Middle East Tensions and Shifting Alliancesactive

With its strategic location at the crossroads of Middle Eastern, Central and South Asian trade routes, its arsenal of combat-tested Chinese weapons and an army chief playing a high-wire diplomatic act, Pakistan is poised to play a security role in the Gulf. It's an interesting mix for some Gulf states questioning the US security commitment in the region – but not for all.

Even if it succeeds, “Project Freedom” has little chance of restoring traffic through the strait to its prewar level.

The US president assumed that it is a better product as well

The US military has again warned it will protect commercial shipping against Iranian attack in the Strait of Hormuz. However, US officials underlined that the ceasefire is still in place.

For most military powers, proving the success of one’s technology in real combat almost always requires undertaking the grave risks of war and human casualties. In the case of the People’s Liberation Army, Beijing continues to exercise great caution about joining any armed conflict, and the past few decades have brought astounding progress yet an extremely limited combat footprint for its weaponry. The Iran war could change that. As tensions around Iran persist, Pakistan, whose imported weapons...

An articulated truck caught fire inside the undersea tunnel of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge forcing the temporary closure of city-bound lanes and disrupting traffic on Tuesday evening. The blaze was reported before 8pm in the tunnel tube of the 55km (34.17 miles) cross-border bridge. Video footage showed flames beneath the cargo truck and thick smoke filling the tunnel. The city’s Transport Department announced soon after that all Hong Kong-bound lanes were closed, leaving only one lane...

The US leader said he is convinced that Washington will either make a deal with Tehran or defeat it militarily

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator, accused the United States of violating the shaky cease-fire, after Iranian forces fired at vessels that the U. S. Navy was guiding through the strait.

The fragile truce in the Middle East was in jeopardy on Tuesday after the ​U. S. and Iran launched new attacks as they wrestled for control of the Strait of Hormuz. The U. S. military said on Monday it destroyed six Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones, after President Donald Trump sent the navy to escort stranded tankers through the strait in a campaign he called "Project Freedom".

Tehran: "Project Freedom has no future." Trump: "I can't tell you whether the ceasefire is still in effect."

"Pakistan strongly condemns the missile and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates last night," Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said

Trump: "I can't tell you whether the truce is still in effect." Macron: "The attacks by Iran against the United Arab Emirates are unacceptable."

Trump: "I can't tell you whether the truce is still in effect." Macron: "The attacks by Iran against the United Arab Emirates are unacceptable."

Asian stocks declined on Tuesday, tracking losses on Wall Street after US stocks retreated from record highs. Crude, meanwhile, remains firm.

From decade-long grid queues to facilities running at half capacity, a new study exposes the energy crisis at the heart of Europe's push to boost its AI capabilities.

Brent crude rises nearly 6 percent as soaring tensions in waterway push ceasefire to the brink.

US-Iran War LIVE: It all began when Trump on Monday said that the US would begin guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz, in an effort he dubbed "Project Freedom."

Also in this newsletter, car sales at record highs

A man was shot by Secret Service officers near the White House Monday afternoon after agents spotted him carrying a concealed firearm and he opened fire, according to the agency’s deputy director.

Singapore’s Grab reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates, helped by resilient demand for ride hailing and delivery in a market rattled by economic and political challenges. Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and delivery firm has been trying to boost spending on its platform by incorporating artificial-intelligence features into its superapp and bundling its core ride-hailing, delivery and financial services. With oil and gas prices soaring due to the war in the Middle...

Earlier, Donald Trump admitted that the US military behaved like pirates when seizing tankers with Iranian oil

Robots are beginning to reshape everyday life in China as the country accelerates its embrace of embodied artificial intelligence, handling tasks from cleaning homes and directing traffic to repairing equipment in hazardous factory settings. Embodied AI refers to AI embedded in physical machines, such as robots, that can sense their environment, make decisions and act in the real world. A cleaning service that launched in March on 58.com, a Chinese classifieds platform, pairs a human cleaner...

