Asian Security and Middle East Tensionsactive

The Japan-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in the Philippines, and Foreign Minister Mogi expressed his intention to deepen cooperation with ASEAN countries in areas such as security.

Plus, retirement accounts are being supercharged with startup stocks, and a small beach town is in turmoil over a $545,000 email phishing scam.

The Democratic establishment has faced growing pressure to change its stance on Israel. It has finally begun to do so.

Donald Trump has said that Pickaxe Mountain in Iran could be bombed imminently by the US. The fortified site, buried deep underground, is believed to be an enrichment facility. Story by Ellen Gainsford.

The structures are quickly assembled and can protect against explosions, building collapses, and toxic agents

In key swing districts across the country, Democratic Party leaders have backed centrist candidates with carefully calibrated positions on charged issues such as artificial intelligence and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. William Lawrence is running a very different campaign. In a purple congressional district in Michigan, Lawrence, a co-founder of the progressive Sunrise Movement, is calling for a moratorium on new data centers and labeling Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide. The approach mirrors that of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has endorsed Lawrence. Both men are making strong showings in the polls, and now the centrists are fighting back. A shadowy group is running misleading ads that question Lawrence’s progressive bona fides. “We have seen this in many cases in other elections this cycle — that corporate centrists are attacking progressives for not being progressive enough.” The line of attack is telling, Lawrence told The Intercept. “People are sick of the status quo,” he said. “We have seen this in many cases in other elections this cycle — that corporate centrists are attacking progressives for not being progressive enough. And it shows you what voters are hungry for is change.” An unabashed progressive, Lawrence breaks the mold of the typical candidate to run for a seat like Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, which is centered around the state capital of Lansing and the college town of East Lansing. The district was previously represented by centrist Democrat Elissa Slotkin, who now serves in the Senate, and is currently held by Republican first-term Rep. Tom Barrett. Related Democrats Are Desperate to Flip an Arizona House Seat. They’re Rallying Around a Former Republican. The other two candidates running in Michigan’s August 4 primary hew closer to Slotkin’s mold. Bridget Brink is a former U. S. ambassador to Ukraine who quit in protest of President Donald Trump’s policies on the war with Russia, and Matt Maasdam is a former Navy SEAL who served as a military aide to President Barack Obama. Unlike Lawrence, both declined to call Israel’s war on Gaza genocide at a debate. Lawrence also comes from a starkly different background: While Brink and Maasdam traveled the corridors of power in Washington, Lawrence focused on building grassroots power, first through his role co-founding the youth-led Sunrise Movement, which backed the Green New Deal, and more recently helping found the Michigan Rent Is Too Damn High coalition. Mutual Endorsements On July 7, Lawrence and El-Sayed announced that they were endorsing each other. Like Lawrence, El-Sayed is running in the progressive lane in his primary while arguing that it will not hurt his electability in the general. “We have a lot of people who want to back both of us,” Lawrence said. “Given that the two of us both prioritize having a very robust, grassroots campaign rather than just relying on tens of millions of dollars in dark money like our respective opponents, it is especially beneficial for us to be able to integrate our grassroots operations.” Although no independent polls of the race have been released, Lawrence’s campaign commissioned one showing him leading the pack. Another commissioned by Brink’s campaign showed her ahead. Now that Lawrence has demonstrated that he has a shot at winning, the attacks have begun. The Congressional Black Caucus is targeting him over a podcast episode in which Lawrence remarked to a Black anti-war activist during a conversation on organizing that he was frustrated with the position of some older Black political leaders backing “capitalist, imperialist American power.” Lawrence says his comments have been misrepresented while apologizing for his choice of words. Related Who’s Spending in Your Congressional Election? We Tracked the Front Groups Fueling the 2026 Midterms. Meanwhile, a super PAC called the Crush MAGA PAC is targeting Lawrence, rather than the Republican holding the seat. The group has plowed more than $500,000 into a highly misleading ad that accuses Lawrence of investing in “Wall Street, big oil, and data centers” and campaigning against Democrats for supporting the 2024 Uncommitted movement, which sought to pressure party candidates over Israel’s war on Gaza. The investments highlighted in the anti-Lawrence ad make up a small portion of the $11,000 Lawrence has invested in a mutual fund; the mutual fund, not Lawrence himself, chose them. And, for his part, Lawrence eventually supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. The source of the ad campaign against Lawrence is unclear, but he has speculated that it may be powered by pro-Israel donors. Crush MAGA PAC is affiliated with another group called the Save Democracy PAC, which has received money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC, United Democracy Project. United Democracy Project, however, denied getting involved in the Michigan congressional race. (Neither Crush MAGA PAC nor Save Democracy PAC responded to requests for comment.) If Lawrence succeeds in the primary, he will have to win in a general election in a purple district. He believes he can show that progressive candidates can win in split districts, pointing to the election and reelection of Congressional Progressive Caucus member Rep. Chris Deluzio in a swing district in Pennsylvania. “He’s not throwing people under the bus, and he has joined the progressive caucus, and he has now turned that into a more comfortable district. He has been winning with healthy margins,” Lawrence said. “That is what I hope to be able to do as well.” The post William Lawrence Is Running in a Purple Michigan District — on His Pro-Palestine Credentials appeared first on The Intercept.

Sergey Lavrov and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held their talks on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations events in Manila

Igor Kastyukevich said that Russia will continue to liberate territories from the Kiev regime’s power

Hassan Ghashghavi suggested that the US leader should look for more effective ways "to get out of the swamp he is in"

Arizona's primary election set several key matchups in the state's general election in November and signaled the influence home-grown Turning Point USA has in the swing state.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tells US senators that the war has cost the US $37.5bn so far.

