Headlines

Why US won’t win with force alone in the Strait of Hormuz

Iranian attacks on Gulf vessels trying to transit via Omani sovereign waters have once again pulled the region into a tit-for-tat spiral of escalation. The US responded by canceling the waiver permitting Iranian oil exports. Two nights of punitive airstrikes by the US Air Force

Asia

Sam Neill, ‘Jurassic Park’ Star, Dies at 78

Sam Neill, the versatile actor whose career of more than 50 years was highlighted by his three appearances in the blockbuster “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” franchises, died on July 13 in Sydney, Australia. He was 78. “It is with immense sadness that the whānau [family]

Dwindling US firepower doesn’t shrink China’s Taiwan trap

As the US keeps fighting in Iran, China is watching not only what the US can destroy, but how quickly it can replace what it fires. Yet depleted US stockpiles do not make an invasion of Taiwan any less perilous for China. Multiple media outlets reported that the US launched

Asia

Gwadar’s missing cargo and fast-closing window

Nineteen years ago, on February 6, 2007, Pakistan signed away Gwadar Port’s commercial future for four decades. The government would build the roads, the airport, the expressway, and the breakwater. A private concession-holder would run the port, fill the Free Zone, bring in

Asia

Heavy floods submerge roads, vehicles in northern China

HONG KONG, July 13 - Severe flooding in China's northern Hebei province and northeastern Liaoning province submerged roads and swept away cars, while people swam and paddle-boarded along neighbourhood streets, videos on social media showed.

Asia

Vietnam too slow, too timid to defuse its demographic time bomb

Vietnam is one of the most rapidly graying countries in the world, aging at a stage of development that leaves it far less room to adapt than many of its regional peers. Vietnam’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell from 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 1.91 in 2024, the third

Asia