This afternoon's briefing covers 29 stories selected from issue 28 of Biguan (毕观天下), weighted towards Asia. Cyclone Arnab made landfall in India's Andhra Pradesh, SK Hynix posted record profit, South Korea's births saw their biggest rise in 19 years, Japan's and the US's defence chiefs agreed on munitions co-production in Cebu, and Australia's inflation rose to 4.3%. Elsewhere, Israel's vote count showed a deadlock, the Houthis claimed a strike on Saudi Arabia's largest refinery, Flávio Bolsonaro arrived in the US, and DR Congo's Ebola cases passed 10,000.
India's weather department said Cyclone Arnab, classed as a very severe cyclonic storm, began making landfall in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, Oct 28, with wind speeds of 125-135 km/h, gusts of up to 150 km/h and a possible storm surge of 1.5-2.5 metres above normal tide; the storm's centre then almost stalled near the Bay of Bengal, so landfall was expected to last several hours. Authorities said more than 180,000 people had been evacuated in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, with no deaths reported so far, but there were power cuts and fallen trees, some schools closed and trains and flights were cancelled. India's civil aviation ministry said three airports in Andhra Pradesh had suspended operations, and neighbouring Nepal warned tourists not to travel to high-altitude areas.
South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix reported third-quarter revenue of 104.62 trillion won on Wednesday, Oct 28, up 327.9% year on year and above 100 trillion won for the first time, and operating profit of 83.33 trillion won, up 632.1%, an operating margin of 79.7% and a record for the sixth quarter in a row. The company announced total shareholder returns of about 100 trillion won (about US$75 billion) this year, including at least 30 trillion won in cash dividends and 60 trillion won of share buybacks and cancellations. It said its HBM and DRAM chips are sold out through 2029, HBM demand is twice its supply capacity and the chip shortage could last until 2030. Its shares rose as much as 9.4% in early trading on Wednesday.
South Korea's Daishin Securities said on Wednesday, Oct 28, that personal and financial data of 38,490 customers had leaked, including names, email addresses, home addresses, bank account numbers and mobile numbers, after it detected signs of a hacking intrusion on Oct 17. Cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb found on Tuesday that its internal mobile office system had been breached, exposing data on 646 employees, and is investigating whether customers were affected; Mirae Asset Global Investments also confirmed outside access to some of its online systems. The presidential office held an emergency response meeting on Wednesday afternoon chaired by the third deputy director of national security, and the head of the Financial Supervisory Service warned the financial sector about the risk of AI-driven hacking attacks.
South Korea's national statistics agency reported on Wednesday, Oct 28, that 23,703 babies were born in August, 2,720 more than a year earlier, an increase of 13%. For the month of August, both the increase in number and the growth rate were the largest in 19 years, since 2007, when births rose by 6,584, or 17.6%. Births have now risen year on year for a record 26 consecutive months. The Hankyoreh reported that the number of marriages, which had grown for 28 straight months, stopped rising in August.
Yonhap News TV reported that the annual defence-minister-level US-South Korea Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), originally scheduled for December, will be postponed to early next year. A US defence department official told South Korean media on Oct 27 local time that the two sides decided this after consultations because of scheduling conflicts between the two countries' leadership. It is the third time the SCM has slipped into the following year, and the first in 28 years, since 1998. On the transfer of wartime operational control, the US side had earlier said only that the two countries remain committed to meeting the conditions required for the handover.
Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday, Oct 28, re-arrested a 39-year-old company director on suspicion of violating the Immigration Control Act and also arrested two women. Police allege his business was helping wealthy Chinese clients obtain permanent residency by forging academic records and fake employment papers so they could get 'Highly Skilled Professional' residence status and apply for permanent residency within a year; about 30-40 clients entered Japan this way, possibly paying up to US$450,000 (about 70 million yen) each. A 57-year-old Chinese woman who was arrested told police she had paid US$600,000. The director denies all charges. As of 2025, 32,953 foreigners held the status, 22,169 of them Chinese, or about 67.3%.
Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi met US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, Oct 28, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus in Cebu, the Philippines, their sixth face-to-face meeting. The US side said they confirmed close cooperation on munitions co-production and discussed a strategy of 'deterrence by denial'. With Japan revising its three security documents this year, Koizumi reportedly briefed the US on steps to strengthen defence including higher spending, and asked for measures to prevent a recurrence after a US Marine at Futenma base in Okinawa was arrested over a robbery-murder. In the afternoon Koizumi also met South Korea's defence minister, the first face-to-face meeting between the two since Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine on Aug 15.
Wednesday, Oct 28, marked three months since a strong earthquake with a maximum seismic intensity of 7 hit Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture in July. Prefectural data showed that 1,073 people were still living in shelters as of Tuesday, down from more than 10,000 at the peak. The quake killed 38 people, including indirect deaths, and damaged 82,223 buildings, 11,429 of them fully or half destroyed. Publicly funded demolition of damaged homes began last month, but only one building had been demolished as of Oct 21. By last Friday 2,685 people had moved into temporary housing, and the Kumamoto Labour Bureau counted about 380 people who lost their jobs because of the quake.
A winter-type pressure pattern and cold air aloft brought snow to northern Japan, centred on Hokkaido, on Wednesday, Oct 28, and both Sapporo and Aomori recorded their first snowfall of the season. The Japan Meteorological Agency announced at 11am that Tokyo and the Kinki region had experienced 'Kogarashi No. 1', the first strong northerly wind of winter. The agency said winds would keep strengthening in northern Japan during the day and urged vigilance against storms, high waves and snow and ice on roads, with some transport disruption possible.
The independent committee on the deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po submitted its final report to Hong Kong's Chief Executive this month. The South China Morning Post, citing government sources, reported that he will hold a press conference with his ministers on Thursday, Oct 29, to release the report and announce reforms, including a proposal to introduce criminal penalties for bid-rigging, and to explain progress and a timetable on holding officials accountable. Senior officials coordinating the policy bureaus and the relevant secretaries will attend, and the government will hold further briefings on specific issues on Friday, Oct 30.
Data from job platform Jobsdb showed that job ads for fresh graduates in Hong Kong in the first nine months of this year fell 22% from the same period in 2025, while each graduate position received 56% more applications on average than a year earlier. The South China Morning Post reported that industry figures expect technological advances to further reduce entry-level jobs. In a Jobsdb survey of 298 Hong Kong companies in August and September, about 85% said they were willing to hire fresh graduates next year.
Chinese toy company Pop Mart, maker of the Labubu dolls, said on Tuesday, Oct 27, that third-quarter revenue fell 45-50% year on year, a steeper drop than the 30% the market had expected. Overseas declines were especially sharp: revenue fell 70-75% in the Americas, 65-70% in Asia-Pacific and 50-55% in Europe and other regions, and 25-30% in mainland China. Its shares fell more than 6% in early trading on Wednesday and are down over 30% this year. Jefferies cut its 2027 and 2028 earnings forecasts for Pop Mart by 9-12%, and expects fourth-quarter revenue to rise 3% from the previous quarter but remain 34% below a year earlier.
The BBC reported that data published last week by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed the old-age dependency ratio, the ratio of people aged 65 and over to the working-age population, rose to 23% last year, overtaking the child dependency ratio of 22% for the first time. China now has more than 223 million people aged 65 and over, nearly 16% of the population, and about 213 million children aged 14 and under. The data were released without official comment. China has been preparing for an ageing population while encouraging young people to marry and have children; analysts said the demographic shift will affect families, pensions and healthcare spending.
Taiwan's president on Wednesday, Oct 28, received a cross-national delegation of European lawmakers attending the Formosa Club's 2026 annual meeting in Taipei, whose acting chair presented the meeting's joint statement. He said Taiwan will stand firmly on the front line against challenges such as managing risks to international undersea cables and China's transnational repression, and hopes to build trusted supply chains with democratic partners in areas including AI, drones and semiconductors. The acting chair said the delegation visited Kinmen, and that the joint statement supports an undersea cable security initiative and opposes unilateral changes to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. The club was founded in 2019 and held its annual meeting in Taiwan for the first time last October.
