Global Voices

Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali Al-Zaidi, was first regarded as a political newcomer with no prior experience in government or political office, but he understood enough about Iraq’s interests to insist his first overseas trip be to the United States, unlike his...

Texas Democrat James Talarico is, frankly, bizarre. It’s like Democrats there figured a less masculine Beto O’Rourke would be the way to draw all Texans together or something. Tilting At Windmills is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support...

The share of coal in China’s electricity output fell in the first half of 2026 to below 50% for the first time on record, in a landmark achievement of the Chinese policy to boost non-fossil power sources. The share of...

Iran fired ballistic missiles at American bases in Jordan late on July 28, in what appeared to be the first time Tehran initiated an attack on US targets since the war began in late February. The Islamic Republic has claimed...

Following a subdued start to the year, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) jumped in the second quarter after the Middle East crisis slashed crude supply and hiked oil and fuel prices, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report...

Shell has said it will continue its bumper share buyback programme after revealing the Iran war’s effect on oil prices and trading volumes helped it book a near-record profit. The Anglo-Dutch giant’s net profit spiked to $9.8bn between April and...

State department ‘takes full responsibility’ for erroneous, widely shared chart displayed at Aids conference in Brazil A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a state department presentation at a ⁠global conference in Brazil ⁠this week, ​causing a stir...

Samsung just posted an operating profit of 89.5 trillion won, roughly US$62 billion, for the second quarter. That’s a jump of 1,814% from a year earlier. Revenue climbed 130% to 171.5 trillion won, a company record. And Samsung’s shares fell...

Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy has bought on the spot market as many as 33 cargoes from the United States so far this year to ship them to customers in Asia to reduce the impact of its own stranded supply due to...

US President Donald Trump has remade American foreign policy into a dangerous mix of belligerence, atrocity crimes and incoherent lunacy. The broad elements of the Trump administration’s almost non-existent Myanmar policy are well known. The gutting of the US Agency...

The Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s characterisation of the reports suggesting the US could impose a 100 percent tariff on countries such as India that import Russian oil as speculative cannot be taken as a statement of fact. “We...

Extending hardware acceleration to formal verification is a powerful idea to extend hardware acceleration to a verification domain that has not got much attention for acceleration. Paul Cunningham (GM, Verification at Cadence), Raúl Camposano (Silicon Catalyst, entrepreneur, former Synopsys CTO...

Analysis of samples collected from carcasses found traces of toxic chemical compound, says Kenya Wildlife Service The recent deaths of 15 elephants near a park in southern Kenya in the past month were likely caused by the animals ingesting pesticides used...

Cameroon’s Paul Biya has not made a statement or been seen since leaving for ‘brief private stay’ at Swiss hotel on 7 June A record 53-day absence by the world’s oldest head of state has renewed speculation in his native Cameroon...

Explaining stock market movements is always a little bit of a fool’s errand; no one really understands why stocks boom or crash on a given day or in a given week. Over the long run, the stock market displays lots...

The biggest oil supply squeeze is currently in diesel markets amid the lowest global refining activity for this time of year since the 2020 pandemic, Goldman Sachs says. War-induced refinery outages in the Middle East and Russia have collapsed global...

The murderous Zelensky regime has yet again attempted to drag the open-minded Iran into its desperate calculation of war. It also wants to broaden the scope of the war. On 25 July 2026, Ukraine’s de facto president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said...

Two oil tankers that had attempted to transit the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. support via the southern lane close to Oman have turned back after one of them caught fire, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday,...

Appearing increasingly isolated and weakened, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington this week, where he had a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump – his eighth of the US president’s second term. Netanyahu is desperate to revive his image...

Volkswagen’s ambitious attempt to enter China’s emerging flying car market ended in failure after years of technical setbacks, legal disputes and fierce competition from domestic manufacturers, underscoring the growing challenges foreign automakers face in keeping pace with China’s rapidly evolving...

Coal demand and prices in China have jumped in recent days as scorching heat waves across most of the country boost electricity demand. The benchmark spot coal prices at the port of Qinhuangdao have erased a slump from earlier this...

China’s top leaders pledged on Thursday to support the country’s slowing economy by accelerating spending on already-approved infrastructure projects instead of rolling out large-scale stimulus measures. The decision came after recent economic data showed second-quarter growth slowed to 4.3%, the...

The multidimensional crisis that has gripped Myanmar since the military coup on February 1, 2021, has entered a new chapter — one increasingly complex and riddled with contradictions. The move by military chief and coup maker Senior General Min Aung...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that Myanmar has agreed to accept the return of 5,000 Rohingya asylum seekers currently living in Malaysia. Speaking during a campaign rally ahead of regional elections, Anwar said the agreement was made possible through...

France Battles Massive Bordeaux Wildfire France continued to battle a vast wildfire near Bordeaux on Thursday after firefighters managed to prevent the blaze from spreading overnight. Authorities said approximately 42,000 hectares have burned, while two people were arrested on suspicion...

Show Notes: On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with reactions to CXMT's IPO success this week, including responses from legislators in Washington and the stakes of Apple's continued lobbying fight to relax restrictions on US companies working with PRC memory...

Shell (SHEL:NYSE) more than doubled its second-quarter earnings from a year earlier, as higher oil and gas prices, record refinery utilization, and strong trading boosted profits to above analyst expectations. Shell on Thursday reported adjusted earnings of $9.84 billion for...

Russia said its armed forces launched extensive overnight strikes across Ukraine on Thursday, targeting military production facilities in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kryvyi Rih, and ports along the Black Sea. According to Russia’s Defence Ministry, the operation involved land, sea, and...

Euro zone government bond yields climbed on Thursday after a sharp sell-off in U.S. Treasuries following the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged. Investors also responded to rising oil prices, driven by escalating tensions between the United States...

Earlier this year, British negotiators walked away from talks to join the EU’s flagship defense fund after being quoted a price of €6 billion for access — the same access Canada had just secured for €10 million. Foreign Secretary Yvette...

The most successful deterrent threats leave no evidence behind. No missiles fly. No networks go down. No troops cross borders. Nothing happens. For policymakers, that is often the desired outcome. For researchers, it is a nightmare. Imagine, however, being able...

QatarEnergy has successfully sent an LNG cargo via the Strait of Hormuz, three weeks after one of its LNG carriers was struck in the waterway, Bloomberg has reported, noting that the vessel had idled in the strait since early July...

Greek firefighters continued battling deadly wildfires across the island of Crete for a second consecutive day on Thursday, as Greece joined Spain and France in confronting one of Europe’s most severe wildfire outbreaks of the summer. The crisis intensified after...