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Europe
European Commission
October 6, 2025 The European Commission president urges lawmakers to keep her in post. MEPs will vote on the two no-confidence motions, brought by the 'far right' and 'far left', on Thursday. This is a vote against the Europe of Macron, said 'far-right' French MEP Bardella, who proposed one of the no-confidence motions. Bardella spoke of der Leyen’s trade surrender and said the bloc’s migration and enlargement policies were eroding European sovereignty. You have been accompanying the genocide in Gaza, said Aubry, co-chair of The Left, which proposed the other motion. She also said: You capitulated to Trump. Der Leyen is almost certain to survive because her centrist opponents say they’ll back her. But the wolves are circling. (Source: Politico - U.S.)
Asia
Japan
October 4, 2025 A former economic security and interior minister, the newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Sanae Takaichi, 64, will now seek approval from parliament to replace PM Shigeru Ishiba as prime minister. She is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan's war dead and is viewed by some Asian neighbours as a symbol of its past militarism. Takaichi favours revising Japan's pacifist postwar constitution to recognise the role of its expanding military. She suggested this year that Japan could form a quasi-security alliance with Taiwan. Takaichi graduated from Kobe University with a degree in business management before working as a congressional fellow in the U.S. Congress, according to her website. A protege of the late Shinzo Abe and long-time advocate of the former prime minister's "Abenomics" stimulus policies, she has called for higher spending and tax cuts to cushion rising cost of living and has criticised the Bank of Japan's decision to raise interest rates. In a key speech last month, Takaichi was pledging a crackdown on badly behaved foreigners - an issue that has become a lightning rod for some voters amid record rises in migrants and tourists. Hosting Trump in Japan later this month is expected to be one of her first acts as leader. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)
Taiwan
October 6, 2025 Taiwan signed an agreement with the U.S. in 2021 to acquire PAC-3 MSE systems, with two batches scheduled for delivery in 2025 and 2026. Facing the growing need for missile defense, Lockheed Martin was recently awarded a $9.8 billion contract by the U.S. Army to produce 1,970 PAC-3 MSE missile interceptors, marking the largest contract in the company’s Missiles and Fire Control history. The Taipei Times reported yesterday that Taiwan is planning to acquire an additional four PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) systems and up to 500 missile interceptors, after the U.S. recommended increasing its stock of air defense missiles. (Source: Miami Herald / Newsweek = U.S.)
Caribbean
Cuba
October 5, 2025 In a October 2-dated unclassified cable sent to dozens of U.S. missions, President Trump's administration is mobilizing U.S. diplomats to lobby against a U.N. resolution calling on Washington to lift its decades-long embargo on Cuba. The non-binding resolution has passed in the U.N. General Assembly by wide margins year after year since 1992. Last year, the General Assembly adopted the resolution with 187 countries voting in favor. The United States and Israel were the only countries that voted against it, while Moldova abstained. Since returning to office in January, Trump has doubled down on sanctions, returning Cuba to a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, tightening financial and travel restrictions and sanctioning third-country nationals who host Cuban doctors. The cable said Cuba's problems were caused by Cuba's own corruption and incompetence. As part of the administration's campaign, U.S. diplomats will tell countries that the Cuban government is actively supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine with up to 5,000 Cubans fighting alongside Moscow's forces. Trump has also recently toughened his stance towards Moscow, threatening financial penalties against buyers of Russian oil and allowing U.S. intelligence agencies to share information with Ukraine to help its attacks on energy assets inside Russia. The U.N. vote can carry political weight, but only the U.S. Congress can lift the Cold War-era embargo. The Cuban government blames U.S. sanctions for shortages of basic goods, collapsing infrastructure and runaway inflation. The State Department said Cuba was using the annual U.N. resolution as a mechanism to victimize itself. The Trump Administration will not remain on the sidelines or support an illegitimate regime that undermines our national security interests in our region, a State Department spokesperson said in emailed comments on Saturday. The cable accused the Cuban government of undermining democracies in the Western Hemisphere, as tensions have been mounting between Washington and Venezuela, Cuba’s most important political and economic ally. On Wednesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Rodriguez called for the United Nations to stop the United States from starting a war in the region. He said fighting drug trafficking in the name of U.S. national security was a pretext for aggression. (Source: Reuters - United Kingdom)
North America
United States
October 5, 2025 The recent announcements between the United States and the UK on expanding bilateral civil nuclear cooperation featured a suite of commercial agreements, representing the practical first steps towards exporting and deploying American advanced reactors abroad. The 'Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy' signals a historic milestone for civil nuclear cooperation between the United States and the UK. The UK was not interested in simply becoming a passive consumer of energy generated by US advanced reactors. For this bilateral partnership to be durable, the UK would need to be a stakeholder in the industrial, supply chain, and commercial future of these reactors. This logic of integrated partnership extends beyond the US-UK context. Poland and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe (such as Romania) have not only turned interest in US advanced nuclear into active partnerships with the United States and American industry, but they have also expressed clear aspirations to become industrial and supply chain hubs for these technologies for the greater region and beyond. The ’Atomlink: Unlocking Civil Nuclear Expansion at the Western Frontier’ report articulates a vision for US-UK cooperation to accelerate Poland’s nuclear deployment ambitions - ultimately leveraging Poland’s rapid industrial development to serve as both a driver for nuclear demand and a foundation upon which to establish a supply chain hub to support broader regional and global expansion. ’The United States, the UK, and Poland have stood at the vanguard of countering Russian influence and aggression in Europe, including by taking measures to mitigate European reliance on Russian energy. We cannot let either China or Russia win the market for advanced nuclear’. Considering the state-owned technology and finance packages offered by Russia and China, forging allied partnerships is essential for the United States to effectively compete on the global stage. Failure to do so ’is an imminent threat to our mutual security and peace, period’. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
by Ahn, Deputy Director for Nuclear for Third Way’s Climate and Energy Program.
