Iran's Kharrazi urges Trump to pursue 'real negotiations' based on equality

Iran's top foreign policy adviser has called on US President Donald Trump to pursue genuine negotiations based on mutual respect, rejecting talks conducted under coercion following the cessation of dialogue after US-Israel military action.

Mexico's Gen Z protest draws older crowd as violence mars rally

Public demonstrations in Mexico have renewed focus on security concerns, government accountability and the growing influence of digital platforms in political mobilisation.

Polish archaeologists discover 7,700-year-old kilns and artefacts in joint research with Kuwait

Kuwaiti and Polish archaeologists have discovered more than 20 kilns dating back around 7,700 years at the Bahra 1 site in northern Kuwait, the oldest and largest known settlement in the Arabian Peninsula from the Ubaid culture period.

Chile election headed to runoff between Jara and Kast following tight first-round race

Chile's presidential election is headed to a runoff between Communist Party leader Jeannette Jara and hard-right candidate José Antonio Kast, after neither secured the required 50% threshold in November 16’s first round of voting.

Poland’s PM Tusk warns Ukraine risks losing the war with Russia from the expanding corruption scandal

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took to social media over the weekend and warned that the expanding Energoatom corruption scandal was undermining support for Kyiv in Europe.

Russia’s Big Brother SORM mass surveillance system

It’s a modern-day Big Brother. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) operates the vast and largely opaque SORM surveillance infrastructure in Russia spies on the entire Russian population that grants intelligence officers unfettered access.

China deploys an army of humanoid robots to car factories

It looks exactly like a scene out of the Hollywood movie iRobot, depicting the Isacc Asimov classic sci-fi novel: a warehouse filled with gleaming white robots standing in a precise military grid, moving in unison when ordered.

Turkey seizes another crypto exchange over money laundering allegations

Observers struggling to keep up with number of arrests made and companies taken over by officials under wave of prosecutions triggered by government.

Russian Wildberries makes a move in Africa with Ethiopian partnership

Russia’s largest e-commerce major Wildberries announced a partnership with Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH), one of Ethiopia’s premier investment groups, according to the company’s press-release.

Tajikistan launches national messenger app ORIZ in “important step towards digital independence”

Country follows in footsteps of Russia and Kazakhstan.

COMMENT: Finland’s President Stubb lists the three obstacles to a Ukraine ceasefire

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb has warned that a ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine is unlikely to materialise before spring, and urged Western allies to sustain support for Kyiv despite recent corruption scandals.

COMMENT: Trump was “sent by heaven”, Russia is a “God-given” neighbour, says Kazakhstan’s president. What's cooking?

With White House and Kremlin visits in the space of six days, pressure was on Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to pull off a masterclass in multi-vector foreign policy.

COMMENT: Ukraine slowly wearing down Russia's oil industry

Russia’s oil industry, long seen as the bedrock of the country’s economic strength, is being slowly degraded—not by sanctions or falling demand, but by the persistent and methodical pressure of Ukraine’s drone attacks.

Armenia’s 2026 election set to be battleground for competing Western and Russian influence

Carnegie Europe commentary says 2026 general election to determine whether Armenia continues its pivot toward the West or reverses course under pressure from Moscow and powerful diaspora networks.

EU accession policy fails to address Chinese engagement in Balkans

ECFR report warns the EU does not have a clear strategy for managing candidate countries’ engagement with China.

S&P upgrades South Africa as Fitch affirms rating and debt peak forecast rises to 77.9%

Korean export slowdown to weigh on economic recovery

South Korea’s economic rebound is set to be held back by faltering overseas demand, according to new analysis by Fitch Ratings, which warns that weaker exports will act as a brake on growth prospects.

Philippine growth slows sharply, but economists anticipate domestic demand to bounce back

The Philippine economy lost momentum in the third quarter, recording a markedly weaker performance than analysts had anticipated.

Romania’s central bank holds base rate at 6.5%, signals deepening demand gap

BNR expects the annual inflation rate to decline modestly over the next three quarters but remain on a fluctuating path above previous forecasts.

Yen-pegged stablecoin issuer anticipates major holdings in Japan’s government-bond market

JPYC emphasises that its stablecoin is fully convertible to the yen and backed by domestic savings deposits and Japanese government bonds.

Georgia’s ruling party cements absolute power one year on from disputed election

The Georgian Dream government has banned rival parties, imprisoned their leaders and branded them saboteurs, successfully laying the foundations for dictatorship in Georgia.

Tokyo refuses to kowtow to China’s latest round of anti-Japanese bullying

China has once more escalated a minor diplomatic skirmish with Japan, by urging its citizens to avoid travelling to the country and hauling in Tokyo’s ambassador over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks about Taiwan.

Indonesia’s decision to honour Soeharto sparks debate over justice and memory

Indonesia’s decision to posthumously name former president Soeharto a National Hero has reignited fierce debate over how the country remembers its past.

EU LNG imports set for record high in November as US supply surges

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports into the European Union are on track to hit an all-time monthly high in November, driven by a sharp rise in shipments from the United States.

LGBTQ+ Russians fleeing Georgia say country mirrors Kremlin's playbook

Russian émigrés who once saw Georgia as a safe haven now warn the country is replicating Russia's systematic persecution of LGBTQ+ people, forcing them to flee once more

KYIV BLOG: Ukrainian war sailing towards a crisis

Russia’s oil industry, long seen as the bedrock of the country’s economic strength, is being slowly degraded—not by sanctions or falling demand, but by the persistent and methodical pressure of Ukraine’s drone attacks.

BALKAN BLOG: North Macedonia’s 20-year wait to join the EU

20 years since North Macedonia was given EU candidate status, the country's European dream endures — battered, delayed, but not yet extinguished.

ISTANBUL BLOG: Rulers have changed their game, dull rights defenders offer no riposte

As shown by Merz’s first visit to Turkey as German chancellor, the powers that be don’t pay a blind bit of notice to NGOs like HRW. Though they sometimes respond with a spot of pantomime.

MOSCOW BLOG: Western coverage of the Ukraine war turns negative

After more than three years of throwing their support behind Kyiv’s defence of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion and pushing a narrative of “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” the Western press has turned starkly negative in recent weeks.

LATAM BLOG: Argentina’s Milei wins big but must prove he can build consensus

Javier Milei's decisive midterm victory gives him a clear mandate for radical reform, but the Argentine president still lacks a parliamentary majority. He now has to build consensus with centrists while navigating a tricky peso devaluation.

Iran's snow cover plummets 98.6% as water crisis deepens

Satellite data shows Iran's snow cover has plummeted 98.6% compared to last year, with dam levels at record lows threatening drinking water supplies and agriculture as the country faces an intensifying water crisis.

China’s emissions growth flat as emissions peak arrives

China’s carbon dioxide emissions remained flat in the third quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier, extending a trend of stabilisation that began in March 2024.

China unveils world’s first thorium-powered container ship

China has launched the world’s first container ship powered by a thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR), marking a potential milestone in nuclear maritime propulsion and low-emission shipping technologies.

UNDP warns climate change will slash crop yields in low-income countries

A new United Nations dataset shows median national crop yields will decline by around 25-30% by the end of the century under very high emissions scenario.

UK judge holds BHP liable in Brazil dam collapse case

A High Court judge in London has ruled that BHP Group is legally responsible for the 2015 collapse of a tailings dam in Brazil, the country’s most serious environmental disaster.