Cross-strait tensions, the One-China policy and regional security around Taiwan and China.
Active Citizens
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Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván. Credit: @CDHVitoria By Clare Quirk JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Oct 15 2026 (IPS) Kenia Hernández is an Indigenous Mexican lawyer and human rights defender dedicated to advancing women’s…
World
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Yemen’s civil war reignited in early October, as Saudi Arabia brought in Turkish and Pakistani military support to fight the Houthi rebels, who have governed much of northern Yemen as a de facto authority and waged a…
China Doesn’t Grant Foreign Lawyers Bar Licenses—So What Did Katie Zacharia Do in Beijing? Katie Zacharia, President Donald Trump’s newly appointed White House Press Secretary, has claimed that she passed a bar exam…
Military
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The US Navy’s bunker-busting Tomahawk push reflects growing recognition from the Iran war that striking deeply buried missile sites protected by robust air defenses requires long-range standoff weapons. But the missile…
Cogs of War
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For as long as nuclear-armed, intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles have existed, strategists and engineers have pursued a seductive idea: a shield effective enough to diminish —…
Global development
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At least 320 people detained for ‘acts against nature’ after law criminalising homosexuality toughened, HRW reports Mass arrests, forced HIV testing and barriers to legal representation are part of an escalating…
Uncategorized
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Former UN High Commissioner for Human Right Navi Pillay was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The choice was widely praised in the human rights community. Pillay headed the UN Commission of Inquiry investigating…
Commentary
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The Chinese Ministry of Defense’s announcement of a “joint support and training center” at an airport in Ban Keun, Laos, on Sept. 29 drew attention to the People’s Liberation Army’s growing footprint in Southeast Asia…
Palestine
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The Gaza Ceasefire Is Falling Apart. And So Is the American Plan to Expand the Abraham Accords. The Gaza Ceasefire That Is Killing Palestinians The ceasefire in Gaza, which took effect on October 10, 2025, was supposed…
Strait-of-hormuz
President Donald Trump, seeing the success of the U.S. Navy’s operation in the Strait of Hormuz in blocking most of Iran’s imports and oil exports while restoring some of the non-Iranian oil trade through the strait…
Europe
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When the European Union’s founding engine—France and Germany—finally finds common ground, the bloc crosses a structural threshold. In their joint letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German…
Larry C. Johnson
I am back in NYC at the invitation of the Russian delegation to the United Nations. Unlike my previous appearance before the full UN Security Council, this was an Arria session. An Arria-formula meeting is an informal…
Europe
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Brussels and Beijing finally have something they can both put in a press release. After months of sniping over cars, the two sides agreed to curb Chinese hybrid exports to Europe. Nobody should mistake that for a…
Opinion
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A recent ISEAS Fulcrum commentary by Hoang Thi Ha and Pham Thi Phuong Thao offers a useful mapping of how Chinese culture and economic opportunity are drawing in young Vietnamese. The authors are right that this…
Ukraine War
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Russia’s drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s population and infrastructure continue to dominate coverage of the conflict. But on the ground, Ukraine has been making significant, if still limited, gains. In…
Uncategorized
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“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” — Voltaire (1694-177 A government that claims the authority to kill persons after they have…
Uncategorized
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On 1 October 2026, Jeffrey Isaac Jarquin, a 35-year-old Nicaraguan man, was deported from the United States by ICE and, on arrival in Managua, was immediately sent to prison by Nicaraguan authorities. Reports described…
External
When some people discuss China’s trade today, they often see only import and export figures and overlook the real effects behind them. China is both a “super seller” and a “super buyer.” As a “super seller,” the effect…
Active Citizens
UN Secretary-General António Guterres opens the general debate of the General Assembly’s 81st session on 22 September 2026. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe By Andrew Firmin LONDON, Oct 14 2026 (IPS) At this year’s…
Foreign Affairs
Al- Hodeidah- Yemen – Having failed to defeat Yemen’s Armed Forces and lift their Red Sea blockade in support of Gaza, Tel Aviv began establishing a foothold in neighboring Somaliland as a means of preparing the stage…
Middle East
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A deadly Houthi attack on Riyadh’s international airport has highlighted how the Yemeni group is reframing its perceived “Iran proxy” role and shifting its regional focus to its ongoing battle against Saudi Arabia. The…
AI (artificial intelligence)
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Article in Atlantic claims The Blue Fighter was artificially generated, days after it won Caine prize for African writers The Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using AI to write a prize-winning short…
CEO Interviews
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Sirish Munipalli is Co-Founder and CTO of Moores Lab AI, where he leads the development of agentic AI for chip design verification, including SpecAgent(tm), the company’s specification and modeling platform. He has spent…
Nicaragua
