Shark Nannies: The Ultimate Baby-Sitters

Just off Kri Island in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, meter-long dotted sharks glide underwater – a sight conservationists say was vanishingly rare until recently. 

The Indo-Pacific leopard shark – also known as the zebra shark – has historically inhabited reefs along Indo-West Pacific Ocean, the Red Sea, East Africa, Japan, and Australia. But years of habitat destruction and overfishing have reduced the population by 50-79% over the past three generations (around 57 to 72 years), and they are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). While their historic decline was driven by the shark fin trade, overfishing pressures persist through accidental bycatch and trade in its exotic leather. 

In Raja Ampat, less than a decade ago they had all but disappeared. The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group estimated that left alone, the archipelago’s population could take between 100 and 200 years to recover naturally. 

Now, a global group called ReShark say they are attempting to “restore balance to the ocean” with what they describe as the world’s first shark rewilding program. The initiative, known as the Stegostoma tigrinum Augmentation and Recovery (StAR) project, after the shark’s scientific name, sees leopard sharks bred in aquariums around the world, before the offspring are released into protected waters in Indonesia and Thailand. 

“Back in 2019, in Raja Ampat, we estimated that there were about 20 individual adult sharks remaining”, says Mark Erdmann (left), executive director of ReShark. 

“Most conservation activities for sharks usually revolve around either setting up marine protected areas or doing fisheries management. In our case, our niche is we’re doing active recovery”. 

The idea first emerged during a visit Erdmann made to Singapore’s SEA Aquarium in 2015. The staff showed him tanks crowded with baby leopard sharks they had successfully bred in captivity. 

“They said, ‘we actually have a problem, we’re producing too many pups, and we don’t know what to do with them’”, Erdmann recalls. 

That encounter sparked an eight-year effort involving governments, aquariums, nonprofits, academics, local communities and conservation scientists who worked together to release captive pups into Indonesian waters. 

Like many sharks, the Indo-Pacific leopard sharks are harmless to humans. But unlike most sharks, they reproduce by laying eggs. In fact, they’re the largest of the egg-laying sharks, a trait that makes them well suited for this rewilding effort. 

“About 43% of sharks are egg layers”, says David Ebert (right), program director at the Pacific Shark Research Center, San Jose State University, who is not connected with ReShark. “With live bearing, you have a whole different set of issues to deal with. So, this is probably a good species to potentially start with”. 

His global efforts to spot elusive sharks have seen Ebert become known online as the “Lost Shark Guy”. In his opinion, the leopard shark has another advantage, “the cute factor”, which can help the public get on board with conservation initiatives. 

ReShark, supported by Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, have partnered with nearly 60 aquariums worldwide. Of those, about a dozen across the United States, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore are actively breeding sharks for the program, according to Erdmann. 

Viable eggs from global aquariums are transported to ReShark’s two nurseries in Raja Ampat and Phuket, Thailand. There, specially trained aquarium managers – nicknamed “shark nannies” – monitor the eggs, care for the pups and prepare them for life in the wild. Once the sharks grow to a meter long and can forage food for themselves, they are tagged and released into protected waters. 

The nickname may sound playful, but the work is highly technical. Shark nannies undergo months of training in animal husbandry, often supported by large public aquariums. An internship program hires residents rather than international volunteers, to involve local communities. 

“It’s super important that the people in Raja Ampat and the people in Phuket are supportive of this program, and that we don’t fall back to the way it was 10 or 15 years ago when these sharks were being caught and killed”, says Erdmann. 

Some shark experts remain cautious about the program’s long-term effectiveness. 

Ebert, who has spent more than four decades studying sharks and rays around the world, describes the program as innovative but still largely experimental. 

“It’s kind of a neat science project,” he says. “But how’s it going to impact the (shark) population? That’s the big question”. 

Among his concerns is whether the released sharks will survive long enough to reproduce in the wild. Since leopard sharks are believed to take between five to 12 years to reach maturity, the earliest ReShark will find out if its first released pups are breeding is 2028.

The Superpower That Is China

When Japan rebuilt itself after World War II and became an economic powerhouse in a single generation, the world called it the "Japanese Miracle". When South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore soared from poverty to prosperity, they were celebrated as the "Four Asian Tigers". 

But when China does exactly the same thing – actually, on a scale far more massive than any of them – Western media calls it the "China Shock". Same playbook. Different label. 

What changed? 

