World

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta said Tuesday it is acquiring Moltbook, a social network built for AI agents. The latest move comes as the tech giant pushes deeper into artificial intelligence (AI) development. In a statement, Meta announced that Moltbook co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr will join its Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), adding that it "opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses." Meta said the platform introduces "novel ideas in a rapidly developing space," as CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushes to make superintelligence a priority for the company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Is it a human or is it AI? Moltbook, launched earlier this year, drew viral attention as an unusual online hub where AI agents "share, discuss, a...

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta said Tuesday it is acquiring Moltbook, a social network built for AI agents. The latest move comes as the tech giant pushes deeper into artificial intelligence (AI) development. In a statement, Meta announced that Moltbook co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr will join its Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL), adding that it "opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses." Meta said the platform introduces "novel ideas in a rapidly developing space," as CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushes to make superintelligence a priority for the company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Is it a human or is it AI? Moltbook, launched earlier this year, drew viral attention as an unusual online hub where AI agents "share, discuss, a...

Turkey has long been seen as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East — geographically as well as diplomatically. As tensions rose between Washington and Tehran, Ankara had first attempted to mediate, warning that it would be "wrong to start the war again." "Iran is ready to negotiate on the nuclear file again," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network in an interview late January. "My advice has always been to our American friends: close the files one by one with the Iranians. Start with the nuclear issue and close it. Then move on to the others." Complex conflict with multi-dimensional risks Ankara fears that the US-Israel war with Iran could become a wildfire that spreads across the region — with humanitarian, economic and political fallout...

While Iranian threats have brought maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz largely to a halt, experts doubt Iran will risk a long-term blockade of the shipping lane in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks. "Around 70 percent of Iran's non-oil trade passes through ports that depend on access via the Strait of Hormuz," says gas and economic analyst Dalga Khatinoglu of Iran International, a London-based news outlet. Blockading the strait long-term would hurt Iran itself. "It doesn't feel rational for Iran to close the street of Hormuz, because they have the imports of the crucial goods like crucial food for example, but also the majority of their exports go to China and India, so that would turn against the country," energy expert Sara Vakhshouri of SVB Energy International told Bloomb...

Brent Sadler, a seasoned journalist who reported as a CNN reporter from wars in Chad, Israel, and the Falkland Islands. However, the 75-year-old Belgrade-based journalist is now involved in a very different struggle, namely the one surrounding the Serbian media market. Sadler has been officially appointed Chief News Executive of the Adria News Network (ANN), a new structure within the Netherlands-registered media and telecommunications group United Group (UG). In his role, Sadler will oversee a dozen UG media outlets in the former region of Yugoslavia. In Serbia, this could become particularly challenging, as ANN runs the television stations N1 and Nova S, the daily newspaper Danas, and the weekly magazine Radar. All of them are known for their critical stance toward the government in B...

The global arms trade is booming. According to a new report by the independent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in the past five years, global arms deliveries have increased by almost 10% compared to the previous five-year period. After declining by around a third after the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the arms trade is now back at roughly the same volume as in 1989. Europe is now the most important region for arms imports, whereas between 2016 and 2020 it was  Asia and Oceania (42% of all imports) and the Middle East (32%) that were the leading import regions. Europe was in third place but much further behind (12%). Europe has now almost tripled its arms imports, ranking first in the world with 33% of the ...

Mojtaba Khamenei, born on September 8, 1969, in Mashhad, is the second son of Ali Khamenei, Iran's former supreme leader, who was killed in an Israeli strike on February 28. An 88-member Assembly of Experts named him the Islamic Republic's new supreme leader on March 8, just over a week into a fierce war with the US and Israel. Mojtaba is often described as enigmatic and, at the same time, one of the most influential figures in Iran's power corridors. He is known to have kept close links with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which many believe calls the shots in the country. Iran's Assembly of Experts urged the Iranian people to stand behind the newly chosen leader and "keep unity." However, Mojtaba is seen as a continuation of his father's legacy and hardline rule...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country's navy would have a "powerful offensive capability" during a visit to a 5,000-ton destroyer to oversee a missile test, North Korea's KCNA state news agency reported on Thursday.  Kim spoke about his calls to modernize the North Korean Navy and boost the country's maritime power in the Pacific Ocean as part of a new national five-year plan agreed at the ruling party's ninth Congress last month.  "Every year during the new five-year plan period, we must build two surface warships of this class or of a higher class," Kim said at the Nampho shipyard as part of a two-day trip on Tuesday and Wednesday. North Korea has named an entire class of destroyers after the Choe Hyon vesselImage: KCNA/Xinhua/picture alliance What other things did Kim Jong...

Iran's presence in Africa dates back to Indian Ocean trade networks in the 16th century. From the 1960s onwards, trade ties were modernized and intensified under the country's last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. These relations continued under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after he seized power in 1979 and established an Islamic republic. And they continue to this day under the rule of the mullahs. Tehran has an interest in strengthening its strategic, economic, military security, religious and scientific and academic partnerships with African countries — while at the same time circumventing international sanctions as much as possible. The export of technological and industrial know-how plays a particularly important role. In 2025, the volume of trade between Iran and Africa rec...

For most Southeast Asian countries, the immediate priority following the start of the Iran war has been to urge de-escalation and protect their citizens and migrant workers in the Middle East. Malaysia's Foreign Ministry issued a measured statement that condemned US-Israeli attacks as well as Iran's retaliatory strikes, calling for "all parties [to] exercise maximum restraint." Foreign ministers of Vietnam and Cambodia urged all sides to "exercise maximum restraint," while Thailand said it is "closely monitoring the situation with grave concern." Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted it "regrets the failure of negotiations," referring to the Oman-led diplomacy that had been attempting to keep Washington and Tehran talking. A joint Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ...