More World Leaders Flock to Beijing

On February 02, I blogged that in January, world leaders had flocked to China. In fact, five of them. 

The visits to China – China Daily refers to them as the "China travel rush" – have not stopped. 

In February, two leaders descended upon the Middle Kingdom (Zhōngguó, 中国). They were Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi (1st-7th) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (25th-26th). [Note that the month was relatively quiet owing to the Spring Festival break].   

And in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping's diplomatic schedule was focused domestically during this month. He and other senior officials were engaged in the annual "Two Sessions" political meetings, which are the annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. 

The following month, distinguished travelers who journeyed to China included: Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (April 04-11); Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (April 11-15); Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi (April 12-14); To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of Vietnam (April 14-17); and Mozambican President Daniel Chapo (April 16-22).

And in May, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon was in China, completing a four-day state visit to Beijing from 11th to 14th. 

Of course, the US didn't want to be left out. And so, its president invited himself to China. He was there from May 13 to 15, and incredibly, he was well-behaved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was there as well for a two-day state visit, running from May 19 to May 20. And more than 40 documents and cooperation agreements were signed between China and Russia.

Then, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif travelled to China for a four-day official trip from May 23 to 26.

And Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić too from May 24-28. 

This isn't just about China being "open". 

As global uncertainty deepens, the world is gravitating toward a country that, weathering its own storms, continues to project a clear sense of purpose and progress.

The high-profile visits to Beijing by world leaders underscore China's leverage and centrality in shaping a multipolar world order. And Xi Jinping is at the centre of it all.

China's real power comes through Xi championing initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Security Initiative – in fact, the country offers an alternative model for economic growth and state relations without political conditionality.

Teoh Beng Hock: Pursuit of Justice Continues

In their unrelenting pursuit of justice, the family of the late DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock on April 17, 2026 filed a fresh judicial review seeking to compel the authorities to reclassify and investigate his death as murder, challenging what they describe as the police’s use of an “incorrect” and lesser charge in the probe. 

Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet said the move follows confirmation from the police in January that previous investigations into Teoh’s death were conducted under Section 342 of the Penal Code for wrongful confinement. Those investigations were ultimately classified as no further action (NFA) in May last year. 

Teoh was found dead in 2009 after being questioned overnight at the Selangor MACC office. A 2011 royal commission concluded he died by suicide due to aggressive interrogation, while a 2014 Court of Appeal ruling found his death was caused or accelerated by unlawful acts, including those by MACC officers. 

In 2024, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered police to complete the investigation within six months, but the Attorney-General’s Chambers later classified the case as no further action (NFA). 

Yesterday, I mentioned that Donald Trump had announced a naval mission to assist ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz shipping route, which he called Project Freedom. But it lasted less than 48 hours because Trump suddenly called it off. 

What was intended as a show of strength became a humiliating retreat. 

There were only three routes that can be used to ship oil out of the Persian Gulf and they include the Strait of Hormuz, the Habshan–Fujairah pipeline in the UAE, and the East-West Pipeline in Saudi Arabia. 

Before Monday, the two pipelines were operating at full capacity. Then the expected happened, the US Navy engaged Iranian fast attack boats in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Iran’s retaliation was swift and  the UAE's pipeline export terminal was destroyed, some report that the pipeline itself was also hit. 

It is clear to me that Saudi Arabia then pressured Trump to suspend the "project" fearing Iran's retaliation. The Saudi route would certainly be the next target if the US attempts to breach the ceasefire again. 

For sure, Iran has the cards.

US Soldiers Get Ready to Die for Israel

It is said that there are about 40,000 American troops scattered around at bases and on ships at any time around the Middle East region, including in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and United Arab Emirates. 

But as Donald Trump escalates the war in Iran, that number has reached more than 50,000, according to a US military official, as reported by The New York Times on March 29, 2026.

It doesn't matter how many soldiers are being deployed to fight Iran because there will be a bloodbath. For sure, the ruby tide will rise on Iranian soil, where the fallen Americans turn the ground beneath them crimson in their final moments.

Here's the truth about the US involvement in Iran:

I betcha Temu have already received a massive order of body bags from the US Department of War. 😆😆😆

Raging Mideast War is Escalating

Today is Day 13 of the US-Israel war on Iran! It has already outlasted the 12-day war initiated by Israel – as is this war, by the way – on June 13, 2025, with the US joining nine days later. 