A Costa Rican economist named Ottón Solís had written an essay, titled "US negotiating more than trade", that was published in October 2025, on the platform Latinoamérica21 (and syndicated via China Daily). It cuts through this double standard with refreshing clarity and resounding cogency.

Let's walk through his argument, because it's definitely worth hearing. 

What China Actually Did 

Over the past decade, China has become a global leader in electric vehicles, AI, batteries, biotech, renewable energy, robotics, and semiconductors. It didn't just catch up – in many areas, it pulled ahead. 

The Western response? "Overcapacity". "Production surplus". "State-driven distortion". 

But as Solís points out, the same strategies – state-guided industrial policy, massive investment in education and infrastructure, a focus on long-term planning, and a stable political environment – were precisely what powered Japan and the Asian Tigers. 

Yet when Japan did it, it was a miracle. When China does it, it's a threat. 

The Real Outcomes 

Here's what "overcapacity" actually means in practice: 

First, millions of middle‑ and low‑income consumers around the world now have access to affordable cars, phones, solar panels, and other industrial products. This is not a bad thing. 

Second, the global fight against climate change became far more effective because high‑quality renewable energy equipment is now cheap enough for developing countries to afford. 

Third, Western industries that are less productive and high‑cost can't compete. And instead of asking why their own industries became uncompetitive, Western politicians are blaming China for being... too efficient. 

The Factors Western Politicians Refuse to Talk About 

Solís lists five factors behind China's success: 

• A vast domestic market that enables economies of scale. 
• High savings and investment rates – driven by cultural attitudes and policy choices. 
• Policy continuity and political stability. 
• Massive investment in education, infrastructure, energy, and R&D. 
• A coherent development strategy that includes industrial policy alongside market forces. 

Now, ask yourself: which of these factors is uniquely Chinese? 

None of them. 

Western countries could boost their savings rates through fiscal and monetary policy – if their political systems were willing to make those choices. They could invest more in education, infrastructure, and science – if they were willing to cut military spending or raise taxes on billionaires. They could reach cross‑party agreements to ensure policy continuity – if their politicians prioritized national strategy over short‑term electoral victories. 

But they don't. 

And then they blame China for their own political failures. 

The Uncomfortable Conclusion 

Solís's argument is simple: Western politicians have a choice. They can keep blaming China, stoking anti‑China rhetoric, and risking global peace. Or they can look at what China did right, learn from it, and apply those lessons within their own political and economic systems. But that would require acknowledging that China's success is not a fluke or a cheat – it's the result of deliberate, long‑term strategies that any country could adopt, if its leaders had the will. 

Instead, they double down on the narrative that China is somehow "unfair", while refusing to examine their own shortcomings. 

The New Normal: East Asia’s Brutal Heatwave

A brutal heatwave across East Asia has devastated agriculture, leaving one farmer Lee Sang-hyuk with an entirely spoiled potato crop in Yanggu county, 80 miles (130km) north-east of Seoul, South Korea. 

The extreme ground heat effectively cooked the produce in the soil, turning a healthy-looking field into mush within a single week. 

Speaking to local broadcaster SBS, Lee expressed heartbreak over the widespread damage. His ruined livelihood reflects the broader impact of record-breaking summer temperatures currently impacting South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong. As per a news report from The Guardian published August 13, 2026. 

In fact, two Sundays ago, the south-eastern city of Yangsan recorded a temperature of 42.5C, the highest registered in South Korea since modern weather observations began in 1904. 

The scorching heat has since been blamed for at least 31 deaths nationwide, according to the country’s disease control agency, while more than 900,000 livestock and 1.4 million farmed fish have died. 

Authorities issued a heat warning, urging people to “immediately stop all outdoor activities”. 

South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, told his cabinet the extreme weather was “unlike anything we have experienced before”. 

“We need to make efforts for a fundamental overhaul of the national crisis system”, he said, “since this extreme weather is becoming the new normal”. 

In neighbouring Japan, temperatures reached 40C or higher at multiple locations and the country recorded its first ever “kokushobi”, or “cruelly hot day”, a new category introduced this year by the country’s weather agency for temperatures above 40C. In Tokyo, three lions died of suspected heatstroke at a city zoo. 

Scientists say the extremes are part of a wider pattern. Researchers working through Japan’s Weather Attribution Centre found that the country’s intense July heat would have been “virtually impossible” without global warming. 

Without the warming caused by human activity, they calculated, a heatwave of this scale would occur on average once ever 10,000 years. The heat struck even as an El Niño event was under way, a natural climate pattern that has in the past been associated with a lower likelihood of extreme summer heat in Japan. 

