LATEST PULSE

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has delivered one of the sharpest allied rebukes yet of Donald Trump’s war with Iran, warning that the United States entered the conflict without a clear strategy and is now being outplayed by Tehran. Merz said Washington is being “humiliated” by Iranian leaders, especially the Revolutionary Guard. His message was blunt: Iran is proving stronger than expected, the US looks trapped, and Europe is...

The United Arab Emirates’ decision to leave OPEC on May 1 is more than an oil story. It is a sign that the balance of power inside the Gulf is shifting, and that the system that has shaped global oil markets for decades is starting to strain.   OPEC has long acted as a coordinating body for major oil producers, setting output targets to influence global supply and prices. Its power depends on members accepting limits in exchange for ...

China is moving naval forces across the Western Pacific in a way that signals more than routine activity.   Beijing says the deployments are standard operations. But the movement of the aircraft carrier Liaoning south of the Taiwan Strait, alongside a separate PLA Navy task group pushing through the Ryukyu Islands, points to something broader.   Taken together, these moves look like a demonstration of how China could apply pressure ...

Across Southeast Asia, corruption cases continue to surface, often involving large public funds, infrastructure projects, and complex financial networks.   In the Philippines, a major probe into flood control projects has raised concerns about how public money is allocated and monitored. In Indonesia, recent scrutiny over carbon credit projects has triggered questions about transparency and oversight in climate-linked financing. In Vietnam...

From April 24-29, more than 45 countries are meeting in Santa Marta, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, with a clear message: climate talks cannot avoid the role of fossil fuels.   This summit comes at a tense moment. Conflict in the Middle East is once again showing how risky it is for countries to depend on oil and gas imports. That makes this meeting about more than the environment. It is also about energy security and national indepe...