In fact, US President Donald Trump affirmed on Monday the war against Iran will end “very soon” but not this week!

“We’ve wiped every single force in Iran out, very completely”, the Orange Man trumpeted the destruction of more than 50 Iranian naval ships, and decimation of its air force and anti-aircraft defenses. 

He also said that the war would be over when Iran no longer had the capacity to use weapons against the US, Israel and other allies for a long time, according to CNBC on March 09, 2026. 

In fact, Trump had blithely described the war on Iran as a “short-term excursion”, maintaining that the US is ahead of schedule and already achieved “tremendous success”, as per Al Jazeera on March 10.

But this time around, the conflict has engulfed neighboring Arab countries, entering an escalatory phase as Tehran unleashed its 37th wave of missile and drone attacks across the region. 

Oil, gas and fuel storage facilities in Israel’s Haifa were repeatedly targeted while Gulf states scrambled to intercept drones and missiles heading toward energy hubs. Sirens echoed from Bahrain and Kuwait to Dubai, UAE, as defenses raced to stop incoming threats. 

At the same time, Washington and Tel Aviv intensified airstrikes inside Iran, hitting key sites across the country. 

Already, oil production in Iraq has dropped by 70%, from 4.3 million bpd before the conflict to 1.3 million bpd. Saudi Arabia has lowered output by 2 million to 2.5 million bpd, while the UAE has cut 500,000–800,000 bpd, and Kuwait has cut 500,000 bpd.

On top of that, drone attacks have hammered key infrastructure, including the Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia and the Ras Laffan gas facility in Qatar, the latter responsible for 20% of global LNG supply. Already, QatarEnergy declared force majeure on LNG shipments yesterday.

Moreover, Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint, handling about a quarter of the world's seaborne oil and significant liquefied natural gas (LNG) and fertilizer.

Predictably, Trump threatened “death, fire and fury” if Iran keeps obstructing the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Tehran hit back, vowing it won’t allow “one liter of oil” to leave the Middle East until US and Israeli attacks cease. A top Iranian official even warned Trump to be careful not to be “eliminated” himself. 

With oil and gas facilities now at the center of the battlefield, the conflict is rapidly turning into a wider energy war.

And more. Yesterday, Iran identified new targets, i.e., offices and infrastructure run by top US companies with Israeli links whose technology has been used for military applications. Al Jazeera confirms this, saying the companies include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle, and those companies offering cloud-based services that are located in multiple Israeli cities, as well as in some Gulf countries. 

And banks too. Yesterday, state-owned Bank Sepah in Tehran which were reportedly responsible for processing salary payments for Iran's military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, got hit by enemy missile(s). This presents Iran with the option to target economic centers and banks belonging to the US and Israel within the region. It's damn serious because Iran's military command (Khatam al-Anbiya) are warning civilians to stay at least one kilometer away from these establishments in the region.

The raging war is escalating, that's for sure. Yet, just hours ago, Trump is telling Axios in a 5-minute interview that there's "practically nothing left" to target in Iran! 🤣🤣🤣

As of March 11, the death toll has reached over 1,300 in Iran and at least 11 in Israel, with additional casualties reported among US troops in the region. 

Bombs, Missiles and Drones Cause Widespread Death and Destruction

Israel may have pulled the trigger first – but I blame US President Donald Trump! He, himself suggested on Tuesday that he may have “forced Israel’s hand” into a war with Iranian "lunatics" (The Times of Israel, March 03, 2026). 

It sure has been a very busy week so far for all parties involved. Yesterday, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth touted as evidence of America's global reach in its war on Iran when he confirmed a US fast attack submarine had sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean – the Pentagon released footage of the strike. FYI, the IRIS Dena, had participated in a naval exercise in India just weeks ago. And according to Sri Lankan authorities, 32 sailors have been rescued, 61 are still missing and 87 bodies have so far been found. 

Iran's navy are already almost decimated, if you believe the Americans. Trump declared Monday that the US sank 10 Iranian battleships. But, on the same day, CENTCOM had stated that in two days, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman and now they have none left. 

Whether 10 or 11, that hadn't stopped Trump from gloating: “They’re at the bottom of the sea”. 

Oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has plunged by 90 percent since the outbreak of the Middle East war, energy market intelligence firm Kpler said on X. Iranian forces, meanwhile, claimed "complete control" of the strait, a vital route for world oil and gas supplies, after Trump said Tuesday the US Navy were ready to escort oil tankers through the channel. 

The British are joining in. Their F-35s shot down Iranian drones over Jordan, marking the first time that one of the Royal Air Force's stealth fighter jets had destroyed a target in combat, the UK defense ministry shouted out on Tuesday.

The Israel Defense Forces said they dropped more than 4,000 bombs on Iranian targets in just four days and on Tuesday, even hit “Minzadehei”, a secret underground site on the outskirts of Tehran where Iran transferred much of its nuclear program after the 12-day war with Israel in June. 

The commander of CENTCOM – the forward headquarters of United States Central Command in Qatar – Admiral Brad Cooper claimed the US has struck more than 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions and severely degraded Iran's air defences.

It's not all one-sided though. Three US fighter jets were downed over Kuwait. The Americans explained on Monday that the F-15s were "mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defences" and all six crew ejected safely. If you ask me, I don't believe this excuse of a "friendly fire incident".

A day earlier, Iran pounded a base housing US troops in Kuwait on Sunday, killing three service members. Since then, the death toll has risen to six, CENTCOM confirmed on Monday, an uptick that was forecasted by Trump and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine. 

Still, Iran maintained that more than 650 US military personnel were killed and wounded in the first two days of Operation True Promise 4, while its military say they fired over 700 drones and hundreds of ballistic missiles in 48 hours exceeding the total firepower of the June 2025 war. 

Also, on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery at Ras Tanura halted operations after a drone strike in the area. Iran accused Israel of carrying out the attack, describing it as a “false flag” operation.

And on the same day too, a Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle struck a runway at a UK military base in Akrotiri, Cyprus. Consequently, Greece is sending two frigates and a pair of F-16 fighter jets to Aphrodite's Isle.

Amazon Web Services reported Monday that two data centers in the United Arab Emirates were “directly struck” and another facility in Bahrain was also damaged after a drone landed nearby. 

On Tuesday, two ballistic missiles were aimed at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base. Air defenses intercepted one, while the second struck the base southwest of Doha without causing casualties. Al Udeid is the backbone of US military airpower in the Middle East, housing the Combined Air Operations Center that direct American and coalition missions across the region. The strike marks a direct hit on one of Washington’s most critical strategic assets there. 

There's been so many claims made by all sides; it's been difficult to establish the veracity of every claim. What is certain is the trail of death and destruction left behind! 

And then there's this widely-circulated story which according to Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea, Trump through Italy had sought an immediate ceasefire upon seeing that the Iranian government did not collapse after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with senior figures in the country’s leadership – but Iran rejected it outright.

They should fear Khamenei as a martyr, more than Khamenei alive!

This ambitious American-Israeli project targeting Iran envisioned a massive bombing campaign to last only 4-5 days and expecting Iran to surrender thereafter. 

Today is Day 6! 

IRAN HAS NOT SURRENDERED! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

And on Tuesday, parents in Minab, Iran held a mass funeral for the 165 students – most of them girls aged between 7 and 12 – as well as staff killed in the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh all girls' school by the evil Israel-US axis. 

The IRNA news agency had cited a local prosecutor as saying that 96 people had been wounded in Saturday’s strike. 

Ali Farhadi, spokesperson for Iran’s Education Ministry, said Sunday that three attacks struck the school, which he said had 264 students. 

Some social media accounts linked to Israel claimed the site was “part of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base”. However, an analysis by Al Jazeera’s digital investigations unit of satellite imagery compiled over more than a decade, as well as recent video clips, published news reports and statements from official Iranian sources, tells a very different story. 

The findings reveal that the school had been clearly separate from an adjacent military site for at least 10 years. The investigation also shows that the strike pattern raises fundamental questions about the accuracy of intelligence information on which the bombing was based.

The Minab massacre is a war crime.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said Wednesday Israel and US had killed 1,045 military personnel and civilians since the start of the war. Elsewhere, Al Jazeera reported at least 11 dead in Israel as well as six US soldiers and eight civilians killed in the Gulf states. And the death toll from Israeli military action in Lebanon has risen to 72, with 437 injured since this front of the war ignited on Monday.

Iran Attacked Again

A return to armed conflict. Truth be told, there's just no way to avoid it. It's gonna happen, sooner or later!