In Hong Kong, its observatory posted an official temperature of 36.9C, the highest recorded there since records began in 1884, as the outer bands of Typhoon Dolphin swept hot air over the city. 

In China’s western Xinjiang region, a weather station recorded a 50C reading in July and heatwaves gripped the country’s north-east, while North Korea reported a run of tropical nights in Pyongyang, with temperatures failing to fall below 25C. 

The World Meteorological Organization said in their latest State of the Climate in Asia report that the pace of Asia’s warming between 1991 and 2025 is roughly twice that of the preceding three decades. 

June-Yi Lee (right), a climate scientist at Pusan National University and a coordinating lead author of the UN’s most recent climate assessment, warned that heatwaves were expected to become more frequent and intense as the climate heated up, while compound extremes, such as consecutive heatwaves and heavy rainfall, were becoming more common. 

“There is an urgent need for rapid, large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to limit further global warming together with well-planned adaptation measures to address the climate change that is already occurring”, she said.

Bruce Lee Day

On Tuesday, California, US  Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation (AB 2455), sponsored by San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney, to officially mark May 17 as Bruce Lee Day. 

This marks the first time in state history that a Chinese American has been honored with a namesake day, celebrating the cultural and cinematic legacy of the San Francisco-born icon.

Lee's daughter, Shannon (left), who is CEO of the Bruce Lee Foundation, said the honour is a testament to her father's enduring legacy as a bridge between cultures. 

"From young people who found confidence and possibility in his philosophy, to families who finally saw themselves represented on screen, to athletes who still draw on his teachings of discipline and inner strength, his reach is profound", Shannon said in a statement. 

Haney, who represents the 17th Assembly District, which covers the eastern portion of San Francisco, called Lee the epitome of the best of California. 

"At a time when Asian Americans were too often absent from or stereotyped on screen, Bruce Lee helped generations see themselves represented with strength and dignity", he said in a statement. 

Born in 1940 to Chinese parents who were touring with an opera company, Lee was granted birthright citizenship. A few months later, the family returned to Hong Kong, where Lee became a child actor and began learning Chinese kung fu. 

He moved back to the US in 1959 and enrolled at the University of Washington in Seattle two years later – but he dropped out to throw himself into practicing and teaching martial arts. 

In the 1960s, Lee found work in Hollywood, most notably as Kato (right) in the TV series The Green Hornet, but studios wanted him to play racist stereotypes and paid him less than his Caucasian counterparts. 

Pivoting back to Hong Kong, he quickly became a martial arts megastar, starring in box-office hits like "The Big Boss" (1971), "Fist of Fury" (1972), "The Way of the Dragon" (1972) and "Enter the Dragon" (1973) 

Lee died tragically in 1973 at the age of 32 after an allergic reaction to pain medication. 

More than 50 years later, his name and likeness remain as popular as ever. 

FYI, the acclaimed crime drama hit TV show "Warrior" was officially based on original notes, treatments, and writings developed by Lee in the late 1960s. His vision was a show featuring a Chinese martial artist in the Old West. 

For decades, the concept went unproduced because Hollywood executives were hesitant to cast an Asian lead, but Shannon, and director Justin Lin ultimately brought his concept to life.

Dedicated fans regularly gather in locations like his ancestral hometown in Foshan, China to celebrate his birthday on November 27th.

China's Shenzhou-23 Space Mission

China successfully launched its crewed Shenzhou-23 mission on Sunday night at 11:08 PM Beijing Time. Just a few hours later, the spacecraft executed a rapid rendezvous and docking, meeting up with the Tiangong space station early Monday morning at 02:45 AM Beijing Time.

The mission marks the first spaceflight ever undertaken by an astronaut from Hong Kong, serving as a payload specialist – 43-year-old mother of three, Lí Jiāyíng (Lai Ka-ying in Cantonese), who has a PhD in digital forensics from the University of Hong Kong and is a police superintendent. 

The other crew members were two 39-year-olds, space engineer Zhu Yangzhu, and the former air force pilot Zhang Zhiyuan. 

And for the first time, the three crew members come from the third and fourth batches – the two most recent recruitment classes – of China's astronauts 

As expected, the crew will undertake scientific projects in life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and medicine. 

A key experiment will be the full-year stay in orbit by one of the crew to study the effects of a long stay in microgravity, part of China’s preparations for future lunar and possible Martian missions. The astronaut selected to spend a year in orbit will be named at a later date, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said. 

