Cross-strait tensions, the One-China policy and regional security around Taiwan and China.
External
The G7 and its partners have agreed to release as much as 100 million barrels of emergency diesel and crude stocks over the next four months, putting government inventories into a fuel market that has been running short…
Activism
With a month to go before the midterms, conservatives are escalating their attacks on transgender Americans in the belief that transphobia is an effective strategy for galvanizing voters. Elon Musk ’s super PAC and other…
3D IC
External
The TSMC OIP Ecosystem Forum highlighted many accomplishments across TSMC’s vast ecosystem. Specific achievements with TSMC as well as collaborative work across several companies were all on display. And there was an…
External
A total of 21 LNG cargoes are estimated to have exited the Strait of Hormuz in September, the highest monthly number since the Iran war began, yet well below pre-war levels, shipping data compiled by Reuters showed on…
External
November WTI crude oil futures spent the week caught between two opposing trades. Gulf crude flows improved as Saudi Arabia restored export routes and producers found ways around the Strait of Hormuz disruption. That was…
External
Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict U.S. troops have withdrawn from Iraq, but this isn’t Biden’s Iraq. The withdrawal was agreed in 2024 when Biden determined that Iraqi forces could handle the remaining ISIS threat and…
External
Russia came out of its parliamentary election with Putin stronger on paper and the country considerably harder to read. United Russia now controls 349 of the State Duma’s 450 seats, its largest majority ever, and some 50…
Middle East & Africa
External
Fighting is happening in northern Ethiopia between federal troops and a rebel alliance led by Tigrayan forces. This conflict resembles the earlier civil war from 2020 to 2022, which resulted in massive casualties…
External
The U.S. last month sent two additional Patriot missile batteries to protect energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Qatar from Iranian strikes in case the war escalates again, U.S. officials and a Persian Gulf…
Europe
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British police have arrested a dual UK-Iranian national in connection with an alleged terrorist plot involving RAF Fairford, an airbase used by the US to target Iran. This incident began when police received a tip from a…
Society
External
Reports of pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region have not yet been officially confirmed, but the situation has prompted swift action from regional authorities and public health officials. Unconfirmed Reports Spark…
World News
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Ethiopian government forces are advancing towards Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region, as fears rise that the ongoing conflict could escalate into a wider war following the breakdown of diplomatic ties with…
External
Japanese energy firm JERA is creating an oil storage company which will exclusively manage the operation of the national petroleum stockpiling bases that JERA currently operates, as the Middle East crisis has upended the…
Energy News
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European Union countries discussed a French proposal to release diesel stocks due to US pressure related to soaring fuel prices and the Iran war. The proposal suggests that Europe should release 50 million barrels of…
AI
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For decades, chipmakers improved computing performance largely by putting more capable circuitry on a piece of silicon. That remains important, but AI is exposing its limits. Large models demand enormous amounts of data…
Trump administration
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Refugees from third countries are being sent to Equatorial Guinea, where they are often sent back to the very countries they fled For nearly a year, the Hotel Bamy in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, has been Adam’s prison. He…
Human Rights
For a dissident living abroad, repression does not always arrive as a threat from an intelligence service. It may appear at an airport check-in desk, a border crossing, a bank compliance review, or an immigration…
External
The Trump Administration’s pet project Alaska LNG may not be commercially investable as costs per production could be more than double the costs at most U.S. Gulf Coast LNG export projects, a Reuters analysis has found…
Politics
External
With Democrats leading competitive races and poised to reclaim the House, the American political map is shifting under Trump’s weakening hold, the impending exits of McConnell and Pelosi, and a familiar warning: never…
External
Oil prices fell sharply on Friday as Europe moved closer to another emergency stock release under pressure from the Trump administration, with WTI dropping nearly 4% and Brent falling below $100. At 6:54 a.m. ET, WTI was…
External
The biggest Japanese LNG importer and largest power producer, JERA, does not expect the shipping hurdles for Qatari supply at the Strait of Hormuz to end in time for the winter. “We don’t expect Qatar LNG coming back to…
Global Risk-Reward Monitor
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Subscribe now with a one-month trial for only $1, then enjoy the first year at an exclusive rate of just $99. Takaichi’s economic agenda runs into the bond market Scott Foster reports that Sanae Takaichi is retreating…
External
Fuel subsidies amid the oil price shock could exceed $1 trillion this year, the United Nations said, warning that many governments are running out of fiscal resources to sustain subsidies, fuel tax reductions, or price…
#Islam
The deserts were deserted but for traveling on foot or by animals. From city to city were scattered thorny bushes, hot sand, and a lonely well – much like our 21st-century pit stop exits for rest, gas, and lavatory…