And so, on February 28, Israel in cahoots with the US attacked Iran! 

US President Donald Trump himself confirmed "major combat operations" had been under way, and he openly called for regime change. 

The office of Iran's supreme leader, and the presidential office in Tehran, were targeted, as well as military sites across the country. Innocents too were sacrificed when children were cold-bloodedly murdered – initial kill numbers were said to be at least 57 – and scores more were injured. A missile had hit an all-girls' elementary school in Minab, southern Iran. 

Iran promptly launched retaliatory strikes on Israel. And it wasn't just confined to this illegitimate state. Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, which hosted US assets, all admitted they had intercepted missiles fired from Iran at US military bases on their territory. 

Of course, they wouldn't acknowledge it but they were left battered and bruised. 

Defence Security Asia affirmed that an Iranian Shahed drone took out a key US-operated $1.1 billion early warning radar system, the AN/FPS-132 stationed in Qatar. And the Guardian reported that the 5-star Fairmont The Palm hotel in Dubai was struck by an Iranian missile. Social media videos showed smoke rising from the building and four people were injured. And I'm sure there was destruction and devastation in other places too.

Then the claim by Trump in his Truth Social post that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been eliminated. 

Today, at 08:38 AM GMT+8, Reuters citing Iranian state media reported that Khamenei has indeed been killed, along with his daughter, grandchild, daughter-in-law and son-in-law in the Israeli-US strikes.

And Trump openly urged Iranians to "take over" the government, saying: "This will be probably your only chance for generations".

Naked aggression must not go unanswered. Iran is not Venezuela. Or Cuba. 

I expect Iran will not spare the Americans nor the Israelis and Netanyahu knows it. One report is claiming he has hightailed out of Israel. Another report says he has fled to Berlin, Germany.

I anticipate Iran to unleash its full military might and punish and crush Israel. Once and for all, I hope. 

And I pray that the citizens of the US vassal states in the Middle East will have the courage to rise up, overthrow their puppet leaders and set their country back on the right side of history. Only then, can they say their nations are truly sovereign.

I'm not a Shi'ite and I’m not neutral. I firmly stand with Iran. 

Long live Iran! Zendeh baad Iran! (زنده باد ایران)! 

Biovault for World's Endangered Species

Colossal Biosciences, the biotech company attempting to revive species including the dodo, mammoth and Tasmanian tiger, have announced they are creating a biovault for endangered species in the United Arab Emirates. 

The new biobank venture is part of a nine-figure initiative in the country that recently invested $60 million in Colossal, and is said to be the first of a planned global network of sites. Since Colossal's founding in 2021, they have raised $615 million. 

Situated inside Dubai’s Museum of the Future, the Colossal Biovault and World Preservation Lab will store millions of frozen tissue and other samples from 10,000 species, including the 100 most endangered globally and in the UAE. 

Last April, Colossal announced they had “resurrected” the extinct dire wolf, creating three wolves – 2 males and a female – using ancient DNA, cloning and gene-editing technology to alter the genes of a gray wolf. 

Experts have pointed out that it’s not possible to resurrect a carbon copy of an extinct animal, and that the wolves are essentially hybrids of a dire wolf and gray wolf, similar in appearance to their extinct forerunner. 

Dallas, US-based Colossal say they will take a dual approach to samples in their UAE vault, drawing on them for researching endangered species, but also as a means to bring species back, should they become extinct. 

In an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest, co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm compared the new biovault to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle – a facility preserving nearly 1.4 million seed samples – and said that animals needed similar preservation. 

“We need to start backing up all life on Earth, because while conservation works, it’s not working at the speed (at) which we’re eradicating species”, he said. 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List contains over 48,000 species threatened with extinction among 172,600 species assessed. Estimates of how many species become extinct per year vary, in part because there are so many species still undiscovered or formally identified. 

Lamm added they aim to hold multiple samples of each species, to preserve genetic diversity – a key factor in long-term population viability. He argued there were multiple reasons behind the drive to save endangered animals, describing many as keystone species in their environment. 

The loss of one species can tilt an environment, causing the overabundance or eradication of another, with effects rippling down the food chain. 

“There’s also massive amounts of data that we sometimes lose (when a species becomes extinct)”, he explained. “Birds have significantly better immune systems than us. So we should study that, to see how it could also be applied to humans”. 

