Escalating Global Tensions and Conflictsactive

The 30-minute simulated disruption was part of the island’s effort to test and build people’s resilience in the face of a potential Chinese attack.

Export revenue fell by 38.4% from $326.9 mln to $201.5 mln

Students in the eastern Indian state marched on the Jharkhand assembly Monday, with several on hunger strike, demanding the state scrap exams run by a private testing company they accuse of irregularities.

The United States is not disengaging from Asia and is instead "digging in" to maintain a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, but wants its partners to shoulder more responsibility for their defense, a senior Pentagon official said on Monday. Seeking to counter concerns about Washington’s reliability, Elbridge Colby, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, reiterated the US interest in the region as he called for greater burden-sharing and "partnership, not dependency". "America is...

A giant “Free Ukraine” banner that had hung in the center of Kosovo’s capital for more than four years was removed after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this weekend that Kyiv’s position on Kosovo’s independence remains unchanged.

In mid-July 2026, the Food and Drug Administration in the United States (FDA) approved a pill that successfully reduced cholesterol levels more effectively than statins, the most common medication for treating this medical condition. This is the drug enlicitide, sold in the U.S. as Lipfendra, and produced by the pharmaceutical company Merck. According to the results of its clinical trials, this medication managed to reduce LDL levels — the "bad" cholesterol — to 50 or 60. This is thanks to its ability to inhibit the PCSK9 protein. American doctors highlighted the drug, especially after the update of the new cholesterol management guidelines published by the American Heart Association, which state that people should keep their LDL levels below 70 to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The effects of enlicitide, the drug that reduces cholesterol At the end of 2025, the pharmaceutical company Merck published the results of one of its 24-week clinical trials. A total of 2912 people participated, who took the pill daily. This demonstrated that the medication can reduce LDL cholesterol levels by up to 60%. Regarding side effects, there were no differences between the drug and the placebo. 9% of patients experienced dizziness and 7% diarrhea. The results achieved by the drug were the same as injectable medications q…

According to Rodion Miroshnik, Germany has now chosen a strategy of prolonging the investigation

According to the Central Election Commission data, the majority of polling stations will be in Eurasia, where 237 sites are set to open across 84 nations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a US-led Gaza plan endorsed by Hamas, putting distance between himself and President Donald Trump as he tries to shore up his base ahead of close elections. “Netanyahu is willing to break ties with Trump over the 15-point Gaza peace deal to gain support from the far-right members of his coalition,” FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Philip Turle says.

Greenland’s government says no approval was granted after US firm Greenland Energy brought equipment ashore for exploratory drilling. We discuss the situation with Lukas Wahden, Associate Fellow with the Russia Program at George Washington University.

European People’s Party leader Manfred Weber has called for the swift establishment of migrant return hubs in Africa after tens of thousands of unauthorized migrants surged into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in late July. In an op-ed for German outlet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that was published Monday, conservative boss Weber wrote: “Ceuta has shown that close cooperation with neighboring countries can work. Morocco immediately took people back. No one was able to travel onward into the Schengen area” and, he added, “Europe must quickly establish return hubs in Africa.” After tens of thousands forced their way into Ceuta — which is situated in North Africa — several international leaders pointed the finger at Spain’s left-wing government and its migration policy. Madrid had previously granted legal status to half a million unauthorized migrants. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing government are among the harshest critics, with Rome introducing border controls for travelers from Spain on Friday and sparking retaliation from Madrid. Weber echoed proposals made last week by EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner, arguing that countries outside the bloc could be offered closer trade ties, economic collaboration and legal migration opportunities in exchange for accepting the installation of return hubs. “Migrants who have no right to remain must leave Europe — no ifs, ands or buts!” he wrote, adding that returns must no longer depend on the political will of individual member countries. Weber also rejected internal border controls within Europe as a long-term solution. “They may be necessary in exceptional situations. But they do not address the root cause of the problem … There can therefore be only one answer: strong, joint European protection of the external border.” In early June, the European Parliament and European Council announced new EU rules on migrant returns, including removals to countries outside the bloc in return hubs. Weber also argued that the Ceuta crisis, which left around 100 dead, was the result of unilateral national action and said that the Spanish government’s “political signals” have had “an immediate impact on migration routes.”

