China
COMMENT: Did Europe just hand the future to Madrid?
Spain's Socialist government is delivering Europe's fastest growth, the EU's most outspoken stance on Gaza, the continent's biggest Chinese EV investments and Latin America's only serious European interlocutor.
_1777599967.jpg)
Has the Third World War started – in Asia?
As history has demonstrated many times to date, the ‘start’ of a world war is less a moment than a process, and Asia today is beginning to look uncomfortably similar to Europe of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Renewables met 100% of global electricity demand growth in 2025 that will speed America's decline
For the first time in history, renewables covered all new global electricity demand in 2025, and the oil shock of the Iran war will only accelerate the move away from the reliance on fossil fuels, according to a report by Ember.
How China captured the Gulf while Washington forgot to send an ambassador
Beijing now trades nearly $400bn a year with the Middle East, runs the region's largest infrastructure programmes, and brokers its diplomacy. America still sells the weapons. It is not enough
China's CATL signs mega-sodium battery production deal to drive the nascent tech's development
The world's largest battery maker has just placed a very large bet on a technology that, until recently, most of the industry considered was science fiction.
Asian trade jitters spark fresh Malacca Strait monetisation push
The collapse of maritime stability in the Middle East has cast a long, overdue shadow over the busiest maritime chokepoint in Asia: the Strait of Malacca.
Russia would not accept military presence of outside powers in Central Asia, says defence minister
Andrei Belousov tells SCO meeting Moscow is “closely monitoring” moves made by “non-regional states”.
Why global population collapse will keep the wars coming
Demographers warned for decades that ageing, declining states grow more dangerous, not less. The wars now spreading from Eastern Europe to the Gulf to East Asia look increasingly like the opening engagements of a long contest over who outlasts whom.
Inconsistent messaging on Turkey shows EU cannot pretend to be geopolitical power, says analyst
Gaffe or not, remarks from European Commision president played into hands of Turkish politicians who want Ankara to pursue closer ties with Moscow and Beijing.
Von der Leyen's gaffe complicates EU relations with Turkey
The EU is in a slow-moving identity collapse crisis. Disunity in the EU is growing more obvious each month and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is casting about for ways to rebuild a consensus without much luck.
Rift surfaces in BRICS over West Asia conflict
In spite of the diplomatic impasse at the declaration level, the consultations reportedly addressed humanitarian conditions across several conflict-affected states and examined prospects for post-conflict stabilisation in the broader MENA region.
With Washington’s reliability shifting daily, Northeast Asia’s security order frays
US policy is increasingly variable, shaped by domestic politics, transactional needs, and at times which side of the bed its leader wakes up on.
China to list sovereign bonds in Indonesia in reciprocal deal
The deal permits China to issue yuan-denominated sovereign bonds directly on the Indonesian stock exchange for the first time. In return, Indonesia gains equivalent rights to issue Indonesian sovereign debt in China’s domestic market.
India cannot compete with Russia in defence export markets
India has traditionally been a major defence export market for Russia, and while being mostly a vendor - customer relationship between 1960 and 2000, it has now started to evolve in the 'beyond-visual range' era of multi-domain warfare.
A super El Niño due this year and the world is not ready
The numbers released last week by an international consortium of climate scientists are remarkable in their uniformity. Every single key indicator of the state of the Earth's climate system set a new record in 2025. And not in a good way.
IMF: Can advanced economies avoid debt distress?
Many highly indebted advanced economies face a grim fiscal outlook. Under current policies, the public debt ratios of countries including Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States are set to deteriorate over the next two decades.
Asia-Pacific defence spending hits post-2009 high as China-Taiwan tensions drive regional build-up
Military expenditure the Asia-Pacific region increased sharply in the last year, reaching a total of $681bn - an increase of 8.1% year on year and the largest annual expansion in military spending since 2009
Asia food inflation risks rise on fertiliser shock
Fitch Ratings has warned that emerging markets in Asia could face rising cost pressures across agribusiness sectors and food supply chains if a prolonged US-Iran conflict continues to disrupt fertiliser supplies further into the planting season.
India’s nuclear triad operational, still lags far behind China
By contrast, China operates over 60 submarines, including at least 12 nuclear-powered vessels and by 2035 half of Beijing’s projected fleet of around 80 attack submarines could be nuclear-powered.
UK Biobank data breach sees participant research data listed on Chinese consumer site
UK Biobank de-identified participant data was listed for sale on Alibaba-owned Chinese consumer website by three academic institutions in breach of contract.