Richard de Grijs, an astrophysicist and professor at Macquarie University in Australia, said the main challenges would be long-term effects on humans, including bone density loss, muscle wasting, radiation exposure, sleep disturbance and behavioural and psychological fatigue. 

He said China was steadily building operational experience for sustained occupation of the Tiangong space station, and year-long missions were an important step towards future lunar and potentially deep-space ambitions. 

Tiangong crews have tended until now to remain in orbit for six months before being replaced. 

The Shenzhou-23 mission is part of China’s goal to land astronauts on the moon before 2030 in a race with NASA’s Artemis programme. 

Beijing is also testing the equipment required to reach its goal, with an orbital test flight of its Mengzhou spacecraft set for 2026. It will replace the ageing Shenzhou line and will carry China’s astronauts to the moon. 

China hopes to have built the first phase of a manned scientific base, known as the International Lunar Research Station, by 2035.

UK's Epic Hypocrisy

Epic hypocrisy! The two faces of the UK government. 

Julian Assange was locked up for years in Belmarsh, a high-security UK prison. He was said to have published through WikiLeaks, disclosed documents about potential US war crimes, including the "Collateral Murder" video showing a helicopter attack on civilians, and evidence of torture and illegal detentions. As well as the inner workings of US foreign policy and military operations, providing a "shadow history" of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Many press freedom groups, including the ACLU and Amnesty International, argued that his actions constituted core investigative journalism, and that the prosecution was an attempt to silence the exposure of state criminality.

Then there's the anti-China media mogul, Jimmy Lai, who was paid by the US to create chaos and incite violence in Hong Kong. And hailed as a hero by the UK government. His trial was open to the public and media to give full transparency, so there could be no doubt he's had a fair trial.  

The case lasted 156 days, there's 855 pages of court transcript proving his guilt beyond doubt. The most damning evidence was Lai's phone messages proving him to be a traitor who brought terror and fear to Hong Kong. 

The harsh reality is that truth does not matter to 'Anti-China' US and UK. 

Liverpool faced a club on their fourth manager of the season, with Nottingham Forest the opposition in the Premier League yesterday. 

And they beat the West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire-based side 1-0, thanks to a 97th minute goal from midfielder Alexis Mac Allister in a chaotic finish. 

The win allowed the Reds to move to 45 points, level with fourth-placed Chelsea and fifth-placed Manchester United.

Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

Yay-y-y! Justice is served!

Three High Court judges at West Kowloon Court in Hong Kong today sentenced the instigator of anti-China riots, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying to 20 years’ imprisonment. 

The 78-year-old former media proprietor (right) was convicted of two conspiracy counts of collusion with foreign forces under the National Security Law and one count of conspiracy to publish and distribute seditious publications under local legislation. 

“The court have affirmed the gravity of his crime, showing that he’s the mastermind and leader behind the scene”, said Steve Li, chief superintendent of the national security department. 

The court also imposed sentences on six former senior executives of Apple Daily, three associated companies and two activists during the hour-long hearing. The remaining defendants received the following sentences i.e., Chan Tsz-wah was jailed for 6 years and 3 months; Andy Li for 7 years and 3 months; Cheung Kim-hung for 6 years and 9 months; Chan Pui-man for 7 years; Law Wai-kwong for 10 years; Lam Man-chung for 10 years; Fung Wai-kwong for 10 years; and Yeung Ching-kee for 7 years and 3 months. 

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Sivasangari Subramaniam's run at the Windy City Open ended in the quarter-finals after a narrow defeat to reigning world champion Nour El Sherbini in Chicago yesterday. 

The world No. 6 produced a spirited display but went down 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 to the Egyptian world No. 5 in a 51-minute battle.

Chinese Varsities Dominate Global AI Rankings

Asian universities dominate global artificial intelligence (AI) rankings, with 18 of the world's top 20 institutions for AI education, according to the latest CS Rankings (essentially a data-driven assessment of the world’s leading computer science universities). 

In fact, the world's top 10 universities in AI are all based in Asia, with China taking eight places and Singapore and South Korea, one each. 

Within the top 20, Asian universities continue to outperform other regions, accounting for eight institutions ranked from 11th to 20th. The United States contributes only two universities to the top 20. 

The world’s top 20 universities for AI education as of January 31, 2026 are:

*PUB Publications

Unlike rankings such as Times Higher Education or QS, which rely heavily on reputation surveys and peer assessments, CSRankings evaluates institutions based on the volume of academic papers published and the number of faculty members contributing to top-tier conferences and journals. 

