7 d. ago China should be alert to risk of US being drawn into war by allies, analyst says

There is more risk of a global military conflict breaking out under Donald Trump’s leadership, with the US more likely to be drawn into wars involving smaller nations or allies, according to Chinese analysts. The assessment came after the United States joined Israel’s war against Iran last weekend, carrying out military strikes on three nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic. US officials have signalled that the operation was a one-off intervention and – hours after Iran launched a missile attack...

Events

1 week ago Is it time for change in Iran? Leave it to Iranians to decide

Within hours, the Israel-Iran ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump appears to have collapsed. Initially, there was a glimmer of hope for de-escalation. Israel confirmed its acceptance of the ceasefire proposal and even reopened its airspace for emergency flights, while Iranian state media said a ceasefire had been “imposed on the enemy” after Tehran’s missile attacks on an American base in Qatar. Iran reportedly issued a warning before launching the strikes in response to “blatant...

Politics

1 week ago Will Australia host Duterte’s interim release from The Hague detention?

Australia is a possible destination for the interim release of the Philippines’ former president, Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently being held at the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) detention centre in the Netherlands. Philippines’ Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio said her father’s lawyers were looking at Australia for his release to a third-party country, The Philippine Star newspaper reported on Tuesday. Duterte has been detained in The Hague since March over alleged crimes linked to...

Politics

1 week ago Trump thanks Iran for ‘early notice’ after attacks US military base in Qatar

The Middle East crisis appeared to widen after Iran struck back against the United States by firing missiles at an American military base in Qatar, a development that built on weeks of rising tensions between arch-rivals Iran and Israel – and now, Israel’s key ally, the US. The scale of Iran’s attacks on Monday were limited, and an earlier report of a missile targeting a US base in Iraq on Monday turned out to be false, sending key stock market indices higher and oil prices lower. And, US...

Events

1 week ago Sara Duterte warns against Marcos’ US pivot, ‘leaning’ on a foreign power

The Philippines’ Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has called on the country to steer away from its “unbalanced” foreign policy in an implicit criticism of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, as she offered her clearest indication yet of where she stands on China. In a speech delivered to a group of Filipinos at the Parliament Gardens in Melbourne on Sunday, Duterte-Carpio warned against leaning on “a foreign power” and allowing its weapons systems to be deployed in the Philippines, calling such...

Events

1 week ago Philippines’ Sara Duterte takes aim at US ties, attacks missile deployment

The Philippines’ Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has called on the country to steer away from its “unbalanced” foreign policy in an implicit criticism of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, as she offered her clearest indication yet of where she stands on China. In a speech delivered to a group of Filipinos at the Parliament Gardens in Melbourne on Sunday, Duterte-Carpio warned against leaning on “a foreign power” and allowing its weapons systems to be deployed in the Philippines, calling such...

Events

3 w. ago ‘Sara has momentum’: how Philippine VP won round 1 of impeachment row

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has won round one of her impeachment battle after her allies in the Senate tossed back the bid to the Lower House on claims it was “defective” and “unconstitutional”. The unprecedented move on Tuesday, which was settled by a vote of 18-5, has triggered an intense debate online about the senators’ actions and Duterte-Carpio’s political future. “I think, for now, Sara has momentum even if the president still has three years left in his term of office,”...

Politics

3 w. ago How Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web attacks hold important lessons for China

Ukrainian attacks targeting airbases deep inside Russian territory despite lacking long-range missiles or bombers could offer important lessons about modern warfare in the event of any conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Under the operation, code-named Spider’s Web, Ukraine smuggled drones into Russian territory undetected and hired unwitting drivers to transport them in modified containers to locations near airbases, some of them thousands of kilometres from Ukraine’s border. The drones were then...

Events