At the remote, mountainous frontier where the mighty Mekong carves the border between Myanmar and Laos, planners have sketched the outline of a mega dam. It would be the largest hydropower project ever built on the river’s mainstream outside China, but analysts suspect the study into it may matter more than the dam itself. A 34-month joint feasibility study for the 2,790-megawatt project was agreed on July 4 during Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing’s state visit to Vientiane. Officials from both...

The American tech giant is rolling out its 'AI Overview' and 'AI Mode' in France starting Wednesday, bringing artificial intelligence tools already available in other countries. Media outlets and website publishers fear they could lose a significant portion of their web traffic.

Sergey Lavrov and Ishaq Dar took part in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministerial events in Manila

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Wednesday vo...

India's opposition MPs are resounding the protesters' demands for the resignation of the education minister. Pradhan has finally addressed the protests calling on him to step down. DW has the latest.

Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus D&S) to collaborate on long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The agreement covers operations combining the Eurodrone with KHI’s P-1 maritime patrol aircraft, with particular attention to anti-submarine warfare. KHI is Japan’s second-largest defense contractor. Airbus D&S is […] The post Airbus, Kawasaki team up to send Eurodrone sub-hunting appeared first on Asia Times.

Russian forces attacked populated areas in Odesa region with strike drones, killing one woman.

Ariadna Montiel, national president of Morena, warned that all their candidates for the 2026-2027 electoral process will be subjected to a review by the Candidacy Integrity Verification Commission of the National Electoral Institute (INE). "We are going to put all possible candidates and all alternates under review. It involves a universe of more than 20,000 primary and alternate candidates. It is a very broad review, but it has to be done," she mentioned at a press conference. Montiel Reyes specified that, before reaching the INE's Candidacy Integrity Verification Commission, Morena intends to conduct two evaluations of all profiles: one carried out by the party itself, with open data, and another requested from the federal security cabinet. "In addition to the issue of alleged links to crime, we must check if they are not aware of political violence against women, violence against women, corruption... other things that are also very serious," she added. The national leader of Morena detailed that before the electoral process begins, in September, the party will seek to have an initial screening with open-source review conducted by the party on each of the six candidates who will participate in their surveys. Once this first filter of the six candidates per survey is completed, Morena will request information from federal security cabinet institutions about those candidates...

Andy Burnham isn’t considering an increase to the UK’s cap on tax-free earnings, according to people familiar with the matter, as the new prime minister tries to signal fiscal discipline to skeptical bond markets.

OpenAI, the American company developing the generative AI "ChatGPT," announced on the 21st that an incident occurred where their AI model, still in development, unintentionally launched a cyber attack on another company. The company is increasingly concerned, calling it an unprecedented case, and addressing the challenges posed by the increasing capabilities of AI is a key issue.

Figure comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham seeks to cut cost of living

Growing unemployment and anger over education system pose serious challenges to premier

Major Japanese oil companies Taiyo Oil, Idemitsu Kosan, and ENEOS said that the decision to purchase Russian oil was made to diversify supply sources

Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, stated this Wednesday, during the ASEAN ministers' meeting, that Washington keeps the door open for dialogue with Tehran, although he accused the Iranian regime of not taking negotiations aimed at achieving peace in the Middle East seriously. "We are willing to dialogue with Tehran," Rubio said, questioning the lack of commitment from Iranian authorities to the diplomatic process. Meanwhile, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) completed its eleventh wave of bombings against military targets in Iran, after at least four Saudi crude oil tankers returned on their route in the Red Sea following threats from Houthi rebels, backed by Tehran. Additionally, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reported that the Pentagon has increased the cost of the war against the Iranian regime to 37.5 billion dollars and requested additional resources from Congress to sustain military operations. From Washington, Donald Trump assured that he is willing to hold talks with the terrorist group Hezbollah if Lebanese President Joseph Aoun requests such negotiations. According to him, the goal would be to support negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to promote lasting peace in Lebanese territory. Below is minute-by-minute coverage: /america/world/2026/07/22/war-in-the-middle-east-oil-exceeded-u…

When global index provider MSCI warned in January that Indonesia risked being demoted from emerging to frontier market status, it unleashed a wave of volatility, sell-offs and wild trading swings. Six months on, Jakarta’s investment chief argues the real story is not about whether the country can earn investors’ trust. “For Indonesia, this is not about short-term market status,” Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani told This Week in Asia in written replies to questions. “It is about building a...

A leading Chinese bank has processed the largest cross-border transactions yet via mBridge, a multilateral central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform, marking a major milestone for the emerging payment network as well as Beijing’s global yuan ambitions. Two transactions, worth more than US$1.7 billion each, were carried out by the Bank of China’s Shenzhen and Fujian branches in June and July, respectively. They showed mBridge’s ability to support high-value cross-border settlements across...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Australia to give up “double standards” and join efforts to maintain the momentum of improving bilateral ties, as Canberra voiced concerns over Beijing’s military development and a recent missile test. In a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday, Wang said Canberra and Beijing should address differences on the basis of mutual respect and equality. “Both sides should seek common ground while managing disagreements and foster a...

French lawmakers have approved a ban on social media access for children under the age of 15, as concerns grow around the world over the impact social media have on the health and safety of minors.

Pete Hegseth said the cost was a “generational investment” that would strengthen the US military and ensure it did not fall behind rival nations.

Hong Kong travellers should be mindful of driving fatigue, unfamiliar road signs and their insurance coverage when going on road trips overseas, experts have warned after two traffic accidents involving city residents in Japan within a week. Ringo Lee Yiu-pui, honorary life president of the Hong Kong China Automobile Association, said on Wednesday that various factors could affect drivers’ concentration and energy when driving on foreign roads. He explained that car trips between places in a...

