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Mission improbable: My race to Saipan for a date with history

Mission improbable: My race to Saipan for a date with history

I was woken by a phone message from my editor: could I get to a remote Pacific archipelago within 24 hours in time for Julian Assange’s plea hearing?

  • by Lisa Visentin

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The dark footnote in the history of tiny island where Assange was freed
Analysis
Assange saga

The dark footnote in the history of tiny island where Assange was freed

After 14 years, the many twists and turns of Julian Assange’s legal woes were finally decided on Saipan – a little-known Pacific island.

  • by Lisa Visentin
Chinese dissident recalls secretive jet-ski escape across the Yellow Sea

Chinese dissident recalls secretive jet-ski escape across the Yellow Sea

Kwon Pyong escaped China on a jet-ski last summer. He strapped five fuel barrels to his craft, and brought five water bottles and five sandwiches for the dash across the sea.

  • by John Yoon
‘Bad spiral’: Feeling the heat in Ukraine, Putin turns up the temperature elsewhere on the West

‘Bad spiral’: Feeling the heat in Ukraine, Putin turns up the temperature elsewhere on the West

Some analysts worry that Western desensitisation to Putin’s warnings, particularly about using nuclear weapons, has created a precarious situation.

  • by Paul Sonne
Pandas can’t paper over Australia’s differences with China

Pandas can’t paper over Australia’s differences with China

Premier Li Qiang’s visit was the culmination of hard work by the government to recalibrate the relationship with China. But it also exposed differences that cannot be papered over with diplomatic niceties.

  • by Lisa Visentin
Putin and Kim getting behind the wheel of new ‘alliance’

Putin and Kim getting behind the wheel of new ‘alliance’

The Russian president’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years is being watched closely by Seoul and Washington.

  • by Kim Tong-Hyung
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China renames hundreds of villages in Xinjiang to scrub away Uyghur identity: Human Rights Watch

China renames hundreds of villages in Xinjiang to scrub away Uyghur identity: Human Rights Watch

Villages once known by religious, historical or cultural terms of the Muslim minority group now carry names like “Red flag” or “Unity”.

  • by Lisa Visentin
Beijing is not on our side. Let’s not fall for a pair of therapy pandas

Beijing is not on our side. Let’s not fall for a pair of therapy pandas

Premier Li Qiang’s visit confirmed the mask is back on and the tactics have changed, but China’s strategy has not.

  • by Peter Hartcher
Trump-era Pentagon ran secret anti-vax social media campaign aimed at the Philippines

Trump-era Pentagon ran secret anti-vax social media campaign aimed at the Philippines

Hundreds of US-backed social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and China’s Sinovac inoculation, the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines.

  • by Christopher Bing and Joel Schectman
‘Subversion of state power’: Chinese MeToo activist jailed for five years

‘Subversion of state power’: Chinese MeToo activist jailed for five years

Sophia Huang Xueqin was arrested the day before she was due to fly to Britain to study has been jailed for five years.

  • by Katy Wong
The reality behind the headlines of Indonesia’s people smugglers

The reality behind the headlines of Indonesia’s people smugglers

The men on Rote Island deny any involvement in two successful boat runs of illegal immigrants to Australia this year, but they know who we need to speak to.

  • by Zach Hope