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…
AI
External
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
External
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…
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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In June 2026, I visited Khartoum, my hometown, for the first time since the war broke out in Sudan in April 2023. I left the city to seek safety with my family after the war spread into civilian neighborhoods. I never…
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…
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…
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…
External
By: Xiaochen Su Photo from East Asia Forum A young Japanese woman signs up for an international language exchange app, hoping for a buddy who can help her understand the Korean dramas she’s become addicted to. Soon, her…
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…
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…
Foreign Affairs
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…
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…
Nicaragua
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US media and the human rights industry are portraying Jeffrey Jarquin as a heroic freedom fighter tortured and wrongly imprisoned by Nicaragua’s government. It turns out he was an opposition hooligan who destroyed a…
Middle East & Africa
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Joining BRICS+, an informal association comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, would distinctively open up Ghana’s economic options and diversify and consolidate more partnerships within the Global…
National Politics
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Irish novelist Sally Rooney’s publisher has halted UK distribution of her books, citing terrorism legislation linked to her Palestine Action support. Key Takeaways - Irish novelist Sally Rooney says her books can no…
Economics
A company should not disclose a risk of catastrophe to humanity and then sell its shares to the public before any public authority has the power to evaluate that risk or to stop deployment. Jeffrey D. Sachs is University…
EU politics
Europe’s geopolitical debacle regarding Russia Cross-posted from Aurelien’s substack “Trying to understand the world” Photo: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. So first, what Strategy isn’t. It’s not a…
Geopolitics
After the Greens passed a motion declaring ‘Zionism is racism’, every establishment journalist is suddenly playing dumb about the most elementary of issues in international law Jonathan Cook is the author of three books…
Geopolitics
A review of “A Sentimental Journey 1917-1922” by Viktor Shklovsky Branko Milanović is an economist specialised in development and inequality. His latest book, The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism…
War & Peace
This month, Portuguese prosecutors opened an investigation into whether the center-right government of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro legally authorized the United States to use the Lajes Air Base in the Azores during…
I use artificial intelligence quite a bit. I have concerns regarding it, but it’s a handy research tool and personal assistant. I’m pretty sure that, at some point, ChatGPT will lead to something that will rise up and…
Behind The Headlines
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu draft plans to launch another attack on Iran – as oil prices continue to rise once again. In this episode of The Target Mint Press News’ Robert Inlakesh…
Saudi-arabia
For myriad obvious reasons, President Donald Trump has so far resisted calls from Saudi Arabia to assist in its fight with the Houthis, even as the militant group has been striking — literally — at the heart of the…
AI
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Score: the written music for an orchestra, with every section’s part laid out on the same page so they play together. In this article, it’s your designed workflows. Is AI helping you hit your tape-out date, or putting it…
Guinea-Bissau
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Health minister says government ‘did not authorize’ Danish-led hepatitis B trial in babies backed by RFK Jr Guinea-Bissau has not approved the controversial hepatitis B study in newborns that would be funded by the US…
Democracy & Governance
In the first round of the presidential election in Brazil, the son of the disgraced former leader of the country managed to eke out a first-round victory against the incumbent. Flávio Bolsonaro won about 47 percent of…
Germany and China in the cleantech sector: Between opportunities, competition and location policy H.Seidl Wed, 10/14/2026 - 13:37 picture alliance / CFOTO Download (pdf - 683.41 KB) Report Oct 15, 2026 29 min read…
BETHLEHEM, Gaza / PNN / More than 120 artists from the occupied West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian communities inside Israel have taken part in Fingers of Palestine, “ Anamel Falasteen” a cultural exhibition…
BETHLEHEM, West Bank / PNN / Palestinian entrepreneurs are finding new ways to turn traditional culture and modern technology into business opportunities, but limited market access, high production costs and gaps in…
HEBRON, West Bank / PNN / Palestinian resident Afaf Fadi al-Haddar is facing severe humanitarian and living conditions after her home in Hebron was demolished, leaving her and her family without the security and…
Europe
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The European Union is seeking closer cooperation with Vietnam to secure supplies of critical minerals and reduce its dependence on China, according to internal EU documents reviewed by Reuters, as growing geopolitical…
Biodiversity
A new report on deforestation reflects the persistent gap between global ambitions to conserve and restore forests and enduring practices that continue to destroy them. Credit: UN Climate Change/Diego Herculano By Umar…
The AI Competition—Simplified Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my! By Einar Tangen For Asia Narratives The global debate over artificial intelligence is trapped in a misconception: the belief that the nation with the fastest…
Commentary
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Advancing military AI capability is a priority for the United Kingdom, and in recent weeks, the new government has doubled down on its ambitions for AI and defense via two major partnerships.On Aug. 24, 2026, on his…
Global development
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Drawing on dozens of interviews with intelligence and police officers across two continents, a Guardian investigation reveals the murderous cost of our insatiable appetite for cocaine Read more: Latin American organised…
Global development
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Different forms are distinguished by who exercises control and which institutions they target Read more: How Europe’s most wanted cocaine trafficker turned Sierra Leone into the world’s first true narco state Two…
Technology
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The debate over artificial intelligence has settled into a familiar rhythm. Will large language models eventually wake up? Do they possess an inner life, or are they merely sophisticated mimics of human output?…
Active Citizens
By Anna Trushova KYIV, Ukraine, Oct 14 2026 (IPS) Medicine is supposed to protect human life and dignity. Yet testimonies from Ukrainians released from Russian captivity reveal a disturbing reality: medical personnel in…
Eritrea
On Friday, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos wrote to the U.N. Security Council, citing Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, to say Eritrean troops had advanced up to 38 miles into Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region…
Narco-terrorism
President Donald Trump likes to say he is " nine for nine " with the candidates he has backed in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Brazil's Oct. 25 runoff could make it ten. Senator Flávio Bolsonaro led the first…