The chief of the Indonesian agency overseeing President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme said on Wednesday she had resigned, citing health reasons, the second leadership change at the beleaguered government body in just over a month. The ‌resignation of Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, who took over the National Nutrition Agency in June, comes after budget cuts and a criminal investigation into the free meals scheme, which has been dogged by logistical challenges, concerns about quality...

The price of oil rose again above USD 92 per barrel on Wednesday, driven by the military escalation between the United States and Iran, while financial markets closely followed the evolution of the conflict in the Middle East. North Sea Brent rose about 1.2% to USD 92.09 per barrel, its highest intraday level since June 11, after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Washington "is not finished" with its attacks on Iran. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advanced 1% and traded at USD 85.19. The rise in oil prices responded to the ongoing uncertainty about global energy supply. The U.S. military reported that it completed an eleventh consecutive night of bombings aimed at "further degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial maritime transport in the Strait of Hormuz," one of the main routes for global crude exports. Trump also heightened rhetoric against Yemen's Houthi rebels, allies of Iran. The president stated that he "will deal with" the group if they carry out the threat to block Saudi ports, a scenario that investors consider an additional risk to international oil trade. Analysts warned that an effective disruption of maritime routes could trigger a new surge in prices. Jay Hatfield, of Infrastructure Capital Ma…

Parliament backed both Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and his government after a nine-hour extraordinary debate over the Garden Helsinki funding controversy.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have signed a series of economic agreements aimed at deepening Berlin's access to Baku's gas reserves and transit routes. The deal comes as Germany works to diversify its energy supply, and as Azerbaijan balances a Europe-leaning Armenia against a recently repaired relationship with Moscow.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gets into a heated exchange after being called a failed leader by Michigan Senator.

Business owners in Pakistan are getting impatient for a chance to finally trade goods and oil along their long shared border with Iran.

Abbas Araghchi says he has kept on the move since being pulled from rubble after strike on first day of war Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described how he was pulled from the rubble of a leadership compound after the US-Israeli airstrike that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war, and has survived since by constantly moving around the capital, Tehran, by car. In an interview with the Iranian journalist Javad Mogouyi, Araghchi confirmed Israel and the US had accurate intelligence on the location of Khamenei and other officials, enabling them to target Iran’s senior leadership. Continue reading...

Also in this newsletter: more US-EU trade deal jitters

Indonesia’s long-stalled gas project in the North Natuna Sea is stirring back to life, with its new operator confirming that activities have resumed at a strategically sensitive field after years of commercial uncertainty and pressure from China. Prime Group, the Indonesian company that took over operatorship from Britain’s Harbour Energy, told This Week in Asia that “activities associated with the Tuna PSC have resumed in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements”. The PSC –...

Also in today’s newsletter: Ukraine military shake-up and Wirecard’s Marsalek

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, approved a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that includes the possibility of the kingdom obtaining the capacity to enrich uranium for civilian purposes, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to The Wall Street Journal. The decision, not yet officially announced, enables a 30-year agreement involving the participation of American companies in the development of the Saudi nuclear program. The sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly, indicated that the White House could formalize the announcement starting Wednesday. The deal would allow the construction of a uranium enrichment plant in Saudi Arabia after a joint study between both countries, reported The Wall Street Journal. The pact will be sent to the U.S. Congress for review, where it faces resistance among lawmakers concerned about the risk of nuclear proliferation. Several congressmen warned that facilitating the Saudis' historic desire to enrich uranium could trigger a new nuclear competition in the region. "Any active centrifuge on Saudi soil could open the door to a potential weapons program," warned non-proliferation experts consulted by the American newspaper. Saudi Arabia is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy…

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged this Tuesday that his administration lacks the legal authority to execute the arrest order issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the leader's scheduled visit in September to participate in the United Nations General Assembly. The statement marks a change from his remarks last week, when he said he was willing to do everything permitted by city law to carry out the detention and that this possibility was being analyzed by his legal advisors. In a video shared on social media, the mayor explained that his administration reviewed all available options to determine if it could comply with the ICC order. "As I have already said, I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, just as with any other person accused by the ICC. My administration has reviewed all legal avenues to determine if New York City could execute the ICC arrest order if Benjamin Netanyahu were to come here," he stated. However, he added that "it is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this order." Despite this, Mamdani reiterated his criticism of the Israeli government leader and stated that "Netanyahu is not welcome in the city of New..."

Guatemalan authorities are considering implementing a new fuel subsidy after the increase in international prices, driven by tensions in the Middle East, triggered immediate reactions in the country. The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) confirmed that volatility in international markets, associated with risks in the Strait of Hormuz, caused new increases at Guatemalan service stations. For his part, the head of that department, Erwin Barrios, stated that, by order of the Executive, the involved ministries were summoned to study economic support measures aimed at the population. "By presidential coordination, the involved ministers will meet to establish the possibility of new economic support for the benefit of the population, which, if appropriate, will be presented to the Congress of the Republic," he said through a message published on the MEM's social media. International context: conflict in the Strait of Hormuz and its impact The international scene is marked by instability in the Middle East, where the Strait of Hormuz remains under threats that raise the cost of oil in global markets. According to the MEM, internationally, between July 10 and 20, the price per gallon of premium gasoline increased by 39 cents, from 3.10 dollars to 3.49 dollars. Meanwhile, the regular gallon rose from 3…

The People’s Republic of China has used its statecraft to weaponize its trade with other countries on several occasions in recent years. Such behavior usually arises when the PRC interprets another country’s actions as hostile to its political interests and resorts to nonofficial sanctions, tariffs, regulations, and consumer boycotts that damage a host nation’s economy. […] The post How Australia resisted PRC economic coercion: lessons for others appeared first on Asia Times.