A British detective told the BBC how a six-year investigation provided answers to a daughter about her father's disappearance.

Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei reassured that there is no cause for concern regarding Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, asserting that the agreement is not aimed at Iran

Regions home to around 900 million people experienced their hottest July on record in 2026, including in the Sahel, Central America, France and Spain, according to analysis of Copernicus data.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin emphasized that Russia’s principles and approaches "on which a long-term and fair settlement should be based have not changed"

The heat and continuing dry conditions are being supercharged by the escalating climate crisis The National Drought Group (NDG) is expected to meet this afternoon and declare that more parts of England are officially in drought, as parts of the UK head into a potential fifth heatwave of the year this week. All of Wales and more than half of England are already in drought after an unprecedented period of dry, hot weather over the summer. Continue reading...

Chairman Vladimir Solovyov condemned Michael Martens’ conduct as a blatant breach of both journalistic ethics and moral standards

Sarking, which involves slightly raising zinc roofs to insulate them, is authorized under Paris's bioclimatic local urban plan but often faces resistance from guardians of the city's landscape.

A red alert was issued by the China Meteorological Administration, the second time this year after Typhoon Noul in late July.

According to Rodion Miroshnik, the Kiev regime sought to achieve a political effect by "intimidating civilians"

According to the source, "nationalists from the reconnaissance battalion of Ukraine’s 425th Separate Assault Regiment have been tasked with evacuating the mercenaries"

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed a Nato-like defence agreement in Mecca as the United States’ war on Iran prompts countries in the region to rethink security arrangements. The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement stipulates that “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all,” the three countries said in a joint statement. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz...

While fighting has abated in much of Iran, near-constant U. S. airstrikes in Qeshm island and other southern spots have upended lives and livelihoods.

Russian attacks caused fires at a market and an industrial facility in Sloviansk.

China’s central government has invited dozens of scientific, technological and academic experts to its annual summer retreat, highlighting how the country is focusing on innovation and breaking through “chokepoints” amid fierce competition with the US. According to state news agency Xinhua, the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, China’s cabinet, invited 60 experts to the seaside resort of Beidaihe from August 1 to 7. The list of invitees – who represented fields including...

Numerous flashes were recorded in the southern industrial zone of Krasnoperekopsk in temporarily occupied Crimea, where Russian forces store and repair military equipment.

Rustam Minnikhanov expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased

Mikhail Galuzin added that Russia is not shutting the door on the negotiation process

Ukraine launched hundreds of drones at targets inside Russia, according to Russian officials. The strikes killed at least 12 people in one of Kyiv's deadliest attacks since the Russian invasion began over four years ago.

JINCHEON, South Korea, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- He has been in competitive shooting f...

Mikhail Galuzin still highlighted the existence of informal contacts between representatives of public groups

Russian forces carried out a massive artillery strike on the village of Buhaivka in the Kharkiv region, killing five people.

No injuries, one person in shock. The NATO headquarters is 2 km from the explosion.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that strikes on such facilities were directly linked with putting more pressure on Moscow A Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Nizhnekamsk in Russia’s Tatarstan region killed 12 people and wounded 39 others, Russian authorities said. The city, some 1,000 kilometers within Russia, hosts a major oil refinery, with facilities long targeted by Ukrainian army. Ukraine previously hit the facility in June. Continue reading...

Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said a decision had been made to declare mourning across the region

Idf is withdrawing. The White House is not worried about the Israeli prime minister's statement.

On Monday morning, authorities in Tatarstan reported a drone attack on industrial facilities in the city of Nizhnekamsk.

US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mike Waltz said that Iranians "are constantly asking for access to cash"

Acer Gadget, a subsidiary of Acer Group, reported strong second-quarter results for 2026 and said it expects growth to continue in the second half of 2026 as smart-life peripherals gained traction. The Taiwan-based maker said smart safes and smart door locks were supporting performance even as the PC market faces headwinds.

The battlegroup’s service members also destroyed 63 UAV control centers, three Starlink satellite communication stations

The Cockroach Janta Party, which spearheaded India’s biggest student protests in recent years, accused authorities of violating an agreement by pursuing participants and reiterated it will remain a pressure group rather than enter electoral politics.

