Chinese researchers report a major advance in high-power microwave technology, with a compact system capable of producing 20 GW bursts for up to 60 seconds. The development highlights China’s growing research capacity in advanced directed-energy systems.
On December 20, 2025, San Francisco faced a massive power outage that left tens of thousands without electricity for hours. The blackout disrupted transportation, businesses, and daily life across multiple neighborhoods. PG&E crews worked through the night to restore power, while city officials and emergency services coordinated safety measures.
This in-depth analysis explores why European startups continue to face challenges in scaling compared with the United States and China. Drawing on 2025 data, the article examines venture capital trends, unicorn growth, regional disparities, and structural barriers including regulatory complexity, market fragmentation, and talent migration.
A historic legal battle has erupted between the Metropolitan Police and the United Grand Lodge of England over a new mandatory membership disclosure rule. This investigative feature examines the clash between institutional transparency and the right to privacy, exploring the influence of the 1987 Daniel Morgan murder inquiry and the legal precedents of the European Court of Human Rights.
The 2025 liber-net report on Germany’s state-funded content moderation network has renewed debate over how online speech is managed in the country. The report maps more than 330 organizations involved in moderation-related work, ranging from academic departments to non-profits and government agencies.
Investigative reporting has revealed a hidden world of commercial surveillance, where obscure companies offer tools capable of tracking world leaders, journalists, and ordinary citizens with startling precision. Central to these revelations is First Wap and its toolkit, Altamides.
Visa and Mastercard reached a 38 billion dollar settlement with U.S. merchants to end a two-decade dispute over credit card swipe fees. The deal lowers interchange rates and adds new flexibility for businesses while allowing both companies to deny wrongdoing. If approved, it could reshape how payment fees are managed across the U.S. retail and financial sectors.
Starting in 2026, Ireland will make its Basic Income for the Arts program permanent, providing 2,000 artists with a weekly stipend of €325. The initiative aims to reduce financial stress, foster creative work, and strengthen the country’s cultural sector by offering stable income support to artists and creative professionals.
The United States faces a growing financial challenge as corporate debt reaches record highs alongside a surge in AI investments. This article examines how rising borrowing and AI-driven market enthusiasm could combine to create risks for economic stability, exploring data, market trends, and policy responses shaping the future.
After years of shrinking budgets and rising demand, UK councils are being forced to cut back on core services. From less frequent bin collections to reduced social care, the effects are being felt in neighbourhoods across the country. This piece explores what’s changing, why it’s happening, and what it means for the future of local services.
Elon Musk has launched the America Party, a new political movement focused on fiscal responsibility, innovation, and centrist policy. This article explores its origins, platform, leadership, and potential role in reshaping the U.S. political landscape.
The China–Iran rail corridor is a 4,000 km freight route connecting eastern China to central Iran via Central Asia. Slashing delivery times from 40 to 15 days, it is reshaping Eurasian logistics, strengthening economic ties, and shifting the region’s geopolitical balance.
As climate change accelerates Arctic melt, nations race to exploit its untapped resources, control emerging sea routes, and assert geopolitical dominance. This article explores the Arctic’s transformation into a high-stakes arena of global power and peril.
In 2025, LA County implemented a 3% rent cap to combat rising housing costs. This new policy limits annual rent increases for rent-controlled properties, impacting tenants, landlords, and the broader housing market.
America’s middle class is grappling with skyrocketing living costs, job insecurity, and crushing financial burdens. Explore the heart-wrenching realities millions of families face as they struggle to keep up with rising expenses and uncertain futures.
The 2025 Morocco CNSS data breach exposed sensitive personal and business information, raising concerns about cybersecurity in the country. This breach has sparked controversy, legal debates, and urgent calls for stronger data protection measures.
In the U.S., police kill more than 1,000 people annually—more than most developed nations. Black Americans are 2.9 times more likely to be fatally shot by police than white Americans. The killing of George Floyd in 2020 sparked the largest civil rights protests in decades.
The FDA recalls Dunkin’ doughnuts after discovering that certain products may pose a health risk to consumers. While the specific cause behind the recall is still under investigation, food safety recalls like this are typically triggered when there is a risk of contamination or when a product contains allergens that were not properly disclosed on labels.
Argentina, a nation once ranked among the wealthiest in the world, has found itself grappling with severe economic challenges over the past 25 years. Then, one year ago, provocative libertarian economist Javier Milei was inaugurated as its new president.
