This morning's briefing covers 29 stories selected from issue 27 of Biguan (毕观天下), weighted towards Asia. Cyclone Arnab bore down on India's east coast, a 13-hour fire swept Seoul's Guryong Village, Xi Jinping urged Japan to protect ties in a condolence message for Yasuo Fukuda, North Korea pointed artillery south near Gimpo, and Singapore and Indonesia planned a joint haze task force. Elsewhere, Israel's election exit polls showed no clear winner, Finland's and Norway's leaders held a rare call with Putin, the Oleshky ceasefire was extended across Kherson, and Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly flew to the US.
Cyclone Arnab, which formed in the Bay of Bengal, kept strengthening from Monday, and India's weather department expected it to make landfall on the coast of Andhra Pradesh on the morning of Wednesday, Oct 28, with neighbouring Odisha also facing strong winds and heavy rain; some train services were cancelled. Andhra Pradesh's disaster management chief told Reuters that nearly 50,000 people had been moved to shelters by Monday night, out of about 400,000 expected to be evacuated. After landfall the storm is expected to turn north inland towards Nepal, where authorities warned of heavy rain, snowstorms and avalanches in the Himalayas from Thursday night to Saturday; flash floods in Nepal in August killed about 1,500 people.
A fire broke out at about 3:50pm local time on Tuesday, Oct 27, in a temporary building in Section 2 of Guryong Village in Seoul's Gangnam district, spreading on strong winds to parts of Sections 1, 3 and 7; firefighters declared it fully extinguished at 4:40am on Wednesday, about 13 hours later. The fire left 77 households and 107 residents without homes, and a woman in her 30s suffered a minor leg injury. Authorities briefly issued a national fire mobilisation order and deployed more than 940 firefighters, police and district staff and six firefighting helicopters; President Lee Jae Myung ordered an all-out rescue effort and Seoul's mayor cancelled his schedule to go to the scene. The village also had a major fire in January, and the cause of this one is under investigation.
A city tour bus in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, hit a pillar of a roadside structure at about 3:14pm local time on Tuesday, Oct 27, while travelling downhill between two of the city's Buddhist heritage sites. Of the 39 passengers on board, 2 were seriously injured and 22 slightly injured. Firefighters activated their mass-casualty response, set up a temporary medical station at the scene and took all the injured to hospital, while police and firefighters are questioning the driver and others about how the crash happened.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, Oct 27, sent a message of condolence to the family of former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who died on Thursday, Oct 22, at the age of 90, calling him an upright and responsible politician, an old friend of the Chinese people who held a correct view of history, and voicing hope that Japan's leaders will earnestly safeguard the political foundation of bilateral ties. It was a rare direct reference by Xi to China-Japan relations, which fell to a low of many years after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested last November that Japan could send forces if China took action against Taiwan. Japan's foreign minister told the upper house the same day that Tokyo is arranging for Takaichi to attend the APEC leaders' meeting in Shenzhen on Nov 18-19, and that a bilateral meeting is still under consideration.
Visitors at the Aegibong observatory in Gimpo, South Korea, said on Tuesday, Oct 27, that they were worried after seeing North Korean self-propelled guns with barrels pointed south. A Reuters reporter saw that one armoured vehicle photographed by South Korean media last Friday had grown to three by Monday, and NHK reported that they were positioned about 1.4 km from the South Korean observatory as the North fortifies its border. Tensions have been high since a landmine blast in the DMZ in September injured three South Korean soldiers; Seoul has demanded an apology while Pyongyang says the incident was fabricated. Kim Yo Jong said last Thursday that the North would deploy loudspeakers for propaganda broadcasts along the entire border within days.
Germany's chancellor left Berlin on Oct 26 for a five-day trip to Singapore, Japan and South Korea, with a stop in Japan on Oct 28-29. NHK reported that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi would hold talks with him on Wednesday, Oct 28, to confirm stronger supply chain resilience across a wide range of items including critical minerals and semiconductors, and closer cooperation on cybersecurity. RFI reported that the two sides might discuss German participation in the next-generation fighter jet being developed by Japan, Britain and Italy. In Singapore, the chancellor said the EU should push for more free trade agreements in the Pacific region, opposed a complete decoupling from China and called for reducing 'unhealthy one-sided dependence'.
