Features
Malaysia’s fuel recalibration: balancing fiscal discipline and public relief
In late September 2025, the Malaysian government unveiled a recalibrated approach to its long-running petrol subsidy, lowering the price of RON95 for citizens to $0.47 per litre.
Did Tokayev’s visit to New York indicate any meaningful expansion of Kazakh-American economic ties?
Best not believe the hype.
Water scarcity forces a rethink of Tehran's dominance
Iran is fast running out of water fast and the country's president wants to move the capital immediately.
LONG READ: Trade is the glue that holds Global Emerging Markets Institutions together
The world order is changing. The emerging markets are coming of age and they are setting up a raft of largely non-Western Global Emerging Markets Institutions (GEMIs) to coordinate their lives. Trade is the glue that binds them together.
Trump tariffs to dent revenue of Indian home textile industry by 5–10%
India’s home textile industry is bracing for one of its most challenging years, after the United States imposed steep tariffs of 50% on a broad set of Indian exports with effect from August 27
LONG READ: The GEMIs, the Global Emerging Markets' interlocking institutions
The international order is breaking up as the Global Emerging Markets build a raft of new non-Western interlocking international institutions to run their vision of a new multipolar world order.
Slovenia confronts its ageing challenge with contested pension reform
As Slovenia’s population ages, the overhaul of the pension system is becoming one of its defining political struggles of the decade.
PANNIER: Quarrelling neighbours – the Taliban and Tajikistan
Sabre-rattling not infrequent, but there just might be signs of easing tensions.
Iran's population is ageing at an alarming rate
Once a young, vibrant nation, Iran is greying into oblivion after a demographic shift of startling velocity.
Ukraine's receipt of Israeli missiles part of Israel's greater geopolitical plot
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that his country received a Patriot air defence system from Israel
UK companies lost $70bn from sanctions on Russia
British businesses have lost nearly $70bn between 2022 and 2024 as a result of their withdrawal from the Russian market, according to a survey of public sources and annual reports, the Russian state-owned media reports.
EBRD warns CEE competitiveness at risk as China’s export power grows
China's exports have become more similar to those from Central Europe and Turkey, as its share in global manufacturing exports surges.
Tony Blair in discussions to run Gaza
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is set to run an interim Gaza government following the collapse of Hamas, the White House hopes.
How Azerbaijan's oil prince went from dining with Messi to facing decades in prison
Adnan Ahmadzada is accused of contaminating 200,000 tonnes of his country's oil exports with corrosive chemicals and facilitating billions in Russian sanctions evasion.
Russia's military production goes into surplus
After more than three years of heavy investment, Russia’s military production has gone into surplus, producing more arms and ammo than it needs to perpetrate the war in Ukraine, the Kiel Institute reported.
"Managed democracy" wins the Moldovan elections
It appears that the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has won the general election in Moldova on September 28, but President Maia Sandu has taken a page out of the Kremlin's “managed democracy" playbook.
How East Asia, by way of BLACKPINK, BTS et al, has redefined global pop culture
While BTS rewrote the rules for boy bands, BLACKPINK reshaped girl group dynamics and have since taken the world by storm, routinely selling out stadiums across the US and Europe.
Mass food poisoning in Indonesia linked to government’s free meal programme
It was reported that between mid-August and mid-September alone, 978 students required hospital treatment for diarrhoea, vomiting, rashes, facial swelling, breathing problems, and headaches.
Indonesia’s World Bank debt and the price of a green transition
Indonesia is routinely listed among the World Bank’s largest borrowers, second only to India in some recent tallies, reflecting an outstanding balance with the Bank running into the tens of billions and placing Indonesia among the top 10 debtors
BEYOND THE BOSPORUS: Spymaster tells Istanbul audience MI6 forged relationship with Syria’s HTS in 2023
Over in New York, country’s president, ex-Al Qaeda man al-Sharaa, is interviewed on-stage by a former CIA chief.