Andrey Marochko said the greatest manpower losses were inflicted on Ukrainian armed formations in the area of responsibility of Battlegroup East, operating in the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that Moscow is confident that a diplomatic settlement of the situation around Ukraine is possible

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reported record monthly revenue of NT$467.58 billion (approx. US$14.5 billion) for July 2026, up 5.6% from June and 44.7% from a year earlier, extending strong growth fueled by artificial intelligence and high-performance computing demand.

As of the beginning of August, jet fuel stocks in Russia are at normal levels and can be increased, the Energy Ministry noted

The cameras would not turn off even after the drones were shut, were privy to high-security meetings, and were transmitting information to a Chinese IP address.

Moscow: '12 people killed by Ukrainian drones in Tatarstan'

Ukrainian air defense forces neutralized 92 drones and three Banderol loitering munitions used by Russian forces to attack Ukraine since the evening of August 9.

Met Office considers amber or red warning as forecasters say Thursday is likely to be hottest day of the week Temperatures could reach 36C (97F) or higher this week, forecaster have said, with possible disruption to railway lines and power networks as the Met Office considers issuing rare amber or red extreme heat warnings. Parts of the UK are forecast to experience their fifth heatwave of the summer as the country continues to bake in an unprecedented period of dry, hot weather. Continue reading...

Joint message with the Danish Prime Minister on social media, "unite to defend Europe"

Warm rivers and low water levels are forcing nuclear power plants to reduce output across Europe. Over a year, the losses are minimal, but on critical days the loss of power has consequences for grids and prices.

