Features
Iran war's fertiliser shock sets the stage for a slow-burning food inflation crisis
The Iran war's most insidious economic aftershock may not be measured in oil price spikes or shipping costs, but in the price of the nutrients that grow the world's food.
Palestinian women speak out on sexual abuse by Hamas
Testimonies emerging from Gaza have documented a pattern of sexual abuse and exploitation carried out by Hamas militants and affiliated organisations against women.
China quietly tightens its regional grip across Southeast Asia
Beijing and Hanoi are stepping up co-operation centred on internal security, in the process offering a preview of how China may deepen ties across south-east Asia despite longstanding differences with several countries in the region.
Putin's coal sector is running out of time and political cover
Russia's coal industry is heading toward a systemic crisis from which the Kremlin's patronage network can no longer shield it, according to a paper published this week by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Peru election mired in crisis as ballot dispute delays runoff and topples electoral chief
Peru's April vote is deadlocked: a far-right ex-mayor and a left-wing ally of jailed ex-president Castillo are separated by 13,000 votes for the runoff spot — while the count stalls, the electoral chief resigns and fraud claims spiral.
Latin America oils up as Hormuz crisis reshapes global energy supply
From Vaca Muerta to the Orinoco, Latin America is sitting on the world's most coveted untapped crude. The Iran war may finally force it to act.
Central and Eastern Europe emerges as new defence industry hub, KPMG says
Region is undergoing "a decisive moment of industrial transformation" driven by rising military spending, supply chain restructuring and the war in Ukraine.
The Kazakh fintech Freedom Holding sets its sights on the world
Freedom Holding Corp has undergone a transformation that few could have predicted. It listed on Nasdaq in 2019 as a mid-sized Kazakh brokerage, and grew into a $9.6bn fintech platform. Now it wants to go global.
COMMENT: Is Iran the fourth superpower?
Iran is not a superpower in any honest reading of the term. But the Hormuz closure has rendered the "middle power" framing absurd. Tehran now occupies a tier of its own, and the diplomatic vocabulary has not yet caught up to the reality.
_1776783968.jpg)
COMMENT: Rising pressures on Iranians in the UAE
For over a century, the geographical gap between the southern coast of Iran and the bustling ports of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was less a barrier and more a bridge
Is Russia’s virtual economy reappearing?
Is Russia’s virtual economy reappearing thanks to the sky high interest rates and economic slowdown?
Middle Corridor in play
Squeezed by a sanctioned Russia to the north and a war prone Middle East to the south, the Middle Corridor that runs through Central Asia and the Caucasus is back in play as the main route connecting Europe to Asia by land.
Euro Nato plans and Article 42/7
Europe is drawing up plans for a new Nato without the US and will hold its first military exercises very soon to see how it works in practice. So far it is little more than a paper tiger.
SHEVCHENKO: Money for Ukraine - between speed and control
When Europe finances Ukraine, it does so through a complex web of institutions: the European Commission — via the Ukraine Facility, macro-financial assistance and potentially the new €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan for 2026-2027.
RAGOZIN: Budanov, Ukraine’s president-in-waiting
While president Volodymyr Zelenskiy maintains a show of defiance, Ukraine is being steered towards a difficult postwar period by the new presidential office chief who might also rule the country one day.
_1776599654.jpg)
INTERVIEW: After Orbán, can Hungary reclaim its media?
Orbán is gone. His media empire is not. Unpicking 16 years of state capture will test Magyar's historic majority to its limits.
Could it be Goodbye Dubai, Hello Istanbul?
International investors unnerved by events in the Gulf may look to relocate. Turkey might seem a good choice – but things are rather more complicated than that.
_1776508536.jpg)
Carney leads middle power coalition drive as CANZUK gains traction
Canada's Mark Carney is driving a middle power alliance push through CANZUK and a wider variable-geometry foreign policy, backed by NATO 2% defence spending this year and plans for a Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.
Ankara proposes grand rewiring of Middle East energy export map amid Hormuz blockade
Turkey wants to see a slew of Gulf and other pipelines converge on its territory to ensure the world will never again be cut off from sufficient oil and gas.
Kuwait citizenship purge tops 50,000 as new decree tightens revocation rules
Kuwait has stripped more than 50,000 people of citizenship since September 2024 with the latest decree tightening revocation rules, DNA testing authorised and nationality decisions shielded from judicial review.