It’s almost hard to remember, but just a few years ago, a lot of very smart people thought that science was in terminal decline. Respected researchers were writing papers with titles like “Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?”, “Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time”, and “Slowed canonical progress in large fields of […]

The post Love it or loathe it, AI is birthing a golden age of science appeared first on Asia Times.

US Senator Chris Murphy disclosed on October 28 that he was among the members of Congress recently briefed behind closed doors on the Trump administration’s discussions of a possible post-midterm assault on Iran, and he came away with a startling assessment: “Their plan is insane.” Murphy (D-Conn.), who recently traveled to Gulf countries to survey […]

The post Trump planning a major Iran escalation soon after midterms appeared first on Asia Times.

Originally published by Pacific Forum, this article is republished with permission. A central problem in US nuclear thinking is that it is fragmented. Washington is laser-focused on the “three-body problem”: It considers the US-Russia-China triangle fundamental, and when it does not ignore the China-India-Pakistan triangle, it treats it as a mere “Southern Asia” issue. Washington, […]

The post The rise of the nuclear hexagon and the future of Asian stability appeared first on Asia Times.

Beijing has vowed to defend its firms after Washington blocked imports from China’s leading genomics group, extending the two countries’ trade war into biotechnology weeks before their leaders are due to meet in Shenzhen. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday added three Shenzhen-based companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) […]

The post Pre-APEC US ban on Chinese genomic giant widens biotech decoupling appeared first on Asia Times.

Samsung Electronics reported the most profitable quarter in its history on Thursday, with operating profit of 107.4 trillion won on revenue of 195.3 trillion won, and still watched its shares close more than 4% lower.  At one point they were down 6.6%. The KOSPI, which had broken above 6,000 the day before, slipped back under […]

The post Why Samsung’s record profits weren’t enough for investors appeared first on Asia Times.

Recent reports indicate that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attempted to visit China to orchestrate a dramatic diplomatic scene akin to his June 2019 summit with US President Donald Trump at Panmunjom – but Beijing politely turned him down. Kim’s primary motive for seeking a visit to China stemmed from mounting frustration with Russian […]

The post Beijing gave Kim Jong Un the cold shoulder and here’s why appeared first on Asia Times.

The competitive gaming industry has grown rapidly over the past two decades, transforming from a niche subculture into a global phenomenon watched by millions of spectators worldwide. More than 3 million fans attended the 2025 Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia alone, according to the tournament’s organizers, where professional players and teams competed for over […]

The post Esports is now geopolitics by other means appeared first on Asia Times.

Designed to dwarf even the Marshall Plan, the American program to rebuild Europe after World War II, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was first unveiled by President Xi Jinping in a 2013 speech at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. Beijing later pledged to invest US$1 trillion, and by some estimates as much as $8 trillion, […]

The post China’s Belt and Road hasn’t lived up to Xi’s promise appeared first on Asia Times.

The crisis in Ukraine over restrictions on the military use of SpaceX’s satellite constellation in the Russia-Ukraine war won’t be readily resolved. US lawmakers and the European Commission have now joined the fray, raising questions about the accountability of Trump administration officials and SpaceX executives. Nobody likes being held accountable, so even lifting the restrictions […]

The post The untold story of Ukraine’s Starlink crisis appeared first on Asia Times.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s re-election on October 25 may have frustrated Donald Trump’s ambitions in Latin America, but the more consequential story lies beyond the ballot box on China. Brazil’s relationship with Beijing is now so deeply embedded in its economy that even a president more sympathetic to Washington would struggle to unwind it. […]

The post Lula can’t decouple from China, whatever Trump may want appeared first on Asia Times.

Israel’s opposition parties appeared to have secured enough Knesset seats in Tuesday’s elections to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power and end a four-year reign marked by genocidal war in Gaza and escalating terror and dispossession against Palestinians in the West Bank. But will they? With about 86% of ballots counted as of Wednesday […]

The post Will Israeli opposition parties join forces to eject Netanyahu? appeared first on Asia Times.

Of all the leaders of America’s allies, from Europe to Asia, no one has invested more in seeking the favor of Donald Trump than Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae. She has met Trump three times in person during her first year in office and offered up tens of billions in investment pledges, while keeping mostly […]

The post Did Takaichi make a bad bet on Donald Trump? appeared first on Asia Times.

On Monday, the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement did something a defense treaty is not usually built to do. Its members went to Tehran to talk. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın met President Masoud Pezeshkian and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei. […]

The post The Mecca pact goes to Tehran. Can it keep the region out of another war? appeared first on Asia Times.

Battlefield robots were once thought of as the stuff of science fiction. But the Ukraine war has put paid to that view, with uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) – or ground robots – taking on an increasingly visible role. In September 2026, Mykhailo Fedorov, the former defense minister of Ukraine – who is generally credited with […]

The post Could humanoid robots soon replace soldiers on the battlefield? appeared first on Asia Times.

TOKYO — When America’s AI bubble bursts, it will be a bad day for Nvidia and Intel. In Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo, it will be a national crisis. AI has become, almost overnight, what China once was for Asia: the growth engine everyone depends on. Investors from South Korea to Taiwan to Japan should spend […]

The post Asia’s AI boom could turn from hero to zero overnight appeared first on Asia Times.

Israelis turned out in numbers not seen in a generation, and handed both of their would-be prime ministers the same verdict: not enough. On the partial count this morning, neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor Gadi Eisenkot’s reaches the 61 seats needed to govern. Both men have nonetheless claimed the night. Eisenkot told supporters the old […]

The post Israel’s inconclusive election reveals a sharply divided nation appeared first on Asia Times.

For decades after World War II, Japan was seen in Southeast Asia chiefly as an economic partner, a development donor and a source of investment. Security played a minor role in its relations with ASEAN. Today, Japan is a significant security partner for many Southeast Asian states, especially the Philippines. This shift is not driven […]

The post Manila’s closer ties to Tokyo not aimed at containing Beijing appeared first on Asia Times.

Saudi Arabia’s rapid expansion of a ballistic missile factory signals a transformative shift in its pursuit of strategic deterrence. Saudi Arabia is expanding its solid-propellant missile production complex near al-Duwadimi, approximately 200 kilometers west of Riyadh, to develop longer-range ballistic weapons capable of carrying heavier payloads, multiple media outlets reported this month based on satellite […]

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As artificial intelligence technologies grow ever more powerful, so do the risks they pose and with them the urgency of regulating AI. In July 2026, OpenAI’s advanced models hacked into AI company Hugging Face’s systems during internal cybersecurity evaluations by communicating through unauthorized channels and working around safeguards developers had imposed on the models. In […]

The post How to regulate AI? Follow the harm appeared first on Asia Times.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released in July an interim staff report accusing South Korea of “discriminatory attacks on American-owned businesses.” Seoul’s “practices include coercive investigation tactics, overly burdensome regulatory requirements, and massive fines and penalties intended to punish American businesses and make it harder for them to effectively compete against Korean companies,” the […]

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