10/4/2025 Wikipedia adheres to core policies: Each article must have a neutral point of view, information comes summarized from known media sources. Volunteers, through consensus control the editorial processes. Wikipedia is serving as a base layer of knowledge for AI chatbots. Some call it Wokepedia. They talk as if its more than 64 million worldwide entries are fueled by mainstream media lies, pumping out propaganda that feeds online search results. The Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee more recently announced an investigation into ’organized efforts’ to influence public opinion and sensitive subjects by manipulating Wikipedia articles. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX earlier this year called for Wikipedia to be defunded. Since legacy media propaganda is considered a ‘valid’ source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda, he posted in January. Certain right-leaning websites, such as Breitbart, are prohibited as source materials, while CNN, the New York Times and Mother Jones are allowed. Over the years, conservatives, libertarians, were pushed out, Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedi said. “There is a whole…army of administrators, hundreds of them, who are constantly blocking people…that they have ideological disagreements with.' This past week, as the Wikipedia controversy reignited, the Wikipedia page for Musk’s Grok was updated. Musk announced xAI would, in fact, offer up Grokipedia. (Source: The Wall Street Journal - U.S.)
Friday, October 3, 2025 Criminal cartels in Mexico and gangs in Venezuela posing a major narcotics trafficking and security threat to the United States are being attacked as narco-terrorists under the Trump administration’s new military-backed war on drugs, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment. It lists details on six Latin drug cartels with the two criminal gangs, Tren de Aragua and MS-13, as foreign terrorists. The largest drug-runners were identified as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The groups threaten Americans’ safety, U.S. national interests, and the safety and stability of the Western Hemisphere, the report says. The The Sinaloa Cartel, or Cártel de Sinaloa, buys precursor chemicals from China and India in synthesize deadly synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, in Mexico-based clandestine laboratories. Tens of thousands of members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel have smuggled multi-kilogram shipments of illicit fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana into the U.S. and around the world. The organization operates covertly using decentralized networks in 40 countries and is expanding into Europe, Asia and Australia. The Sinaloa Cartel also conducts a range of violent criminal activities that seek to protect drug operations, spread their illicit influence, and increase revenue. Murder, torture and kidnapping are used by the cartel to intimidate citizens, government officials, and journalists, the report said. Other crimes include money laundering, extortion, theft of petroleum and natural resources, weapons trafficking, human smuggling and prostitution. ’Mexican cartels’ production, trafficking, and distribution of powerful illicit synthetic drugs, chiefly fentanyl and methamphetamine, represent a dire threat to public health, the rule of law, and national security in the United States,' the report, published in May, concluded. Some cartels also have been making fentanyl in what the report said were ’super labs’ in Canada. A total of 112,910 people died from overdoses in the 12-month period ending October 2023 and 84,076 died between that month and October 2024, the report said. Tren de Aragua, which was targeted in a U.S. strike on a drug boat Sept. 2, was described in the report as a violent criminal organization founded between 2012 and 2013 in north central Venezuela. Originally a prison gang, the group facilitates the smuggling of thousands of Venezuelan migrants into the United States and then extorts the migrants, forcing them into prostitution or other crimes to pay off their smuggling debts, the DEA said. TdA members have been linked to crimes including drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, extortion, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, organized retail crime, robberies, and document fraud. The group MS-13, known formally as Mara Salvatrucha is called an extremely violent international criminal gang founded in Los Angeles in the 1980s by El Salvadoran immigrants. The gang is well-established in the United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and its numbers have grown to include thousands of members in almost all 50 U.S. states, the report said. President Trump this week declared the United States is now at war with drug cartels, designating them enemy combatants and setting the stage for additional military strikes. In targeting cartels, Mr. Trump said in a memo sent to several congressional committees that the U.S. “is in non-international armed conflict with designated terrorist organizations.” The declaration is similar to that issued against terrorist groups such as al Qaeda since 2001 that allows killing drug traffickers as enemy combatants, detaining them without trial and prosecuting them in military tribunals. U.S. military units conducted a fourth missile strike Friday on a boat carrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States with enough narcotics to kill up to 50,000 people, Mr. Trump said in posting a video of the attack on Truth Social. (Source: The Washington Times - U.S.)