In addition to Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, other drug traffickers such as Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Alfredo Beltrán Leyva "El Mochomo," and Rubén Oseguera González "El Menchito" have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States. Below, EL UNIVERSAL provides a summary. Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Almost two years after being captured by U.S. authorities, drug trafficker Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced to life imprisonment last Monday for drug trafficking. But the sentence, handed down by U.S. judge Brian Cogan and which includes the confiscation of 15 billion dollars, is not the only one handed to Mexican cartel leaders in this country. Read also Sheinbaum reacts to "El Mayo's" statements after receiving life imprisonment; urges young people to stay away from organized crime Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán After escaping twice, first from the Puente Grande prison in Jalisco, and from the Federal Social Readaptation Center (Cefereso) No. 1 "El Altiplano," drug trafficker Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was recaptured on January 8, 2015. "Mission accomplished: We have him," announced then-Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto via X. After two years, on January 19, 2017, Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. On February 12, 2019, Cogan sentenced him to life plus 30 years, as he was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and involved in drug trafficking. Additionally, he was fined with a confiscation equivalent…

The National Authority of Public Services (Asep) ordered the electricity distribution companies Edemet, Edechi, and Ensa to implement a mandatory compliance action plan to correct deficiencies in service provision. The instruction also aims to strengthen customer service following the increase in citizen complaints registered through various channels. Just this week, Deputy Jhonathan Vega reported a suspected unjustified increase in electricity bills and urged affected users to file complaints with Asep. Additionally, on social media, complaints are multiplying about large discrepancies in electricity consumption, which varies significantly from month to month upwards, despite using the same electrical appliances and following the same routine. Zelmar Rodríguez Crespo, general administrator of Asep, reported that she held meetings with the top executives of Naturgy — the company operating Edemet and Edechi — and Ensa, demanding the immediate adoption of corrective measures and the fulfillment of verifiable commitments to address the deficiencies identified by the regulator. "We are continuously monitoring the cases reported by citizens through our various platforms. We demand immediate solutions to the inconsistencies that continue to affect customers and users of the electrical service," she affirmed.

Chinese artificial intelligence unicorn Moonshot AI, whose release of its Kimi K3 model last week sparked talk of another “DeepSeek moment”, has accelerated its fundraising ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, eyeing a new financing round as early as next month, a source says. The Beijing-based company was set to close its current funding round at a US$30 billion valuation later this month or early next month, according to a person familiar with the matter. It planned...

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Today is a make-or-break moment for the EU’s 21st sanctions package targeting Russia. After EU countries failed to agree on the ins and outs of the agreement last week, ambassadors are meeting again today in Brussels to finally clinch the deal. But can they hash out the remaining thorny issues? Next: European Parliament is trying to reengage with China after a seven-year diplomatic freeze. But despite the defrosting of relations, it’s clear lawmakers are unsure of what their stance toward Beijing should be. And finally, as Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” hits cinemas, a Hollywood culture war hits Greece. Do you have a Hollywood trope about a specific European country that grinds your gears? Let us know! Send us a message or voice note to our WhatsApp here or at +32 491 05 06 29. And for those intrigued about the new monkey species with Ian Wishart’s hairstyle found hiding in the DR Congo’s forests, you can read more here.

None of the options faced by Iranian leaders offer a clear path to victory, as the conflict with the United States continues.

International luxury car brands from Mercedes-Benz to Land Rover took a further beating in China last month as wealthy consumers continued to shun expensive petrol-powered vehicles. Struggling against competition from China’s rising electric vehicle (EV) powerhouses, international marques would find it more difficult to retain their market share and maintain profitability in the world’s largest automotive market, analysts said. According to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA),...

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024, accusing the Israeli leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A foreign ministers' meeting between the United States and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was held, and as Southeast Asian countries expressed concern over the rising tensions in the Middle East region, which is an important energy supplier, U.S. Secretary of State Rubio stated that he is "prepared to engage in constructive negotiations and dialogue" regarding the situation in Iran, emphasizing an approach aimed at a diplomatic resolution.

France will ban social media for under-15s from September 1, following the UK and Australia’s moves toward blanket bans.

The national leader of Morena, Ariadna Montiel Reyes, stated that Fernando Gómez-Mont, lawyer for former Baja California governor Ernesto Ruffo Appel, continues with the relationship of complicity and legal representation "of the same corrupt individuals from the past." Through a statement, the Morena leader added that the opposition contradicted itself when trying to portray the former state governor as innocent, when they previously insisted on investigating the fuel theft. "Calderón accused the former PAN governor of having a relationship of complicity with the Arellano cartel, but now, regardless of that, he brings up Ernesto Ruffo's defense," she commented. Read also Ariadna Montiel accuses PRIAN of disguising Ernesto Ruffo as a political prisoner; it is not persecution, but fuel theft, she says. Montiel Reyes recalled that Gómez-Mont was Secretary of the Interior during Felipe Calderón's administration (2006-2012), and other clients of his have been: Carlos and Raúl Salinas de Gortari Tomás Peñaloza, accused of defrauding IMSS Rogelio Montemayor, due to PemexGate Guillermo "Billy" Álvarez, former director of the Cruz Azul Cooperative "What we are seeing is a reaction from the right, from the opposition, in defense of a criminal, a fuel trafficker," concluded the leader of Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional. Join our channel ¡EL UNIVERSAL is now on Whatsapp!, from your mobile device, stay informed about the most relevant news of the day,…

Russia is no longer willing to return some occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any deal to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones, according to people close to the Kremlin.

Zohran Mamdani says his administration lacks the legal authority to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu but urges the US government to enforce the ICC's warrant.