Hong Kong's District Court on Tuesday, Oct 27, sentenced a 33-year-old beautician to four years in prison. In December 2024 she planned to lure two friends abroad and sold them for US$54,000 to the notorious KK Park scam compound in Myanmar, where they were forced to work, held captive and faced a ransom demand of US$500,000. The judge described her actions as 'vicious and inhumane'. The two victims, an unemployed person and a part-time model, had first been invited by her to travel abroad together.
RFI reported that China plans special regulations to sanction foreign entities that infringe Chinese trade secrets and harm or actually threaten national security and development interests, with possible restrictions on their trade and investment in China and on entry by related personnel. The United States last week sanctioned five Chinese entities over trade secret theft, and Beijing said at the time it would take countermeasures. Analysts said the rules, besides countering Washington, would sharply raise the cost for foreign entities of using stolen information.
The fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China opened in Beijing on Oct 26 for four days, with Xi Jinping delivering a work report on behalf of the Politburo and explaining a draft decision on major issues in persistently advancing full and rigorous Party self-governance. Hong Kong's Ming Pao reported that about 45 people are expected to be expelled from the Central Committee at the session, including Liu Jianchao, former head of the party's International Department. According to the report, Liu was found to have seriously violated discipline and the law and was demoted from full ministerial rank to section level.
China's defence ministry said on Tuesday, Oct 27, that its minister would not attend this week's ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus in Cebu, the Philippines, and that the defence attaché at China's embassy in the Philippines would attend instead. Japan's defence minister Koizumi had said he wanted a 'frank exchange' with his Chinese counterpart during the meeting, and said as he left for the Philippines that his ministry had not confirmed whether China's minister would come. Amid continuing China-Japan tensions, there had been interest in whether the two defence chiefs would meet.
As Taiwan's nine-in-one local elections approach, China's state-run Global Times ran an article on Tuesday, Oct 27, accusing the DPP government of 'using underground betting to sway the election'. A Taiwanese national security official called it typical cognitive warfare and said Beijing is stepping up interference on multiple fronts. The official said that after a well-known TV host appeared at the opening of the campaign headquarters of the DPP's Taipei mayoral candidate, an account run by the PLA's news communication centre posted criticism warning public figures they would pay a price for 'backing Taiwan independence'. The official said the rare move by the PLA's military propaganda arm against a local election and an entertainer showed interference had risen to 'military-level' psychological intimidation.
The special investigation committee looking into the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul released interim findings on Tuesday, Oct 27, ahead of the fourth anniversary, saying police received 11 calls before the disaster warning that people were at risk of being crushed but responded to none of them, contradicting the police's earlier claim that officers were dispatched for four of the calls. The committee found that dispatch records were altered twice and will investigate whether senior officials ordered the changes. Of the 120 officers at the scene at 10pm that night, 49 were narcotics detectives, while riot police units responsible for crowd control were not deployed because they had been sent to a rally near the presidential office in Yongsan. The interior ministry's minister received the first report 43 minutes after the ministry learned of the situation.
South Korea's Supreme Court on Tuesday, Oct 27, issued an additional arrest warrant for former first lady Kim Keon-hee, citing risks of flight and destruction of evidence, extending her detention, which was due to expire on Saturday, by two months to the end of the year. Kim has two cases pending at the Supreme Court involving corruption and bribery. She was indicted and detained in August last year in the corruption case, and an appeals court sentenced her to four years in the corruption case and five years in the bribery case. Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team requested the additional warrant in the bribery case on Oct 15.
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan visited Jakarta on Tuesday, Oct 27, and held two hours of talks with his Indonesian counterpart; the two sides said they are setting up a joint working group to tackle cross-border haze from Indonesian forest fires, including information sharing, cross-border evidence gathering and even recovering assets of companies linked to the fires. Indonesia is experiencing its worst forest fires in nearly 11 years, and frustration over the haze has grown in Singapore; Indonesia's energy minister had earlier called Singapore's comments on a bilateral gas supply contract 'preachy'. Rain has brought temporary relief, but underground peat fires are still burning, and toxic haze has spread across Southeast Asia, closing schools and causing respiratory illness.
