Day: October 19, 2025

“The wind blows all the year round, not a bird in the sky nor a leaf can be found.” This saying, once common in northwest China’s arid Ningxia Hui autonomous region, captures the suffering inflicted on its communities by the desert. Advertisement Over the past 40 years, the Baijitan National Nature Reserve has served as a frontline fortification against the Mu Us Desert for Ningxia’s capital Yinchuan and its nearly 3 million people. By the 1950s, the desert had advanced to within 5km (3 miles) of the Yellow River, severely…

China’s top counter-espionage agency has accused the United States of conducting cyberattacks against the country’s national time centre, which it said could have had a severe impact on the orderly functioning of society. Advertisement In a social media post on Sunday, the Ministry of State Security said the US National Security Agency was behind a number of cyberattacks against China’s National Time Service Centre. The centre – affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and based in Xian, Shaanxi province – is responsible for generating and distributing China’s standard time.…

Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te wants the island to build a “T-Dome” missile shield – modelled after Israel’s Iron Dome. But his proposal has sparked debate over feasibility, given Taiwan’s disparate missile systems. Advertisement Lai unveiled his “T-Dome” plan during a Double Tenth Day address marking the 114th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official title. He described it as a “multilayered air defence network” to protect critical infrastructure and population centres from potential missile and drone attacks by Beijing. Apparently borrowing from Israel’s Iron…