And he pointed out: “If you don’t care about animals, you should care about animals because they help humans”. 

Despite the envisaged scale of the enterprise, it is not the only such facility in the world. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s “Frozen Zoo” contains samples from over 1,300 species and subspecies. Since their founding in 1975, genetics has progressed significantly. Clones of four endangered species, Przewalski’s horse, a native of Central Asia, ox species the Indian gaur, banteng cattle from Southeast Asia and the black-footed ferret from North America, have all been created from genetic material kept at the facility. 

Other projects contain thousands of animal DNA samples, with different scientific applications to live cells. The Frozen Ark, a charity, have amassed 48,000 samples, the majority DNA, including the snow leopard and the Scimitar Horned Oryx (a species extinct in the wild), between multiple sites in the UK. 

Asked about Colossal’s biovault, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance told CNN in a statement that accelerating “cryopreservation of living cells” was “an unprecedented opportunity and urgent necessity for ensuring the future of Earth’s biological diversity”, noting “no one organization can do it alone”. 

The Alliance cautioned that “such efforts will need to address regulatory frameworks, long-term governance, and coordination across political boundaries” and require “careful attention to compliance with international policies and agreements”. 

“A sustainable strategy for biobanking is a distributed model that favors the development of in-country biobanking capacity in biodiverse countries in partnership with institutions with long-term collections knowledge and expertise”, they highlighted. 

I don't believe that cyrobanking alone can equate to conservation impact. Sure, for the public, frozen zoos are a compelling concept and help raise awareness of biodiversity loss but in practice, they are best seen as complementary tools, not substitutes for in situ conservation, habitat protection, or population management.

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.

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! 😮😮😮

International Students Are Turning Away From The West

The US, UK, Australia and Canada, long considered the “Big Four” destinations for international students, are steadily losing their dominance as visa rules tighten and new education hubs rise across Asia and the Middle East. 

Recent data show dramatic declines in international enrollment in the traditional hubs: Canada has seen a 60% drop in incoming students this year, the steepest since the Covid pandemic, while the US and Australia's both fell by nearly 20%. Only the UK managed to hold relatively steady. 

Before Covid-19, students from major markets like China and India overwhelmingly chose one of these four countries. But that picture has changed. 

According to a joint report by Studyportals and the British Council analyzing 51 million prospective students, demand for study abroad in Japan and China has surged, while Malaysia and India also show strong growth. 

"The global market for academic talent is as dynamic and complex as it has ever been", said Edwin van Rest, CEO and co-founder of Studyportals, as cited in the report. "International students have proven to be of broad and unique contribution to their host countries, and some upcoming destinations are effectively making use of the current market situation to advance talent attraction". 

In the same report, Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA-Association of International Educators, added, "Amid sweeping political shifts in the US, this survey offers a powerful snapshot... The message is unmistakable: international students are paying attention and increasingly turning away from the traditional ‘Big Four’ destinations in search of stability, opportunity, and affordability. It is really about the ‘Big Ten’ now". 

Experts say Asia and the Middle East–North Africa are not only keeping more of their local students, but also attracting learners from abroad, a sign of a broader realignment in global higher education. 

Tightened visa and immigration rules have accelerated that shift. Australia and Canada have capped foreign-student numbers, the UK now bans most master’s students from bringing dependents, and the US has added stricter visa checks, including social media reviews. 

Rising tuition and living costs in the West have only pushed more students toward culturally familiar and affordable options closer to home. 

Among the fastest-rising markets is Hong Kong, where up to half of non-local students can receive government subsidies. Investment in higher education has also boosted universities there in global rankings. Other ascendant destinations include Ireland, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UAE and Vietnam.

Top seeds Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan cruised into the quarter-finals of the Kumamoto Masters after dispatching South Korea's world No. 20 Jeong Na Eun-Lee Yeon Woo 21-14, 21-9 today. 

The world No. 2 were dominant throughout the 31-minute encounter, extending their flawless head-to-head record against the Koreans to 4-0 this season.

Ikea Just Made a Tiny Bed for your Smartphone

Even your smartphone will want a good sleep! 

In the United Arab Emirates, IKEA have announced the IKEA Phone Sleep Collection, a range of mini IKEA-style beds that come with a built-in NFC tag, meaning you can keep track of the sleep you're getting. 