The publications counted span key sub-fields including artificial intelligence, computer vision, machine learning, natural language processing, and web and information retrieval. 

The latest 2026 CSRankings evaluates more than 600 institutions worldwide across computer science and AI categories.

20 Things You Need to Know About the Protests in Iran

20 things you really must know about the supposedly popular protests in Iran that broke out on December 28, 2025!

1. Allegations of “mass casualties” among Iran protesters are not dependable. They come from a group called Center for Human Rights in Iran. The Center for Human Rights in Iran are NOT in Iran. They are in New York, USA. 

2. Are they an Iranian group? No. They are financed by the CIA-adjacent National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC and related bodies, specializing in disinformation. 

3. They are run by the people of Iran? No. The chairperson is Minky Worden, an American woman who ran anti-China campaigns for many years. She tried to get the Beijing winter Olympics renamed the genocide Olympics and cancelled. She failed. 

4. Worden worked closely with the Hong Kong "pro-democracy" movement (also NED-funded) and her husband was on the board of Apple Daily and had a contract with the Pentagon. Yes, the US regime-change operations around the world are THAT incestuous. 

5. The other main source of unbelievable tales of massive protests and huge numbers of deaths in Iran are coming from the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). This is also a NED-funded, US-based disinformation outlet. 

Iranians Have Become Less Anti-government 

6. Having said that, protest groups against the Iranian government do exist, but they are not large. Western groups including the NED-funded media, and the Persian service of Voice of America, have spent years cultivating anti-government groups. But Trump’s bombing campaigns, and Israel’s shocking behavior in Gaza, has meant Iranians have become very notably LESS anti-government, not more. This is important. 

7. The loudest and most prominent Iranian “protest leader” quoted in the west is Masih Alinejad, a women who was salaried by NED for years, and currently works for the US Agency for Global Media. 

8. Which part of Iran does she live in? No part of Iran. She lives in the US. 

9. What’s her professional background? Propaganda. Her job was and is to push pro-US anti-Iran propaganda through various media services. Despite this, she is quoted in the media as if she is a reliable source of news from the people of Iran. 

10. Press reports show that between 2015 and 2022 alone, Masih Alinejad received $628,000 in funding from NED and related groups. And yes, this regime-change campaigner received a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

11. Remember Mahsa Jina Amini, a woman said to have been beaten to death by Iran police for wearing her hijab wrongly? Masih Alinejad pushed that tale, but it was debunked by a security video, which showed that no one was standing near her when she collapsed through a medical issue. 

12. A 2009 Brookings policy paper "Which Path to Persia?" goes into detail about how the US can take control of Iran, by creating mobs attacking government facilities, which can be labelled a “popular uprising” by the media, or by fostering division and putting puppet leaders in control. Variations of this US game plan have been used multiple times around the world. 

Women's Rights in the Forefront

13. Why is so much of the US propaganda about Iran based on alleged violations of women’s rights? Because similar US disinformation operations in other places, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, showed that women’s rights made western audiences angrier faster than weaponization of the usual western “Big Three” propaganda lines: Democracy, freedom and human rights. 

14. Is the “strictly hijabs only” tale true? No. In general, women in Iran do prefer to dress modestly in Islamic fashion, but it’s far more relaxed and tolerant that the US propagandists pretend. Think of the religious dress codes of Indonesia and Malaysia, for example, where most people dress modestly and religiously, but the atmosphere is tolerant and reasonable. 

15. What about the atrocity stories of ill-treated women? They are invented and circulated by US and Israeli sources: the US has long had an atrocity fabrication department (see AB Abram’s research for numerous examples of their work worldwide). 

Infiltration 

16. Academic studies apparently “proving” that most Iranians want a US-allied leadership appear in The Journal of Democracy – which is not a real academic publication, but a NED magazine. 

17. NED operatives have spent years in Iran, funding scholars and journalists to build up a stranglehold in many educational, civic and media groups, just as they did in Hong Kong, and have done in many places. 

18. A widely quoted group from Iranian politics are the Foundation for Democracy in Iran. They are also not Iranian. They are funded by NED and the executive director is American activist Kenneth R Timmerman. 

Hope for the Future 

19. Iranians are smart. They know about NED and nickname them “National Enemy of Democracy”. 

20. Western mainstream media reports (BBC, Guardian, Reuters, etc) absolutely CANNOT be trusted. They have a long history of downplaying, or, more usually, completely hiding the western manipulation processes that create regime change. 