The year 2024 proved to be an exceptional one for gold, as the yellow metal defied expectations and delivered impressive gains. By the end of the year, its price had surged by nearly 27%, marking one of its best performances of the century. This rally was the largest since 2010, with gold reaching a peak of $2,790 per ounce in late October before settling at around $2,626.80 by December.
In a bold move that signals a deepened commitment to the U.S. economy, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has announced an unprecedented $100 billion investment over the next four years, aimed at fueling growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and related infrastructure.
As 2025 approaches, the possibility of a government shutdown continues to be a looming concern in Washington, D.C. Congressional leaders are under significant pressure to finalize essential legislation before the year ends, and the debate over how to pass a full-year budget has become increasingly urgent.
The 4-day workweek is rapidly transforming the way companies and countries think about work. As more and more businesses experiment with shorter workweeks, evidence is mounting that working less can actually lead to working more effectively. Across the globe, countries and organizations that have adopted the 4-day workweek are reporting impressive results, while the traditional 5-day workweek is being scrutinized for its inefficiency and negative impact on worker well-being.
The Assad regime in Syria has been a central force in the country’s political landscape for nearly five decades. It began with Hafez al-Assad in 1970 and was passed down to his son, Bashar al-Assad,
With proven reserves of approximately 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 8.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Syria’s energy sector could play a crucial role in its long-term economic recovery. However, the road to recovery will be a challenging one, requiring both political stabilization and the rebuilding of critical infrastructure.
Decades of vaccine research led to one of the most successful public health projects in Texas. And we’re hopeful it could provide a road map for the use of mass wildlife vaccination to prevent future outbreaks.
The official poverty measure declined to 11.1% in 2023 from 11.5% in 2022. At the same time, the supplemental poverty measure, an alternative way to measure poverty introduced in 2011, increased to 12.9% in 2023 from 12.4% a year earlier.
Evacuating might seem like the obvious move when a major hurricane is bearing down on your region, but that choice is not always as easy as it may seem. Evacuating from a hurricane requires money, planning, the ability to leave and, importantly, a belief that evacuating is better than staying put.
Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris is headline news, as were the mere rumors that Beyoncé might perform at the Democratic National Convention. Donald Trump, too, has his pop culture supporters, including Kid Rock and Lee Greenwood.
It appears that the UK government is going to ban “no-fault” eviction by private landlords in England. It promised to abolish these notices immediately after the election, and the king’s speech in July indicated this was a priority.
A whole “beyond GDP” movement has emerged over the last several decades, arguing that we should adopt a new way of measuring the wealth of nations. There is an ongoing debate about the best alternative, and many indicators have supporters, such as gross national happiness and the genuine progress indicator.
Philadelphia’s camera network grew at an astounding pace. In the past decade, the city has gone from 216 cameras to a network of more than 7,000 cameras operated by police and transportation officials.
The Road was especially popular in the US. This was helped by Reader’s Digest publishing a shortened edition in 1945, introducing Hayek to a non-academic audience of some 9 million households. He was seized upon by conservatives opposing Franklin D Roosevelt’s interventionist New Deal.
Airborne toxins can increase our risk for cognitive disability and disease. The science of exposomics is helping to identify effective responses. those with median levels of air pollution have a 56 percent greater risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those living in regions with the lowest level of air pollution.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1 million deaths each year are attributable to lead poisoning, with the highest exposures in developing nations. Lead continues leaching from old paint, pipes and industrial sources into soils, homes and waterways across the globe.
Better recycling electronic items could reduce mining’s high environmental impact. In fact, for some metals, recycling is more energy efficient than mining. Extracting aluminium through recycling, for example, requires 10 to 15 times less energy than primary production.
Smoking rates in the UK have been falling over the last few decades, in part helped by tobacco control efforts during this time. In 2022, just under 13% of adults (around 6.4 million people) in England smoked cigarettes compared to nearly half the population in 1974.
Chemists invented PFAS in the 1930s to make life easier: Nonstick pans, waterproof clothing, grease-resistant food packaging and stain-resistant carpet were all made possible by PFAS. But in recent years, the growing number of health risks found to be connected to these chemicals has become increasingly alarming.
Under the revised version of Article 276, espionage now constitutes “the transfer, collecting, stealing, or keeping for the purpose of transfer to a foreign State, international or foreign organization, or of their representatives, of information comprising a state secret.”
Stand your ground laws authorize defensive violence without a duty to retreat, wherever a person may legally be. Some also expand the circumstances in which someone could use lethal force to defend property.
