This morning's briefing covers 30 stories selected from issue 19 of Biguan (毕观天下), weighted towards Asia. Typhoon Champi left one dead and 350 injured in Taiwan, injuries from the Nagqu earthquake in Tibet rose to 54, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was acquitted on appeal, and the Philippines put a bounty on ICC-wanted Senator Ronald dela Rosa. Elsewhere, a shooting near Paris that Macron called a racist terrorist attack killed one, gunmen killed seven at a church funeral in Jordan, Brent crude topped $117 as a US envoy said a strike on Iran was possible this weekend, and Russia and Ukraine agreed a local ceasefire in Oleshky.
A gunman fired at passers-by from a car for about 15 minutes in Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière, south-west of Paris, on Friday, Oct 23, killing one person and wounding five, three of them seriously, including a 12-year-old girl shot eight times. The suspect, named by French media as 39-year-old Kevin T, was arrested; France's national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office (PNAT) said the case appeared to be murder linked to a terrorist enterprise and that he had four prior records that had been automatically erased. Macron said at the scene it was a 'racist terrorist attack' in which targets were chosen for their skin colour or religion, calling it a turning point for the Republic, while Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh said it was 'objectively a racist attack, possibly Islamophobic'.
Gunmen opened fire on a funeral at an Orthodox church in Hmoud, Karak governorate, on Friday, Oct 23; officials said seven people were killed and at least 34 wounded, after a government spokesman briefly revised the death toll to six and then back to seven. Karak lies about 180 km south of Amman and has a minority Christian community; CCTV footage verified by the BBC showed three armed men walking from a road towards the church, and AP said one carried a semi-automatic rifle. Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya blamed 'a group of extremists' who are being hunted, King Abdullah II vowed the 'harshest' punishment, and no group had claimed responsibility.
US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack told Israeli Army Radio on Oct 23 that a US attack as early as this weekend was 'absolutely possible'; Trump said he knew 'nothing' about it and had earlier said he would not act before the Nov 3 midterm elections. Iran said that if the US and Israel launched a new offensive it would hit oil facilities, undersea cables, data centres and AI facilities in the Gulf. Brent crude rose as much as about 3.5% on Friday to above $117 a barrel, its highest since April, compared with about $72 in February before the war, while foreign ministers of eight countries including Britain, France, Germany and Turkey urged 'maximum restraint' after meeting in Istanbul.
Typhoon Champi, the 30th of the season, engulfed all of Taiwan on Friday, Oct 23, and RFI said it had left one person dead and 350 injured. Taiwan's weather agency said that at 8pm the centre was about 100 km east of Yilan moving north-north-east at 16 kph, with maximum sustained winds of 155 kph, gusts of about 191 kph and a storm radius of 320 km, and mountain areas of New Taipei, Taoyuan and Yilan could see up to 900 mm of rain. Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and several other cities and counties kept offices and schools closed on Oct 24; Taiwan's Central News Agency said more than 100,000 households lost power at some point and about 25,000 were still waiting for it, and NHK said the typhoon had nearly stalled with Okinawa's Sakishima Islands inside its storm zone.
After the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Nagqu, Tibet, on Oct 22, AP, citing state media, said at least 16 people had died, 54 were injured and at least 339 houses had collapsed as of Oct 23. Nagqu lies north of Lhasa at about 4,800 metres above sea level, and officials said they feared aftershocks could bring down more houses and trigger rockfalls, while terrain and low temperatures were hampering rescues. Nagqu's acting mayor said rescuers had completed three rounds of door-to-door, village-by-village searches by the afternoon of Oct 23; NHK reported more than 12,000 people evacuated and BBC Chinese said authorities deployed Wing Loong drones to survey the damage.
The White House said on Oct 23 that First Lady Melania Trump 'successfully brokered' a local ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky to evacuate residents and deliver aid; both sides confirmed their forces would stop firing from 02:00 GMT on Oct 27, while the White House statement said it would begin on Oct 29. Oleshky was captured early in Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 and sits between Ukrainian positions across the Dnipro and Russian forces to the east, and residents have recently survived on weeds from their gardens. The White House said Melania Trump and her representatives agreed the terms directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership; non-military civilian officials from both countries will visit homes to assess needs and arrange transport for those who want to leave, and Trump called it her initiative.
