Global Voices

Sexual and reproductive services face an uncertain future as the country’s second-largest donor halts support worth hundreds of millions of pounds The Swedish flag is still flying above the pale blue building overlooking the Atlantic in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, but the...

The latest escalation comes as the six month conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran enters a more uncertain phase. Washington has increasingly shifted from direct military action toward economic pressure and sanctions, while Iran has sought to preserve...

Ceuta is a Spanish enclave on Morocco’s northern coast and one of the European Union’s two land borders with Africa. Its location has made it a longstanding focal point for irregular migration and a sensitive issue in Spain Morocco relations....

Markets End August With Rising Risk Global financial markets entered the final trading day of August cautiously as renewed fighting between the United States and Iran pushed oil prices higher and increased concerns about inflation. Brent crude rose above $90...

On August 20, China’s National Immigration Administration expanded the 240-hour visa-free transit policy to two more countries — Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam — bringing the number of eligible nationalities to 57. A parallel 30-day visa-free scheme for Hainan now covers 61...

This is a collaboration with The American Prospect , a magazine about ideas, politics, and power . Max Rose, the pugnacious former Democratic congressman from Staten Island, has been a frequent guest on cable news this election cycle, touting the success...

The US-Israeli war against Iran passed its six-month mark this week, and on August 24, the bill for two decades of hosting American power came due. The US Treasury opened a global sanctions campaign against everyone still trading with Tehran....

Meloni Set to Break Italy’s Stability Record Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is poised to lead the country’s longest lasting government since World War Two, surpassing the previous record of 1,412 consecutive days held by Silvio Berlusconi. Meloni came to...

Walk into the Pentagon, climb the escalator, and an Uncle Sam-style poster points at you: “I want YOU to use AI.” It worked. GenAI.mil hit 1.5 million users in six months, and I have heard enough OpenAI-in-disguise pitches to last...

Nepal Seeks Stronger Cooperation With China Nepal is renewing calls for greater cooperation with China on disaster monitoring and early warning systems after a devastating Himalayan flash flood killed hundreds and left thousands missing along the Nepal China border. The...

The Special Representatives (SRs) Mechanism on the India-China Boundary Question completed 25 rounds of talks when China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Beijing on August 25, 2026. Initiated in 2003, it operates above...

CIA Linked Investor Opens Doors for German Drone Firm German drone maker Quantum Systems gained an early foothold in the United States with support from In Q Tel, a venture capital firm closely linked to U.S. intelligence agencies. The company’s...

Trump Claims Kharg Island Is Being Destroyed U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens”, but provided no details or evidence to support the claim. His post was accompanied by a dramatic...

More than two dozen teenagers stuck in the Spanish territory of Ceuta shared their reasons for joining the treacherous mass crossing in July For Fatin, one of the teenage girls now living in limbo in a makeshift camp in the Spanish...

The news that Pakistan, Russia, and Belarus are working on a test freight railway connecting Minsk, Moscow, and Karachi may seem like just another infrastructure project needing funding and construction. However, the real importance of this initiative lies in what...

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a briefing held on August 20, 2026, that “a substantial package of intergovernmental documents and commercial contracts is planned to be signed during the Russia-Africa summit, scheduled for late October.” Given the “mutual...

Back in October 2025, the U.S. Army unveiled the Janus Program to supply portable nuclear microreactors to military bases by 2028. Whereas these reactors are much smaller than conventional nuclear plants, they typically generate 1-20 megawatts of electricity per reactor,...

U.S. shale innovation is not limited to drilling techniques and engineering breakthroughs. Producers are testing and already getting more oil out of existing wells in the shale formations with the use of advanced chemicals. The mixture of cocktails of various...

By Dr. Sabina Kuprėnaitė Deep-ultraviolet optics used in semiconductor lithography may be exposed to billions of pulses over their service life. That creates a qualification challenge that initial reflectance specifications or laser-induced damage thresholds alone cannot answer. A mirror may meet its...

One day after veteran commodities strategist Jeff Currie told investors to "get long and buckle up" for the next leg of the commodities rally, UBS strategist Sagar Khandelwal issued a similarly bullish call, urging clients to "position for a commodity upcycle." Khandelwal said...

Stephen Strausser was recently appointed CEO of VON ARDENNE North America, Inc. where he will lead the company’s regional strategy, operations, customer engagement and growth initiatives across the US, Canada, Mexico and South America. Stephen has a powerful blend of business acumen,...

The expansion of data centers to power the artificial intelligence boom is causing a natural gas revival in the United States. Planned gas-fired power capacity tied to data centers nearly doubled in the first half of 2026 alone, as Big...

Chinese intelligence, military, and political agencies view Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s strategy of integrating foreign fighters into the institutions of the new Syrian state (by transforming them into regular military units such as the 84th or 88th Divisions and granting...

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have announced ambitious plans to cooperate on renewable energy, as both countries aim to deploy vast amounts of clean power. Saudi Arabia has already invested heavily in Turkey’s solar power sector and aims to deepen its...

Project in Zambia shows how teaching young women to negotiate better can have a long-term impact on their prospects Women making their way in patriarchal societies down the ages have always had to wield their meagre economic power deftly. New evidence...

Ukraine’s new defence minister, Yevhenii Khmara, has promised to provide a clear plan to international partners on how Ukraine intends to fight Russia amid a significant military budget deficit of $27 billion. The Ukrainian government relies on foreign support, with...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney supports a new global defense bank called the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), which aims to help allied countries rearm. The bank is looking to raise around €100 billion ($116 billion) to provide low-cost...

A few years ago, France was the dominant foreign security partner across much of the Sahel. Today, its troops are gone from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and Burkina Faso has severed diplomatic relations with Paris altogether (Reuters, 2026a). In its...

Five ships a day where a hundred used to sail. Six months after the US-Israel strikes on Iran, the world’s most critical energy chokepoint has not merely slowed, it has effectively stopped. The numbers describe a disruption without modern precedent....

The G20 was cartographed because the world economy had become too interconnected to be managed by a handful of powerful states. In 2026, that principle faces an unusual test. Under the United States presidency, Washington has narrowed the forum’s agenda,...

While Bishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, was holding a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, another Catholic official landed in Moscow: CIA Director John Ratcliffe – who reportedly went to Moscow...

The Turkish leader may find himself in more trouble just because of his diplomatic successes. Egypt, Israel and the ideal of the Arab Risorgimento (resurgence) are in his path. If there is one thing that cannot be downplayed, it is...