The Iranian flashpoint was never only about oil, missiles, and nuclear sites.
It is a live demonstration of a deeper contest: control over the 17 rare-earth and critical minerals that make modern weapons possible. Without them, precision-guided munitions, drone swarms, satellite constellations, fighter-jet radars, and the next generation of autonomous systems simply do not function at the scale necessary to project, demonstrate, and sustain power.
As fellow BIG Media contributor Kaase Gbakon pointed out eloquently (Clean...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities say Pakistani mortars and missiles struck a university and residential neighbourhoods in the eastern province of Kunar on Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 80.
Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the strikes hit the city of Asadabad, the provincial capital, as well as surrounding districts.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education said about 30 students and professors were among the wounded, with Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani...
(BBC News) A superyacht linked to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's key allies has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, despite the ongoing blockade of the critical shipping channel.
The 142-metre-long, multi-deck luxury boat, named Nord, is linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov. It travelled from Dubai to Muscat, Oman, over the weekend – one of few private vessels to transit through the strait in recent months.
Iran held high-level talks with Russia this...
(New York Times) The Chinese government said on Monday that it would require the unwinding of Meta’s acquisition of Manus, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence company with Chinese founders, in a move that could chill other Chinese entrepreneurs from seeking tie-ups with foreign partners.
Chinese officials had said in January that they were investigating whether Meta’s acquisition of Manus in December violated the country’s rules on foreign investment. They were also assessing whether the deal violated China’s requirements...
(BBC News) New information is emerging about Cole Tomas Allen – who was identified by US officials as the man who was arrested after shots were fired inside the hotel where the White House Correspondents' Dinner was being held on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old suspect, who described himself as a mechanical engineer, game developer and teacher, is from Torrance in the Los Angeles region of California. He is due to appear in court today (Monday).
Police...
(New York Times) The Trump administration said on Friday that it would allow firing squads and readopt lethal injection as part of a broader push to revive the death penalty.
In an accompanying report, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said that decisions by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to pull back on capital punishment “inflicted untold damage on victims of crime, and, ultimately, to the rule of law itself.”
The Justice Department, he said, had...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) A UK bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will not become law after efforts by unelected lawmakers to stall its passage through Parliament.
Time ran out for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday after hitting a parliamentary quagmire of more than 1,200 bill amendments tabled by appointed lawmakers in the House of Lords.
The bill, which proposed legalising euthanasia for adults with less than six months to...
(BBC News) A total of 518 people died in Tanzania from "unnatural causes", including 197 who were shot dead, in the widespread protests that followed last year's general election, the commission of inquiry set up to investigate the violence has announced.
However, commission chairman Mohamed Chande Othman did not say who was responsible for the deaths, recommending further investigations.
This is the first time the authorities have said how many people died.
Opposition parties and human rights...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said a pipeline carrying Russian oil to Europe is ready to resume operations after being damaged during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he expected the completed “repair work” on the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline running through his country would lead to the release of a much-needed 90-million-euro ($106-million) European Union loan hitherto blocked by Hungary, which depends on the Russian oil.
Ukraine says the pipeline was damaged...
(BBC News) Japan has relaxed decades-old restrictions on its arms exports, clearing the way for it to sell weapons to more than a dozen countries.
The announcement on Tuesday marks a milestone in Tokyo's shift away from the pacifism that has characterised its post-war defence policy. It comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region.
Restrictions that limit arms exports to just five categories – rescue, transport, warning, surveillance and minesweeping – will be...