Oct 3, 2025 The administration of U.S. President Trump has determined that the U.S. is engaged in a "non-international armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, according to a notification to the U.S. Congress sent by the Pentagon this week. The notice says the U.S. "has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks” by the groups, which Trump has also designated terrorist organizations. "The President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans,” the White House spokesperson Kelly said. The language in the notification expands on one submitted to congressional leaders on Sept. 4, following an earlier U.S. military strike against a purported drug trafficking vessel. At the time, Trump wrote: "It is not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that will be necessary. United States forces remain postured to carry out further military operations.” The latest notice says law enforcement efforts to stem the flow of illicit drugs over several decades have proven insufficient, with the substances becoming more potent, while the cartels involved have grown more armed, well-organized and violent. Some of the critics have warned that the administration may be preparing to attack Venezuela directly. Trump didn’t rule out that possibility on Sept. 30, saying "we’ll see what happens with Venezuela.” (Source: The Japan Times)
South America
Venezuela
7 Oct 2025 Late yesterday, Venezuelan President Maduro said his security forces prevented a false flag operation to plant explosives at the United States Embassy in the capital Caracas in order to heighten tensions with Washington, amid a US military build-up off the coast of the Latin American country. Following the rupture of diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington in 2019, the US Embassy is closed and only maintains staff responsible for security and upkeep of the premises. According to CNN, a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers has been produced by the Office of Legal Counsel at the US Department of Justice, alongside a legal opinion that the president is allowed to authorise deadly force against a broad range of suspects due to an imminent threat to US citizens from drug gangs. The Trump administration’s ramped-up campaign against Latin American drug cartels includes expanded authority for the CIA to conduct lethal targeting and covert action in the region. (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)
Globalization
6 Oct 2025 ’Nepal has now joined Sri Lanka and Bangladesh’ in becoming the latest South Asian country ’where a young, digital-savvy generation’ has brought down its government. Gen Z’ riots: Younger generations being rallied by fast-spreading messages on social media oust leaders and set cities on fire. Experts warn this is not a wave of so-called Gen Z protesters that will fade. In Nepal, protests turned violent when government banned 26 social media and messaging platforms – from Facebook and X to TikTok and WhatsApp. Almost half of Nepal’s population use social media – and many of those are under 30. Officials said it was to tackle fake news, but Nepal’s youth argued it was a bid to silence them. With anger over a ban on social media and over alleged corruption, viral clips of politicians’ children – flaunting Gucci handbags, Louis Vuitton boxes, sports cars and luxury holidays – became a bone of contention. There’s a perception that this is ill-gotten wealth. Youth unemployment in Nepal is over 20 per cent, while thousands of young men and women leave the country every day to find work abroad. Instagram allows people to see how the other half live and interact with them in real time. ’Gen Z’ protesters took to the streets in Kathmandu, burning the Singha Durbar palace, the prime minister’s residence and government offices. ’Politicians and their families were dragged from their homes, beaten in the street, and even set alight in a bloody wave of revenge’. More than 70 were killed in clashes with Police. By the end of it, Prime Minister Sharma Oli was gone. In Morocco, anger grew as the government funnelled billions into preparations for the 2030 World Cup while hospitals and schools crumbled. Gen Z movements exploded after several women died in an underfunded hospital in Agadir. Protest videos went viral, demonstrations demanding reforms in healthcare and education sectors spread, and authorities imposed curfews. In Madagascar, power cuts and water shortages sparked chaos. The capital, Antananarivo, plunged into darkness. Furious youths led protests demanding President Rajoelina’s resignation. Security forces opened fire, leaving more than 20 dead and hundreds injured. The government dissolved. In Peru, a pension law forcing every citizen over 18 into a scheme triggered mass protests. Behind it lay deeper fury at corruption, police violence and political instability. Tear gas and rubber bullets rained down on Lima, as President Boluarte dug her heels in despite calls to back down. While the UK has an older average age than Nepal, with fewer young people making up the bulk of the population, experts fear discontent is brewing. The worry is whether it can be channelled in a positive way because it can be easily hijacked by people with nefarious agendas. “The real question is not whether these uprisings could spread, but whether institutions and leaders are ready to listen before they do”, Torres, a US-based college counselor who works with teenagers, told. TikTok timelines can turn into burning streets almost overnight. (Source: The U.S. Sun)
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