Last month we discussed: how data center AI is growing rapidly; how almost everyone says they could grow revenue faster with more compute; and, that there are challenging, stubborn bottlenecks to data center AI growth, especially Foundry, Memory, Power, and Lasers. Recently, all the major hyperscalers announced earnings and increased CapEx plans (partly due to rising costs). On Amazon’s July 30th earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy said demand is strong into 2028. But making back its investment takes a few years, so “as we get a few years out and the revenue growth outpaces the incremental CapEx growth, which will happen at some point, the resulting revenue, free cash flow, and return on invested capital is very compelling.” Like the Gold Rush, those who moved first and fastest seized the most and best supply capacity.  The largest players, like Nvidia and Google, have massive capital and strong supply chain management. The biggest companies have likely locked in much of what they need. The number one strategy for coping with supply chain bottlenecks is efficiency — get the most results out of what you have and what you can get. But there are some other options, as well. Fig. 1: AI Growth faces high hurdles to growth (Source: ChatGPT prompt) Eat someone else’s lunch If you are lucky, you may find companies that acquired more resources than they can use. SpaceX merged with xAI, whose models have not generated sufficient demand. Leading up to their recent IPO they did multiple AI infrastructure deals with their excess capacity: A $45 billion deal with Anthropic, giving them access to 220K Nvidia GPUs and 300MW; A $920 million/month deal with Google through mid-2029 for ~110K GPUs, and A $6.3 billion deal with Reflection AI for Nvidia GB300 chips. Meta recently announced it will sell/rent excess AI computing power, including a potential $10 billion deal with Anthropic. Use cheaper models where possible Customer usage of AI is growing, although still at early stages of wide adoption. Agentic AI brings more benefits, but uses many more tokens. For example, Allstate in December described how its virtual assistants are able to handle 4 of 10 customer calls, freeing up salaried staff. In companies I work with, I see numerous examples of high returns on modest AI spend. Frontier model companies are substantially increasing their efficiency. SemiAnalysis reports that Anthropic’s ARR (annualized revenue run rate) per MW (megawatt) is 4x higher in just 9 months. The best frontier models have immense capability, but they are overkill for many tasks. Using simpler and cheaper models is a good strategy for getting more results using fewer resources. For example, GPT-5.5 costs $30/million tokens; GPT-5.4 is half that at $15/million tokens. DeepSeek V4 is less than $1/million tokens. (Source: OpenRouter). The more expensive models give better results on the toughest tasks, but not all tasks need the best models. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong revealed on X in June that his company cut its internal AI spending nearly in half by setting the default model for its engineers to open models from China (Zhipu AI GLM 5.2 and Moonshot AI Kimi K2.7). OpenRouter, valued recently at $1.3 billion, provides a unified interface for a wide range of LLMs. You can use OpenRouter rather than developing your own internal model router software. OpenRouter’s LLM Leaderboard, as of late July, had Chinese models as 8 of the top 10 by tokens used (the other two are Nemotron 3 by Nvidia and Claude Opus 4.8 by Anthropic). Chinese models accounted for 30% of tokens used by U. S. firms since February, according to investment firm William Blair. There are other options to Chinese models. Thinking Machines, run by former OpenAI technology chief Mira Murati, released its first model recently, aiming at balancing cost and performance over raw power. The model has nearly 1 trillion parameters, but only 41 billion are “active,” so only a fraction of the model is used to deal with any query. That makes it cheaper and faster to use (Source: Wall Street Journal). It also has a customization tool, Tinker, to easily fine-tune the model for the customer’s specific needs. Another option for companies with significant volume and repetitive use cases is an SLM (small language model). LLMs are trained to do all sorts of things, including communicating in dozens of languages. Let’s say your application is a virtual assistant answering phone calls in English and Spanish, but doing some relatively simple tasks. You can set up an SLM that is trained just in what you need, which will result in a far smaller model size (number of weights), but do what you want just fine. An SLM might even be small enough to run on a local server or a future iPhone or Mac (Mac Studio with M7 Ultra in 2028 is expected to support models with more than 1 trillion parameters). Noeri is another new AI lab helping businesses customize AI models for their specific needs. Use/build more efficient AI accelerators Each new generation of Nvidia GPUs is much more efficient than predecessors. Anyone who can acquire Vera Rubin will get more tokens/$ and tokens/W for advanced workloads. Vera, the CPU, is optimized for agentic AI by Nvidia. GPUs are general-purpose and optimized for very large models. Not all applications need this. Nvidia paid $20 billion to license Groq’s technology, and Cerebras has gone public ($42 billion market cap as of late July) because it developed architectures without HBM, but with lots of SRAM, which works well with leading-edge models that need the highest responsiveness. AMD and Cerebras recently announced a cooperation deal. Google has been developing TPUs for a decade, and Amazon has been developing Trainium for years. Both are substantially ramping production. Amazon, on its recent earnings call, said Trainium’s revenue run rate exceeds $25 billion/year. Amazon claims its internal workloads get better throughput/$ and