Loading
Description: South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung met with Vietnamese leader, To Lam, in Hanoi, where they signed 12 memorandums of understanding for enhancing cooperation on nuclear energy, security and high – tech development. The leaders are aiming to expand industrial cooperation as South Korea is Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, having multiple manufacturing companies operating in the country. The leaders also discussed close cooperation in the semiconductor industry with South Korea’s Samsung potentially expanding its area of operations in Vietnam. Impact: South Korea and Vietnam are likely to expand their energy and technological partnership in a
Description: US president Donald Trump announced late on Tuesday that upon receiving an official request from Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, he indefinitely extended the ceasefire with Iran in order for Pakistan to continue its mediation efforts. The announcement accommodated the Pakistani mediators while being rejected by Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, who stated that the US is employing an elaborate postponement to rearm and prepare for a surprise attack. He also added that Iran never requested an extension of the ceasefire and it was a unilateral decision made by the American president. Several attacks on m
Description: In its most serious reversal of domestic policy, Japan’s government has lifted the ban on lethal weapons, allowing the country to produce and export military equipment ranging from naval destroyers, drones, missiles, and fighter jets. Prime minister Sanae Takaichi stated that Japan would remain in a self – defensive posture, however, it would increase its capability to defend itself and develop the country’s military industrial complex. The move reversed eight decades of pacifist constitutional policy which obliged the country not to develop or export lethal weapons. The policy measure arrives as Japan concluded a historic $6.5 billion defense agreement to devel
Description: Myanmar’s military president, General Min Aung Hlaing, invited rebel groups such as the Karen National Union, the Chin National Front and the All-Burma Students’ Democratic Front to join a potential peace framework which is expected within the next 100 days. Hlaing stated that rebel groups in the country would have more than 3 months to officially join multilateral negotiations which would be led in the framework of peace, economic and infrastructure development for ending the civil war in the country. The National Unity Government, the leading anti – military group in the country, renounced the proposal and stated that alongside another rebel group, the People’
Description: Romanian prime minister, Ilie Bolojan, faces a potential no confidence vote after the leftist Social Democrat party threatened to withdraw 6 ministers out of the ruling four party coalition. Bolojan faces increased scrutiny over the proposed austerity measures and tax increases aimed to decrease Romania’s surging budget deficit of 9%, one of the highest among European Union members. The far – right Alliance for Uniting Romanians, led by George Simion, who lost the presidential elections at the end of last year to Nicusor Dan, also threatened to file a no confidence motion against Bolojan’s government. Protracted political crisis could block Romania’s 11 billion
Description: Cuba’s foreign ministry’s under director of Cuba – US affairs, Alejandro Garcia, confirmed that Cuban officials met with representatives from the US State Department in Havana, including meetings with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of the former president Raul Castro. The negotiations focused on the US oil blockade of the island country following the capture of the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro earlier this year. The meeting also arrives as Cuban president Miguel Diaz Canel exchanged threats with US president Trump who threatened to invade the island if Cuba failed to agree to US conditions to lift the oil blockade. The island has been grappled
Description: Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, stated that Iran would not negotiate under threats or duress and currently the Islamic Republic is still deliberating whether to send a delegation to Islamabad for the second round of peace talks with the US. Tensions escalated with the double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and especially after US Marines seized the Iranian vessel in the Omani part of the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan intensified security measures in the capital awaiting the US and Iranian delegations as diplomatic efforts intensified over the past couple of weeks. Turkey also expressed optimism that both sides would determine that diplomatic engagement i
Description: Nigerian terrorist group, Boko Haram, issued a warning to Nigeria’s government that more than 400 women have been kidnapped and held at an undisclosed location. Boko Haram has requested a bounty of more than three million dollars for the kidnapped women which is to be delivered with the next 72 hours while also threatening the government to execute the prisoners. Borno South Youth Alliance, a separate civil society and advocacy group, stated that current efforts to mediate the release of the hostages are at a standstill, while the group also stated that Boko Haram delivered an exact number of 416 women kidnapped from Ngoshe in Mar 2026. Nigeria is facing a secu
Description: Companies and businesses that conducted financial transactions following US president Trump’s tariffs were eligible for returns under the newest decision by the SCOTUS and the US Court of International Trade. Statistical data showed that more than 330 thousand companies conducted over 53 million shipments under the tariff law amounting to approximately $166 billion. Companies and representatives would need to register on the US Customs and Border Protection website for the returns, create a profile and list declarations of all the products involved in the tariff financial transactions. Individual consumers hit by the higher prices of goods through the tariffs ar
Description: Conducting a joint operation, Congolese and Ugandan soldiers rescued more than two hundred hostages held in captivity by the Islamic State affiliate, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). The operation took several hours and was conducted near the Epulu river in northeastern DR Congo. Many of the captured civilians were found in a fragile state, tortured or forced into sexual slavery with respiratory and other forms of illness. ADF has been intensifying its operations in the conflict – laden parts of the DR Congo’s eastern provinces for more than 2 years. Uganda and the DRC concluded a security partnership in 2021 to force the ADF out of Congo, however, joint mili