Domestic gas prices have increased by more than 30 cents in the past week, as the U. S. military began efforts Monday to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.  The national average price of a gallon of regular gas is more than $4.45 as of Monday, according to AAA. That is more than 34…

The US Secret Service said a suspect who opened fire on Monday on the National Mall did so after being confronted by officers. Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn said officers returned fire. A bystander was struck by the suspect, Quinn said. Quinn said the motorcade of Vice-President J. D. Vance transited through the area not long before the shooting but there was no indication it was the target. The incident happened on Monday afternoon around 15th Street and Independence Avenue near the...

Trump can return fire and commit to opening the Strait by force.

Trump's latest attempt to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has heightened the already fragile ceasefire with Iran.

One person was shot by law enforcement near the Washington Monument, according to U. S. Secret Service. The person’s condition is unknown.

The person’s condition and the circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately known An individual was shot by law enforcement on Monday near the Washington monument, the Secret Service said. The person’s condition and the circumstances surrounding the shooting around 15th Street and Independence Avenue were not immediately known. Continue reading...

The UAE said an Iranian barrage had targeted the country, saying it reserved the right to respond. The attacks came a day after Trump launched 'Project Freedom' to help trapped commercial vessels leave the Strait of Hormuz. Trump earlier announced on Monday that US forces had 'shot down' seven small Iranian military boats.

Senior officials have agreed to avoid overreacting to the war in Iran’s immediate effects on inflation, “but if energy prices stay high, we will not let their effects become persistent inflation,” Macklem said Monday in testimony to lawmakers.

China's top diplomat, speaking on the US-Mexico border over the weekend, denounced protectionism as a dead end and delivered a strong defense of open trade. This came just weeks before Mexico, the United States, and Canada are scheduled to review the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which governs North American commerce. Consul General Fu Xinrong told a business gathering in Tijuana that unilateralism benefits no one and urged nations to build economic ties based on sovereignty and mutual respect rather than...

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Yonhap) -- A meeting between U. S. President Donald Trump and ...

The Trump administration has denied reports from Iranian media on Monday that a US Navy warship was hit in the Strait of Hormuz. After US President Donald Trump said this weekend that the US Navy would help “guide” commercial ships through the strait, in what was referred to as “Project Freedom,” an Iranian official described it as a ploy to “provoke” […] The post Trump team denies Iran hit US warship entering Hormuz Strait appeared first on Asia Times.

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Yonhap) -- Two U. S. commercial ships have successfully passed...

Shipowners said they were unwilling to risk a crossing given the threat of attack from Iran and a lack of clarity around how the new American operation would work.

Iran cautioned Monday it would not allow any movement through the Strait of Hormuz, hours after President Trump on Sunday said the U. S. will assist in freeing ships trapped in the waterway since the war between the nations began. Iranian state media specifically reported the nation would fire on U. S. combat vessels. Shortly after the…

Wall Street dipped and oil prices jumped early on Monday on conflicting reports of a strike by Iran on a US Navy vessel outside the Strait of Hormuz. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.2 per cent before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5 per cent. Nasdaq futures dipped 0.1 per cent. Oil prices initially jumped 5 per cent on the news that a US ship had been hit, but is now trading between 2 per cent and 3 per cent higher after the US military denied the...

The United States said Monday it is ready to “guide” commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz in a new effort to end the blockade wreaking havoc on the global economy. The U. S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center advised ships to cross the strait in Oman’s waters, saying it had set up an “enhanced security area.” The American military has said the initiative might involve guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and 15,000 service members but has not specified what kind of assistance or escorts it would provide ships. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Kethevane Gorjestani tells us more.

A Hong Kong government-backed artificial intelligence lab is preparing to launch a new model built on DeepSeek that can run entirely on Chinese-made chips. The Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Centre (HKGAI) plans to unveil its HKGAI-V3 model in the first half of this year as it looks to export its “sovereign AI” capabilities to overseas markets. The system was based on DeepSeek V4 architecture with “full-parameter fine tuning for localisation”, and had been optimised to operate...

SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- U. S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Washington...

A senior Iranian military official warned that any vessel that tries to cross the Strait of Hormuz without permission would be “at risk.”

Trump orders new Hormuz mission after Iran says it receives US response to its peace proposal.

