World

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...

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) ...

Iran has prepared itself for a long war, unlike the United States, Ali Larijani, secretary-general of the Middle East nation's Supreme National Security Council, said on the third day of the US-Israel war against Iran. Larijani reiterated what other officials of the Islamic Republic have been saying since the military conflict began: "We will defend ourselves, whatever the cost." Since February 28, the US and Israel have been conducting a coordinated, massive military offensive against Iran, targeting in particular Iranian leaders as well as military and other government facilities. Even though several high-ranking Iranian officials have been killed, the Islamic theocratic regime remains intact, so far. And Tehran has responded by lobbing missiles and drones on targets in Israel and in...

When Donald Trump received Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House on Tuesday evening, the US president unleashed a tirade against Spain. He told reporters in the room that "Spain has been terrible," and that "we're going to cut off all trade" with the EU country. The reason is that Spain has opposed strikes on Iran from the very beginning and has expressed this view with greater vehemence than other any other European country. While Merz referred to US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran as a legal "dilemma," Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the attacks as a massive breach of international law. His government then banned the US from using the two jointly operated military bases in Andalusia, southern Spain, to wage war on Iran.Spain does not permit US w...

The United States and Venezuela's interim government have agreed to reestablish diplomatic and consular ties, the US State Department said. In a statement released on Thursday, the State Department said it was focused on creating "the conditions ​for a peaceful transition to ​a democratically government." It's a sign of thawing ties between the nations after the Trump administration captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January 2026 and brought him to the US to face criminal charges. During US President Donald Trump's first term in office, the US stopped recognizing Maduro and his administration as Venezuela's legitimate government. The US withdrew its diplomats and suspended operations at its embassy in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, in 2019. Venezuela will ensure security f...

India recently announced a two-decade tax break for foreign tech companies that use data centers in the South Asian country to provide services to overseas customers. The exemption, though, doesn't apply to services offered to Indian clients, which will continue to be taxed.  The move is part of India's efforts to draw investors into its fast-growing digital infrastructure sector and become a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing infrastructure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has already rolled out a slew of incentives such as granting infrastructure status for data centers to accelerate their development. Some state governments have also eased land-use rules. New Delhi hosted a global AI summit last month, gathering those shaping the future of t...