding […]

The post China success, Western failure in revolutionary Myanmar appeared first on Asia Times.

When Joe Biden took the oath of office in January 2021, many expected him to be the “placeholder president.” His mandate: heal the country’s wounds after four turbulent years of Donald Trump. Don’t try to be a transformative figure. Then hand the reins to a capable successor. Fast forward to 2024 and there’s room for […]

The post If Biden stands down before the election appeared first on Asia Times.

On December 27, 2023, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that the company committed willful copyright infringement through its generative AI tool ChatGPT. The Times claimed both that ChatGPT was unlawfully trained on vast amounts of text from its articles and that ChatGPT’s output contained language directly taken from its articles. […]

The post Will the New York Times destroy ChatGPT? appeared first on Asia Times.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced a new cap on international students. In 2024, IRCC aims to issue 360,000 study permits, a 35% reduction from 2023. This announcement comes on the heels of a doubling of the cost-of-living requirement, whereby international students coming to study in any province except Quebec have to demonstrate […]

The post Canada falsely blames foreign students for its housing, health-care woes appeared first on Asia Times.

Since mid-2023, a series of assassination plots have strained India’s relations with Canada and the US. In June 2023, a Sikh separatist activist living in Canada was reportedly killed on orders from Indian security services. Subsequently, in November, it came to light that US authorities were investigating an assassination attempt against another Sikh separatist figure […]

The post Assassination scandal threatens India’s relations with Five Eyes appeared first on Asia Times.

Japan and Bangladesh are ready to start negotiations aimed at finalizing an Economic Partnership Agreement by the end of 2025. That deadline precedes the South Asian nation’s currently scheduled 2026 graduation from the UN’s list of least developed countries and consequent loss of its exemption from developed nations’ tariffs. When the US government looks at […]

The post Japan and Bangladesh eye economic partnership pact appeared first on Asia Times.

The International Court of Justice on January 26, 2024, ordered Israel to prevent possible genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. But the court did not call for a ceasefire, as South Africa had requested. The United Nations’ highest court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, also declined to toss out South Africa’s case against Israel alleging genocide. […]

The post International Court of Justice forbids Gaza genocide appeared first on Asia Times.

The recent climate migration deal between Australia and Tuvalu has been touted as providing a “lifeline” to the people of the South Pacific nation, who face existential threats from rising sea levels and climate change. The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty, signed in November 2023, is the world’s first bilateral agreement on climate mobility. Under the […]

The post Dangerous shoals: rescuing sinking Pacific islands appeared first on Asia Times.

In the lead-up to upcoming general elections in Pakistan, the country’s Human Rights Commission has voiced significant concerns about “pre-poll rigging” and the “blatant manipulation” of the electoral process. The February 8 elections are apparently unlikely to be conducted in a fair and free manner. Pakistan has a history of electoral engineering, with the military […]

The post Pakistan on an electoral razor’s edge appeared first on Asia Times.

The United Auto Workers has endorsed President Joe Biden’s bid for reelection in 2024. “Joe Biden has earned it,” said union president Shawn Fain on January 24 as he announced the union’s decision to back the incumbent candidate. Marick Masters, a Detroit-based Wayne State University scholar of labor, politics and business issues, explains why the […]

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