throughput/watt with its custom silicon. Both are now selling or planning to sell their custom silicon to external partners. Google has announced deals with Anthropic and Meta, and is talking to neoclouds. Amazon has announced deals with both Anthropic and OpenAI. Google is developing a chip, code-named Frozen v2, that hard-codes parts of the Gemini model into silicon, targeting release as early as 2028. The goal is to process 6x to 10x more tokens per watt than current hardware (Source: The Information). For the portion of Google’s total workload that runs on its Gemini architecture, this will dramatically cut cost and power. And this maximizes the compute throughput Google gets from its limited TSMC wafer allocation. OpenAI is developing its own AI accelerator using Broadcom. Anthropic is also rumored to be exploring doing its own chip. As the developers of the most popular frontier models, one can expect they’ll optimize their own chips to more efficiently run their models. The big players are developing their own CPUs, too (Nvidia Vera, Amazon Graviton, etc.), which are claimed to be 20% to 50% more efficient than x86 CPUs. There are numerous startups developing architectural variations on AI acceleration — FuriosaAI, Nuvacore, D-Matrix, Etched (which claims to have $1 billion of pre-orders), Tenstorrent, Sambanova, Mat-X, Positron, Majestic Labs, and more. They might have a hard time getting wafer allocations if they get traction, but they could be acquired by a big player with capacity. Coming soon is optical compute from Neurophos, in Austin, which has developed a special optical structure that is being integrated with an unnamed foundry on a CMOS process. Neurophos claims it will soon deliver superior AI compute performance, up to 250x that of Nvidia Blackwell 200 (see the chart below). The numbers are impressive, but we need to see real systems running. Fig. 2: Neurophos CEO presenting in San Francisco recently, comparing three of its optical processing units to the Blackwell 200 architecture. Another optical compute company, Lumai in the UK, uses lenses to do matrix multiply acceleration for AI inference. Lumai is running Llama today as a demo. Early optical compute companies failed because the cost and time to convert from the digital domain to optical, then back, exceeded the benefit of the optical speed. We’ll see if Lumai can move a large enough amount of continuous compute into the optical domain to overcome this. A rising tide lifts all boats, but what happens when the tide goes out? Everyone that has data center AI compute, memory, power, and lasers will make a lot of money while supply is short. But eventually (2028? 2029? 2030?), supply will catch up with demand for data center AI. What then? As Warren Buffett said, “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” The largest and financially strongest companies with the strongest hold over their customers are best positioned. Their access to the supply chain and their ability to lock in capacity is superior. These companies are: Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google Gemini, which have the strongest frontier models; The hyperscalers — Google, Amazon, and Microsoft — serving all AI models with huge capacity and their own custom silicon; Nvidia and AMD, which offer general-purpose GPU rack-scale solutions for Anthropic, OpenAI, and the hyperscalers; and TSMC, which builds all of the AI accelerators for the above. These companies have strong franchises, are tough to displace, and are very profitable. Except for AMD, these “fortress” companies have P/E ratios of 18 to 36, which are consistent with their expected rapid earnings growth. AMD has a much higher P/E ratio, well over 100, because investors expect they’ll grow their GPU share significantly over the next few years. All these companies are heavily investing in capital expansion and have raised their plans to keep up with demand. The leading AI custom silicon providers, Broadcom and Marvell, have seen big increases in market cap and now have P/E ratios in the 60 range (as of July 31). These companies do a fabulous job of executing and have tremendous IP, such as the high-speed SerDes required for AI compute, but they are the agents of the hyperscalers that own the cloud, own some of the models, and set the AI accelerator architecture. So far, these hyperscalers have gone with the biggest, best suppliers, but they have begun using other suppliers such as MediaTek either to cut costs, or perhaps because of TSMC wafer allocations. Consequently, there is a growing risk of commoditization as the main players have increasing vendor choice. And over time, it seems likely the hyperscalers will move downstream from architecture/design to silicon implementation, perhaps acquiring some of the smaller custom silicon providers. The stock market recently has seen 10x price increases on DRAM companies (Micron, SK hynix, Samsung), all of which have incredible demand with backlogs that extend for years. SK hynix made more profit last quarter than in the last five years. In recent weeks, these stocks have seen significant drops, though they are still far above their prices of a year ago. Yet they are trading at P/E ratios around 20 (as of July 31), which is similar to the “fortress” companies above, but much higher than normal because historically they have been in a boom-bust cycle. The DRAM companies may be able to get out of the commodity cycle by developing customized HBM optimized for each AI accelerator — the need for efficiency will result in AI accelerators tuned to certain workloads which may benefit from HBMs tuned for that architecture. This requires a business model shift from JEDEC commodity to custom ASIC. If the HBM becomes a customized component, this could make the DRAM business a high-value, differentiated business throughout the business cycle. Laser companies (Coherent, Lumentum) also have seen 10x stock price surges. Michael Hurlston, CEO of Lu…

