Taiwan

Belarusian state institutions have worked together to suppress critics of President Alexander Lukashenko’s government through almost every stage of the justice system since 2020, according to independent U.N. experts. A report prepared for the U.N. Human Rights Council says courts,...

This week, Maruarar Sirait, Indonesia’s housing minister, spent four hours at the Jakarta residence of China’s ambassador, Wang Lutong, and emerged with the outline of an ambitious plan. China will help Indonesia build large numbers of apartment blocks, known locally...

Every alliance contains a struggle over who gets to decide what the alliance is for. The unusual thing about the Mecca Alliance, formally known as the “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement,” is that all three of its members appear to believe...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to broker an energy infrastructure truce between Russia and Ukraine could remove one immediate threat to global fuel markets, but it is unlikely to resolve the diesel shortage that has developed this year. Trump said...

Over the past two weeks, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin staged a major diplomatic blitz. Across three events in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East and New Delhi, India, as well as a state visit by Vietnam’s leader, he met with some 18 heads of...

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being treated not simply as a technology sector but as a strategic capability tied to economic power, national security and geopolitical competition. Recent warnings from leading AI researchers and executives that increasingly autonomous systems could pose...

Oil prices continued to rise early on Tuesday, rallying by 1.7% in Asian trade, as the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen are expanding their control over the west coast along the Red Sea, while the attacks on a key Saudi onshore...

China’s pursuit of multidomain drone swarms reflects a broader effort to turn autonomous systems from standalone weapons into the connective tissue of a networked form of warfare built around speed, redundancy and system-level disruption. China is expanding its uncrewed combat...

India hosted the 18th BRICS Summit, the fourth under its presidency since its inception, coincidentally on the UN Day for South-South Cooperation (September 12) in New Delhi. This comes against the backdrop of unilateral sanctions, coercive tariffs, and ongoing conflicts...

China’s new SME payment rules, released this month, include a financing instruction that deserves scrutiny. Beijing is encouraging large companies to use bank loans and bond financing to replace accounts payable and pay suppliers in cash, effectively shifting the working-capital...

Silicon Valley insiders are sounding the alarm about AI’s dangers, leaving many people terrified. Are the doomsday fears valid, or are they a distraction from corporate accountability? In this exclusive, uncut interview for premium subscribers, David Sirota speaks with Matt Stoller...

Six months into the second US-Israeli war on Iran, the Trump administration’s message is that Iran is weakening, the United States is winning and the costs of war will be temporary. That narrative is hard to sustain as the war drags on,...

Islam Times - After the failure of his economic promises and claims regarding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Trump is now seeking to highlight the war in Ukraine in an effort to justify rising energy prices and America's domestic...

Islam Times - Iran’s acceptance of the postponement of the Oman meeting is a sign of Tehran’s sincerity in pursuing regional dialogue. The Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman littoral states must now move beyond extra-regional pressure and demonstrate in...

With the 2026 U.S. midterm elections approaching, state and local election officials across the country are preparing for scenarios that would have once seemed highly unlikely, including federal intervention at polling places, demands for voting equipment and records, legal challenges...

Drive to save thousands of Afrikaners from false claims of ‘white genocide’ appears to show signs of slowing When Donald Trump announced in February 2025 that the US would accept Afrikaners from South Africa as refugees, many white South Africans who...

Almost 3,500 people have died in outbreak and experts say more must be done to ensure Bundibugyo is under control Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have announced that the Ebola outbreak ravaging parts of the country has reached...

Over the weekend, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for artificial intelligence (AI) companies, including his own, to slow down their work. Sam Altman and Elon Musk, heads of rivals OpenAI and xAI respectively, agreed. The move reflects concern across the AI industry and,...

Turkey escalated tensions with Greece sharply in September 2026, as denoted by a return to hardline rhetoric and friction over regional alliances in the Eastern Mediterranean, recalling periods of heightened tension before the signing of the 2023 Athens Declaration on...

Originally published by Pacific Forum, this article is republished with permission. An Indian iron ore company, a bilateral agreement between Washington and New Delhi and the Trump administration’s America First policies may hold the key to the final resolution of...

By: Khanh Vu Duc US President Donald Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in March 2026. Photo from the White House Japan is trying to arrange a meeting between Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and US President...

In California, gas stations are facing a unique challenge. The station signs are only configured to go up to $9.99 per gallon and at several stations the price of diesel has reached that maximum. Diesel prices are higher than they...

To examine the unyielding multi-billionaire dollar shield that the United States provides Israel is to confront the coarse mechanics of modern empire. Washington has, for decades, maintained a posture of absolute defense, supplying advanced weaponry, providing diplomatic immunity, and rationalizing...

The U.S. and global economies have continued to mint high-net-worth individuals at a historic clip, with wealth intelligence firm Altrata noting that the combined wealth of the world’s billionaires jumped 12.8% Y/Y to a record $15.1 trillion in 2025. The...

President Donald Trump on Monday slapped down the idea of putting guardrails on artificial intelligence, despite increased warnings from industry insiders and outside experts about the technology’s potential dangers to humanity. In a Truth Social post, Trump suggested that his own intellect was singlehandedly capable...

Crude oil prices have extended their earlier gains into this week, with little chance of reversing course as the war in the Middle East expands and desire for a peaceful resolution seems to wane, as global oil stocks continue shrinking....

The 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi may be remembered for more than debates over de-dollarization, geopolitical rivalry, and the growing weight of the Global South. Its declaration also carried a quieter idea about how a multipolar digital economy might...

Energy stocks have rallied this year as oil prices soared amid the Middle East conflict. The U.S. supermajors ExxonMobil and Chevron have seen their stocks gain about 40% each so far in 2026, but U.S. refiner stocks have outperformed the...

Scientists at MIT have discovered a new way to extract high-purity hydrogen from ammonia while using a lot less energy than previous technologies. The breakthrough could provide a critical inroad toward reducing the energy and ecological footprint of the hydrogen...

If GENCO is the answer, then what is the question? Simply put, is GENCO the answer to the question of how the electric industry can get into the AI action without compromising utility finances and disadvantaging the rest of the...

Here we go again. The Houthis have seized the Yemeni Red Sea coast, the port of Mokha and Perim Island, which divides the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait into two channels. The group now occupies positions from which it can monitor...

Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum, only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how...

Islam Times - When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called President Donald Trump twice in one day seeking direct American strikes against Ansarullah, known as the Houthis, he was testing Washington’s security guarantees when they mattered most. According to...

Central Asian states are facilitating a rail shipment of Chinese goods destined for Iran, according to Uzbek railway officials. The precise contents of the freight train are uncertain. The block train, consisting of 55 container cars, crossed from China’s western...