Cross-strait tensions, the One-China policy and regional security around Taiwan and China.
Opinion
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When Rudolph Diesel disappeared in 1913, many suspected foul play. The prime suspects were Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II and US oil man John D. Rockefeller. Both would have had reason to want the inventor of the diesel…
Opinion
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The US Army is continuing to test experimental infantry fighting vehicles designed to replace the ageing Bradley. Two well-known manufacturers are competing for the contract: Germany’s Rheinmetall and America’s General…
Aid
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By External Source Oct 15 2026 (IPS) A safe home is more than a roof over our heads. It is the foundation of health, security, opportunity and human dignity. Yet for billions of people, that foundation remains out of…
World
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A spike in diesel prices is hammering broad sectors of the US economy – especially agriculture and shipping – and becoming a flash point ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. This squeeze has prompted Republicans…
South Asia
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American audiences will be able to watch an English-dubbed version of “Ramayana,” a Hindi film based on a South Asian epic tradition, in theaters in November 2026. The Sanskrit “Ramayana,” or “Journey of Rama,” is an…
Economics
The 2026 award revives a fifty-year objection: economics keeps rewarding theories that overlook the power of creditors. Michael Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a…
Active Citizens
By Sania Farooqui BENGALURU, India, Oct 15 2026 (IPS) When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, Zahra Nader was pursuing a doctorate in Women and Gender studies at York University in Canada. Nader had…
In Brief
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Since the end of World War II, the United States has maintained hundreds of military installations abroad. While U.S. forces have faced some objections to their presence, many allies and partners have seen U.S. bases and…
EDA
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Design the right chip. Design the chip right. Every verification methodology in mainstream use answers the second half of that sentence and assumes the first. Simulation, emulation, formal, constrained-random…
National Politics
Investigative journalist Daniel Boguslaw uncovers collusion between law enforcement, Corporate America and academics to create new targets for the expanding US security state. Transcript Chris Hedges: In the wake of the…
This statement was originally published on cipesa.org on 5 October 2026. For four days, the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica26) brought together voices from across Africa and beyond to engage in discussions…
Economics
Just how resilient is the world economy really? Michael Roberts is an Economist in the City of London and a prolific blogger . Cross-posted from Michael Roberts’ blog Resilient – that is the message of the International…
This statement was originally published on mediarightsagenda.org on 6 October 2026. A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed a hearing for October 29, 2026, in a suit filed by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) against the…
Eritrea
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Country has not had an election in 33 years and has withdrawn cooperation with UK on migrant returns Eritrea, the east African country embroiled in a row with the UK over its refusal to accept the return of rejected…
External
(Photo by: Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images) I don’t like double standards. I personally try to avoid them anywhere I can, which often puts me in some uncomfortable positions. Still, a kind of internal consistency is…
Activism
This election is not like any other. You’ve heard that before, and so have I. But after decades of “this presidential election is the most important election in your lifetime,” I have finally conceded that this midterm…
Biography books
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Biographer who altered perceptions of Henry Morton Stanley, David Livingstone, Robert Baden-Powell and other figures active in Africa Thanks to the biographer and novelist Tim Jeal, who has died aged 81, we now know that…
Activism
“Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.” — attributed to Joseph Stalin If the Trump administration fails to stop Democrats from taking back Congress in next month’s midterms, as nearly…
Activism
“Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.” — attributed to Joseph Stalin If the Trump administration fails to stop Democrats from taking back Congress in next month’s midterms, as nearly…
AI
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The next gains from AI in semiconductors will come less from models and more from making fab and test data reliable, connected and tied to engineering decisions. By Sriram Nithin Gopal Lanka Every few months there is a…
External
Our Q&A discussions are a lot of fun and, we hope, thought-provoking, and we’re grateful to all of our subscribers who submit their questions. If you missed any of our live shows, you can find the full streams here on…
Armed Conflicts
Impunity for past crimes has fueled decades of violence and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: MONUSCO/Aubin Mukoni By Ida Sawyer WASHINGTON DC, Oct 15 2026 (IPS) It has been 30 years since…
Europe
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When Donald Trump announced on 9 October that Vladimir Putin would release Russian diesel onto world markets, it read at first like another episode of an American president freelancing on Russia policy. The substance is…
AI
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Artificial intelligence is becoming part of the infrastructure that powers healthcare, transportation, finance, manufacturing, and everyday digital services. As these systems grow more capable, they also process more…
Labor
Perhaps the two international agencies that would score lowest in popularity among Thais would be the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. This is why many Thais have greeted with consternation the news that…
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…
Daily Digest
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…