Category: World

Washington moved to reset the direction of its civil and military space ambitions after President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order in December 2025 committing the United States to a crewed moon landing by 2028 and the establishment of a sustained lunar outpost by 2030. The order places the Artemis programme at the centre of national strategy, couples it with an expanded role for nuclear power systems in space, and frames the effort as essential to maintaining strategic advantage

Canada faces another period of economic uncertainty as the U. S. Supreme Court weighs a case that could reshape the legal foundations of tariffs imposed during Donald Trump’s presidency, reviving questions about the stability of cross-border trade rules and the exposure of Canadian industries to abrupt policy shifts. The pending decision centres on the scope of presidential authority to levy tariffs under long-standing U. S. trade statutes, a judgment that could either reinforce executive discretion or impose tighter judicial limits.At

Washington has approved an arms package for Taiwan valued at about $11.1 billion, a move described by officials as the largest single tranche of US military support for the island and one that has prompted a sharp diplomatic response from Beijing. The decision underscores a widening security rift across the Taiwan Strait as pressure on Taipei intensifies through military drills, air patrols and naval manoeuvres.The package, authorised late on Wednesday, brings together a mix of air defence, anti-ship and command-and-control

False and misleading content swept across social media after a powerful earthquake struck northern Japan on December 8, compounding public anxiety at a moment when accurate information was critical for safety and relief. Fabricated videos, doctored images and spurious claims about casualties and infrastructure damage circulated widely within hours, prompting warnings from authorities and media organisations that the online information environment had become polluted alongside the physical disruption caused by the quake.False posts flooded feeds after Japan quake, a pattern

President Donald Trump’s administration has broadened the scope of U. S. travel restrictions by adding seven countries and Palestinian Authority travel documents to a full-entry ban that will take effect on January 1, 2026, tightening immigration and border policies that have been a cornerstone of his presidency. The expanded restrictions come as part of a wider strategy the administration says is aimed at bolstering national security and addressing deficiencies in vetting and information-sharing with foreign governments.The proclamation signed by Trump

Federal authorities in Washington have issued a fresh warning to consumers and financial institutions as cyber-enabled fraud intensifies during the year-end shopping season, highlighting a sharp rise in sophisticated scams powered by artificial intelligence and automation. The U. S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection said the scale and complexity of digital fraud now pose systemic risks to household finances and payment networks, with losses running into tens of billions of dollars annually.Treasury flags rising

Eastern European Union governments are coordinating a collective push to unlock larger and faster streams of funding to strengthen military defences against Russia, as leaders from eight frontline states meet in Helsinki to align priorities and influence the bloc’s budget and lending rules.Discussions among leaders from Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania focus on closing gaps in air defence, long-range fires, ammunition stocks and military mobility, while ensuring that national spending plans are reinforced by EU-level

Kim Kardashian switching on a smartphone camera and pitching pyjamas to a scrolling audience has become a telling marker of how live shopping is edging into the American retail mainstream. Earlier this month, the entrepreneur and media figure hosted a TikTok Live session promoting sleepwear, slippers and coordinated sweat sets, adopting the cadence of a television infomercial but delivering it through a platform built on short videos and creator culture.The appearance underscored TikTok’s steady push to normalise live commerce in

United States President Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday in the Southern District of Florida, seeking up to $10 billion in damages over the broadcaster’s editing of his January 6, 2021 speech that preceded the storming of the US Capitol. The complaint, lodged as a 33-page legal action, alleges that the BBC manipulated footage in a documentary to create a misleading impression of his remarks, injuring his reputation and violating Florida’s Deceptive

Hassan Allam Construction has secured a contract valued at about $250 million to deliver the new headquarters of the African Export-Import Bank in Egypt, marking one of the most significant institutional construction awards in the country’s financial infrastructure sector this year. The project will house Afreximbank’s global headquarters and is positioned as a flagship development reflecting the lender’s expanding role in trade finance across the continent.The agreement covers the turnkey construction of a comprehensive campus, including the main headquarters building

Alphabet Inc is positioned to record a sizeable paper profit after a major insider share transaction at SpaceX valued the aerospace company at about $800 billion, a level that could significantly uplift the book value of Alphabet’s long-held stake in the Elon Musk-led venture. The valuation, anchored by a tender offer pricing shares at roughly $421 each, more than doubles earlier benchmarks and underscores the growing financial impact of SpaceX’s private market performance on one of the world’s largest technology

China has imposed sanctions on a retired senior Japanese military officer, accusing him of colluding with what Beijing describes as separatist forces in Taiwan, a move that underscores sharpening tensions in East Asia and Beijing’s growing readiness to penalise foreign individuals it says undermine its sovereignty claims.The Chinese foreign ministry announced punitive measures against Katsutoshi Kawano, who served as Japan’s chief of joint staff until his retirement in 2019 and was the country’s top uniformed officer at the time. Officials

Google has expanded its cultural mapping ambitions with the debut of the Google Art Project, a digital platform that places high-resolution artworks and virtual museum galleries within reach of anyone with an internet connection. The initiative extends the company’s mapping tools beyond streets and landmarks, offering close-up access to paintings, sculptures and artefacts held by leading museums across Europe, North America and Asia.Launched as a collaboration with major cultural institutions, the project allows users to explore museum interiors using Street

The United States government’s approval for Nvidia to export its powerful H200 artificial intelligence chips to China has upended expectations across global technology markets and deepened debate over export controls and strategic competitiveness. President Donald Trump confirmed that U. S. authorities will permit sales of Nvidia’s H200 processors to approved Chinese customers under a regime that levies a 25 per cent levy on such transactions, a policy intended to balance economic interests with national security priorities. Trump’s announcement excluded the

A proposal in the House of Lords to restrict the use of virtual private networks by under-16s has reignited debate over child online safety, digital privacy and the enforceability of age-based controls. The amendment, put forward during scrutiny of the government’s online safety framework, aims to prevent children from using VPNs to bypass age checks on social media, adult content platforms and other regulated online services.Supporters of the move argue that VPNs have become a routine tool for circumventing safeguards

Pick n Pay has accelerated its push into in-store financial services, positioning its supermarket network as a bridge between formal banking and millions of consumers who remain underserved by traditional financial institutions across South Africa. The retailer says the initiative is aimed at turning everyday shopping locations into secure, affordable access points for essential financial services, particularly in townships, rural areas and lower-income urban neighbourhoods.The group’s strategy centres on embedding payments, savings and transaction services into its existing retail footprint,

European Union regulators have opened a fresh competition investigation into Google, examining whether the search engine is undermining publishers and content creators by failing to pay fairly for their material while setting conditions that could disadvantage those unwilling to share content for artificial intelligence training.The European Commission said the inquiry will focus on Google Search and YouTube, with particular attention on how content is used to train and power AI-driven services. Officials are assessing whether Google has imposed unfair terms

Warnings that Japanese companies face existential risks if supply chains linked to China are disrupted are sharpening the debate in Tokyo over economic security, diversification and the costs of geopolitical strain in East Asia.Hidetoshi Tashiro, chief economist at Infinity LLC and chief executive of Terra Nexus Project Management Services, said the most serious danger from worsening Japan–China relations lies not in tariffs or diplomacy but in the dense web of supply chains binding the two economies. He argued that nearly

Australia has begun enforcing a landmark social media restriction aimed at limiting how platforms interact with users under 16, triggering debate among teenagers who question whether the policy addresses the realities of online life or simply shifts responsibility away from technology companies.The measures, introduced through updates to the Online Safety Act and reinforced by regulatory directives to major platforms, require companies such as Meta, TikTok, Snap and X to strengthen age-verification processes, restrict targeted features for minors, and face heavy

A powerful earthquake measuring 6.7 on the moment magnitude scale struck northeastern Japan on Friday, triggering a tsunami advisory and prompting authorities to urge coastal communities to remain alert while assessments were carried out. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake occurred offshore, with tremors felt across parts of the Tohoku region, an area that remains closely monitored because of its seismic history.Officials said the advisory was issued as a precautionary measure, a standard response when earthquakes of this strength

Nairobi — Kenya’s commercial banks have begun to implement a revised risk-based credit pricing framework that standardises how loan interest rates are set, driven by directives from the Central Bank of Kenya aimed at enhancing transparency and aligning borrowing costs with market conditions. Banks are now required to price variable-rate, Kenya-Shilling loans using a common reference rate plus a risk-adjusted premium, a shift designed to tighten the link between monetary policy and retail lending and improve comparability for customers.

Global development officials are assessing faltering progress on sustainable development targets as the United Nations Development Programme warns that economies and communities face mounting pressures from climate shocks, widening inequality, and geopolitical instability. The review comes at a time when the Global Environment Outlook 7 underscores the scale of environmental disruption, projecting that unchecked climate change could shave about 4 per cent off annual global GDP by 2050 while driving loss of life and amplifying forced migration. The