The Comoros-flagged cargo ship Khoryv sank on Friday, Oct 23, after being hit by a drone about 24 km off Romania's port of Constanta, just outside territorial waters; of its 13 crew, one died, nine were rescued and three are missing. MarineTraffic data showed the ship left on Wednesday for the port of Sulina, which links the Danube to the Black Sea and has become a main export route for Ukraine. Romanian President Nicușor Dan called it 'part of Russia's escalation' in its war on Ukraine; Reuters said at least seven cargo ships had been attacked off Romania and Bulgaria in the past two weeks, with about 30 sailors dead or missing, and Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria have asked NATO to step up protection of Black Sea shipping.
The US Justice Department asked a court on Oct 23 to bar certification of Alaska's Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. The ranked-choice race has four candidates: Sullivan, Peltola, Gerald Heikes and a teacher also named Daniel J. Sullivan, whom the department accuses of deliberately running under the same ballot name and party as the senator, arguing the result should not be valid if the senator loses because voters picked the namesake by mistake. The Guardian said Trump repeated at a Florida rally the false claim that the other Sullivan was 'cheating'; the midterms are on Nov 3.
After Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade on Oct 20, Switzerland's foreign ministry confirmed the patient is the 42-year-old Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat living in Abuja. It said she spent about a week with symptoms at a private clinic in Abuja before diagnosis and is believed to have been infected while travelling in Uganda, though health authorities have not confirmed the source; her husband is in quarantine without symptoms, and the embassy's eight Swiss and 17 local staff are healthy and need no quarantine. Wessam Mankoula of Africa CDC said 44 close contacts had been quarantined and authorities are investigating whether she met Kenya's first patient at an airport in Uganda; the outbreak in DR Congo, which began in May, has killed at least 4,600 people and infected about 9,700.
Governments and companies worldwide are still rushing to patch websites after PHP developers released fixes for critical vulnerabilities on Wednesday, Oct 21, with millions of intrusion attempts forcing some systems offline. Japan's government said on Oct 23 it will set up a team to simulate cyberattacks with AI to find weak points, and SoftBank, Japan's third-largest mobile carrier, suspended its emergency alert system for phone users, meaning no earthquake, tsunami, disaster or evacuation warnings during maintenance. NHK said Japan's health minister announced the suspension of 31 systems and websites run by the ministry and affiliated bodies, with no data leak found, and South African presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said the presidency's website was taken offline as a precaution with no sign of intrusion.
Two ruling-party officials said on Oct 23 that Japan's government is considering gradually cutting gasoline subsidies as early as December over fears funding will run out. The emergency measure, introduced in March as the Middle East war drove up oil prices, holds the national average for regular gasoline at about 170 yen a litre, costs billions of dollars a month and is rapidly draining a 3.1 trillion yen supplementary budget passed in June. Under the plan discussed by the government and ruling coalition, weekly payments to fuel wholesalers would shrink, lifting the average retail price to about 175 yen in December and about 180 yen in January; NHK said Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would review the support, including the 170-yen level.
The Seoul High Court on Friday, Oct 23, overturned a lower court ruling and acquitted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of violating the Political Funds Act, saying the first trial relied on testimony from political broker Myung Tae-kyun that it found not credible. Oh was accused of receiving 10 opinion polls from Myung before the April 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election, paid for by longtime supporter Kim Han-jung at a total of 33 million won (about $25,000). In July the first trial found Kim had paid 21 million won and fined Oh 10 million won plus a 21-million-won forfeiture; under the law a fine of 1 million won or more bars a person from public office for five years, and KBS said the special counsel will appeal.
Kim Hong-cheol, South Korea's deputy defence minister for policy, said on Friday, Oct 23, that Seoul proposed military talks with Pyongyang to confirm the location of the Military Demarcation Line, restore military communication lines and discuss preventing accidental border clashes, with the UN Command able to join three-way talks if needed. Three South Korean soldiers were injured in a DMZ landmine blast last month. South Korean military officials told the National Assembly that North Korea is estimated to have laid about 960,000 mines in and around the DMZ since starting its 'border fortification' project in 2024, without giving locations or the basis for the estimate; since April 2024 the North has also cleared vegetation, built walls and barbed-wire fences, and cut the Gyeongui and Donghae road and rail links.
After the independent committee on the Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po submitted its final report to the government on Oct 22, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang said on Friday, Oct 23, that the Fire Services Department will bear 'ultimate responsibility' for following up fire safety complaints across the city, and the government will introduce a series of legal reforms and administrative measures to close fire safety gaps. SCMP, citing sources, said the report found failures by the Fire Services Department, Buildings Department, Labour Department and the Housing Bureau's independent checking unit contributed to last year's deadly fire. Committee counsel had criticised the fire department at public hearings for failing to detect problems with the fire alarm system.
RFI, citing Reuters, reported that the Chinese Communist Party will convene about 300 of its most senior members next week for its Fifth Plenum to discuss strengthening party discipline; analysts said it may be the last major party meeting before the 2027 leadership reshuffle. DW said observers are watching whether Xi Jinping will keep the top posts in the party, state and military, with analysts noting that ongoing purges have removed several senior officials and military leaders.
The US Defense Department said 30 American universities had reduced ties with institutions 'raising national security concerns', under research funding restrictions on dozens of Chinese universities known as the '1286 list'. China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday, Oct 23, that Washington should 'respect the facts' and immediately stop discriminatory measures against Chinese research institutions, saying US-China research cooperation serves both sides and that the US approach effectively coerces American institutions into taking sides. Reuters said a Republican lawmaker this month asked the Pentagon to add 58 more Chinese institutions and 62 Chinese technology laboratories to the list, some involved in semiconductors, AI and quantum computing.
The British government said Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with Trump on Friday, Oct 23, about the Sea Lion joint UK-Israeli oil exploration project near the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands and raised the economic impact on Britain and the US of Argentina's 'coercive measures'; Argentina last week asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to block the project. At a joint press conference in Buenos Aires on Oct 22 with Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Washington was looking 'with interest' at an Argentine bill toughening sanctions on companies involved in oil projects in Falklands waters, to protect US business interests, while playing down concerns; he met President Milei on Oct 23. Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war over the islands in 1982, and islanders voted overwhelmingly in a 2013 referendum to remain British.
Taiwan's Central News Agency, citing SCMP, reported that the EU and China are negotiating to lift sanctions on one company each: China has offered to remove Sindlhauser Materials, a German supplier of chip-equipment maker ASML, from its export control list in exchange for the EU dropping sanctions on a Hubei-based textile manufacturer. The EU sanctioned the textile firm in 2025 over alleged sales of sensitive European technology to Russian buyers, and in July China imposed export controls on Sindlhauser in response to the EU's 21st package of sanctions on Russia, cutting off its supply of rare earths and other critical minerals. Some member states expressed reservations when EU ambassadors discussed the deal on Oct 21, talks are expected to continue next week, and a European Parliament trade committee delegation is due to visit China from Oct 27 to 29.
NHK reported that Japan's revised Imperial House Law took effect on Oct 24, allowing female members of the imperial family to keep their status after marriage and permitting the adoption of male-line men from former imperial branches; the Imperial Household Agency will now study the details. Asahi said the question of allowing a female emperor or an emperor from the female line was shelved.
Korean Air said on Oct 23 that global airline IT provider Amadeus notified it on the evening of Oct 20 of signs of a personal data leak in its system, and Asiana Airlines confirmed the same day that booking information including reservation numbers had leaked; both said their own databases were not breached. Hankyoreh said someone used login credentials for an Amadeus system account to gain unauthorised access, estimated to have occurred between August 2023 and September 2026. Asiana said payment data was not included; about 200 airlines worldwide use Amadeus passenger service systems.
Taiwan's Central News Agency, citing Yonhap, reported that the US military's Kadena Air Base in Okinawa will ban BYD electric vehicles from Oct 26, affecting cars used by base personnel, contractors, businesses and taxis. US Forces Japan officials said the concern is that the vehicles' cameras and sensors could collect and leak sensitive information from inside the base. In June the US added BYD, along with Alibaba, Baidu and NIO, to a list of companies it says assist China's military; Alibaba then sued the US government, China's foreign ministry called the list discriminatory, and BYD did not immediately respond.
Singapore's National Environment Agency said on the evening of Oct 23 that it had issued legal notices under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act to 10 more Singapore-registered companies, requiring documents and information related to fires in Indonesia; they include Asia Pulp & Paper and its China arm, Bumitama Agri, Golden Agri International, First Resources, Indofood Agri Resources, Kencana Agri, TSH Global Plantation, TSH Oversea and Wilmar International. The companies are in oil palm or forestry and own, directly or through affiliates, land concessions in Indonesia, and NEA asked them to explain their links with Singapore and Indonesian affiliates and the locations of the concessions. Singapore will also form a panel of experts to help the investigation.
Philippine Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla announced at a press conference on Friday, Oct 23, a reward of 50 million pesos (about $786,000) for the capture of Senator Ronald dela Rosa, calling him 'armed and dangerous'. Dela Rosa, a former national police chief, was the main enforcer of former President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug campaign; the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in November 2025, and he has been in hiding since it was unsealed in May. Duterte is due to go on trial on Nov 30 for alleged crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder.
Sarawak Premier Abang Johari announced at a press conference in Kuching on the afternoon of Friday, Oct 23, that with the consent of the state governor the state assembly will be dissolved on Monday, Oct 26, triggering an election within 60 days; the assembly's term could otherwise have run until April 2027. The Election Commission will meet to set polling day, and a state tourism minister had earlier said the vote could be held in December. Over the past year Malaysia has held state elections in Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan, and Melaka votes on Nov 14.
Hankyoreh, citing several ruling-party members of parliament's intelligence committee, reported that South Korea's National Intelligence Service told the committee on Oct 23 that recent rumours on social media at home and abroad about Kim Jong Un's death or abnormal health were untrue. The agency had reported on Sept 30 that Kim weighs around 140 kg and is at high risk of cardiovascular disease, but was able to run up stairs while inspecting a destroyer and has a dedicated medical team, with no abnormal signs. It also said Kim Yo Jong and a defence ministry adviser inspected 'southern border fortification' sites near the Military Demarcation Line on Oct 20; the committee will audit the agency on Oct 29.
Japanese publisher Gentosha announced on Friday, Oct 23, that novelist Ryu Murakami had died aged 74; his work dealt with sex, violence and youth culture and has been translated around the world. His debut 'Almost Transparent Blue', about young people immersed in drugs and sex, won one of Japan's most prestigious literary prizes in 1976; 'Coin Locker Babies' (1980) tells how children abandoned in coin lockers survive, and 'In the Miso Soup' (1997) follows a tourist into Tokyo's red-light district. Gentosha called him 'a front-runner of an era'.
The Hong Kong Observatory's headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui recorded a high of 32.3°C at 3:30pm on Friday, Oct 23, the hottest 'Frost' solar term day on record. The 'Frost' term, the 18th of the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese calendar, began this year on Oct 23. Temperatures in Hong Kong have repeatedly exceeded 30°C in recent weeks, partly due to super typhoons, El Niño and global warming, and the Observatory said the weekend would be very dry with large differences between day and night temperatures.
Greek public broadcaster ERT reported that Greece's parliament passed a law banning children and teenagers under 15 from social media from Jan 1, 2027, making Greece one of the first EU countries to impose such a ban. The minister of digital governance and artificial intelligence said the measure is necessary, effective, proportionate and compatible with EU law, adding that 'it is easy to do nothing and wait for the perfect European law'. The law requires platforms to verify users' ages, and a government-developed phone app, Kids Wallet, will help parents.
World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said in Geneva on Thursday, Oct 22, that the current El Niño could reach unprecedented strength, beyond more than 40 years of monitoring records. The latest forecasts show tropical Pacific sea-surface temperatures could be 3.8°C above average from November to January, compared with about 3°C for the strongest El Niño on record; she said it would peak at the end of this year but its effects would last longer, with extreme weather already seen worldwide set to 'multiply and cascade'. KBS said South Korea is bracing for sharp temperature swings and record rain and snow.
The Athletics Integrity Unit said on Friday, Oct 23, that marathon world champion Peres Jepchirchir had been provisionally suspended after an out-of-competition sample collected before her Sydney Marathon win tested positive for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin). The 33-year-old won Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021 and the New York (2021), Boston (2022), London (2024) and Sydney (2026) marathons, and once held the half-marathon world record. Her manager said he 'felt terrible' and that athletes who use banned drugs should be disqualified.