Trump says ‘Project Freedom’ plan will guide stranded ships through waterway at heart of energy crisis

Describing the transfer of the crew from the MV Touska cargo ship back to Iran as a ‘confidence-building measure’ between U. S. and Iranian officials, Pakistan again plays a mediating role.

Humanoid robots have been deployed at intersections in the Chinese city of Hangzhou to assist traffic police and guide pedestrians.

A court in China has ruled it illegal for a company to terminate an employee on the grounds that an artificial intelligence replacement would be cheaper, affirming limits on AI-driven job displacement amid a wave of anxiety over the technology’s potential to fuel unemployment. A 35-year-old worker surnamed Zhou who oversaw AI-generated responses at a fintech firm in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang province, was fired after refusing a demotion and pay cut. The company told him his role...

Twenty-two crew members from the seized Iranian ship MV Touska have been transferred to Pakistan for repatriation.

US President Donald Trump has announced the "Project Freedom" operation to "help free up" ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says that amounts to a truce violation. DW has the latest.

A fresh plan announced by US President Donald Trump to help vessels through the Strait of Hormuz has left shipping executives perplexed, as attacks continue and traffic remains at a near standstill.

Trump warns that any interference with US operations in the Hormuz Strait will "have to be dealt with forcefully," providing few details about the plan. Trump says the US Navy will "guide" ships trapped in the Hormuz Strait amid "very positive" talks with Iran. A tanker reported being hit by "unknown projectiles" in the Hormuz Strait shortly after Donald Trump announced the US would help ships through the waterway. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said all crew were reported safe in the incident, which occurred 78 nautical miles north of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Iran said on Sunday it had received a US response to its latest offer for peace talks, a day after Trump said he would likely reject the Iranian proposal because "they have not paid a big enough price." Iranian state media reported that Washington had conveyed its response to Iran's 14-point proposal via Pakistan, and that Tehran was now reviewing it. "At this stage, we do not have nuclear negotiations," state media quoted Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying, apparently referring to Iran's proposal to set aside talks on nuclear issues until after the war has ended and the adversaries have agreed to lift opposing blockades of Gulf shipping. Iran has been blocking nearly all shipping from the Gulf except for its own for more than two months. Last month, the US imposed its own blockade of ships from Iranian ports. Israel on Sunday...

Oil markets were lower in early trade on Monday morning as investors monitored developments in the Middle East.

Traders questioned the workability of a plan by Donald Trump for the US to guide neutral ships out through Hormuz, with a tanker reportedly hit in the waterway.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s Biohub is investing $500 million to build AI models of human cells, as tech giants race to bring artificial intelligence into biology.

Also in today’s newsletter: Airlines slash 2mn seats and EU urged to adapt to economic shifts

In the same week that China’s People’s Liberation Army quietly continued its annual mass immunization drills, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that American service members would no longer be required to receive the flu vaccine — a break from a practice in place almost continuously since 1945. On the surface, this looks like a […] The post US vs China: two armies, two theories of the body appeared first on Asia Times.

SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- U. S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Washington...

The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran has continued into its third week. There are signs of a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz looming on the horizon. These are the major takeaways from what happened overnight. What did Trump say? President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US would “help free up” ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz within hours. No details were provided. “This process, Project Freedom, will begin Monday morning, Middle East time,” Trump said in a social media...

SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- U. S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Washington...

US to start escorting stranded ship through Hormuz as positive discussions continue

AI skills are providing a significant salary advantage for software engineers in Singapore, with those possessing these skills earning up to 25 percent more than their counterparts, according to a new salary report by NodeFlair. The Singapore-based tech talent platform stated that its findings were based on over 230,000 verified data points and revealed that software engineers with AI expertise commanded a 13 to 25 percent pay premium across all experience levels. This represents a change from 2024, when increasing demand for AI...

Trump says US and Iran in 'positive' talks, unveils plan to escort Hormuz ships

The president called the plan, which doesn’t involve escorts by U. S. warships, a humanitarian gesture, and said that discussions with Iran continue.

He called the operation starting Monday a humanitarian gesture for nations “that have done absolutely nothing wrong” but whose crews have been stranded for weeks.

