Latest news for 11 August 2025

AUSTRALIA

Us too.

Prime Minister Albanese has announced he’ll join his French, British, Canadian, and Maltese counterparts in recognising a State of Palestine at the UN next month, arguing “a two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence”. He says the Palestinian Authority has in turn pledged to recognise Israel and exclude Hamas from future governance. Israel’s Netanyahu has labelled Australia’s move a shameful step, with domestic political motives, that rewards Hamas. (ABC)

Comment: Portugal and Luxembourg have also flagged a possible Palestine recognition before the end of 2025. We wrote about this issue here.

CHINA

Gone with the wind.

Beijing authorities have detained a senior career diplomat widely tipped as a future foreign minister, Liu Jianchao. It’s only been a couple of years since the last foreign minister Qin Gang disappeared amid allegations of an extramarital affair. (WSJ $)

Comment: Absent any official comment, we can only guess at the reasons here. But as head of the Communist Party’s international department, and a former key figure in President Xi’s anti-corruption drive, Liu’s work has brought him into regular contact not only with foreign governments, but also the inner workings of the Party itself — two high-scrutiny and high-stakes worlds for any Beijing official.

CHAD

Be gone.

A court has jailed the central African country’s opposition leader and former prime minister, Success Masra, for 20 years on charges of incitement to revolt. He rejects the accusations (which stem from May’s deadly clashes) as political. (AP)

TURKEY

Shaky ground.

A 6.1 earthquake has collapsed ~16 buildings in northwestern Turkey and left at least one person dead, though avoiding the scale of Turkey’s disastrous 2023 quake. (CNBC)

BELARUS

Last dance?

Local dictator and key Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko has suggested he might not seek re-election in 2030, and claims he’s not lining his son up as a successor. (Anadolu)

Comment: We’ve used elliptical words like ‘suggested’ and ‘might’ above, because Lukashenko himself claimed in Friday’s Time Magazine interview that he’s twice tried to step down already, but been forced to stay in power via popular demand. In reality, his last sham re-election in 2020 triggered mass protests across Belarus.

CHILE

Back in business.

Santiago has given the green light for state-owned copper giant Codelco to partially resume operations at its El Teniente mine after last month’s deadly collapse. (Discovery Alert)

Comment: The timing has been brutal for Chile, already dealing with declining ore grades and increased operational costs as its more low-hanging deposits deplete.

INDONESIA

Kangaroo bonds.

Indonesia has started offering Australian dollar-denominated bonds in an effort to diversify its sources of government debt. It’s the world’s second-ever ‘Kangaroo’ bond, after South Korea kicked things off with an Aussie dollar raise in December. (Bloomberg $)

Comment: This latest issuance was over-subscribed 10x, suggesting there’s real investor interest not only in Indonesia’s debt, but also in leveraging Australia’s relatively stable market and currency to mitigate broader global exposures.