In our recent newsletter piece about Meta Superintelligence, we expressed reasons to be optimistic on Meta AI. MSL now has many of the right ingredients to catch up with Anthropic and OpenAI to return to the frontier. However, we also briefly alluded to cultural issues plaguing Meta’s infrastructure teams. This article will dive into how these cultural issues have manifested into expensive missteps, whether it be with acquisitions like Rivos or strange choices on hardware architecture. We believe that Meta Infrastructure needs a cultural reset to better serve the Meta AI organization, especially the world class researchers who are at MSL. This is even more important as Meta embarks on the path of selling its compute to outside customers, not just serving captive internal users. Meta Infrastructure has become bloated, with middle managers expending resources on over-engineered technology solutions that lose sight of broader organizational needs. The company appears burdened by far too many disparate groups that are over-optimizing for certain metrics as opposed to delivering usable technology for the company as a whole. Middle managers will do everything to justify their proposals to protect their positions within Meta, which has become an extremely political organization. One big issue is Meta’s six-month performance review cycle, in which the bottom 10% to 15% are cut every review round. The result is an organization of employees that optimize for short-term wins rather than long-term strategies. Some managers push for highly visible projects that can be delivered quickly, a practice known as “window washing” and then promptly pivot or abandon them. Few openly challenge leadership, which leads to bad decisions going uncorrected. The whole system discourages long-term thinking and leads to risk-adverse behavior. Within Meta Infrastructure, supply chain teams also have little say over engineering teams. The result is technology decisions driven by political motivations rather than thoughtful software/hardware co-design for the broader company. Frequent pivots are also common. And because Meta has a reputation for throwing money at problems and executing at high speed, these U-turns end up becoming more costly versus other companies that take a more disciplined or conservative approach. Suppliers also lose faith when given design wins are later cancelled. This has lead to less supply chain prioritization on new designs. Some suppliers favor focusing on Amazon or Google designs due to Meta’s frequent reshuffling. A lot of Meta’s issues come from a lack of financial discipline, with managers creating new projects and headcount to fill out and justify the massive budgets given for initiatives like AI. It’s a repeat of what happened to Meta’s Reality Labs division, where billions of dollars were spent on engineers and R&D until layoffs, partly brought on by the company’s pivot to AI, slashed the team and their related projects starting in 2022 and continuing through this year. Rivos Acquisition First, one of Meta’s most recent missteps has been the more than $2.5 billion it sunk last year into the acquisition of Rivos, a chip startup. Few inside Meta’s chip division have a full understanding of why the company bought Rivos in the first place, and those who championed the deal internally have since gone quiet. The prevailing theory is that Meta had the money, the custom silicon space was heating up, and it was already licensing Rivos’ IP for a future chip, so leadership figured it might as well own Rivos’ technology outright than let anyone else have it. With the Rivos acquisition, Meta also gained the ability to bypass partners like Broadcom to manage the manufacturing and testing of their own custom chips, a practice known as customer-owned tooling. However, paying more than $2.5 billion for that privilege doesn’t make much sense either given that a COT team could be built from scratch for maybe $100 million a year or more. Although Meta wanted only Rivos’ accelerator and GPU team, the startup’s founders insisted on an all-or-nothing deal. Meta bought the entire company and then heavily cut employees in the parts it didn’t want. Source: SemiAnalysis, Rivos Some former Meta chip employees say the acquisition was led by Meta’s silicon chief, Yee Jiun Song, who pushed for the deal against the wishes of some of those under him but has since lost interest. The result is an organization that has rejected the transplant, leaving Rivos staff stuck to fend for themselves. Existing Meta chip managers treated the acquisition as a pool of free headcount, grabbing Rivos engineers to build out their own empires and pulling the original startup apart in different directions until little of it remained intact. The technology reasons behind the deal have evaporated just as quickly. Part of Meta’s original interest was that Rivos had SIMT core IP which was closer to a Nvidia-style GPU architecture in terms of programmability, whereas Meta’s own MTIA is SIMD. Yet after the deal closed, Meta cancelled the chip known as Olympus that was meant to use Rivos’ GPU IP, because the design was too aggressive in terms of system and package architecture as well as the software being far from ready. Instead, Meta is sticking with its existing chip architecture through MTIA 600. Meta still wants to develop a chip that incorporates Rivos technology, and it has created a new chip project known as Phoebe that is now scheduled to tape out in 2028. But not everyone inside Meta is optimistic about the project, and some believe it could eventually be cancelled as well. We have been updating our subscribers of the Accelerator Model about all the different architectures, floorplans, and volumes of various custom silicon. Meanwhile, incoming Rivos employees have gotten a crash course in Meta’s internal culture. Unlike more mature hardware organizations like Apple, Meta’s hardware roadmaps can change just as quickly as its software roadmaps, with constant pivots, meaning that something you are working on now could be pointless in six months. Many within Meta’s chip division say there is no clear org structure, no clear decision-making, and no clear ownership of which group does what. A funny example of the disfunction that is approachable to those not in the weeds, Meta doesn’t give most employees assigned desks; people who have been there over a year still scrounge daily for a workspace, where sometimes the desk has a monitor, sometimes the monitor has the wrong cable, and sometimes there is no monitor at all. Employees have formally applied for an assigned desk and been denied, even though desks sit empty everywhere. Finally, the Rivos acquisition has created dissatisfaction among the pre-existing Meta silicon team. Many Rivos engineers joined with higher compensation and titles without having the requisite responsibilities to justify such perks, and they were placed under existing Meta silicon employees. This resulted in decreased morale within the pre-existing team and also with incoming Rivos staff, who lack the power to make decisions. Since the beginning of this year, a number of Meta’s silicon engineers been leaving for startups or other well established companies like Arm and Nvidia. As we first reported for clients, around 30% of the Rivos engineers who joined Meta as part of the acquisition were let go in recent layoffs. Rivos co-founder Mark Hayter has already left. A number of former Rivos people have since departed Meta to join Gerard Williams’s new chip startup, Nuvacore, after their first tranche of RSUs vested in May. We believe that Rivos CEO and co-founder, Puneet Kumar, is also eyeing up an exit in a year or two when his shares in Meta fully vest. There is speculation he could join Rosaic Labs, a new chip startup co-founded by Amarjit Gill, an investor in Rivos and longtime collaborator with Puneet Kumar at SiByte, P. A. Semi, Apple and Agnilux. Grand Teton Now let’s talk about Meta’s AI server designs. Meta’s hardware decisions are largely driven by a TCO analysis comparing a matrix of workloads such as ranking-recommendation and GenAI against what vendors like Nvidia, AMD and their own custom silicon offering provide. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has issued an edict that the systems being designed have to work for the entire business, meaning they have to support not only Gen AI workloads but core ranking and recommendation systems as well. However, Meta has still opted for several “optimizations” for its GPU servers, all of which are strange choices that are often worse than the standard configurations that other hyperscalers purchase. Part of the issue stems from the company’s server teams being in completely separate organizations than their networking teams, with different goals and opinions. Meta engineers are also motivated by the idea of owning their own network operating system and hardware rather than rely on other companies. To recap, Meta’s H100 HGX server was called “Teton Grand” a design that has been contributed to OCP. The major difference from the standard HGX server is the addition of a switch tray in addition to the standard GPU and CPU head-node configuration. This switch tray houses four Broadcom PCIe switches, 16 SSDs and eight NICs. The function is to provide extra PCIe lanes so that the Grand Teton can add more SSDs per server. Source: Meta It was during the Hopper generation that Nvidia effectively designed out the need for standalone PCIe switches, by implementing PCIe switching functionality with its ConnectX-7 NIC. With 80x PCIe lanes available on the Intel Sapphire Rapids host CPU, Meta could have designed a box that connected the 2x 200G front-end NICs with eight lanes each, four lanes for various management and control, and 16 lanes for each of the eight ConnectX-7 NICs. This would leave them 32 lanes to connect to eight E1. S SSDs. So, in the end with Grand Teton Meta was able to squeeze out eight more SSDs per server. This came at the cost of greater server BOM, more power, and more integration complexity. Why did Meta want all this extra direct attached storage? The Infrastructure team provisioned this with the belief that more storage was needed for checkpointing training runs. However, in production, the storage wasn’t utilized nearly as much as anticipated by the model teams, which is why this design ended up being cancelled. This is one of several examples of lack of hardware and software co-design wasting resources. Meta’s additional justifications were that the design was easier to service and gave it the flexibility to use non-Nvidia NICs. Its engineers wanted to avoid handing over more business to Nvidia, particularly for networking, given that there already was a strong reliance on Nvidia for GPUs. But the Broadcom switches couldn’t be serviced anyway, and Meta’s software stack still depended on Nvidia’s version of RoCE, the networking protocol for GPU traffic, so Meta was never realistically going to switch NIC vendors. Ultimately, Meta paid more, had worse TCO, didn't reduce their reliance on Nvidia networking gear, and increased their reliance on Broadcom. Ariel The Grand Teton wasn’t a one off mistake on server design. This continued into the Blackwell generation with Meta’s custom GB200 Catalina rack, also known as “Ariel.” Ariel has one Nvidia B200 GPU paired with one Grace CPU, instead of the standard two B200 GPUs with one Grace CPU in the regular GB200 SKU that everyone else purchased. The implementation of this was simple: Ariel used the standard Bianca compute board used for GB200, with each board having one GPU depopulated. Source: Meta Meta engineers were concerned about the stability of the single rack GB200 NVL72. NVL72 systems are complex, involving things like a copper backplane that is the central hub where all the chips connect to and miles of dense c…