If you support the people of Iran, you need to know all this. The world needs to stand with Iran and tell the US that we've had enough.

China’s ‘Flying Aircraft Carrier’ Makes First Flight

China's Jiu Tian unmanned aircraft, commonly referred as the world’s first ‘drone mothership’, has been confirmed to have made its first flight in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, marking a major milestone in a unique program that promises to revolutionise unmanned air operations. 

With a 25 metre wingspan and 16.35 metre length, the large aircraft has the capacity to carry 100 small drones, which it can launch while airborne. 

Its 7,000 kilometre range and 15,000 meter operational altitude, the aircraft was designed to launch drone swarms far from Chinese waters, with the drones carried launching from high in the air allowing them to reach targets further away. This endurance places targets across East Asia within targeting range, and raises the possibility that it could be used for strikes as far as Guam, a central hub of US military operations in the region.

The aircraft’s capabilities are expected to prove to be highly complementary to those of China’s growing blue water navy, its vast arsenal of long range ballistic and cruise missiles, and its fighter fleet which is increasingly able to operate in the far seas due to improved ranges and greater aerial refuelling support. 

The possibility of several Jiu Tian aircraft being deployed to complement missile attacks on adversary carrier groups, for example, would complicate air defence efforts, and allow attack drones to be deployed from multiple unexpected directions, for which determining the point of launch may prove more challenging. 

Its development has occurred at a time when China has demonstrated increasingly distinct global leadership in unmanned aviation, and as a fast growing number of unmanned long range aircraft able to support power projection are also entering flight testing stages or being brought into active service. Other examples include the GJ-11 unmanned stealth bomber, the CH-7 unmanned high altitude stealth reconnaissance aircraft, and an unnamed intercontinental range stealth aircraft which is expected to serve as a strategic bomber. 

I didn't know this but according to VnExpress International, Malaysia imported $2.6 million worth of durian from Vietnam in the first 11 months of 2025, five times higher than the previous year, despite itself being a major producer of the fruit. 

It was the fastest growing market for Vietnamese durian but only accounted for a tiny share of exports, according to customs data. 

The second largest increase was seen in exports to Hong Kong, whose purchases doubled to $47 million. 

Dang Phuc Nguyen, secretary general of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said Malaysia usually imports Vietnamese durian to make up for a shortfall outside May-August, its main harvest period, while Hong Kong does not grow the fruit. 

During the eleven months, exports from Vietnam rose 17% year-on-year to $3.65 billion, with the bulk of it obviously going to China.

Legal Actions Against 1MDB-involved Global Financial Institutions Stepped Up

Malaysia is focusing on global financial institutions accused of facilitating misappropriation of funds linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd. 

The government are requesting courts in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong to set early hearing dates in 2026 to “fast-track” existing suits against the financial firms, said Johari Abdul Ghani, who chairs a task force set up to recover assets of the state-owned company also known as 1MDB. 

“We are also reviewing other banks and financial intermediaries involved in the flow of funds from 1MDB”, he was quoted as saying. Malaysia has filed lawsuits at home and abroad against Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered plc, Julius Baer Group Ltd, and RBS Coutts. 

As well as specialised corporate management Amicorp and law firm White & Case. 

1MDB had earlier dropped suits against Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Coutts and Co after the firms agreed to pay billions of dollars as settlement. Malaysia, nevertheless, is open to settlement negotiations, Johari was reported as saying. 

On October 14, the Finance Ministry reported that more than RM20 billion had been reclaimed through settlements with several financial institutions involved in the scandal. 

Separately, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had recovered about RM8 billion in cash and assets, which were already returned to the government’s consolidated fund under the Finance Ministry. 

The Malaysia Open jinx continued to haunt Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan after the second seeds crashed out in the second round on Thursday. 

The Malaysian pair went down 26-24, 21-17 to Indonesia's world No. 60 pair Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma–Meilysa Trias Puspitasari. 

It meant Pearly-Thinaah have now failed to progress beyond the second round in all five of their Malaysia Open appearances. They exited in the second round on debut in 2022, before suffering first-round defeats in the next three editions.

One in Five Russians Picks "Labubu" Word of the Year

If you're an English language enthusiast, you'll know that the Oxford Word of the Year 2025 is "Rage bait". 

The two-syllable open-compound word refers to an attention-seeking form of online behavior that leads nowhere good. It’s like clickbait, but luring the reader is done with the intent of making them angry. [Note: "Biohack" was a finalist for the public vote, along with "aura farming"]. 