The bed is currently only available there and is free with a purchase of 750 UAE dirhams, which is equivalent to about $200. Of course, the app-driven bed is meant to encourage better sleep by discouraging phone use. 

After seven nights of uninterrupted sleep for seven hours each, the user will earn a Dhs100 (roughly five Dollars) IKEA voucher ‒ but the real reward is the sleep itself.

The tiny bed sadly does not seem to have an equally adorable Swedish name, but it does not require an Allen wrench for assembly, so there is that. 

Hearts showed they might just be title contenders as they stunned Celtic 3-1 on Sunday to move eight points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership. 

Dane Murray ‒ one of three youngsters in the Celtic XI ‒ slashed into his own net in the eighth minute to put Hearts ahead. The Glasgow side made amends when Callum McGregor's classy first goal of the season quickly cancelled out Hearts' opener four minutes later. 

Still, the irrepressible Edinburgh side seized control again and scored two goals (52, 55 penalty) to consign Celtic to successive league defeats for the first time since 2023. 

The Scottish champions are back at home on Wednesday against promoted side Falkirk.

Call on Colombia to Stop Flow of Mercenaries

If you believe Sudan, then one of Colombia's major exports has to be mercenaries. 

The country's ex-soldiers who become hired guns are highly regarded. Their training and experience acquired over more than 50 years of armed conflict in Colombia itself, make them attractive candidates for countries facing security crises.

Therefore, predictably, there is a big demand for these mercenaries. So much so that Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil al-Taib Idris (right) has called on the said country to stop the recruitment and deployment of mercenaries to the African state, which has been gripped by a civil war between the national army and paramilitary forces for more than two years. 

The minister made the demand in a letter published by the state-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) on Saturday and confirmed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro. 

His remarks come amid repeated allegations by the Sudanese transitional government that the United Arab Emirates is financing foreign mercenaries, including Colombian fighters aligned with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing conflict. 

Sudan claims it has “irrefutable” evidence, submitted to the UN Security Council, confirming the UAE’s actions, which it warns threaten peace and security in the region and the continent. 

Khartoum severed diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi in May, accusing it of violating Sudanese sovereignty. The UAE has dismissed the claims as “baseless allegations” and “feeble media stunts”. 

On August 06, Sudan’s air force said they had destroyed an Emirati aircraft allegedly carrying Colombian militants as it landed at an RSF-held airport in Darfur, killing at least 40 people. 

Following the incident, Petro (left) announced he had asked the Colombian parliament to grant emergency status to a bill outlawing mercenarism. He condemned the practice as a “form of human trafficking, turning men into commodities for killing”, and branded those profiting from it as “death bosses”. 

In response to the Sudanese prime minister’s message, on Sunday, Petro urged “young former soldiers and officers” not to sell themselves as hired fighters. 

“Fight for your homeland, do not die in foreign wars”, he said in a post on X.

China’s Digital RMB is Rewriting the Global Financial Order

China is rewriting the global financial order and in the process, reprogramming the global economy.

While the West obsesses over inflation rates, interest hikes, and regulatory tweaks, a financial supernova is exploding quietly in the East − one that could redraw the map of global economic power with blockchain, satellites, and digital currency rails. The world isn’t just witnessing a new chapter in monetary evolution − we’re seeing the source code of the global economy being rewritten in real time. 

In less than a decade, China has gone from testing its digital RMB (e-CNY) − a digital version of the renminbe or Chinese yuan, with its value pegged 1:1 to the physical or fiat currency − in pilot cities to integrating it into the arteries of global trade. Through a combination of bilateral currency swaps, smart contracts, and infrastructure diplomacy, Beijing is now rolling out a digital Silk Road that not only bypasses the US-led SWIFT system, but renders it increasingly irrelevant. As of 2024, 53% of China's cross-border payments were settled in RMB, up from 40% just three years prior. 

This isn’t de-dollarization − it’s monetary decoupling by design.

The traditional Western financial system, still reliant on clearinghouses, intermediary banks, and 3-5 day settlement windows, is being leapfrogged by a 7-second, blockchain-enabled, programmable alternative. In the first test between Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi, a company paid a Middle Eastern supplier through digital RMB. The funds no longer went through six intermediary banks, but were received in real time through a distributed ledger, and the handling fee dropped by 98%. This "lightning payment" capability makes the traditional clearing system dominated by the US Dollar instantly look clumsy. No Fed, no SWIFT, no Dollar − just code, consensus, and compliance embedded in digital cash.

