Defense officials in Japan, Australia, and Taiwan held closed-door meetings this week after satellite imagery showed increased People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval activity just outside Taiwan’s air defense zone. The activity, coupled with PLA cyber probes into Taiwanese infrastructure, has been described by analysts as “dry run drills” for a blockade or rapid escalation. The…
Beijing’s Ministry of Finance announced that over 80 million Chinese citizens have adopted the e-CNY (digital yuan) as their primary method of payment—a sharp increase fueled by new incentives and mobile integration with Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent. While the Chinese Communist Party promotes the rollout as a leap toward a cashless, efficient society,…
The Philippine Senate moved on June 23 to formalize a resolution calling for a full audit of all government offices that received confidential and intelligence funds between 2020 and 2024. The move comes amid the political firestorm surrounding Vice President Sara Duterte, but senators emphasized the need for universal transparency, not selective targeting. Senators aligned…
On June 23, President Donald Trump confirmed that U.S. forces had carried out precision airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, claiming the facilities were “totally obliterated.” The strikes, coordinated with Israeli intelligence, mark a dramatic escalation in the Middle East conflict and a bold assertion of American military dominance. Trump’s televised address warned that further…