Collins Dictionary Word of the Year 2025 is "Vibe coding" (the term described by the dictionary as referring to the use of AI prompted by natural language to write computer code) and Cambridge Dictionary's choice is "Parasocial" (the term describes feeling a strong connection with someone you don't actually know, a concept first identified in the 1950s but now deeply embedded in modern culture, as seen with fan devotion to figures like Taylor Swift or interactions with AI like ChatGPT). 

But a TASS report on December 11 indicates that over a third of Russians are unfamiliar with any of the word of the year candidates. And one in five proposes "Labubu" as an alternative, a study by the Skyeng online language school shows. 

"During the study, Russians suggested their own variants for words of the year. The most popular choice was the word ‘Labubu’ (19%), followed by ‘Pupupu’ (16%) and ‘Red flag’ (15%) – memes from social networks reflecting the ironic language of youth communication. 

Also included were 'Sigma' (13%) and 'Imba' (13%) – gaming and Internet subculture terms describing an independent leader or something impressive", the study states.

Interestingly, 33% of Russians understood the meaning of "biohacking", whereas the other terms were recognized by only a minority: "‘aura farming" – 16%, "rage bait" – 14%, and "parasocial" – 11%. 

At the same time, a third of respondents (31%) strongly rejected all the variants for the word of the year, but 25% agreed with the experts and chose "rage bait" (25%), which indirectly demonstrates the relevance of the aggressive media content problem. Notably, the most recognizable variant among Russians, "biohacking", got only 3% of the votes, transforming from a popular concept to an unrecognized trend. 

"Language, as a living system, evolves faster than dictionaries can keep up: what experts call words of the year more often reflect current global trends, while everyday speech absorbs the language of social networks and memes. Many of these come from English, the primary language of global online culture. In Russian, for instance, there is no direct equivalent for ‘rage bait’, nor for many other terms, which is why we use anglicisms", said Skyeng’s academic director Anastasia Ekushevskaya. 

Three Hong Kong judges who presided over former media magnate Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's high-profile national security trial for more than one-and-a-half years returned their verdict on Monday. They found the instigator of anti-China riots in Hong Kong, guilty on two charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious materials.

Plainly put, he is a traitor. And therefore, he should rightfully receive the maximum sentence allowable.

FYI, the court had made it clear in their written reasons for judgment that Lai was not tried because of his political views or beliefs, Secretary for Security of the HKSAR Chris Tang Ping-keung said, noting that since the start of the trial, anti-China destabilizing elements have continuously distorted the facts and attempted to whitewash his criminal acts with falsehoods.

Around the World, People Are Starting to See China Positively

The West's demonization of China is slowly and steadily losing its power, with yet another survey showing the preference for Chinese global leadership growing steeply, while preference for US dominance falls. 

A multi-country Economist survey asked 32,000 people whether they preferred China or the US as the world’s leading power. 

“The share of respondents favouring China jumped by 11 percentage points to an average of 33%. Meanwhile, support for America slipped below a global majority to 46%”, the Economist reported on November 13. 

The findings echo those of a much larger survey in May this year, in which China was even more strongly preferred by most respondents. The Democracy Perception Index surveyed 120,000 people and showed a more pronounced swing towards China. 

It’s also worth noting that a third, separate survey showed young people in Africa having a strong preference for China (which builds infrastructure and provides jobs) than the West (which is seen as an extractor of wealth). In that 2022 survey, paid for by South Africa’s Ichikowitz Family Foundation, more than 70% of young adults from 15 African countries saw China as the foreign power with the biggest positive impact on their lives. 

This matters. By 2050, 80% of the world’s youth will be from Africa. 

Interestingly, the Economist results were sharply skewed by age. People aged 65 and up, the newspaper-reading generation, still felt very negatively towards China, giving the US a 30-point lead. 

In contrast, young people, who are largely free from the influence of legacy media, feel most positive towards the country. In the eyes of young adults (18 to 24) China gets 39% support, meaning it has almost caught up with US (41%), and will likely soon overtake it. 

“Many youngsters use Chinese products and services, like the video-sharing sensation TikTok, or follow social-media influencers who have visited China”, the Economist said. 

Having seen mainland China, Hong Kong and Xinjiang for themselves through social media on their phones, young people around the world are no longer fooled by US-led hoaxes about China as a nightmare tech dystopia, about the debunked “Uyghur genocide”, about Hong Kong having become “a police state”, and so on. 