The House on Tuesday passed a stopgap measure that would fund federal agencies at existing levels through Dec. 4, in an effort to avert a potential government shutdown before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.  The lower chamber voted 220-205 to pass the measure. Six Democrats and Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.) joined…

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his city doesn’t have the ability to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Nearly 1,000 firefighters and dozens of aircraft battled a fast-moving wildfire in southern France on Tuesday after flames tore through 1,700 hectares in just a few hours, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. Authorities warned the blaze was spreading rapidly despite weakening winds amid extreme fire conditions.

When management pundits in the Harvard Business Review first asked whether China could innovate, most saw a nation condemned to mere imitation of the West. From “China Is Not About to Out-Innovate the US” (2010) to “Why China Can’t Innovate” (2014), Western commentators framed innovation as a cultural or institutional product – something that could thrive only […] The post Why the Americans are unlikely to outpace Chinese innovations appeared first on Asia Times.

Proposed rules would have US regulator block the entry of swarm-capable drones, mainly from China.

Pacific island nations are facing a security challenge in responding to China’s recent missile launch near Tuvalu and keeping their vision of a region as an “ocean of peace”, as analysts say the diverse nature of their ties with Beijing is complicating efforts towards a united response. On July 6, China said one of its navy’s nuclear submarines launched a “strategic missile” carrying a dummy warhead towards “relevant high seas of the Pacific Ocean”, describing the test as routine annual military...