Thin chip stacking Researchers from Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH), Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), and Texas A&M University developed a process that simultaneously transfers chips and forms interconnects, enabling them to reliably stack ten chips, each about 14μm thick. The process combines transfer printing for precision placement and in-situ bonding to form metallic bonds during chip transfer in low-temperature and low-pressure conditions.  Interlayer alignment errors remained extremely small even after repeated stacking, and structural warpage was significantly suppressed. “We achieved an integration density approximately four times higher than existing HBM technologies,” said Seok Kim, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH, in a statement. “We expect this technology to become a key enabling technology for future high-performance AI semiconductors and next-generation memory systems.” [1] Analog CAM with MoS2 Researchers from the University of Hong Kong, Fudan University, and National University of Singapore designed an analog content-addressable memory (CAM) utilizing 2D molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) flash memories with antimony as the contact electrode. The CAM requires only two transistors per cell, enabling it to directly process continuous analog signals. The fabricated 8 × 16 CAM array with 256 MoS2 flash memory devices demonstrated a high read-out current of over 60 μA μm−1 and an ON/OFF ratio exceeding 109, with energy consumption of under 0.1 femtojoules per search per cell and a latency of 36 picoseconds. It was able to calculate the analog Hamming distance for machine learning classification approximately 108 times faster than a standard CPU. “From an application perspective, search operations are incredibly valuable,” explained Professor Li. “The ‘attention mechanism’ that serves as the foundation for Large Language Models (LLMs) is essentially a search process—retrieving information from a compressed knowledge base. We are exploring how to use this high-performance hardware to implement search mechanisms for large AI models,” said Can Li, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering at HKU, in a press release. “Tasks like smartphone facial recognition could be completed instantly on the device without uploading private data to the cloud. While large-scale commercialization still requires overcoming engineering challenges in packaging, this research has successfully proven the principle, providing a clear blueprint for next-generation, high-performance AI hardware.” [2] Sensor-level processing and memory Researchers from Oregon State University built an optoelectronic device that integrates light sensing, memory, and signal processing in a single phototransistor. The device is constructed from an oxide semiconductor, which serves as the transistor channel that carries electrical current, while an organic photosensitive material on top absorbs light and generates electrical charges. When charges become trapped within the photosensitive layer, they continue to influence the current flowing through the oxide semiconductor even after the light is removed, allowing the device to retain a memory of past optical signals. “Our optoelectronic device introduces a new hardware capability that may enable more efficient processing of information directly at the sensor level,” said Larry Cheng, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at OSU, in a press release. “Unlike conventional memory that is designed to preserve information, our device can electronically control how memories strengthen or decay.” The position of the trapped charges relative to the transistor channel can be changed by applying an electrical gate voltage. Moving the charges closer to the transistor channel strengthens their electrical influence and prolongs the memory effect, while moving them farther away weakens it and speeds the loss of stored charges, causing the memory to fade. “This light-sensitive memory with a programmable memory lifetime creates a tunable time window for processing visual and other sensor signals directly where they are detected, a capability that could enable more efficient vision systems and other sensor-based AI technologies,” Cheng added. [3] References [1] U. Kim, J. Kim, S. Jeong, et al. Transfer printing and in-situ bonding for ultra-high-density integration. Results in Engineering. Volume 3, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2026.111194 [2] G. Gao, B. Wen, N. Yang, et al. Sb-contacted MoS2 flash memory for analogue in-memory searches. Nat. Nanotechnol. 21, 198–206 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-02089-7 [3] A. Ullah, R. Lamug, T. Sarker, et al. Neuromodulator-Inspired Gate-Tunable Tetracene–Metal Oxide Phototransistor for Adaptive Optoelectronic Memory and Neuromorphic Computing. Advanced Functional Materials 36, no. 56 (2026): e75942. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.75942 The post Research Bits: Aug. 10 appeared first on Semiconductor Engineering.