The loss of funding for USAID and Radio Free Asia is also having a huge beneficial effect on enabling people to get a clearer, less distorted image of China. 

Two matches yesterday that have an impact on the two teams I support. 

Arsenal trounced Tottenham 4-1 in the Premier League and Aberdeen beat Hearts 1-0 in the Scottish Premiership. This means the gap between the English table toppers and Liverpool has now widened to eleven points. And Hearts are ahead of the Scottish champions by just 4 points although Celtic still have a game in hand.

4 Aviation Incidents in 4 Months Involve Boeing

Still images from an airport surveillance video showing the left engine and left pylon separation from the left wing. Credit image: UPS 

Just because I don't regularly report on Boeing's "troubles" does not mean that their tribulations are over!

I am not implying anything but all four aviation incidents in these four months which are detailed in this post involve Boeing planes. Talk about coincidence!

On November 04, 2025, United Parcel Service (UPS) flight 2976 – a Boeing MD-11F plane – was destroyed after it impacted the ground shortly after takeoff from runway 17R at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, a major cargo facility in the US. 

All three crew members on board the aircraft and another eleven on the ground were killed. Twenty-three people suffered injuries, of which two were described as "serious" and 21 "minor". 

CCTV surveillance footage from the moments of the crash show the left engine of the aircraft "detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll", Todd Inman with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said. 

He said the plane was able to lift off the ground and cleared a fence at the end of the runway before it hit multiple businesses surrounding the airport. 

The crash caused a fire that spanned about a half a mile, Inman said. The massive blaze was due to the amount of fuel – reportedly 38,000 gallons (144,000 litres) – onboard the aircraft, which was beginning a journey of around 4,300 miles (6,920km) to Hawaii. 

The crash was the deadliest in UPS Airlines history.

On October 20, a Boeing 747, flown by Türkiye-based ACT Airlines for Emirates SkyCargo and coming in from Dubai, UAE skidded after landing at Hong Kong's International Airport, collided with a stationary security patrol car and sending both vehicles into the sea. Two workers in the car were killed. The four crew members on the plane were unhurt.

The Hong Kong Transport and Logistics Bureau wrote in a Facebook post that existing evidence showed the flight and conditions such as weather, runway and air traffic control were all normal before the plane veered off. The preliminary report from the Air Accident Investigation Authority said the plane’s Number 4 engine accelerated after landing. 

On September 11, a Turkish Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, operating flight TK112/THY4ML from New York John F Kennedy International Airport to Istanbul Airport, returned to JFK after the crew reported an issue with the landing gear. 

The aircraft, registered TC-LLK, performed a fuel dump to reduce landing weight before completing a safe ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach and landing on Runway 31L. 

And on August 26, an Air China flight from London, UK to Beijing resumed their journey after an unscheduled 13-hour landing in Siberia, Russia's state aviation watchdog reported. 

Earlier, Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, explained that the crew of the Air China Boeing 777-300 opted to land at an alternate airfield in the Russian city of Nizhnevartovsk. 

The preliminary reason for the diversion was said to be a malfunction in one of the aircraft's engines.

Despite all these issues, it is noteworthy to mention that Boeing's order book keeps growing! 😮😮😮

Malaysian Durians Conquer Global Markets

Malaysian durians are gaining worldwide recognition, from China to Europe and the US, as exports have surged in recent years, driven by rising demand. 

From 2020 to 2024, durian exports from Malaysia to Europe increased by 162%, while those to North America and the Middle East grew by 5.2% and 8.8% respectively, according to Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu, as reported by The Star. 

This expansion, he explained, resulted from concerted initiatives to broaden export markets and highlight Malaysia’s premium durian varieties, especially Musang King, which continues to enjoy strong global demand. 

China continues to be the main export destination, with shipment valued at RM1.19 billion ($284 million), followed by Hong Kong (RM101 million) and Singapore (RM76 million). 

Malaysian durians are now shipped to over 40 countries, including Canada, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Spain. 

Malaysian women's doubles Pearly Tan–Thinaah Muralitharan reached their seventh final of the year after beating local hopes Yuki Fukushima–Mayu Matsumoto 24-22, 23-21 in the Kumamoto Masters last four in Japan today. 

The Japanese pair saved seven match points in the second game when trailing 20-13 to draw level, but world No. 2 Pearly-Thinaah held their nerve to prevail. 

The victory extended Pearly-Thinaah's head-to-head record to 5-1 against Yuki-Mayu.