U.S.-Taiwan tech talks. Senior U.S. and Taiwanese officials held talks on economic cooperation in Washington yesterday focused on the tech sector. Taiwan’s diplomatic office in the United States endorsed the so-called Pax Silica, a Trump administration effort to ensure joint access to materials for chips and artificial intelligence (AI). The meeting was the sixth edition of an annual U.S.-Taiwan dialogue implemented in 2020.
Ukraine war casualties. As many as 325,000 Russian troops and 140,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine almost four years ago, the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in a new report. Russia’s total war casualties—including wounded and missing soldiers—total around 1.2 million people, the study found. That would mean Russia has amassed the highest number of casualties among major powers in any conflict since World War II. Moscow and Kyiv have rarely issued public estimates of military losses; the study cited estimates by Western officials.
Trump’s threats to attack Iran. Trump called on Tehran today to make a deal guaranteeing Iran has no nuclear weapons, warning that the United States could attack again if it refused. Trump added the U.S. naval deployment in the Middle East was ready to act with “speed and violence, if necessary.” This week, both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) publicly stated the United States could not use their airspace for an attack on Iran.
EV sales in Europe. Electric vehicles (EVs) outsold gas-powered ones in Europe for the first time in December, according to new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Hybrid cars continued to outsell both categories. EV sales grew despite Brussels’ proposal last month to scrap a 2035 ban on new combustion-engine car sales.
New UAE AI model. The leading technology university in the UAE released data yesterday for a new AI model that aims to compete with the top open AI models from the United States and China. The university’s president said the project seeks to fill a gap left by less transparent Western models, which have not yet offered “an answer” to Chinese open models. The head of Artificial Analysis, a firm that assesses new AI systems, said the UAE’s new model was “the most intelligent model at this level of openness.”
U.S.-Iraq leadership tensions. The United States would “no longer help Iraq” if former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returns to power, Trump wrote on social media yesterday. Earlier in the day, an Iraqi parliamentary election to select the country’s next president was delayed to allow parties to hold further consultations. Al-Maliki rejected “blatant American interference in Iraq’s internal affairs” in a social media post today.
Doomsday clock update. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which since 1947 has used a proverbial clock to demonstrate how close the world is to manmade disaster, advanced the clock yesterday to eighty-five seconds to midnight—its closest-ever point to catastrophe. The group warned that as China, Russia, the United States, and others become “increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic…hard-won global understandings are collapsing.” The breakdown risks accelerating the dangers of climate change and nuclear war, they added.
Rwanda-UK legal dispute. Rwanda’s government announced yesterday it had filed a legal complaint in the Hague against the British government over unmet payments from a scrapped migration deal. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer abandoned the deal—intended to send asylum seekers to Rwanda—once he took office in 2024. Bilateral relations have soured under Starmer’s tenure as he also took a harder stance against Rwanda’s support for rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