Silicon Valley Bank, which catered to the tech industry for three decades, collapsed on March 10, 2023, after the Santa Clara, California-based lender suffered from an old-fashioned bank run. State regulators seized the bank and made the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation its receiver.
LKAB, a mining company established in 1890 and 100% owned by the Kingdom of Sweden, has announced the discovery of the largest known deposit of rare earth metals in Europe.
Brasilia – January 8, 2023 – Thousands of the right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters have invaded the Brazilian National Congress building. The manifestation happens one week after the left-wing leader Luiz Inácio Lula da
Serbia has asked the NATO-led peacekeeping forces to send 1,000 security forces to the Republic of Kosova to help managing the tensions between the Serbian minority and the local authorities. But the KFOR declined.
The House Speaker occupies a central role in the American federal government. But what is it that a speaker actually does?
Labor non-compete agreements are about to be banned by the FTC. Over third of the American workers would be relieved from them.
One reason the rouble has strengthened is the restrictions on margin trading and on foreign investors, which has meant that trading volumes have been much lower than usual.
The Federal Reserve on June 15, 2022, lifted interest rates by 0.75 percentage point, the third hike this year and the largest since 1994. The move is aimed at countering the fastest pace of inflation in over 40 years.
The Aircraft Boneyard is a U.S. Air Force facility in Arizona’s desert. It hosts over 3,100 mostly retired aircraft. The assets there are worth about $35 Billion.
The United Kingdom, which is an oil producer, is also banning Russian oil imports, but getting other G-7 nations like Germany, Italy and Japan to join will be a hard diplomatic lift. It’s not impossible
Paris prosecutor office has announced that Jean-Luc Brunel, a fashion agent and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead in his cell in the “Prison de la Santé” Paris, France.
The original idea of ruling on behalf of The People and by their will has evolved through time, and piles of values and mechanisms have been stuffed into its edifice. However, the stuffing has been
The Russian frigate Essen has intercepted the French warship Auvergne in the Black Sea on December 14, 2021. The recording of their radio communication has been published by the French Army on its Twitter account.
We found that at least 63% of workers who filed a complaint eventually lost their job. And about 40% of workers reporting experiencing employer retaliation, such as verbal abuse or being passed over for work opportunities like training or promotion, for filing a claim. At 46%, employer retaliation was most common for sex discrimination cases.
According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and 1972 Liability Convention – both adopted by the United Nations – this would be a government-to-government issue. The treaties declare that states are internationally responsible and liable for any damage caused by a spacecraft
Armin Laschet, the conservative German candidate running for chancellor, said that Germany must increase its military spending. In 2021, it has increased again by 3.2% to US$63.8 Billion; but it’s still below NATO’s target of 2% of GDP. To meet that target, Germany’s military spending has to increase to at least US$66 Billion.
During the 2021 G7 summit in Cornwall, Boris Johnson was infuriated by the French president’s remark about Northern Ireland.
On Dec. 31 2020, the One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act became law. It requires companies that are working with NASA to agree to be bound by otherwise unenforceable guidelines intended to protect American landing sites on the Moon.
The IRS tax system is 10 times more expensive than 36 other countries with robust economies. But those costs vanish in a return-free system, as would the 2.6 billion hours Americans spend on tax preparation each year.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of aggravating the security situation in Ukraine’s south-east. The Kremlin, meanwhile, has claimed that all Russian troop deployments have been defensive and do not pose a threat to anyone.
The amounts of lithium, cobalt, graphene, indium and other critical minerals needed for low-carbon technologies alone are expected to increase anywhere from 100% to 1,000% by 2050.
Unlike the US Space Force, which is a separate branch of the military in addition to the army, navy and air force, Australia’s space command will oversee space activities across the Australian Defence Force.
The decision to suspend the account of President Trump is bringing unexpected troubles for Twitter. On Monday January 11, 2021, Twitter Stock (NYSE: TWTR) continued its sharp decline, trading at $48.53 in the afternoon.
An optimal tariff maximizes the difference between the terms of trade gain and the efficiency loss and hence is essentially a “beggar-thy-neighbor” trade policy.
Reagan linked American exceptionalism, particularly its role as a “shining city on a hill” to neoliberal ideas including a limited government, tax cuts and reduced social services. At its heart, neoliberalism views every aspect of civic, social and cultural life in terms of the market economy.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Yale University for the alleged discrimination against White and Asian applicants. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday October 9, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. It accuses Yale University of illegally considering the race of the candidates in its admission decisions.
