Taiwan Market Cap Tops $4 Trillion on AI Boom, Overtaking UK Taiwan overtook the UK in stock market value as the island’s tech firms regained favor amid hopes for further de-escalation in the Iran war.

Taiwan to overtake the UK’s position as the seventh largest stock market in the world.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

How a fake Russian story became a real problem for Estonia Inside the People’s Republic that wasn’t.

How a fake Russian story became a real problem for Estonia www.politico.eu/article/how-...

The end of the Viktor Orbán era Populist nationalism can be beaten at the ballot box, even if it can endure a long time

The end of the Viktor Orbán era www.ft.com/content/7412...

How Russian spies recruit, pressure and run their informants A leaked cache of messages and recordings offers rare insight into Moscow’s efforts to infiltrate opposition groups in Europe.

How Russian spies recruit, pressure, and run their informants
www.politico.eu/article/russ...

Welp, it’s official, we are living a new era of AI-slop: the llm-vibecoded-dashboard.

The Iran Shock And the Dangerous Allure of Energy Autarky

The Iran Shock
And the Dangerous Allure of Energy Autarky reader.foreignaffairs.com/2026/04/06/t...

Orban Offered to Be ‘Mouse’ Helping Russian ‘Lion’ in Putin Call Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told Vladimir Putin during a phone call in October that he was willing to go to great lengths to assist the Russian president, including to help settle the war in...

Orban Offered to Be ‘Mouse’ Helping Russian ‘Lion’ in Putin Call www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

El factor más importante sigue siendo la composición del Senado: nuestro análisis muestra que cerca de 8 partidos tienen opciones reales de pasar la valla.
#Peru #EleccionesPeru2026

#Peru 2026 Election Trends: La Foto a Una Semana (In Spanish) Quick Data Nuggets from our Comprehensive Poll-of-Polls Analysis

A una semana de las elecciones en #Peru, los datos empiezan a mostrar tendencias claras. Mientras el liderazgo sigue fragmentado, la pregunta parece ser únicamente quién acompañará a Fujimori en el runoff.
Via: irrationalspace.com
Un adelanto aquí: open.substack.com/pub/theirrat...

Social media is populist and polarising; AI may be the opposite Large language models elevate expert consensus and moderate views, in sharp contrast to social platforms

Social media is populist and polarising; AI may be the opposite www.ft.com/content/3880...

Strait of Hormuz Shipping Sees Near-Total Halt as War in Iran Continues

Strait of Hormuz Shipping Sees Near-Total Halt as War in Iran Continues www.bloomberg.com/news/live-bl...

Ukraine Battlefield Tech Firm UFORCE Tops $1 Billion Valuation A defense-technology startup born out of Ukraine’s battlefield is emerging with a valuation topping $1 billion, as Western and Gulf militaries scramble for systems proved in combat.

Ukraine Battlefield Tech Firm UFORCE Tops $1 Billion Valuation www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump to cut Anthropic from government contracts in six months US president delays move against leading AI start-up in feud over military use of the technology

The Art of Blackmailing:
Trump to cut Anthropic from government contracts in six months www.ft.com/content/1aef...

Orban’s Poll Support Crumbles as Hungary Opposition Widens Lead Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s support crumbled less than seven weeks before a parliamentary election, a poll showed, raising the prospect of a landslide victory for an opposition that’s pled...

Orban’s Poll Support Crumbles as Hungary Opposition Widens Lead
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The authoritarian AI crisis has arrived AI safety researchers have long worried that a government would seek to use AI for domestic surveillance and autonomous killing. The Pentagon’s fight with Anthropic threatens to make it a reality

Outstanding @caseynewton.bsky.social analysis (of course) of the Anthropic/DOD fight. www.platformer.news/anthropic-pe...

US warns it will axe all Anthropic agreements without Pentagon deal CEO Dario Amodei says start-up ‘cannot in good conscience’ agree to US government’s terms

Anthropic rejects Pentagon’s ‘final offer’ for military use of its AI www.ft.com/content/11d2...

Paramount Wins Bidding War for Warner Discovery After Netflix Drops Out Paramount emerged victorious in the fight to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix said it wouldn’t match the David Ellison-led company’s latest offer for the iconic Hollywood property.

Ugh…
Paramount Wins Bidding War for Warner Discovery After Netflix Drops Out www.wsj.com/business/med...

Has Trump Delivered on His Promises? What These 12 Metrics Tell Us The president is struggling to sell his “economic miracle” to voters. What do the numbers say? These data points cut through the political noise.

Has Trump Delivered on Immigration, the Economy, Jobs and Trade? www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Private credit has a structural problem Plus, tariff uncertainly gets worse

Private credit has a structural problem ft.trib.al/Huxxuak | opinion

Across Africa, Russia Seeks to Expand Influence Through Orthodox Church What may be the most significant expansion in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church is serving as a powerful new tool for the Kremlin.

Putin Swaps Cash for Crosses in Bid for African Influence www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Russia’s Wagner Group pivots to European sabotage, say western officials Recruiters involved with fighter group are said to be targeting agents for operations on Nato soil

Russia’s Wagner Group pivots to European sabotage, say western officials www.ft.com/content/dbd1...

Ukraine war latest: Drones strike oil, chemical plants in Russia as fresh peace talks begin in Geneva Key developments on Feb. 17 * Ukraine, Russia hold US-mediated Geneva talks focused on 'practical issues,' negotiations to resume Feb. 18 * SBU strikes chemical factory used for explosives producti...

Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. held a new round of trilateral peace talks in Geneva on Feb. 17; Deep strike drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine successfully hit a large Russian chemicals plant that supplies the country's explosives production; and more.

WhatsApp Says Russia Has Tried to Block Its Messaging Service WhatsApp said Russia’s government has moved to “fully block” its popular encrypted messaging service in the country as part of an effort to drive adoption of a new, state-sponsored app.

WhatsApp said Russia’s government has moved to “fully block” its service in the country www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

This is beyond outrageous. Need post-lockup price discovery at an absolute minimum. They know it’s the only thing keeping Tesla from being 90% lower right now. Disgusting.

Massive attack on Ukraine tonight.

What a tiny African nation reveals about the harsh reality of Trump’s tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump imposed eye-watering tariffs on Lesotho and cut aid last year, plunging the small African nation into turmoil. Brussels and Beijing are now looking at ways to expand their ...

What a tiny African nation reveals about the harsh reality of Trump’s tariffs www.ftm.eu/articles/wha...

How Orban Went From Invincible to Underdog in Hungary Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban spent the past 16 years perfecting what he called an “illiberal laboratory” in the European Union member state, holding it up as an election-proof model for natio...

How Orban Went From Invincible to Underdog in Hungary
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

ICE agents hate being filmed Trump administration accused of trampling First Amendment by targeting Americans recording immigration raids

ICE agents hate being filmed www.ft.com/content/4c1e...

Trump Says He’s Not Concerned About Dollar Slump Good morning. Donald Trump deepens the dollar’s woes by brushing off its slump. Tether has one of the largest gold stockpiles in the world. And Starbucks gives its CEO a pick-me-up. Listen to the day’...

Trump Says He’s Not Concerned About Dollar Slump www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Donald Trump’s approval rating Follow our presidential approval rating poll tracker to see how favourably Americans view Mr Trump

373 days into DJT's term,
his net approval rating is -18% www.economist.com/interactive/...