Month: December 2023
America new navigation crisis
The Houthis, militants in Yemen backed by Iran, have fired over 100 drones and missiles at ships linked to more than 35 countries, ostensibly in support of the Palestinians. Their campaign is an affront to the principle of freedom of navigation, which is already at risk from the Black Sea to the South China Sea.
Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi wins Egypt elections
On December 18th Egypt announced that Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army general who has ruled since 2014, had won a third term as president. Unlike the past two elections, which pit him against a single patsy, in this month’s ballot he faced three little-known challengers: voters had more choices. His most prominent would-be opponent dropped out
Attacks on shipping in Yemen
Since mid-November the Houthis have attacked at least a dozen vessels in the Red Sea, either by firing missiles and drones, or by attempting to hijack them. Stirred up by the war in Gaza, the group claims it targets ships with ties to Israel. But its attacks seem increasingly random. Not long ago the Saudis
The Era of electronics giant Toshiba
Toshiba is a much bigger company and the stakes are high: Toshiba employs around 106,000 people and some of its operations are seen as critical to national security. For seven years, Toshiba had overstated its profit by $1.59bn (£1.25bn). In 2020, Toshiba found further accounting irregularities. There were also allegations related to corporate governance and
X global Outage
Last month, Elon Musk slammed advertisers that left X, saying they would kill the social media platform. The company has also been accused of spreading disinformation with the European Union formally announcing that it suspects X of breaching its rules in areas including countering illegal content and disinformation. Social media platform X, formerly known as
Extra military mobilization in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has strongly condemned what he described as attempts to destabilize Russia, in reference to sabotage acts that have targeted the country since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine has proposed mobilizing 500,000 extra troops. Meanwhile, the leaders of the US Senate say Washington will not approve new aid for Ukraine before
Red Sea attacks
Over the past week, most of the world’s largest shipping firms have said they will avoid the Red Sea and, therefore, the Suez Canal after Yemen-based Houthi rebels fired missiles at cargo ships over the Israel-Hamas war. Instead, ships traveling from the Far East to Europe will need to make a detour around the entire
Russia builds up military resources for the new war stage
Russia is building up its resources for a new stage of the war over the winter, which could involve trying to extend its gains in the east and deal significant blows to the country’s vital infrastructure. An aid package for Ukraine has stalled in the U.S. Congress as Republicans insist on linking any more money
Regulation of Porn Industry in European countries
Pornhub, Xvideos and Stripchat face stricter regulations because they have been assessed as having at least 45 million monthly users in EU countries. EU rules mean firms of that size have to take extra steps to protect children. Three of the world’s biggest pornography sites have been told their users in the European Union may
Google antitrust lawsuit
Much criticism has been levied at the tech giant in recent years, with market players accusing Google of abusing competition practices and behaving like a monopoly. Google will allow developers on its Play app store to offer direct payment options to users to settle an antitrust case in the latest regulatory row over the tech