COMMENT | PETER THOMSON  |  While the ocean’s health is perilously close to a tipping point, 2025 offered reasons for hope. In fact, over the next five years, we have an opportunity to pull back from the brink and ensure that the ocean continues to stabilize the climate, feed billions …

COMMENT | VANESSA BADRE | Like the air we breathe, peace does not typically command our attention until we lose it. That is why the study of peace is inextricably linked to that of war: it seeks to understand the root causes of conflict and illuminate ways to end or …

Signatories must guarantee that genetic sequence data and samples from potential outbreaks are shared with the US within 5 days of detection SPECIAL FEATURE | JEVANS NYABIAGE | Washington is securing bilateral health deals with countries across Africa to ensure direct access to critical pathogen data and specimens following the United States’ …

COMMENT |  JANINE R. WEDEL | Corruption may simply be a way of life for US President Donald Trump, but it is the defining issue of his presidency. From doling out pardons and policies in exchange for cash donations or favors to encouraging foreign governments and non-state actors to invest in his family’s crypto product, Trump’s corruption …

COMMENT | TIMOTHY SNYDER | In certain ways, this autumn in the United States has recalled the autumn of 1938 in Nazi Germany, when mass deportation of undocumented people was one of Hitler’s most ambitious coercive policies before the start of World War II. In the US, too, the connection …

More and more Zambians are finding their fortune not at the copper mines, but in the water. 27-year-old Sibongile Nthani is among those trying their hand at fish farming, benefitting from the experience of multinational Zambian players already in the market, and government support. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY |  …

With external borrowing under pressure, African states are redesigning how they fund infrastructure. Capital-market instruments, pooled funds and long-term domestic investors are emerging as central to the continent’s next build-out. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | African governments are increasingly exploring alternative ways to finance infrastructure, moving beyond conventional external …

COMMENT | BRAHMA CHELLANEY |  At a time when US policy toward India has become distinctly punitive, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warm reception of Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi recently could not have been more pointed. Modi’s message was clear: India is a sovereign power that will not be …

Political intimidation, ownership pressures, the rise of AI, and economic constraints are calling into question the future of press freedom – nowhere more conspicuously than in the United States, where these forces have combined to fuel growing anxiety about the fate of an institution that has been fundamental to democracies …

From trade tensions and high debt burdens to fears of an AI stocks bubble, the global economy will face an array of risks that could dampen growth in the new year ANALYSIS | AGENCIES | The global economy weathered a whirlwind of challenges in 2025, including sharp trade tensions, uneven yet moderate …