World politics

World politics

If the price of energy continues to be elevated for the whole year, that could put a crimp on the AI boom. Because that investment is very concentrated in a number of very large firms, and the technology is still ultimately unproven in terms of how much it can deliver, there is a bit of uncertainty there in terms of where the future's going.

The Iranian military's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran has sent energy markets into turmoil. A quarter of the world's natural gas, a fifth of its crude oil, and tons of critical materials for fertilizers and other petroleum products pass through this strategic Persian Gulf waterway.

Nigeria recorded the largest increase in terrorism deaths globally in 2025, with fatalities rising by 46% from 513 in 2024 to 750, placing it fourth in the Global Terrorism Index, behind Pakistan, Burkina Faso and Niger. Africa's most populous nation is grappling with a multifaceted security crisis as extremist groups such as Boko Haram and its offshoots attempt to carve out control of swathes of territory.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, upon coming to power in Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution, adopted a distinctly Shia-sectarian constitution. With its approval, all Iranian citizens who did not belong to the Shia sect became, in practice, second-class citizens. At the same time, he embraced the export of the revolution beyond Iran through his tilling the land programme.

The threat from cyberattacks are having a huge impact on people's lives and economic activities. This is quite an important threat to national security. Japan will therefore devise regulations that make it possible to enact the proactive cyber-defense actions that legislation passed last year foreshadowed.

The Strait of Hormuz - a narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passes - has effectively closed to tanker traffic amid the escalating U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. Once again, the global economy is discovering the same uncomfortable truth: Modern energy security depends on supply chains that can break overnight.

Taliban rulers in Afghanistan on Tuesday accused Pakistan of carrying out an airstrike that killed at least 400 people at a drug treatment hospital in Kabul late Monday. Afghan officials said the strike hit the 2,000-bed rehabilitation facility at around 9 p.m. local time (1630 GMT), causing extensive damage and leaving hundreds wounded, in a major escalation of the weekslong cross-border fighting between the neighbors.