Oil started the week with gains due to the lack of certainty about the future of the Strait of Hormuz, whose navigation remains restricted amid the conflict between Iran and the United States. In Monday's Asian session, Brent crude rose 0.6% to $84.04 per barrel, while WTI (West Texas Intermediate) advanced 0.5% to $78.56. The movement in prices coincided with Tehran's confirmation that talks with Oman to define new conditions and navigation routes in the strait are in their final stage. However, Iran maintains that the reopening of the maritime route also depends on other demands directed at the United States. Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, stated that negotiations with Oman regarding transit and the management of the maritime passage "are approaching their final stage." The decision does not specify a date for the reopening of Hormuz, a strategic route for the international transportation of oil and gas. Tehran demands an end to hostilities against its territory and allies, the lifting of economic sanctions, the release of frozen assets, and compensation for damages caused during the war. These conditions are part of Iran's position to move toward reopening the strait. Iran's Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Sunday that the passage will remain blocked…

With three weeks left in August, Europe still struggles with water restrictions as intense heat strains its fragile water reserves. Beyond dried-up water reservoirs and drought alerts, decades of leaks, overuse and pollution have left the bloc short on water.

In Sumy, the number of people injured as a result of Russian forces dropping glide bombs overnight on August 10 has risen to 14.

President Donald Trump signaled he’s prepared to let economic pressure on Iran build rather than launch fresh military strikes, saying the US was only “semi-negotiating” with Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz.

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Sky News Artificial intelligence could transform the economy, the workplace, and even the way we think — but is Britain ready for it? And is Andy Burnham? In the second of Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy’s summer box set conversations, they sit down with POLITICO UK tech editor Isobel Asher Hamilton to look at the choices facing the new prime minister this autumn. Should Britain be building the next OpenAI, or focusing on using AI to revive manufacturing? Can the UK compete with the US and China? And where will the government land on the biggest political battles ahead, from copyright and data centres to the future of work?

The sources emphasized that further US actions will be tied to Iran's fulfillment of its obligations to ensure shipping in the strait

Oil prices rose amid growing doubts that the Strait of Hormuz can reopen soon, bolstering concerns over supply disruptions in the Middle East.

Even as it weakens, Typhoon Dolphin is disrupting life in China. Close to 1,500 flights have been canceled in Shanghai while parts of Beijing are under flood alert.

Joint message with the Danish Prime Minister on social media, "unite to defend Europe"

The storm, which made landfall on Sunday evening, is the strongest to hit China this year and also caused flooding in parts of the Philippines.

Trump's big con convinced too many that Patriot interceptors were coming to Ukraine The actual reporting of war and politics these days in most media outlets can be incredibly weak. The system often seems broken – reporting White House-inspired narratives that have no basis in fact as actual events, and replacing rigor with herd behavior. […] The post Patriot interceptors ‘on the way’ to Ukraine: another Trump con appeared first on Asia Times.

Russia said Monday it intercepted 456 Ukrainian drones in overnight attacks targeting around 15 regions, including Tatarstan in central Russia and annexed Crimea. The strikes hit industrial and civilian sites, leaving several people dead, according to local authorities.

Industrial and civilian facilities in Nizhnekamsk came under a massive drone attack

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States will begin a major ...

According to the statement, the entire required volume of consumption will be met by the level of production

Over the past day, Ukrainian Defense Forces recorded 254 combat clashes with Russian forces.

The initiators believe that Michael Martens "crossed the boundaries of journalistic impartiality"

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- The fear gauge of South Korea's stock market has drop...

Chinese researchers have found a safe way to shrink advanced tumours from an aggressive form of liver cancer, an advance that could see microbubbles used to enhance current treatments. The tiny gas-filled bubbles, typically a few micrometres in diameter, were originally designed as contrast agents in ultrasound imaging, but scientists have recently been exploring their therapeutic potential. According to a paper published by the peer-reviewed Scientific Reports on July 19, the study compared...

Record temperatures are draining Europe’s water supply. With rivers at historic lows, drier soils, and severe water restrictions, concerns over the bloc’s water scarcity are growing. But what is the EU’s plan? Ask the Euronews AI chatbot.

School pupils and students were tasked with tracking down relatives of 10 Greek prisoners of the Nazis and returning the personal belongings taken from them. Their efforts helped tell the stories of those who were 'turned into numbers' by World War II.

Ten years after a flash flood caused devastation near Skopje, BIRN found many of the conditions that turned an extreme weather event into a disaster remain in place.

Passenger rail service between Kemi, Tornio and Haparanda was discontinued in 1988, leaving the border region without a direct rail link for decades.

JINCHEON, South Korea, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- Riding a wave of recent success, the ...

Plus, the weak jobs report

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- Christopher Nolan's epic "The Odyssey" debuted atop t...

Google’s use of search crawler for AI is drawing scrutiny as automated traffic surpasses human activity and publishers seek greater control over their content.

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- Director Hur Jin-ho, who helmed "The Assassin(s)," sa...

Progressive left candidates' recent victories in primaries have stoked fears of divisions ahead of the upcoming November mid-terms among the Democratic Party.

SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States will begin a major ...

Research reveals the best destinations in Europe where you can slow down among nature, as well as the science behind why forests, birdsong and scenic hikes can help travellers unwind.