Taiwan's foreign minister told the Legislative Yuan's foreign affairs and national defence committee on Wednesday, Oct 28, that Taiwan meets the CPTPP's 'Auckland principles' for membership but its bid cannot move forward because of political interference from China. Taiwan applied in 2021 and, now in its fifth year, has still not reached the stage of an accession working group, while three economies that applied later began preparatory discussions this year. He said this year's rotating chair is busy preparing for next year's APEC and that the large number of applications has caused a 'traffic jam'; the CPTPP is studying setting up several working groups to review bids in parallel, and its commission meets next month.
Jio Platforms, the telecoms and digital business of Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, began trading in Mumbai on Wednesday, Oct 28, after its US$3.2 billion initial public offering drew US$77 billion in bids, the most heavily subscribed IPO in India's history. Jio is valued at up to US$108.3 billion, counts Meta and Google parent Alphabet as shareholders and has more than 530 million customers. The listing is part of Ambani's plan to turn parent company Reliance Industries from a petrochemicals group into a conglomerate spanning consumer and technology businesses. People familiar with the matter said his eldest son, Jio director Akash Ambani, was expected to attend the listing ceremony.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, Oct 28, that the consumer price index rose 0.8% in September from the previous month, after 0.4% in August, lifting annual inflation from 4% to 4.3%, higher than expected. Housing was the biggest driver, up 5.2% year on year, and fuel prices rose 9.4% in September, pushing up transport costs. Trimmed mean inflation, which strips out volatile items, rose to 3.6%, with August revised to 3.5%. Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser told a Senate hearing on Wednesday the figures were 'too high'. The cash rate is 4.6%, the highest in 15 years after four hikes this year, and the RBA will announce its decision on Nov 3.
A Federal Court judge ruled on Wednesday, Oct 28, that casino operator Star Entertainment Group be fined A$260 million for repeated breaches of anti-money laundering laws. Financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC sued Star in 2022, alleging it failed to adequately deal with money laundering risks in its dealings with Asian junket operator Suncity and its financiers, continuing those dealings after reports of their criminal links. AUSTRAC had sought A$400 million, while Star said a penalty above A$100 million would push it into liquidation. The judge said the penalty weighed the need for deterrence against the company's finances. The breaches had led to suspension of Star's casino licences in New South Wales and Queensland.
A study led by Australia's CSIRO, published in Royal Society Open Science, found through marine acoustic surveys that about 2.8 million basketwork eels, weighing some 3,500 tonnes in total, gather each year on a ridge beside Patience Seamount in the Huon Marine Park off Tasmania to spawn over several months. It is the only known spawning aggregation of a purely marine eel species in the world. The eel is a top deep-sea scavenger that can grow to about 1.8 metres and is named for the criss-cross, woven-basket pattern on its skin. Researchers hope to find out where the eels come from and where the young go.
British Chancellor John Healey presented his first budget on Wednesday, Oct 28, the first annual tax and spending plan of the government formed when Keir Starmer was replaced as prime minister in July. In a pre-budget statement Healey said 'this budget is for getting through this difficult moment', promising families 'breathing space' and targeted support for businesses. Inflation and borrowing costs in Britain have risen because of the US-Iran war, and government debt has increased. The prime minister said on Monday the budget would explain how to fund the defence investment plan drawn up by his predecessor; the BBC reported that details on how to reach NATO's target of defence spending at 3.5% of GDP by 2035 were expected to be delayed.
Al Jazeera reported that Serbian prosecutors announced on Tuesday, Oct 27, that they are investigating the outgoing foreign minister and dozens of diplomats on suspicion of interfering in last Sunday's snap parliamentary election. The investigation began with complaints against two ambassadors and then widened to criminal complaints of abuse of office and violating voting rights against ambassadors at seven more embassies, as well as the foreign minister and three foreign ministry staff. Before the vote, Serbian voters abroad complained that no polling stations were opened in their areas, forcing many to travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres to vote. The government lost power in the election.
In a League Cup last-16 upset on Tuesday, Oct 27, League Two side Fleetwood drew 1-1 with Premier League champions Arsenal, who played with 10 men, then won 5-3 on penalties to reach the quarter-finals. Loupalo-Bi gave Fleetwood the lead in the 21st minute and Arsenal striker Gyokeres equalised four minutes into the second half; play was halted for more than eight minutes early on after a drone appeared above the ground. Arsenal teenager Max Dowman was sent off after a clash with an opponent. In the shootout goalkeeper Jay Lynch saved one kick and Conor Haughey scored the winner. Arsenal's manager called it 'a very sad day'.