LONDON — Andy Burnham has promised not to try and “out-Reform Reform” — but that hasn’t stopped him making clear overtures to Nigel Farage’s voters. The U. K.’s newly-installed prime minister faces an almighty challenge to bring Brits who drifted to Reform UK during Keir Starmer’s premiership back to the Labour fold. POLITICO’s Poll of Polls has the right-wing populist party a full five points clear of Labour at the time of writing. POLITICO rounded up seven times Burnham has tried convincing voters who’ve drifted to the right that Labour deserves a second chance. 1) Staying out of the EU Last year, the then-Greater Manchester mayor said he’d like to rejoin the European Union within his lifetime. But then reality struck. At the outset of his by-election campaign in Makerfield — which voted heavily for Brexit — this May, Burnham said reentering the Brussels orbit is a battle he wouldn’t fight. Despite calling Brexit “damaging,” he stressed “the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments.” Burnham said his own calls to strengthen democracy would be undermined “if we don’t respect that vote.” 2) Slamming the Whitehall ‘blob’ Burnham has attacked the British state, arguing real power is vested in around 50 people with “London-centric views” at the heart of officialdom. Though praising the civil service as “full of good people,” Burnham has said they’re held back by a “structure and the culture” which is “too adversarial.” Reform UK has also spent plenty of time pitching itself against the Whitehall machine. It has proposed a major civil service headcount reduction,giving ministers the power to fire civil servants and replacing the impartial top post of cabinet secretary with a political chief of staff. 3) Backing British Burnham wants to revive areas outside London which he argues the Westminster bubble has left behind for decades. He’s already started work on a No. 10 Downing Street North in Manchester tasked with regenerating towns, increasing public control of utilities and expanding industry, arguing that “growth cannot be ordered from the top down.” New Prime Minister Andy Burnham is applauded by members of the Cabinet as he arrives to hold his first Cabinet meeting at Downing Street on July 21, 2026 in London. | WPA pool photo by Eddie Mulholland/Getty Images But Burnham has also called for industrial policy to “safeguard sovereign manufacturing and production capability … in critical sectors like steel, defense, energy, food and farming.” Reform UK also takes a pretty forthright tone on economic sovereignty. Treasury Spokesperson Robert Jenrick says a Reform government will “unashamedly back British firms, buying British wherever possible.” Farage also backed the nationalization of British Steel days before Keir Starmer’s government passed emergency legislation giving ministers control of its operations in April 2025. 4) Keeping Shabana Mahmood’s immigration reforms Shabana Mahmood — who angered some in her own party with a push to tighten immigration rules — has been kept in the Home Office by Burnham to “finish the job.” The home secretary is trying to pass legislation that includes limiting how the European Convention on Human Rights applies to asylum cases, and increasing removals of people refused asylum. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood arrives at 10 Downing Street for Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first cabinet meeting, on July 21, 2026 in London. | Ben Montgomery/Getty Images Though these proposals attracted criticism from some Labour MPs, Burnham voted for Mahmood’s bill during its first stage in parliament. This suggests he wants to neutralize Reform UK’s ability to paint Labour as soft on the borders. 5) Proposing a coastal minister Wait and see if this one happens: Burnham talked about creating a minister for coastal communities. Under questioning from Labour MPs before he took power, Burnham suggested a distinct role in government that covers this brief. Labour won many seaside constituencies in their 2024 landslide — but those seats, which cover the East Anglia, Kent and Cornwall coastlines, are also vulnerable to Reform UK. Farage himself has made the seaside town of Clacton his political home as an MP (and now by-election candidate). 6) Praising Farage Burnham has said he wants to reduce political point-scoring, and started as he means to go on. “You’ve got to admire Farage’s communication skills,” he told the Times on the eve of becoming prime minister. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks during the inaugural Conservative Political Action Conference Great Britain in south-east London on July 17, 2026. | Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images For a party that’s painted the veteran Brexiteer as a soft-on-Putin populist, that’s at least a nod in the other direction. 7) Scrapping digital ID Burnham’s first big policy announcement was abolishing Keir Starmer’s scheme to introduce digital identification for all Brits. Ipsos polling earlier this year showed support for digital ID was mixed — but, among 2024 Reform UK voters, 63 percent opposed the scheme with just 23 percent in favor.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) argued with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday over whether the U.S. military achieved an "overwhelming victory" in Iran as he claimed in April. "You said, 'Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory.' You said Iran’s military had been rendered, 'combat ineffective for years to come,' and you stated…

Gavito: Israel will probably continue to push boundaries in Lebanon, making a complete withdrawal unlikely due to security concerns.

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has seized a cargo vessel suspected of vi...

The Superior Court of Accounts sent a team to the Yuscarán Municipal Mayor's Office to verify complaints about alleged improper use of public assets. The review includes files, administrative documentation, and interviews with municipal officials and members of the Probity and Ethics Committee. The intervention begins an investigation to determine whether municipal facilities were used for activities unrelated to public service, as indicated by complaints circulated in recent days. As part of the initial procedures, technical staff will conduct a diagnosis of ethical management within the municipality to identify possible violations of regulations governing public administration and to define the scope of a specific audit. Scope of the review The process involves reviewing files, administrative documentation, information requests, and interviews with municipal officials, as well as members of the Probity and Ethics Committee, with the purpose of reconstructing the facts and verifying if there are sufficient elements to deepen the investigation. The spokesperson for the Superior Court of Accounts, Rodolfo Isaula, explained that this preliminary phase will establish whether there were actions that contravene the legal provisions governing the management of state assets. To carry out the procedures, a team composed of around... was formed.

June trade statistics were announced, and the import volume of crude oil from the Middle East decreased by 40.6% compared to the same month last year due to the impact of the Iran situation. Additionally, the import volume of volatile oils including naphtha from the Middle East also decreased by 81.4%. On the other hand, the import volume of crude oil from the United States increased, and the trade balance, calculated as exports minus imports in June, resulted in a deficit of 406.9 billion yen.

According to the US military, the strikes targeted Iranian military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure

A leading Chinese brokerage house has ended market making for the mainland’s only South Korea-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF), as Beijing steps up efforts to stabilise its capital markets and protect retail investors amid volatility in its East Asian neighbour’s stock market. Shenzhen-headquartered China Merchants Securities withdrew as a liquidity provider for the Huatai-PineBridge China-Korea Semiconductor ETF barely a month after assuming the role on June 17, according to Shanghai Stock...