The qualities that have made Jacinda Ardern New Zealand’s most popular prime minister in a century were on display as she took an earthquake in her stride during a live television interview.
When considering approaches to police reform, it’s important to remember that Americans still don’t report about half of major crimes.
The Boy Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy to figure out how to fairly compensate thousands of survivors of alleged sexual abuse who accuse the Scouts of neglecting to protect them.
Mortgage rates in the United States went down below 3%, which is the lowest level in history, leading to an increase in home buying demand. According to the data released by Freddie Mac on Thursday July 16 2020, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 2.98%. A year ago, its rate was 3.81%.
The Algerian skulls belong to freedom fighters who had resisted to the French colonial forces in 1830. They were exhibited in Paris as a racial specimen.
The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland has found small amounts of radioactive isotopes of cobalt, caesium and ruthenium in Helsinki.
The Gates Foundation is the largest funder of the WHO after the U.S. It shapes the global health agenda in a way that has been described as a “cartel”.
The results of the Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery for the year 2021 (DV-2021) will be available online starting at noon (EDT) on Saturday June 6, 2020. The results are related to the registration period that opened on October 2, 2019 and closed on November 5, 2019. Initially scheduled for May 5, 2020, the DV-2021 announcement was delayed due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Two weeks after filing for bankruptcy in May 22, 2020, the 102 year-old Hertz saw its stock surging to spectacular figures. Why?
The U.S. government is adding US$2 trillion Covid-19 response stimulus package to its existing US$23.5 trillion debt. How is that possible?
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced in a tweet the decision to move Tax Day from April 15 to July 15.
“All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties” Mnuchin said in his tweet, posted on Friday March 20, 2020.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday March 17, 2020 that the Trump administration is “looking at sending checks to Americans immediately”.
The Russian Energy Minister told reporters: “From April 1 neither OPEC nor non-OPEC have restrictions”. A relentless price war is looming.
Trump declared national emergency in response to coronavirus. This declaration gives him over 100 special provisions to tackle the spread of the pandemic.
Harvard University has asked students to leave their dorms by Sunday, March 15 2020. This decision comes in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Federal Reserve decided to drop interest rates by half a point on Tuesday March 3, 2020. This decision comes amid growing fears about coronavirus.
If current trends continue, around a million working people will be on zero-hours contracts by the end of the year 2020, researcher says.
Next time you read a story about a rise in pay, try to see if it reports the wage data in nominal or real terms, and if it includes fringe benefits too.
Base interest rates have been negative in Switzerland, Denmark, Japan and the eurozone for years. This represents a new macroeconomic policy experiment.
The concept of the World Health Organization declaring global public health emergencies first arose after the 2003 Sars coronavirus outbreak.
How about a Slovenian cyclist being interviewed in English language by a French journalist about his performance in an Italian cycling event.
Over 38% of young people in England are struggling with poor mental health. This is the highest proportion since the 2006 survey.
Homeowners’ insurance does not cover damage caused by flooding. A homeowner must have a separate flood insurance policy to cover flood-related losses.
Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by asbestos. It causes five times more deaths among school teachers than the general population.
Asbestos and mesothelioma cancer lawyers are helping victims to get high compensations from companies that exposed them to that dangerous material.
The main components of the cost you pay to borrow money are a benchmark rate, credit risk and how much profit a lender wants to make.
It will take 217 years for women to achieve equal pay according to the WEF. So we can expect many stories such as the case of Carrie Gracie at the BBC.
Study found that college-educated law enforcement officers were more likely than others to search the vehicles they pulled over.
Around one in 20 homes in Central and West London lies empty, according to the United Kingdom government’s statistics agency.
Boris Johnson’s bold claim about children in poverty needs careful consideration – it is a very partial truth that completely misrepresents wider realities.
Sweden’s central bank dumped its Australian bonds, and promised that it will no longer invest in assets from governments with large climate footprints.
The UK continues being home to the large majority of the EU millionaire bankers. About 3,567 of them live in the UK, whereas only 390 live in Germany, 233 in France and 201 in Italy.
Wednesday’s public testimony in the House of Representatives’ impeachment hearings did not make a lot of news about the substance of what is at stake.
The police threatened the Iraqi protesters with trained dogs. One of the protesters answered by bringing a lion and threatening to let it attack both the dogs and the police.