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who lost Sunday's presidential election to Lula by more than 4 million votes, arrived in the United States on Tuesday, Oct 27, joining his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro in Florida. A senior US State Department official confirmed visas will be issued to him and his family. Brazil's Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender his passports, and after the deadline passed they were cancelled, including his official senatorial passport; he faces money laundering and tax evasion investigations in Brazil, which he denies. Eduardo was sentenced in absentia in June to four years and Brazil has issued an arrest warrant for him. Lula said on Tuesday: 'Anyone who leaves their country in secret must be hiding something; leaving Brazil is shameful.'
Britain's King Charles III arrived in the Bahamas on Tuesday, Oct 27, at the start of a nine-day Caribbean tour, and attended a youth rally at Clifford Park in the capital Nassau, where the Bahamas declared independence in 1973. He said the finest parts of Bahamian culture 'were born out of darkness' and that 'it is right to acknowledge the great suffering of the past' on these islands and elsewhere, but did not apologise. He confirmed that next week's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda will discuss the legacy of slavery, and his tour includes a state visit to Guyana. The Bahamas National Reparations Committee said the king's remarks fell short of what justice requires, and a small group of protesters held placards demanding reparations.
Israel held parliamentary elections on Tuesday, Oct 27, and counting continued on Wednesday. Reuters reported that exit polls by Kan 11 and Channel 13 gave each bloc 51 seats, while Channel 12 showed Netanyahu's bloc narrowly ahead by 52 to 49, all short of the 61 needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Netanyahu called for a 'strong right-wing national government' and said a government with Arab parties would be 'shameful', while Yashar party leader and former military chief of staff Eisenkot said voters had rejected Netanyahu and told him to quit politics. The Central Elections Committee put turnout at 77.7%, the highest since 1999, with about 5.7 million of some 7.3 million eligible voters casting ballots. On prediction market Polymarket, the implied chance of Netanyahu being the next prime minister rose from 26% to 46% in a day.
Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday, Oct 27, that they had hit Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, which processes 550,000 barrels a day, with a missile; Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm it. The claim revived market concerns about Middle East supply, and as of 01:40 GMT on Wednesday (09:40 Hong Kong time), Brent crude futures were up US$1.48, or 1.3%, at US$115.36 a barrel, while US WTI crude was up US$1.22 at US$101.12. Oil prices had fallen nearly US$2 on Tuesday on hopes of easing tensions from diplomatic contacts in the Middle East. Reuters reported that OPEC+ is expected to keep its December output targets unchanged when it meets on Sunday.
The Ebola outbreak declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May keeps spreading, and the government announced on Tuesday, Oct 27, that more than 10,000 people have been infected since then. The International Rescue Committee's head of Ebola response said the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak had only about 4,000 cases at the same stage; that outbreak eventually exceeded 28,000 cases. The current outbreak covers the widest geographic area on record, and nearly 5,000 people have died, second only to more than 11,000 in West Africa; about a third of the dead are children, and about three-quarters of patients under 5 have died. Africa CDC held an online meeting of health ministers on Wednesday, Oct 28.
The 2026 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change said about 3 million deaths between 2016 and 2023 can be attributed to global warming, the first time the team has directly quantified heat-related deaths caused by human-driven climate change. Published ahead of the COP31 climate conference, the report said heat-related deaths have kept rising since the 2015 Paris Agreement. It said renewable energy growth has 'far exceeded expectations' and could cut warming by 2100 from a previously estimated 3.5°C to 2.6°C, but global climate action remains 'severely inadequate'.
A research project announced it has completed a full formalisation of the classification of finite simple groups in the Lean proof assistant, following the first-generation proof, with every logical step checked by Lean's kernel. The theorem is regarded as one of mathematics' greatest collective achievements; its first-generation proof was written by about 100 mathematicians over decades and runs to thousands of journal pages, concluding that every finite simple group is a cyclic group of prime order, an alternating group, a group of Lie type or one of 26 sporadic groups. During the work, the team found a counterexample to a closure claim used in one published route to the proof of the 'unbalanced group theorem', gave an alternative argument, and is preparing an erratum with group theorists.