Singapore's Communicable Diseases Agency, food agency and Ministry of Education said in a joint statement on Tuesday, Oct 27, that Deli Hub Catering's food business is suspended with immediate effect until further notice. As of Oct 26, 51 pupils and 2 staff at MOE Kindergarten @ Springdale in Sengkang and MOE Kindergarten @ Gongshang in Tampines had gastroenteritis symptoms after eating food supplied by the company between Oct 21 and 23. They sought medical treatment, self-medicated or recovered on their own, and none were hospitalised. The caterer was hired by KCare, which runs student care at the two kindergartens, and authorities are investigating.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Oct 27, that the AFP received nearly 800 security complaints from federal MPs in the first half of this year. After the attack on independent MP Helen Haines last week, the government is speeding up its review of MPs' security, and members can receive stronger protection, including wider use of emergency alarms.
Shares of Chinese robot maker Unitree Robotics, listed in Shanghai, rose more than 60% in less than two weeks, closing at 672 yuan on Monday, Oct 26, up from 405.10 yuan on Oct 15. JPMorgan raised its rating on Unitree two notches from underweight to overweight and lifted its target price from 300 yuan to 995 yuan. Founder Wang Xingxing had said a major breakthrough in embodied AI could come as early as next year, against an earlier estimate of up to a decade. Unitree also reminded investors of risks to the commercial prospects of humanoid robots, which China has made a strategic priority.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store held a joint call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Oct 27, on efforts to end the war in Ukraine, a rare direct contact between European leaders and Putin. Stubb described the call as 'frank and substantive', while Store said there were 'major differences in views'. The two said they spoke as Russia's neighbours, not on behalf of Europe as a whole. Stubb said the idea came from talks in Oslo on Oct 20 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US envoy Steve Witkoff and was coordinated beforehand with Ukraine and the United States; Ukraine's foreign minister confirmed the coordination and said Kyiv is ready to accept a partial or full ceasefire.
A local ceasefire to bring food and medicine into the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky took effect early on Tuesday, Oct 27, and Ukrainian officials later confirmed it had been extended to the whole of the southern Kherson region. US First Lady Melania Trump, who helped broker the truce with Pope Leo XIV also involved, said the extension was to give humanitarian convoys 'safe passage'. Kherson's deputy regional head said Russian shelling of Ukrainian-held Kherson city and surrounding areas had stopped and no violations had been reported. Under the deal, aid goes to Oleshky first and residents who wish to leave will be evacuated on Friday; an estimated 1,700 to 2,000 people remain in the town, with thousands more nearby, and many residents have been boiling weeds to eat.
Prosecutors told Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, Oct 27, that a handler known as 'Ali', whom police believe was working for Iran, instructed a group of men to drive lorries full of petrol to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the early hours of Sept 27. One of the five drivers called police that morning after the handler warned there was a bomb on the lorry. Two 24-year-old men from London were charged under the National Security Act 2023: one with assisting a foreign intelligence service, allegedly by buying lorries on instructions, who was granted bail, and the other with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK, allegedly by filming the base on a video call, who was remanded in custody. Both will appear at the Old Bailey on Nov 20.
In Serbia's election on Sunday, Oct 25, the Student List, which grew out of a student anti-corruption protest movement, defeated the coalition led by Aleksandar Vucic, ending his party's 14 years in power. On Monday night tens of thousands celebrated in the streets for a second night, and about 30 people stormed the newsroom of the pro-Vucic Informer TV, interrupting a live broadcast, surrounding its editor-in-chief and owner and demanding his arrest. Vucic said on his personal Instagram that it was an attack on freedom of speech and the press. Vucic became prime minister in 2014 and president in 2017, served as information minister under Milosevic, and kept tight control of the media while in power.
Britain's business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday, Oct 27, that UK officials have begun discussing a long-term relationship with the EU, and that options could include restoring free movement of people, though the British public 'are the boss'. He said the immediate focus is November's UK-EU summit, where agreements easing some trade restrictions and a youth mobility deal are due to be signed, including a food and drink agreement and arrangements on emissions trading. He said the prime minister wants a long-term, stable relationship with the EU and will set out the trade-offs after the summit.