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US media and the human rights industry are portraying Jeffrey Jarquin as a heroic freedom fighter tortured and wrongly imprisoned by Nicaragua’s government. It turns out he was an opposition hooligan who destroyed a…
Middle East & Africa
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Joining BRICS+, an informal association comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, would distinctively open up Ghana’s economic options and diversify and consolidate more partnerships within the Global…
National Politics
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Irish novelist Sally Rooney’s publisher has halted UK distribution of her books, citing terrorism legislation linked to her Palestine Action support. Key Takeaways - Irish novelist Sally Rooney says her books can no…
Economics
A company should not disclose a risk of catastrophe to humanity and then sell its shares to the public before any public authority has the power to evaluate that risk or to stop deployment. Jeffrey D. Sachs is University…
Members
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In 2022, Jeremy Shapiro warned in “We Are on a Path to Nuclear War” that the war between Russia and Ukraine was heading toward nuclear escalation. Four years into the war, we asked him to revisit that argument.Image…
EU politics
Europe’s geopolitical debacle regarding Russia Cross-posted from Aurelien’s substack “Trying to understand the world” Photo: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. So first, what Strategy isn’t. It’s not a…
Geopolitics
After the Greens passed a motion declaring ‘Zionism is racism’, every establishment journalist is suddenly playing dumb about the most elementary of issues in international law Jonathan Cook is the author of three books…
Geopolitics
A review of “A Sentimental Journey 1917-1922” by Viktor Shklovsky Branko Milanović is an economist specialised in development and inequality. His latest book, The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism…
War & Peace
This month, Portuguese prosecutors opened an investigation into whether the center-right government of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro legally authorized the United States to use the Lajes Air Base in the Azores during…
I use artificial intelligence quite a bit. I have concerns regarding it, but it’s a handy research tool and personal assistant. I’m pretty sure that, at some point, ChatGPT will lead to something that will rise up and…
Behind The Headlines
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu draft plans to launch another attack on Iran – as oil prices continue to rise once again. In this episode of The Target Mint Press News’ Robert Inlakesh…
Saudi-arabia
For myriad obvious reasons, President Donald Trump has so far resisted calls from Saudi Arabia to assist in its fight with the Houthis, even as the militant group has been striking — literally — at the heart of the…
Guinea-Bissau
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Health minister says government ‘did not authorize’ Danish-led hepatitis B trial in babies backed by RFK Jr Guinea-Bissau has not approved the controversial hepatitis B study in newborns that would be funded by the US…
IN2FAB
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Moving semiconductor IP to a new process technology is often treated as a redesign problem. For analog and mixed-signal designs, however, starting again from the schematic can overlook an asset: the engineering knowledge…
Democracy & Governance
In the first round of the presidential election in Brazil, the son of the disgraced former leader of the country managed to eke out a first-round victory against the incumbent. Flávio Bolsonaro won about 47 percent of…
BETHLEHEM, Gaza / PNN / More than 120 artists from the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian communities inside Israel have taken part in Fingers of Palestine, “ Anamel Falasteen” a cultural exhibition…
South Asia
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TOKYO – Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” campaign has become a global brand. As China’s economy slows and multinationals look to diversify supply chains, the world’s most populous nation has eagerly cast itself as the…
Global development
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Cultivating the nutritious bugs means families can raise livestock and enrich their own food, while lowering pressures on the land A few minutes’ walk from his home in the Kyaka II refugee settlement, Kanane Bikanyale…
BETHLEHEM, West Bank / PNN / Palestinian entrepreneurs are finding new ways to turn traditional culture and modern technology into business opportunities, but limited market access, high production costs and gaps in…
HEBRON, West Bank / PNN / Palestinian resident Afaf Fadi al-Haddar is facing severe humanitarian and living conditions after her home in Hebron was demolished, leaving her and her family without the security and…
Europe
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The European Union is seeking closer cooperation with Vietnam to secure supplies of critical minerals and reduce its dependence on China, according to internal EU documents reviewed by Reuters, as growing geopolitical…
External
Public Investment Corporation (PIC) chief executive Patrick Dlamini is facing questions about his private business interests after an anonymous whistleblower complaint called on the corporation's board to establish…
Biodiversity
A new report on deforestation reflects the persistent gap between global ambitions to conserve and restore forests and enduring practices that continue to destroy them. Credit: UN Climate Change/Diego Herculano By Umar…
The AI Competition—Simplified Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my! By Einar Tangen For Asia Narratives The global debate over artificial intelligence is trapped in a misconception: the belief that the nation with the fastest…
Commentary
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For most of its history, Pakistan’s geopolitical value has risen and fallen with other countries’ emergencies. The Mecca Pact may be its most serious attempt yet to break that cycle. On Aug. 31, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia…