This afternoon's briefing covers 30 stories selected from issue 16 of Biguan (毕观天下), weighted towards Asia. Hong Kong's Tai Po fire inquiry delivered its final report, China's CSI 300 index fell into a bear market, DeepSeek was reported to have raised about 100 billion yuan, the Bank of Korea held rates at 3%, and Typhoon Champi bore down on Taiwan. Elsewhere, attacks in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province killed three, Kyiv was hit by missiles after a US envoy met the Kremlin, floods killed at least three in southern France, and Nigeria's first Ebola case was matched to the strain behind the DR Congo outbreak.
The Hong Kong government said the chairman of the independent committee on the Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po handed its report to the Chief Executive on Oct 22; the Nov 26, 2025 blaze killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 residents. SCMP, citing sources, said the report runs to more than 10 chapters, names four government departments to be held accountable, and makes recommendations on building-material standards and bid-rigging. The Chief Executive said the government would comprehensively reform oversight of building maintenance works, building management and fire-service installations.
CNBC, citing LSEG data, reported that the CSI 300 index of 300 large-cap Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks was down 20% from its June high on Oct 22, entering a bear market; it has fallen for 10 consecutive weeks, is down 2.6% so far this week and dropped more than 1% intraday on Thursday. CNBC said Chinese corporate profit growth has slowed under fierce competition, with September industrial profits growing at the weakest pace this year. Pella Funds chairman and CIO Jordan Cvetanovski told CNBC that Chinese stocks still face structural problems from overcapacity and overinvestment.
As of about 11:58 Hong Kong time on Oct 22, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.76%, the KOSPI 2.72%, the Shanghai Composite 0.89%, the Shenzhen Component 1.78%, the Hang Seng 2.87%, Taiwan's TAIEX 1.12% and Singapore's Straits Times Index 0.26% (Yahoo Finance data). CNA said investors were weighing US tech earnings and Gulf tensions, with the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index down 0.2% early and on track for a fourth weekly fall. The Bank of Korea held its base rate at 3%, and Taiwan's market opened higher before turning negative, swinging nearly 700 points.
CNA, relaying a Bloomberg report of Oct 22, said Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek raised about 100 billion yuan (about $14.98 billion) in its latest funding round. People familiar with the matter said battery maker CATL and WeChat operator Tencent were among the largest investors; Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report.
CNBC and Hankyoreh reported that the Bank of Korea's monetary policy board voted 7–0 on Oct 22 to keep the base rate at 3%, after quarter-point hikes in July and August that ended eight meetings at 2.5%. The statement said exports and investment were driving high growth with inflation around 3%, but uncertainty over the Middle East and major economies' policies had risen, and the bank would decide 'the timing and pace of further rate hikes'; September inflation was 2.9%, the 13th straight month at or above the 2% target. Chosun Ilbo reported the governor said next year's budget contains many transfer programmes and fiscal sustainability must be considered; the year's last rate meeting is on Nov 26.
Taiwan's Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for Typhoon No. 30 Champi late on Oct 21 and, according to CNA, expected a land warning around noon on Oct 22; the army ended its brigade-level 'Lu Sheng 2' exercise early at 10 am so troops could prepare. Liberty Times reported Taipei's mayor announced an immediate suspension of all campaign activities while inspecting a pumping station on Oct 22, and the drawing of ballot numbers for Taipei candidates set for Oct 23 would move to Oct 27 if offices close that day. Yonhap News TV said that if a typhoon advisory is issued, Champi would become the latest typhoon to affect South Korea since 1951, beating Typhoon Zeb on Oct 16–18, 1998, with gusts of about 55 kph from the afternoon of Oct 23 on Jeju and waves up to 5 metres.
SCMP reported that Sarawak police arrested a 16-year-old student who attacked a female teacher with an axe at a private school in Kuching and live-streamed it online. CCTV showed him entering a classroom at about 7:50 am on Oct 21, striking the teacher once, leaving and re-entering through another door to swing at a student; when the teacher tried to stop him he tried to strike her again before two male classmates overpowered him and took the axe.
Japan Times, citing local officials in Nepal, reported that two Japanese men aged 40 and 25 have been out of contact since Oct 15 on a 7,000-metre-class peak in the central Nepal Himalayas, believed to be the 7,455-metre Gangapurna in the Annapurna range or a nearby lower unclimbed peak. Authorities have searched with helicopters and drones without finding any trace; Japan's embassy in Nepal said it is assisting the families and has not released their identities.
CNA reported that the director of Taiwan's National Security Bureau said on Oct 22, before briefing the legislature's foreign affairs and defence committee, that Beijing's interference in the nine-in-one local elections is marked by 'precision', and listed six methods: illegal funding of chosen candidates or groups, cheap mainland trips for candidates' supporters and local brokers, cheap flights home to vote for Taiwanese in the mainland about three weeks before polling, disinformation, underground election betting, and hacking to steal election intelligence. Liberty Times said the bureau is tracking nearly 100 cases and will try to refer them to prosecutors before the vote. The bureau's written report said government networks faced about 2.58 million intrusion attempts a day on average through September, with detections topping 100 million in July.
Japan Times reported that an official of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Oct 21 that exports of the rare earth yttrium had 'stalled' globally, not just to Japan, tightening supply and sending prices soaring; the Financial Times had reported Japan's stocks could run out within months. Yttrium is used in consumer electronics, LEDs, jet engines and chipmaking equipment; IEA data show China accounts for nearly two-thirds of global rare-earth mining and 92% of refining, and Chinese customs data show September yttrium oxide exports to Japan of 4,000 kg against 51,000 kg a year earlier.
Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan's National Police Agency said on Oct 22 that several Kanagawa police stations had, since at least about 30 years ago, passed old licences collected at renewal to security and public-safety units, using the photos as files on people under investigation or surveillance, likely violating the Personal Information Protection Act. It came to light after an officer in his 20s left a bag with 31 old licences on a station bench while drunk on Aug 22. The agency has set up a task team, is checking other prefectural police forces, and ordered that old licences in principle no longer be collected but punched and returned.
CNA reported Epic Games said Fortnite would return to Apple's Australian App Store on Oct 22 after the Federal Court found Apple breached competition law and ordered iOS opened. The judgment found Apple had breached section 46(1) of the Competition and Consumer Act since Nov 6, 2017, and ordered alternative app stores, sideloading and third-party payments for the Australian App Store. An Apple spokesperson told Reuters the company disagreed with many of the findings and would seek a stay and appeal.
SCMP reported Hong Kong's Department of Health raided four beauty salons last Friday and this Tuesday, seizing the Korean-packaged injectable Elravie Re20, which claims to contain human tissue, and arresting a 38-year-old woman. The department said the product is a regulated product under the Human Organ Transplant Ordinance and also a pharmaceutical product; health officials said such anti-ageing 'dead people's skin' jabs lack clinical safety data.
SCMP reported Indonesian President Prabowo told a cabinet meeting on Oct 21 that, regarding 'certain countries that like to insult Indonesia', the companies involved would be named in due course and 'many companies are responsible for the crisis', without naming any. Independent monitor Nusantara Atlas said fires burned more than 1.9 million hectares in Indonesia in the first nine months, sending air pollution to dangerous levels in Malaysia, Singapore and Timor-Leste. Straits Times reported that from 1 am on Oct 22 hourly PM2.5 readings in all five regions of Singapore were back in the 'normal' range, at 22–47 at 9 am; the season's peak was recorded at 3 pm on Oct 14.
On Oct 21 Korean authorities used nets, divers and a floating platform to guide the shark that had been stuck for over a month in the artificial waterway of Busan's North Port waterfront park out beyond Pier 1, the third such attempt. Yonhap News TV reported it was back within hours, surfacing about once a minute between the first and second footbridges on the morning of Oct 22, apparently slipping through a gap between the waterway floor and the net; it has not been seen feeding in a month and has shown abnormal behaviour such as hitting walls. The fisheries ministry and Busan city said they would guide it out again the same day.
Asahi Shimbun reported that Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture announced on Oct 22 the discovery of a roughly 70-cm fossil footprint in late-Jurassic rock about 160 million years old, possibly from a long-necked sauropod similar to Brachiosaurus — Japan's first Jurassic sauropod track and its largest Jurassic dinosaur footprint, beating a 33-cm track found in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, in 1993. Twelve footprints, five possibly sauropod, were found over 7–8 metres after excavation in July; a life-size panel goes on display at the Minamisoma city museum from Oct 23.
Japan Times reported that at the Asian Para Games, held across Aichi Prefecture, the wrong anthem was played three times on Oct 19: Iran's anthem was played at medal ceremonies for Mongolian and Taiwanese para-taekwondo gold medallists, and South Korea's anthem was started before a China–Iran women's sitting volleyball match. Organisers blamed a settings error in the music software and re-held the men's ceremony on Oct 21; Nagoya's mayor, acting head of the organising committee, apologised.
After the US special envoy met the Russian president in St Petersburg on Oct 21, the Kremlin said it was in principle ready to resume US-Russia-Ukraine talks. Liberty Times, citing AFP, reported that Kyiv was struck by missiles that night, with Kyiv's mayor saying at least six people were injured and four hospitalised; transport infrastructure in Darnytskyi district, a car repair shop and a private house in Dniprovskyi district, and a medical facility in Pecherskyi district were hit, and a restaurant caught fire in Sviatoshynskyi district around 1:35 am on Oct 22. Clarín reported Russia said it intercepted 630 Ukrainian drones overnight, more than 160 of them near Moscow.
RIA Novosti, citing AFP, reported that heavy rain and floods on Oct 20 killed at least three people in the Bouches-du-Rhône department: women aged 86 and 26 drowned in a basement in a town north-west of Marseille, and a 75-year-old man was swept away in Istres. BFMTV reported Marseille's historic centre was flooded, and Le Monde said record rainfall in the south-east and Corsica had killed at least four people.
CNA reported that China's premier visited Russia and met the Russian president and prime minister, and Xinhua published a joint statement on Oct 22 saying 'destructive external interference is the primary factor undermining stability in Eurasia', with both sides condemning external coercion involving the use of force. The two pledged firm mutual support on core interests, with China backing Russia's security, stability, national unity and territorial integrity; the statement did not mention a rumoured China-US-Russia leaders' meeting.
