Top World News
South Korea test-flies its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon
Oct 8, 2026 - World 
South Korea has flight-tested its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon
South Korea threatens legal action if fuel shipments to Russia found to have broken law
Oct 8, 2026 - World 
Responding to a Guardian report that revealed thousands of tonnes of fuel was transported to Russia, Seoul said it was investigating the casesSouth Korea will take legal action if it finds that shipments of fuel from its ports to Russia broke domestic law, the government has said, responding to a Guardian report on the trade.The government, in a statement issued by the foreign and trade ministries and the customs service, said that it is “checking additional information concerning the loading cases reported by the Guardian” and “if the verification establishes that our laws and regulations have been violated, it plans to act in accordance with the law”. Continue reading...
Japan beer giants raided over suspicions they colluded to set the price of beverages
Oct 8, 2026 - World 
Investigators probe Asahi, Kirin, Suntory and Sapporo breweries – which together control more than 90% of Japan’s beer marketJapanese authorities have raided the country’s four biggest breweries over suspicions they colluded to set the price of beer and other beverages – a practice media reports said could have forced drinkers to pay over the odds.Officials from the Fair Trade Commission this week searched the offices of Asahi Breweries, Kirin Brewery, Suntory Beer and Sapporo Breweries – which together control more than 90% of the domestic market. The quartet are suspected of violating the anti-monopoly law. Continue reading...
Indonesia accused of ‘gross negligence’ in wildfires lawsuit as haze tests region
Oct 8, 2026 - World 
NGOs in Indonesian Borneo file class action lawsuit calling for government to better manage annual fires and The Indonesian government has been accused of “gross negligence” in a class action lawsuit over its handling of wildfires that have cloaked large parts of South-east Asia in a toxic haze, shuttered schools and caused a spike in respiratory illnesses.The lawsuit, filed by indigenous and civil society groups in the Indonesian part of Borneo, named President Prabowo Subianto and the governor of West Kalimantan among 10 defendants. The case seeks comprehensive recovery and rehabilitation measures that would include covering the healthcare costs of residents. Continue reading...
Trump admin's 'concerning' response to new plague stupefies analysts: 'Makes you wonder'
Oct 7, 2026 - World 
The Trump administration's seemingly flippant response to a new plague discovered in Russia left two political analysts stupefied Wednesday. Last week, the World Health Organization reported the discovery of a pneumonic plague in Russia after a 28-year-old lab worker died. Russian authorities have denied the cause of the lab worker's death, although the case has raised a specter of concern about another COVID-19-like plague spreading across the globe. In turn, Trump officials have been quick to dismiss concerns about the plague. For instance, Trump claimed that pneumonia has "gotten stronger" over the years and the administration "will help them." Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration is "watching and monitoring it closely."The answers from the administration officials stupefied former Obama administration staffers Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes, who discussed it on a new episode of their podcast, "Pod Save the World.""As we learned in COVID, transparency is your only friend when you're dealing with these types of things," Rhodes said. "And if you have these discrepancies between local authorities and the Kremlin, it makes you wonder what in the world you can trust, and that's concerning.""This is just highlighting, once again, that when you have a breakdown in geopolitical trust ... you just feel like this stuff happens and you hope it doesn't get worse because it doesn't seem like Trump, or Rubio, or the World Health Organization are going to share information to keep this thing in a box," Rhodes added. Vietor took issue with the way Trump communicates with the American public about it. "Trump is a g------- idiot," Vietor said.