Right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's presidential election to incumbent President Lula, flew to the United States on Tuesday, Oct 27, planning to land in Florida and seek political asylum, according to Brazilian news site Metrópoles and Folha de S.Paulo; CNN Brasil said he was travelling with his wife and two daughters. Police sources told AFP that his passports had been cancelled but there was no official record of his departure, and Argentina's security ministry denied he had entered Argentina. Workers' Party lawmakers asked the Supreme Court to order his arrest and to seek an Interpol red notice. The 45-year-old will lose his parliamentary immunity.
Asked by reporters at Joint Base Andrews near Washington on Tuesday, Oct 27, before flying to Texas to campaign, whether he would respect the results of the Nov 3 midterm elections, US President Donald Trump said: 'If it's an honest election, I will.' Polls show Republicans could lose control of Congress. Trump said that if Republicans lose majorities in both chambers he would try to work with Democrats, adding 'I have a strong veto' and that deals could eventually be made. Republicans fear voters will punish them over inflation driven by higher oil prices from the war in the Middle East; Trump has held rallies across the country almost daily in recent weeks.
A senior vice president for corporate affairs at American Honda told the Reuters Automotive conference in Detroit on Tuesday, Oct 27, that the auto industry would face a 'catastrophic' situation if the US and Canada fail to reach a new trade deal by year-end. Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian vehicles and parts from 25% to 50% from Jan 1 if no deal is reached. She said the ideal outcome would be a three-way deal similar to the USMCA that also includes the third member. The US Trade Representative earlier said the USMCA would not be automatically extended for 16 years but reviewed annually instead.
Israel held parliamentary elections on Tuesday, Oct 27, with polls closing at 10pm local time. A Channel 12 exit poll projected 52 seats for the bloc of Jewish parties opposed to Netanyahu and 50 for Netanyahu's bloc, both short of the 61 needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Netanyahu's Likud was projected to win 24 seats and remain the largest party, while the Yashar party led by former military chief of staff Eisenkot was projected to win 22. Arab parties were projected to win 17-18 seats combined, up from 10 in the 2022 election. Turnout was 74.3% as of 8pm, against 70.63% in 2022; preliminary results are due on Wednesday and official results on Nov 4.
International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in Busan, South Korea, on Monday that about 400 ships carrying some 5,000 seafarers remain in the Strait of Hormuz, including two South Korean vessels, one of them the cargo ship HMM Namu, which was hit on May 4 during the Iran war, with 17 Korean seafarers stranded in all. He said the fundamental differences between the US and Iran must be resolved before the ships and crews can leave. A spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry, a mediator, said on Tuesday that Iran should stop threatening Gulf Arab states and open the strait to show good intentions. Iranian President Pezeshkian and Qatar's Emir Tamim met in Moscow on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
The United States and 30 other countries, including EU states, Britain and Norway, issued a joint statement warning of an 'alarming' deterioration in Sudan's food security and urging the warring parties to remove obstacles to humanitarian aid to prevent famine. The statement said the conflict is the main driver of Sudan's hunger crisis, destroying key infrastructure and disrupting food production. It estimated that 19.5 million people, or 41% of the population, face acute food insecurity, including 5 million at emergency level. Sudan's civil war broke out in April 2023 and has displaced 14 million people; the US State Department released the statement on Monday.
Google DeepMind on Tuesday, Oct 27, released its latest world model, Genie 4, as a research preview. It generates more realistic and interactive virtual worlds than its predecessor and can create matching music, ambient sound and dialogue in real time; users can type prompts during a simulation to change the weather or camera angle or add new characters and objects. Scenes stay consistent for up to two minutes, twice as long as Genie 3, with more realistic physics and people, and the model draws on Google's updated Gemini models. DeepMind sees world models as key to artificial general intelligence and as a source of unlimited training environments for physical robots; the industry is also consolidating, with AMD acquiring World Labs, founded by Fei-Fei Li.