Although the digital RMB is being rolled out across China and has been gaining traction, it is also being used internationally. A major example is the “Project mBridge”, a collaborative effort involving the central banks of China, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, “to tackle some of the key inefficiencies in cross-border payments, including high costs, low speed and operational complexities”. 

With Project mBridge considered a success, the use of the digital RMB cross-border settlement system has now been extended to over 10 ASEAN and 6 Middle Eastern countries. Further, 87% of countries worldwide are reported to have systems compatible with the digital RMB. It is thus becoming a working alternative to existing cross-border settlement systems.

Meanwhile, CIPS (China’s alternative to SWIFT) now connects 1,400+ financial institutions across 109 countries, moving trillions of yuan annually. While the West debates privacy risks and central bank independence, China is quietly exporting digital financial infrastructure as a service − wrapped into Belt and Road projects, energy settlements, and rare earth trade routes.

What’s at stake isn’t just payments − it’s control of economic lifelines. The US-wielded SWIFT as a weapon of compliance, sanctions, and political pressure. But China, by building a parallel trade-finance-security ecosystem, is immunizing itself and its partners from that very weapon.

Six ASEAN countries, including Malaysia and Singapore, have already added the RMB to their forex reserves. This is not symbolic − it’s structural. And it’s spreading. Today, 23 central banks are testing China’s cross-border digital payment protocols. This isn’t just about convenience − it’s about sovereignty, resilience, and a post-dollar future. 

China sees the digital RMB as a multi-layered geopolitical instrument − a payment system, a compliance system, a data network, and a soft-power extension of its statecraft. Embedded into quantum communication lines, Beidou satellite positioning, and smart supply chains, the digital RMB becomes more than a currency. It becomes a strategic operating system for global trade.

While the US is still “studying the implications” of a digital dollar, China has already deployed a digital payment network touching 200 countries and quietly processed over $1.2 trillion in cross-border trade. If you think this is about China replacing the Dollar, you're missing the point. This is about China rendering the Dollar irrelevant in its sphere of influence − and expanding that sphere until it becomes the new center of global finance. 

We are not witnessing a mere currency shift − we are seeing the dissolution of a financial monopoly that has shaped the world since 1944.

And this silent financial revolution is not only about monetary sovereignty, but also determines who can control the lifeline of the future global economy!

China's Moonshot Launch Kimi k1.5

The US Commerce Department are now investigating whether DeepSeek have used AI chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, with the restrictions previously put in place by the US so that the country can win the so-called “AI race” against China. 

According to Reuters, which sourced a person familiar with the matter, an organised AI chip smuggling ring has been tracked out of a number of countries, including Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

For context, current restrictions on Nvidia artificial intelligence processors are meant to stop its most sophisticated chips from reaching China, though the US Commerce Department think maybe Chinese companies such as DeepSeek did somehow get their hands on them.

However, DeepSeek have clarified that they used the previous generation H800 chips by Nvidia, which they could legally purchase in 2023. And that they also have the less powerful H20s chips, which can still lawfully be shipped to China. 

Meanwhile, Nvidia stressed that their partners comply with all applicable laws and that they haven’t received any information about their AI chips being smuggled into China. 

The US government just love to cast a smear on Chinese innovation. Sore losers, that's what they are. 

The above aside, the AI arms race took another turn as Beijing-based China start-up Moonshot AI have launched their latest model, Kimi k1.5 on January 25, just days after the rise of DeepSeek’s DeepSeek-R1. 

While DeepSeek has already been seen as a formidable competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4, Kimi k1.5 is now being touted as an even more powerful alternative, outshining OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet on key benchmarks. 

Moonshot’s Kimi k1.5 is a multimodal AI model that integrates visual, text, and code inputs to solve complex problems. It has surpassed some of OpenAI’s models by up to 550% on some benchmarks, particularly in areas like problem-solving and reasoning. Note that DeepSeek’s DeepSeek-R1 lacks multimodal capabilities.

And unsurprisingly, one of the standout features of Kimi AI is that it is completely free to use with no limits! Unlike many US competitors that operate on subscription models, Kimi aims to make advanced AI accessible to everyone as well. This approach democratizes access but also challenges traditional business models in the tech industry.

It’s the era of Chinese supremacy in generative AI, and I love it!