Taiwan

Earlier this month, the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was buried in his hometown of Mashhad after a four-day ceremony. Many international delegations were present, but each country will have chosen their representatives with the utmost care. Sending...

The “ Silicon Shield ” describes the idea that Taiwan’s central role in advanced semiconductor manufacturing raises the economic and strategic cost of military action against the island. The shield is not a literal defense system. It is a form...

At least one oil tanker carrying Saudi crude oil has transited the Bab al-Mandeb Strait with its transponder switched off as risks to vessels in the Red Sea spiked this week after the Houthis announced a blockade on Saudi shipments...

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Iran has spent the week attacking the military infrastructure that allows the U.S. to wage war across the Middle East. After 12 consecutive nights of U.S. strikes on Iranian command centers, missile sites, air defenses and...

As an energy investor, I am sure you are aware of the expected impact of the AI boom. The servers that AI platforms require demand enormous amounts of power. That, along with expected demand increases from the continued growth of...

Trump likes to test big ideas in real time, and very publicly. Earlier this week, Washington was prepared to surrender one of its most valuable bargaining chips with Saudi Arabia, without the conditions one would expect from American foreign policy....

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Friday after a technology-led selloff in the previous session, as investors assessed fresh corporate earnings, rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and new tariffs announced by the Trump administration. The S&P 500...

Wendy Faith and Alesi Diana Denise freed after five months in prison over allegations of engaging in same-sex activity For five months, Wendy Faith and Alesi Diana Denise shared a small prison cell knowing that there was a possibility they might...

Zambians will vote on August 13 in presidential and parliamentary elections, with polls and investors widely expecting President Hakainde Hichilema to defeat a fragmented opposition led by Brian Mundubile. For investors, however, the central question extends beyond the election outcome....

Chinese refiners have bought up all crude oil cargoes set to load from Russia’s Far East port of Kozmino in August weeks earlier than usual, traders with knowledge of the market told Bloomberg on Friday, as risks to Middle Eastern...

On February 26, 2026 – 48 hours before the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury – Hangzhou-based MizarVision posted AI-annotated satellite imagery of F-22 Raptors at Ovda Air Base in Israel, carrier strike group positions in the Arabian...

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that the government cannot revoke hundreds of promised resettlement places for Afghan nationals through a blanket decision, saying each case must be assessed individually. The ruling came after an Afghan mother and her two...

With the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) losing much of its diplomatic momentum, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been gradually reclaiming its centrality in the Indo-Pacific. The clearest evidence emerged this week as Manila hosted the ASEAN Foreign...

Аny more convergent approaches with the United States or participation in military pressure or economic blockade could put Japan on the verge of losing the “asset” of its traditional friendly relations with Iran. After the end of World War II,...

The intensifying technological rivalry between the United States and China is threatening efforts to establish common safeguards for artificial intelligence, as both countries prepare for planned AI talks later this year while simultaneously accusing each other of unfair practices and...

Some of the world’s biggest heavyweights in liquefied natural gas exports are interested in adding Cambodia to their client list as the Southeast Asian nation build sits first LNG-fueled power station. The United States, Australia, Canada, and some Southeast Asian...

Let’s not start picking out uniforms just yet. The chorus calling for a Cyber Force continues to grow by the day, but the debate has its priorities backward. In June, an amendment from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) calling for the creation...

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s political fortunes are falling almost as fast as the yen these days — and the two are closely linked. The yen has slid toward 164 against the dollar, its weakest level since 1986,...

Foreign capital continues to pour into the United States, driven largely by the artificial intelligence investment boom. While these inflows have helped fuel record highs on Wall Street, they have also brought renewed attention to one of the world’s largest...

The European Commission has cautiously welcomed the latest tariffs imposed by the United States, saying the measures broadly align with the trade agreement reached between Brussels and Washington last year while providing greater certainty for businesses on both sides of...

President Trump has threatened to “punish” Iran for the Yemeni Houthis’ recent attacks on tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, saying, “If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or...

Islam Times - Iran rejected a ceasefire proposal delivered on Thursday by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi on behalf of US President Donald Trump, declining what it viewed as a temporary arrangement that offered no guarantees against renewed US aggression,...

Islam Times - The Scottish Greens have called on the UK’s new prime minister to prevent US forces from using Scottish and British military facilities, following reports that the government has continued to allow the use of Diego Garcia and...

Crude oil prices were on course for a sizable weekly gain today, as the Strait of Hormuz remains almost entirely paralysed and the Yemeni Houthis target tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. To make matters worse,...

China’s memory chip industry has emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global artificial intelligence boom, transforming once loss-making manufacturers into powerful players with growing influence over pricing, supply chains and technological development. The rapid rise of companies...

The American-Israeli aggression against Iran has significantly altered the global balance of power. The economic damage inflicted by these military operations is immense, and its effects are still being felt on world markets; eliminating the repercussions of the damage may...

From Pax Silica and WAICO to India’s open digital rails, Southeast Asia’s overlapping alignments could strengthen regional bargaining power—if interoperability turns diversity into agency. When President Prabowo Subianto and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in Jakarta in July, they welcomed...

Coverage of the conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States has largely focused on battlefield developments, political statements and international diplomacy. However, another story has been unfolding on the streets of Iran. Despite fears of further military escalation dominating...

Elle’s story is one of personal sacrifice, deciding to help people despite the risk of attack by the military. Her story reflects that of a healthcare system in peril When Myanmar’s junta seized power in a 2021 coup, Elle* and a...

By: Andy Wong Ming Jun Last week’s successful maritime strike carried out by US Central Command against Iran’s major Bandar Abbas Naval Base is a significant maturing step for US naval drone warfare capability, with the US Navy finally beginning to...

In May 2026, OpenAI released a new math result that sent shock waves throughout the world of mathematical research. A major unsolved problem called the “unit distance conjecture” had just been resolved by generative AI. Since then, there’s been a...

For decades, U.S. support for Israel rested on one of Washington’s strongest bipartisan assumptions: that military assistance was strategically necessary and politically untouchable. But Gaza has weakened that consensus. Critics now see Israeli military aid as a misguided strategy and...