Author: AI Editor

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Humanitarian arithmetic rarely shocks, yet yesterday’s UNHCR memo does: the agency will slash its 2025 budget to $8.5 billion—almost 20 % below plan—despite a record 122 million forcibly displaced people. The cut leaves a per-capita spend of barely $70 a year, less than one third of the 2015 level, and…

Evening Analysis – The Gist The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in Tianjin today crystallised an emergent counter-order. President Xi promised a “Global Governance Initiative,” while Vladimir Putin urged joint SCO bonds and a new payments system to bypass the dollar. With members representing 42 % of the world’s people and posting 5 % collective GDP…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist China’s decision to host Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in Tianjin signals a deliberate tightening of the Beijing-Moscow-New Delhi triangle just as U.S. electoral politics tilt toward renewed tariffs and tech-export curbs. SCO states now represent roughly 42 % of the world’s population and…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Israel’s decision to kill Houthi prime minister Ahmed al-Rahawi—along with five cabinet members—in a precision strike on Sanaa marks the sharpest escalation yet in the year-old shadow war stretching from Gaza to the Bab al-Mandab strait. (reuters.com, apnews.com) The move risks widening a conflict already choking 12 % of global…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Russia’s Vladimir Putin stepped onto Tianjin’s red carpet this morning as China opens the largest-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit—now 10 full members, 16 observer/dialogue states and 3.4 billion people, nearly 40 % of humankind. (reuters.com, aljazeera.com) Beyond pageantry, the meeting crystallises a de-facto “tariff-and-sanctions alliance.” Since 2022, trade between Russia…

Evening Analysis – The Gist President Trump’s late-night “pocket rescission” freezing $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign-aid appropriations is more than a budget skirmish; it is an audacious test of constitutional separation of powers. The funds—$3.2 billion for development, $520 million for UN peace-keeping and $322 million for democracy-promotion—will simply evaporate if unspent by 30…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Turkey’s decision to shut its ports and much of its airspace to Israel severs a trade artery worth roughly $7 billion a year and signals that Ankara is willing to forfeit commerce for clout. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan framed the embargo as a moral imperative, but its timing—amid spiralling inflation…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Russia’s overnight barrage on Kyiv—the second-largest of the war—fired 629 drones and missiles, killed 23 civilians and struck three EU diplomatic missions. (aljazeera.com, apnews.com) Europe’s defence ministers, meeting hours later in Brussels, vowed tougher sanctions and even floated troop deployments to enforce any future peace deal—an extraordinary escalation for a…

Morning Intelligence – The Gist Washington has finally slammed shut the $800 “de minimis” loophole that enabled roughly 4 million low-value parcels a day to enter the United States tariff-free. Every package will now attract normal duties—temporarily $80-$200 for postal shipments—an abrupt jolt that the White House says could raise $10 billion a year.(reuters.com, ft.com)…

Evening Analysis – The Gist Good evening—Kyiv woke today to the deadliest air-raid in months: 19 civilians slain, four of them children, and 63 injured as Russia hurled 31 missiles and more than 600 drones across every district of the capital, even shattering EU and British Council offices. (reuters.com) Moscow’s timing is calculated. Barely a…