Opinion
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In February 2026, weeks after Cambodia’s National Assembly approved a draft law to ratify the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a convention Phnom Penh signed in 1983 but never ratified, Japan unveiled…
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From strategic partnership between to the effects of natural disasters and climate phenomena, the past week brought developments with implications across Asia. Here are some of the stories we published in recent days…
Larry C. Johnson
Donald Trump would like you to know that the Strait of Hormuz is in tremendous shape. Possibly the best shape in its history. On September 27, he told reporters that “last night, we took a record amount of oil out of the…
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President Donald Trump said Friday that South Korea’s investment agreement with the United States now includes $8.4 billion for an enhanced oil recovery project. Seoul says it agreed to no such thing. “The Republic of…
History books
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Pioneering historian who transformed the study of Africa by seeking out the testimonies of Africans When John Iliffe, who has died aged 87, wrote his book The African Poor: A History (1987), the continent was readily…
World
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Recent reports suggest that Western partners are pressing Armenia to impose a visa regime on Russia as a condition for closer ties with the European Union. This alleged demand, cited by the Armenian publication Hraparak…
World
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Argentina's recent launch of its first military nano-satellite, ETNS, represents a dual achievement and a symptom of shifting priorities. While the satellite was a product of domestic engineering prowess, developed by…
Economics
You have been trained to believe that inflation must be controlled with rises in interest rates. Now take two seconds to stop and ask why and you’ll start seeing just how nuts a lot of economics is. Robin McAlpine is…
Geopolitics
The trial of five Palestinian rights activists, now approaching its final stage, has exposed for all to see not only Germany’s increasingly neofascist playbook for silencing dissent but complicity in Israel’s genocide…
Geopolitics
Once again, the British state is exploiting anti-democratic terrorism measures to secure convictions of Palestine Action defendants who targeted an Israeli weapons plant. UK media is currently forbidden from reporting on…
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Tajikistan announced that it is now receiving oil and petroleum products from Iran, opening a potential new energy source for a country whose fuel supplies have long been dominated by Russia. The deliveries began in late…
Foreign Affairs
Scrambling to halt the ongoing offensive of Yemen’s Armed Forces, Israel and Saudi Arabia have strengthened ties through a joint covert campaign aimed at salvaging what remains of their supremacy in the Red Sea region…
World
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The European Commission has initiated infringement proceedings against Spain for failing to submit its updated energy crisis action plan on time. Spain is not alone in this predicament; France has also faced similar…
LeverMind Quiz
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How is Trump re-running campaign ads? Where are companies sending their hazardous waste? And who’s regulating our financial system? The answers to these questions and many more can be found in LeverMind , our weekly news…
Greene Tweed
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Magen Buterbaugh was appointed President and CEO of Greene Tweed in January 2023. A seasoned leader, with broad industry expertise, Magen has led multiple chemicals & materials-based businesses – spanning from startups…
Energy Geopolitics
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Crude Came Back. Diesel Didn’t. This week, seven months after the Iran war shut the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil finally returned to normal. Around 13.5 million barrels a day are again leaving the Gulf through the strait…
Americas
This Sunday , Brazilian voters head to the polls to decide whether left-wing incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will win a historic fourth term. Lula’s challenger is Flávio Bolsonaro, who has styled himself as…
Activism
When it burst into widespread use as a result of the 1976 movie “All the President’s Men,” the phrase “Follow the money” referred to political influence or corruption and how to track it. Fifty years later, the meaning…
Activism
For years, a subculture of amateur investigators has been publicly performing a by-now familiar script. Posing as children online, they arrange meetings with unsuspecting adult men, then show up with cameras and…
Democracy & Governance
For much of the year, the war with Iran was treated in Washington as a foreign-policy problem: a question of military objectives, nuclear policy, deterrence, and negotiations. As the November 3 midterm elections…
Activism
With a month to go before the midterm elections, 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…
3D IC
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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…
Middle East & Africa
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Europe’s energy crisis isn’t over. Gas prices remain punishingly high across the continent as Europeans stare down the barrel of a long winter. In response to back-to-back-to-back energy crises stemming from Europe’s…
Society
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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…
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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…
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…
Politics
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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…
#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
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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…
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
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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…
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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
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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
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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
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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…
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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…