The struggle between the US and China over who will lead in artificial intelligence is one of the defining competitions of our time. In the second part of our exclusive interview with a key player defining Washington’s policy on AI, Jacob Helberg, US undersecretary of state for economic affairs, discusses America’s efforts to rally its allies and cut dependence on China by securing alternative rare earth and critical mineral supply chains. By the time US President Donald Trump signed his...

Less than a month before the elections at the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC), the guild closed registrations on Tuesday to run for its leadership for the next two years, until 2028. Two lists entered the race to succeed Alfredo Echavarría, who took office in September 2024. The first registration, List A, was from Fernando García Huidobro, founder and president of the construction company Inarco. He is also a director of companies such as Unicon and Andes Solar. He was previously president of the Chilean-Peruvian Chamber of Commerce. List A also includes Carmen Paz Cruz as a candidate for vice president of the guild, Carlos Seguel Hintz as a candidate for social vice president, and Félix Escudero as a candidate for vice president of management. The candidacy highlights that its members represent “all areas of the guild's work: infrastructure, housing, and supplies.” “Today, a leadership is needed that projects what has been advanced and that, at the same time, responds to the real needs of our members. We are active entrepreneurs and know firsthand the challenges our industry faces because we live them every day. We want a close, representative Chamber capable of contributing to the country's growth and development,” said Fernando García-Huidobro. The second registration was from Raimundo Rencoret, List B, founding partner of Constructora Rencoret, who is now chairman of the board of the Mutu…

Latest trade measure intended to push companies towards manufacturing medications in the US

The Tokyo metropolitan government wants workers to stop wearing suits and ties and opt for T-shirts, sneakers, and shorts.

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's bourse operator on Wednesday activated ...

fairydust@yna.co.kr (END)

The US military says the strikes "are designed to continue degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz"

The cost of the United States’ war in Iran has risen to US$37.5 billion so far, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday, as he faced sceptical lawmakers for the first time since heavy bombings resumed to seek urgent funding for the unpopular conflict. With just six months before midterm elections in which US President Donald Trump’s Republicans may face an uphill battle to keep their House of ‌Representatives and Senate majorities, Democrats are riding high in public opinion polls as...

This is a breaking news story.

US Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is also pushing for more funding for the war. It comes as the US military is striking Iran for the 11th consecutive night. DW has the latest.

As reported by the Strana publication, the move could potentially provoke serious conflict within military leadership, especially over defense budget management

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted on Tuesday that Iran was on the defensive, even as he declined to offer a timeline for when the war might end — and acknowledged that Tehran still poses a threat in the region. Iran’s military capabilities are “at the weakest point militarily” after nearly two weeks of new American airstrikes, Hegseth said. And he insisted that the White House is achieving its objective of preventing Iran from rebuilding its nuclear weapons programs and terrorizing countries throughout the Middle East. “They still have capabilities, no doubt,” he told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “But the amount of damage that we’ve done to them over the course of these series of operations has put them in the worst place they’ve ever been.” Hegseth’s appearance before the panel represented an attempt by the administration to sell the unpopular conflict as a necessary expense, one that the Defense secretary said has now totaled about $37.5 billion over the last five months. He pressed lawmakers to supply supplemental funds as soon as possible to cover those expenses and preserve military readiness. But Senate Democratic appropriators questioned both the success of the war so far and the need for more military money, citing $75 billion in unused funds from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They flatly rejected the administration’s request for $67 billion in supplemental funds before the end of the fiscal year in Sept…

President Donald Trump said the US was "not finished" attacking Iran on Tuesday as the conflict widened, with Tehran launching strikes on Gulf states and its Houthi allies threatening to blockade Saudi ports. The escalation came amid fresh US strikes, rising military casualties and continued diplomatic contacts through mediators.

The US plans to impose a 100% tariff on generic drugs imported to the US beginning in August 2028, President Donald Trump said in a social media post Tuesday.

China’s drug regulator has for the first time approved a novel, globally trialled medicine ahead of authorities in the United States, Japan and Europe, marking a “historic breakthrough” as the country doubles down on biopharmaceuticals as one of its growth engines. The drug was filed for market approval in multiple countries, and “China was the first in the world to approve it”, Xu Xiaoqiang, head of chemical drugs registration at the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), told state...

India’s renewed push to replace critical imports with locally manufactured products is creating a new cohort of stock market winners.

The National Electoral Institute (INE) formalized the update of the country's electoral geography with the publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) of the results of the 2025-2026 Reorganization Project, through which 307 electoral sections were redefined across the country. According to the INE, the new configuration aims for each section to meet the legal range of between 100 and three thousand voters, as well as to facilitate voting, improve electoral logistics, and provide ease of internal transit and availability of sites to set up polling stations. The project was developed in three stages. First phase: the Executive District Boards prepared 307 scenarios, of which 299 were recommended. Second phase: the Local Executive Boards presented 50 additional proposals, and the Local Surveillance Commissions supported 68 of them. Third phase: the National Surveillance Commission incorporated nine more scenarios into the analysis. Read also INE regularizes production of new Voter Credential model; begins gradual reduction of delivery times After its development, it was determined that 286 sections have higher-scoring scenarios and 21 were recommended by surveillance commissions. The INE assured that the new configuration will allow for a more efficient and accessible environment for citizens, by facilitating the installation of polling stations and internal transit within the sections. Join ...

The Lebanese army has begun deploying in three southern towns as part of a US-backed framework agreement with Israel.

A high-ranking Iranian source says this could be the case if London joins the US war against the Islamic Republic