We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China deploys prototype of missile defence system with planet-wide coverage China has deployed a working prototype of a global defence system similar to the United States’ proposed Golden Dome, while hailing a breakthrough in data...

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday condemned France’s detention of a Russian-linked ship as “piracy”, vowing a “significant” response to what he called European threats as tension flared. The Russian leader’s warning came after the French navy on Saturday detained and boarded an oil tanker that has been blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet”. The ship, the Boracay, has been linked to mysterious drone flights over Denmark last month,...

Donald Trump signalled on Thursday that he planned to follow through on his threat for mass lay-offs of US federal workers as he ratcheted pressure on Democrats to back moves to end the government shutdown. The Republican US president announced he would meet budget chief Russell Vought “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent”. Trump’s announcement on social media...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Europe on Thursday recent drone incursions showed Russia was looking to “escalate” its aggression, as he offered his country’s war-honed expertise to help counter the threat. The warning came at a summit of European leaders from just under 50 countries, who converged on a conference centre in Copenhagen under tight security after mystery drone flights rattled Denmark last month. The drone sightings in Denmark and high-profile aerial incursions by...

US President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict”, according to a Trump administration memo, following recent US strikes on boats in the Caribbean. The memo appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the United States amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force - a new rationale for...

UK counterterrorism police have named a British citizen of Syrian descent as the perpetrator of an attack on a synagogue that killed two people. Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, carried out the attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester on Thursday morning, according to statements from Counter Terrorism Policing and Greater Manchester Police. Two men died and three others sustained serious injuries during the assault on the temple, where worshipers were gathering for Yom Kippur,...

European Union leaders are discussing setting up a “drone wall” of defences after high-profile air incursions by Russia. But the plan appears to mean different things to different countries, and not everyone seems entirely convinced. The first call for the project came last month from EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in the hours after a swarm of Russian drones breached Poland’s airspace. While details were scant, the initial plan appeared clearly focused on helping to shore up the EU’s eastern...