President said ‘humanitarian’ effort to begin on Monday as ‘very positive discussions’ continue with Iran

China made the inner workings of the A. I. model open to all, and that’s starting to look like a soft-power win.

It's a difficult time to be a captain in the Middle East and surrounding areas, where, if you don't get hit by a bomb, you risk being boarded by pirates. The Strait of Hormuz is closed to commercial navigation under the threat of Iranian drones, while Iran's ports are blocked and its ships are under the watchful eye of the United States. Houthi militias, allies of Iran, are launching attacks in the Red Sea. In these turbulent waters, off the coast of Somalia, pirates have returned. And they're back with a vengeance. While activity had been increasing again in this African country, a series of kidnappings, at least four in ten days, confirmed their return after seemingly disappearing from the sea and the news. Last week, after one of the several captures, the British Maritime Trade Organization raised the threat level in the area to "substantial," noting that "unauthorized individuals" boarded the ship and directed it to Somali territorial waters. "All incidents continue," warned the Maritime Security Centre – Indian Ocean (MSCI). "Ships operating in the area are strongly advised to maintain heightened vigilance, particularly within 150 nautical miles of the Somali coast between Mogadishu and Hafun, whenever possible." With the alarms raised, the discussion has resumed about how to contain this scourge, which has a multi-causal origin, as the attacks become increasingly bold and the number of actors involved grows. One of...

Mohsen Rezaei has called the United States "the only pirate in the world that possesses aircraft carriers."

Thus, whereas nine ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz in both directions on Saturday, on Sunday, according to Bloomberg, only two Iranian commercial vessels did this

A proposed accountability framework will hold heads of government departments personally responsible for systemic loopholes that they fail to report to their superiors, according to Hong Kong's civil service chief. Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan also stated that public perception could influence decisions regarding pay adjustments for government employees, following questions about the potential impact of an inquiry into the city's deadliest fire in decades. In a television appearance on...

US President Donald Trump said he’ll review Iran’s latest peace proposal while not ruling out a resumption of military strikes should the Islamic Republic’s rulers “misbehave.”

Iran has demanded lifting of sanctions, release of frozen Iranian assets, and compensation for damages.

According to sources cited by the media, Tehran allocated one more month for talks on its nuclear program

Democrats now hold a five-point advantage in support for Congress, up from two points in February.

CEO Mark Moffat says industrial software group will consider London, Europe and New York for IPO

Reviewing fresh Iran proposal, can resume strikes if they misbehave: Trump

The attack’s location and timing fueled concerns about potential collaboration between Somalia’s pirates and Yemen’s Houthi rebels amid the Iran war.

A detailed analysis of the components of a typical first-person-view drone reveals the extent of China's dominance in the market.

An Iranian proposal, which Trump has so far rejected, would open shipping in the Hormuz Strait and end the US blockade, postponing discussions on Iran's nuclear program.

More than 40 years ago, he became the first person from his rural family to study at a university in China. Four decades on he was appointed chancellor of UC Riverside, a prestigious school in the United States. The story of S. Jack Hu, a Chinese-American who is the first individual with a bachelor’s education from mainland China to head a top US institution, has trended on social media, inspiring millions of internet users. The 62-year-old Hu, whose Chinese name is Hu Shixin, hails from a...

The Washington administration alleges that Tehran has only 15% of such capacity left

Iran has presented a 14-point response to the U. S. proposal to end the war, according to Iranian state media. (Image credit: Vahid Salemi)

Trump writes to Congress: "The hostilities are over." However, this is a tactic to reset the 60-day clock before he must request a vote on the conflict.

Fueled by intensifying competition in advanced manufacturing, the world is experiencing what is being called "China shock 2.0." The initial "shock," linked to China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, centered on low-tech manufacturing. Naturally, this latest "shock" is not presented as such by Chinese policymakers. They portray it as an upgrade in export capabilities, often described as a shift from the "old three" of textiles, furniture, and home appliances to the "new three" of electric vehicles,...

Syria is receiving hundreds of Iraqi oil trucks hauling crude overland as an alternative energy corridor to Europe.

New proposal rejected, letter sent to the Congress. Tehran is reducing oil production to avoid US pressure.

It is the second time an oil tanker has been hijacked in the area in the past 10 days.

Trump’s combative defense secretary has grown more self-assured of his job security despite his early missteps in the role, people familiar with the matter said.

A new technical paper, “Nonvolatile photonic field-programmable coupler array,” was published by researchers at University of Oxford. Abstract “Programmable photonic networks carry out universal unitary functions by independently operating on the amplitude and phase of guided light. Exploiting the reconfigurability and spatiospectral degrees of freedom of these systems, the majority of state-of-the-art photonics applications, ranging from microwave photonics to photonic computing and optical communication links, can be demonstrated in one unified system. Existing techniques require a large footprint due to weak modulation efficiency, and continuous power dissipation to maintain the configured state. Here, we demonstrate a programmable recirculating mesh unit cell based on the nonvolatile low-loss phase-change material Sb2Se3. The demonstrated devices achieve an ultrashort active length (<10 μm, more than 15 times smaller than the current state of the art of competing technologies) and zero static power, in combination with high-extinction switching (>20 dB), broadband operation (>15 nm), and low insertion loss (<2 dB). This work forms the basis for nonvolatile field-programmable coupler arrays (nv-FPCAs) and zero–static power reconfigurable optical interconnects.” Find the technical paper here.  May 2026. Håvard Hem Toftevaag et al. ,Nonvolatile photonic field-programmable coupler array. Sci. Adv.12,eaec7329(2026). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aec7329 The post Potential Route To Photonic FPCA Using NV Low-Loss Phase Change Material (Oxford) appeared first on Semiconductor Engineering.

A senior Iranian military officer said on Saturday that renewed fighting with the US was “likely”, hours after President Donald Trump said he was not satisfied with an Iranian negotiating proposal. Iran delivered the new draft to mediator Pakistan on Thursday evening, state media reported, without detailing its contents. The war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, has been on hold since April 8, with one failed round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan since...

U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy behaved "like pirates" in its blockade of Iranian ports and seizure of an Iranian vessel earlier this week. "We took over the ship, we took over the cargo, we took over the oil. It's a very profitable business," Trump said at an event in Florida on Friday. "We're like pirates. We're sort of like pirates, but we are not playing games." Tension between Washington and Tehran is escalating amid unsuccessful negotiations to permanently end the war started by the U.S. and Israel in late February. A senior Iranian military official said on Saturday that a return to war was "likely," according to the semi-official Iranian news agency Fars. "U.S. officials' actions and statements are largely media-oriented, aimed first at preventing a drop in oil prices and second at escaping the predicament they have created for themselves," Mohammad Jafar Asadi said. The remarks came as the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control warned shipping companies they could face sanctions for paying tolls to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

The low-cost airline, which held a 3.4% market share in the United States, is canceling all of its flights. Nearly 7,500 employees will be laid off. The government has proposed a form of nationalization, but high kerosene prices have dealt a final blow to any hopes of survival.

Trump sidestepped a legal deadline for gaining approval from members of Congress over his war in Iran as he sends a letter to top lawmakers claiming that hostilities have ended due to the ongoing ceasefire.

The US president says the ongoing naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is "a very profitable business."

The Tampa disappeared in 1918 with 131 British and American personnel and civilians aboard. It was the largest single American naval combat loss of life in World War I

ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, is pushing deeper into artificial intelligence with Anew Labs, a drug-discovery unit that has begun presenting its AI-designed therapies at international conferences. The unit – also known as Anew Therapeutics or ByteDance AI Drug Discovery – operates from Shanghai, Singapore and San Jose, California. Its official website listed 36 core members, as well as big names on its “scientific advisory board”: Liu Yongjun, former president of Innovent Biologics, Ji...

Rubio: "The state of emergency required immediate action," and he is declining the opportunity for a Congressional review.

On April 28, the State Department issued a joint statement “in solidarity with Panama” in response to an uptick in detentions of Panama-flagged vessels at Chinese ports, which it characterized as “a blatant attempt to politicize maritime trade.” This comes on the heels of a targeted lawfare campaign by American and Panamanian officials to dispossess […] The post Donroe Doctrine is becoming everything China feared appeared first on Asia Times.