Japan/Taiwan/Asia in 2024

  Japan's semiconductor industry is getting a boost from Taiwanese chip companies' expansion here to support a new TSMC (2330.TW) plant.

 Shifting alliances and priorities in the global chip industry are on the increase with the United States pushing to limit China's progress in cutting-edge semiconductors and strengthen its other partnerships. 

Is Japan going to expand its military, too?

Feb 29, 2024

Sri Lanka may stop visa extensions for Russian an Ukranian tourists trying to escape the war. The Tourism ministry has been receiving complaints about some Russian tourists running illegal businesses in the southern part of the country.

March 2, 2024

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and coast guard have intensified patrols at the border to deter more refugees from the Myanmar civil war.

March 12, 2024

Hey Joe Biden: Since you gave the Taliban control in 2021, Afghan females have lost access to education & employment, and face arbitrary arrests over how they wear their hijabs.

March 18, 2024

Pakistan unleashed airstrikes on hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside Afghanistan. This occurred two days after a suicide bombing targeted a Pakistan army post near the Afghan border.

May 9, 2024

Pakistan's military claims a suicide bomb attack in March in Pakistan's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, that killed five Chinese engineers, was planned in Afghanistan by an Afghan national.

Taliban issues a denial

May 21, 2024

 Iran's Supreme National Security Council has allocated funds for the construction of a concrete wall and a border fence in Central Khorasan. Turkey built a wall along its border with Afghanistan.

Taliban takeover of Afghanistan when the USA left has been  the major trigger for the building of these walls.

May 31, 2024

Rasoulof, an Iranian filmmaker on temporary home arrest, fled to Germany. His cellmates told him about a secret route over the mountains to the border , which he took to freedom.

Rasoulof chose Germany for his exile because "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" was being edited in Hamburg He had lived in Germany once , so his information was on file with the German authorities, and they were able to ID him without his passport, which the Iranian police had seized.

June 13, 2024

Lee Jae-myung, South Korea's main opposition leader, was indicted on bribery charges in an alleged scheme to use Ssangbangwoo, an underwear maker, to transfer funds to North Korea to promote a commercial project.

June 28, 2024

Bye ,bye what remains of Hong Kong's autonomy. School kids in HK criticized for singing the Chinese national anthem too softly.

 Here's the goal: "unifying thoughts" and "gathering strength for building a strong country".

July 3, 2024

Break-dancing sessions for senior citizens is all the rage in Tokyo. 🙄

July 10, 2024

 Beijing courts can issue the death penalty to "Taiwan independence" supporters. This includes trials in- absentia.

China claims the  new guidelines target a small number of die-hard 'Taiwan independence' separatists."

July 15, 2024

 Alice Guo, mayor of Bambon in the Philippines, who has been accused of being a Chinese spy has gone into hiding,  She's ignored Senate subpoenas  about scam centers being used as cover for text scams, human trafficking etc, in her town.

Ri Khu, a senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba, defected with his wife and child to South Korea in November. No further details other than  he flew out of Cuba with his family. That's wild using Cuba  as the starting point of an escape from Communism. 

July 27, 2024

Ok China: MDNAA controls Lashio, Mynamar, about 74 miles from the Chinese border. Perhaps it's time to place a call to the Burma junta , who has lost control of 80% of the country.

Aug 1, 2024

Most of the migrants traveled from Turkey to breakaway north Cyprus and then attempted to cross into Cyprus before being barred by Cypriot authorities and left in a buffer zone. UNHCR expects Cyprus to take them. How about calling Ergodan and sending them back to Turkey.

Aug 5, 2024

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country yesterday. I bet most of the UK hopes Starmer does the same thing.

Aug 19, 2024

Myanmar authorities released Hiroshi Kasamatsu, a Japanese Aeon manager who was sentenced  to one year in prison for violating rice price controls.

Aug 23, 2024

Hey Joe Biden: The Taliban set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” in 2021 and just banned women’s voices and bare faces in public.

Aug 26, 2024

Japan's scrambled jets against a Chinese Y9 reconnaissance aircraft that breached its airspace this morning over the Danjo Islands to the west of the southern island of Kyushu

Sept 10 2024

Consider yourself lucky: David Missal, a German citizen , graduate of Hong Kong U, and member of a pro-Tibet NGO, was refused entry to Hong Kong

Sept 20, 2024

Has anyone asked Kamala about the Taliban being in control of 39 Afghan embassies globally?

Nov 10, 2024

Communist China welcomed Hlaing, the Mynamar military junta chief, for talks, but it sure feels like the Junta is collapsing and this move will fuel the Burmese rebels.