Economy
External
Europe wants to build a competitive artificial intelligence industry, but a new financing divide is emerging between European companies and their US counterparts. While American technology giants are borrowing hundreds…
China
External
TOKYO – China gave global investors one of 2026’s biggest AI thrills. Yet the country that helped ignite excitement about artificial intelligence is home to one of the worst-performing major stock markets. While AI fever…
Global development
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Artwork created in Tahrir Square for Chinese president’s state visit to Egypt is painted over amid allegations it revived Afrocentric claims about Pharaohs’ origins On the eve of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s state…
Active Citizens
At the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, experts explored how renewable energy can ease the burden on farmers. Here Shifra Ainomugisha poses beside a solar-powered irrigation system in Uganda. She was named…
Opinion
Netflix’s phenomenal hit, The Polygamist, demonstrates the power of great storytelling and, in the process, changes how people see Africa and themselves. I usually approach a 22-episode TV series with suspicion and…
Middle East
External
The war between the United States and Iran is no longer just a confrontation between Washington and Tehran. A second contest is taking shape alongside and behind it. China is not fighting the United States directly, but…
Aid
Shehnaz Ali from Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan, has been living with a fistula for 16 years. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim/IPS By Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct 2 2026 (IPS) “You’re living a life drained of joy,” is how…
Global development
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In a region of Nigeria blighted by decades of pollution, Martha Agbani and her team are not just replanting trees but regaining ownership of their lost lands and livelihoods A toxic landscape was familiar to Martha…
External
A potential ban on exports of diesel fuel from the United States would affect Latin America the most, Goldman Sachs has said, despite reports that the pain from such a ban would be the greatest for Europe. U.S. diesel…
Archive
The majority of people on the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) board are not Labour party members, it has emerged. This means the group does not have to tell the Electoral Commission who has donated to the organisation…
Energy Transition
External
The global energy transition is creating a problem that could increasingly undermine its own momentum: the enormous quantities of minerals needed to electrify economies may be harder to secure than the technologies that…
Active Citizens
By CIVICUS Oct 2 2026 (IPS) CIVICUS discusses life as a refugee with an exiled Sudanese civil society activist who has asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. Over three years into Sudan’s war, millions of people…
Commentary
External
For much of the modern aviation era, geography was something the global aviation industry learned to overcome. Simply put, unlike a railway, a pipeline, or a highway, an aircraft does not require a continuous physical…
Commentary
External
A cyber operator can spend a shift tracking an adversary halfway around the world, walk to the parking lot, and be home in time for dinner. There is no flight home, no demobilization, and no transition from an…
Lever Time
LISTEN NOW: Anthropic’s leaked IPO documents show the company had a net loss of $42 billion in 2025 and still insists that its technology could pose a “catastrophic or existential risk to humanity.” It’s either the most…
External
ConocoPhillips and Venture Global have signed a deal that would see the liquefied natural gas major supply 1 million tons to Conoco beginning in 2030. The deal is part of a broader trend in energy to boost LNG exposure…
Aid
Mariam Daher preparing for her Tawjihi examinations in the temporary learning spaces in Gaza. Credit: Education Above All Foundation By Hani Shehada DOHA, Qatar, Oct 2 2026 (IPS) In the 21st century, getting a pencil…
Fashion
From Nigeria’s handwoven aso-oke and indigo-dyed adire to Burkina Faso’s faso dan fani, traditional fabrics are being reimagined. At African Fashion Week Sandton, Botswana designer Keabetswe Mogatusi’s Technicolour…
World News
External
A diplomatic dispute between South Korea and Ukraine over two North Korean prisoners of war is escalating, with Seoul now warning Kyiv of unspecified additional measures unless it acknowledges what South Korea says was a…
Science & Technology
External
Earlier this year, while the war with Iran was still under way, the US military came close to boarding a Chinese vessel transiting the Middle East. An intelligence report concluded that the ship was likely carrying…
External
Crude oil prices are set for a modest weekly decline today, as reports of a strong rebound in oil flows out of the Persian Gulf trumped news of more U.S. troops moving to the Middle East and China’s Thursday decision to…
Climate & Sustainability
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The Pacific Islands are preparing to take centre stage in global climate diplomacy, but a high-profile pre-COP meeting in Tuvalu and Fiji is facing an awkward problem: many of the world’s major leaders are staying away…
Climate Action
Members of Smallholder Farmer Alliance in Haiti with first harvest of regenerative cotton. Credit: Thomas Norielle/SFA By Hugh Locke NEW YORK, Oct 2 2026 (IPS) In November 1952, the United States detonated the world’s…
Military
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Faced with rising great-power suspicions and the challenge of verifying clandestine, cavity-muffled detonations, the US is turning to high-precision subterranean blast experiments in the Nevada desert to strip covert…