Asia Pacific

European Union leaders are meeting at Belgium’s 16th-century Alden Biesen castle for an informal “retreat” aimed at confronting a growing strategic concern: how to prevent the bloc from falling further behind the United States and China economically. The EU faces mounting external pressure from U.S. trade measures under …

Fareena Habib On 10 January, China, Russia, and Iran launched joint BRICS Plus naval exercises in the strategic waters of South Africa. It is being marked as a significant display of military cooperation among countries increasingly aligned against the policies of the administration of President Donald Trump. The …

U. N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has raised serious concerns about the financial health of the United Nations, warning of an “imminent financial collapse” due to unpaid fees and a budget rule that requires the U. N. to return unspent funds. His warning highlights a worsening liquidity crisis, particularly …

The U. S. and Iran are set to have talks in Oman on Friday, focusing solely on Iran’s nuclear program as Tehran has requested a change from Turkey to avoid discussing its ballistic missile program. Iran considers its missile capabilities to be a non-negotiable issue, maintaining that it …

Recent revelations from the U.S. Department of Justice regarding Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious business magnate convicted of running a sex trafficking ring targeting underage girls for powerful figures such as Prince Andrew and former President Bill Clinton, have shed light on disturbing connections with Israel’s Mossad. These documents …

Eng. Saleem Al-Batayneh More than six years ago, Jordan’s Economic and Social Council issued a warning in its landmark report The State of the Nation. It concluded that Jordan was suffering from a compounded, accumulated crisis—multi-layered, deeply interconnected, and inseparable in its economic and social dimensions. These overlapping …

Hadi Elis In January 2026, Kurdish diasporas across the world launched coordinated solidarity demonstrations in response to escalating violence against Kurds in Syria (Rojava) and Iran (Rojhelat). These mobilizations were triggered by what Kurdish organizations and human rights advocates describe as war crimes and crimes against humanity committed …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh In the final week of January 2026, the Kremlin was unusually crowded. Russian President Vladimir Putin received a succession of leaders from the Arab world, held calls with regional rivals, and quietly reinforced Moscow’s image as a power that speaks to everyone—at a time when …

Bridget Toomey A pro-Iran government in Baghdad will compromise US development plans for Iraq. The man Iraq’s Shia leadership picked as their candidate to lead the country, former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, won’t get an American nod of approval. Maliki was announced on January 24, two and a …