Meduza, citing RBC-Ukraine sources, reported that Poland has suspended handing over a large military aid package to Ukraine after the Lviv regional council voted on Oct 20 to designate 2027 a year commemorating the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and two of its figures; the sources said the matter is being worked on through private channels. Poland's prime minister called the decision 'unwise' and harmful to Ukraine, and the defence minister called it unacceptable and asked Ukrainian authorities to distance themselves from it.
CNA reported Nvidia announced expanded partnerships with European carmakers and mobility firms at its GTC developer conference in Berlin on Oct 21. Estonia-based ride-hailing platform Bolt will use Nvidia's Alpamayo self-driving software, first on new Lucid vehicles with the Hyperion platform, aiming to deploy at least 25,000 Level 4 robotaxis in Europe with Germany a priority market, starting road data collection in Madrid in 2027 subject to regulatory approval, with a long-term goal of 100,000 vehicles by 2035. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Mercedes-Benz also expanded cooperation with Nvidia.
CNA, citing Reuters, reported Microsoft said on Oct 21 that a China-aligned hacking group it calls Storm-0940 used the open-source AI penetration-testing framework ARTEX to breach US IT services firm ConnectWise in a global campaign targeting hundreds of organisations. ConnectWise CEO Manny Rivelo said the attack on ConnectWise Cloud Backup 'appears to be' the work of a China-aligned group, and the company disabled affected app connections and is restoring service in stages. Microsoft said targets spanned aerospace, defence, autos, energy, finance, government, semiconductors and think tanks; most were not compromised, but Storm-0940 quickly gained high-level cloud privileges at several organisations that may persist after cleanup.
The New York Times and BBC Mundo reported that four Salvadoran air force technicians were ambushed by gangs on the afternoon of Oct 18 in Croix-des-Bouquets near Port-au-Prince while returning to base from a supermarket; their armoured vehicle was blown up and set alight, and the four escaped but remain missing. They belong to the multinational Gang Suppression Force created by the UN Security Council in October 2025. President Bukele addressed the gangs in Creole on X on Oct 21 demanding their release and said a military rescue operation was under way; Haitian police and the force said several gang members were killed in local operations.
Buenos Aires Times reported that Grupo Mexico withdrew on Oct 21 from bidding for Argentina's state-owned Belgrano freight railway, after more than a year lobbying officials to change the operating model and securing US support and partners. Belgrano Cargas has about 14,000 km of freight track, of which only 7,600 km is usable due to neglect, and almost all Argentine freight moves by truck; the company's head said the privatisation is an open process and firms are free to decide whether to take part.
TechCrunch and CNA reported Tesla vehicle engineering vice president Lars Moravy said on the Oct 21 third-quarter earnings call that the company aims to deliver Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026, initially in small numbers. The two-seat gold car with butterfly doors has no steering wheel, pedals or mirrors, and current output goes to Tesla's own robotaxi fleet; federal auto safety regulators are investigating whether a vehicle without manual controls meets safety standards. Tesla began paid Cybercab rides with a small fleet in Austin, Texas, last month.
Al Jazeera reported Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said on Oct 21 that King Fahd International Airport in Dammam was attacked, killing one person and injuring eight. The energy ministry said air defences intercepted a drone targeting an Aramco processing facility at the Shaybah field the same day; falling debris killed a Filipino and a Nepali, injured a Pakistani and an Indian and set a contractor's vehicle alight, with oil operations unaffected, and NHK put the day's toll at three. Al Jazeera noted an Oct 10 attack on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed 12 and injured over 300, amid escalating conflict between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed government.
CNA, citing Türkiye's defence ministry, reported the four countries signed the 'Badr Memorandum' in Doha on Oct 21, covering defence industrial production, military capability, technical military training and joint research and development, and drawing on their defence industries to meet the needs of allies and friendly countries. Türkiye has NATO's second-largest army and a base in Qatar, and in August signed a mutual defence pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia under which an attack on one is an attack on all.
Al Jazeera reported Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control said on Oct 21 that molecular testing confirmed the country's first Ebola case as the same strain causing the DR Congo outbreak, also confirmed by WHO; the strain has no vaccine or specific treatment, and this is the outbreak's first spread to West Africa. BBC reported the patient, the 42-year-old Ugandan-born wife of a diplomat living in Abuja, spent two and a half weeks in Kampala, transited in Ethiopia's capital and returned to Abuja on Oct 3, falling ill three days later. Health minister Muhammad Ali Pate said she was stable and improving and 44 contacts had been traced.
Al-Monitor reported UAE Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh, her country's UN ambassador for more than a decade, entered the race for the next UN Secretary-General on Oct 21 as a heavyweight Middle East candidate. Buenos Aires Times said all seven candidates drew at least two discouraging votes from permanent members in last Friday's informal Security Council straw poll, after which Senegal's former president withdrew; Costa Rica's former vice-president had led earlier rounds. Nusseibeh said the UN needs a Secretary-General who makes it a 'problem solver, not a bystander'.