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Two people are dead and a third is missing after entering the sea off East Yorkshire
AI’s early-2025 spending spree featured massive raises and trillion-dollar infrastructure promises. By year’s end, hype gave way to a vibe check, with growing scrutiny over sustainability, safety, and business models.
The information war will be fought through chatbots
Ian Bremmer — president and founder of Eurasia Group, a top global political-risk research and consulting firm — says the top geopolitical risk for 2026 is the "U.S. Political Revolution," with President Trump "so committed to and so capable of changing the political system." Why it matters: Eurasia Group's annual "Top Risks" report — out Monday, 48 hours after Trump shook the world by snatching Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro — isolates the "biggest threats to the trajectories of nations, industries and institutions," to help leaders and investors prepare for the year. "The United States is itself unwinding its own global order," says Bremmer, also president and founder of GZERO Media. "The world's most powerful country is in the throes of a political revolution. In our lifetimes, we have never witnessed an American president so committed to and so capable of changing the political system and, accordingly, the United States' role in the world." Other risks: The report says Europe's center is faltering . water is being weaponized as a resource for countries and businesses . and U.S. attacks on clean energy endanger the nation's AI lead, giving China a potential advantage in post-carbon energy production. That's all happening amid the AI boom, which "represents the greatest opportunity and danger humanity has ever created, and with next to no governance, alignment, or coordination," write Bremmer and Cliff Kupchan, Eurasia Group's chair. The rest of the Top 10: 2. Overpowered (electric stack) . 3. Donroe Doctrine . 4. Europe under siege . 5. Russia's second front (hybrid war between Russia and NATO) . 6. State capitalism with American characteristics ("the most economically interventionist administration since the New Deal"). 7. China's deflation trap . 8. AI eats its users . 9. Zombie USMCA (U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement) . and 10. The water weapon (a tool for non-state actors exploiting state weakness. What was a humanitarian crisis is becoming a national security threat
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp have raised new funding for a social media app that helps users "plan with intention."
The U.S. economy was beaten and battered in 2025, and powered ahead despite it all. The big picture: The question for 2026 is whether the underlying sources of weakness that are already evident will broaden out into something that threatens to undermine its overall resilience. Threat level: Beneath buoyant growth in GDP and asset prices are serious worries. The labor market is looking softer by the month.Elevated inflation is pinching family budgets. And fears are rising that the AI-fueled boom could leave ordinary workers worse off. The big picture: Those pain points have already caused public opinion on the economy to turn sharply negative. At the same time, one lesson of 2025 is that the U.S. economy is awfully adaptable and can withstand more challenges than you might expect. Zoom in: In April, President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs sent the stock market swooning and economists upgrading their recession odds. It wasn't the only sign of trouble. Job growth came to a near-halt over the summer. Deportations and restrictionist immigration are part of the story, along with the aging of the native-born workforce. But part of it is that companies are trying to get leaner.Inflation, meanwhile, has become the fire that will not be fully doused. While the sky-high inflation of 2022 is a thing of the past, inflation has been above the Federal Reserve's target 2% target every single month since March 2021. Affordability is top of mind in public opinion. Reality check: It's important to remember, though, that the $30 trillion U.S. economy, for all its flaws, can weather a lot, at least at the macro level. It is, as RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas puts it, a "dynamic and resilient beast."
Protests in Iran are intensifying due to the country's struggling economy, putting pressure on its theocracy
China's massive live-fire military exercises this week in the air and seas around Taiwan come as the calendar flips one year closer to a date that looms larger for Pentagon planners than almost any other. Why it matters: The U.S. military has been operating for the past five years under the assumption that the Chinese military is preparing to take Taiwan by force as soon as 2027. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The big picture: The U.S. has built out bases in the Pacific, poured billions into domestic semiconductor manufacturing, shipped arms to Taipei and shuffled its own military assets — all with an eye on a potential war over the self-governing island. But the sense of urgency has not always matched the tightening timeline — now down to just a single year. Driving the news: In a sign that could be changing, the Trump administration announced the largest-ever arms sale ($11.1 billion) for Taiwan this month. Then on Monday, Beijing launched drills that its military described as a "stern warning" to separatists. They involve simulated aerial strikes, live-fire exercises by the navy, and other elements designed to emphasize China's ability to surround and conquer the island.While the exercises were likely pre-planned, the arms deal announcement infuriated Beijing. A Chinese embassy spokesperson told Axios such moves "risk turning Taiwan into a powder keg" and accele