Mohammad Akhtar, 50, from Peterborough killed during clashes between authorities and protesters A British national was shot dead in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during clashes between security forces and protesters, the Guardian can reveal. Another Briton has been held in a regional prison for more than two months despite his family’s efforts to secure his release through the Foreign Office. Continue reading...

Big companies describe being under constant threat but only half have a plan in place to respond to an attack Nearly a third of British manufacturers have been hit by a cyber-attack on them or a company in their supply chain, according to a survey that highlighted the growing hacking risk to companies. The findings come almost a year after Britain’s largest automotive employer, JLR, was hit by an attack that forced it to halt production for weeks. Continue reading...

Peru's president, Keiko Fujimori, announced this Sunday that her government will implement a very firm policy to confront crime and restore order in the country. During a live broadcast on her social media, the leader pointed to her counterpart in El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, as a reference for this security strategy. "Gladys tells me to follow in President Bukele's footsteps. Yes, very firm to restore order," Fujimori responded to a comment from a internet user who wrote in the chat during the Facebook broadcast. In her speech, the head of state also expressed her support for the police officers who participated in recent operations against criminal organizations and hitmen, and assured that her administration will accompany the agents and provide support within the framework of the law. "I wanted to send this message of support to the National Police, to these officers who risk their lives to save ours, the citizens', and to send a very clear message: our government will support them, will accompany them, they are not alone," she stated. Similarly, she indicated that police operations are part of a broader strategy against crime, where intelligence work will also play an important role, as reported by the Peruvian digital media Altavoz. Fujimori also specified that her government has already taken steps to improve the conditions of the police stations...

NASA announced on Tuesday the four astronauts who will make up the main crew of Artemis III, a mission scheduled for 2027 that will mark a new milestone in the lunar exploration program. The flight aims to perform complex rendezvous and docking maneuvers in Earth orbit with the landing systems being developed by private companies for future Moon expeditions. They revealed the Artemis III crew - three Americans and one Italian The mission will be commanded by Randy Bresnik, accompanied by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, who will serve as pilot. The team is completed by mission specialists Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio. Additionally, the agency appointed Bob Hines as an alternate member. Randy Bresnik, the mission commander Bresnik will be responsible for leading Artemis III. As commander, he will oversee all flight operations and coordinate the crew's activities during a mission that NASA considers one of the most complex in recent decades. A veteran astronaut of the agency, he has experience in space flights and leadership tasks within crewed exploration programs. Luca Parmitano, the first European assigned to an Artemis mission Parmitao's appointment marks a historic event: it is the first time an ESA astronaut has received an assignment within the Artemis program.

Total combat losses among Russian troops since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine—from February 24, 2022, to August 10, 2026—amount to approximately 1,459,210 personnel, including 1,470 over the past 24 hours.

Syria said on Sunday that it reached a deal with Moscow on the fate of Russia's two bases in the country, which it once used to provide military support to ousted leader Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war.

The war has intensified Iran’s economic crisis, squeezing household budgets, hurting businesses and raising fears that millions of middle-income families are slipping closer to poverty.

The haze is back in Malaysia – with at least two states registering unhealthy air readings on Monday as raging forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia send clouds of smoke northwards. Transboundary haze is a long-standing problem in Southeast Asia, particularly affecting Malaysia and Singapore due to their proximity to Indonesia, where vast tracts of forests and agricultural land become fire hotspots during the dry season. A wildfire scorched 550 hectares (1,360 acres) of land in the Bromo...

2Russian troops attacked Sumy with five aerial bombs, injuring five people and damaging residential buildings and infrastructure.

Record summer temperatures are exposing the strain on overcrowded prisons across France, Italy and Belgium, where ageing buildings and poor ventilation are making extreme heat increasingly difficult to manage.

Shanghai airports cancelled nearly 40 per cent of all flights on Monday as heavy rain continued after Typhoon Dolphin made landfall in eastern China on Sunday evening and continued to move north. According to a notice from the Shanghai government on Monday morning, there were 642 cancellations at Pudong airport and 301 at Hongqiao. Passengers were urged to check their airlines for updates. Some trains began to recover on Monday morning, including services to Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang...

According to a statement by the Nihon Hidankyo organization of atomic bomb survivors, Japan is seeking to change the country’s non-nuclear principles and constitution without sufficient debate