According to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military spending reached US$ 2.887 trillion in 2025, marking the eleventh consecutive year of growth. In Asia, growth is driven by China, Japan, India, and Taiwan, due to strategic rivalries and uncertainty over the role of the United States. In the Middle East, Israeli spending was down, but Turkey’s and Saudi Arabia’s were up.
The Israeli government is turning an ad hoc process into a structured policy, approving in November 2025 a plan to relocate nearly 6,000 people with public funding. The first 240 arrived recently as part of Operation Kanfei Shahar. Faith alone is not driving many to leave their Indian villages in the Indian state of Manipur, interethnic violence is.
Parts of the place of worship have been vandalised, causing fear among residents of the Fateh Chowk district. Members of the community organised a demonstration, blocking traffic and chanting slogans in support of religious freedom. The details of the attack and the identity of those responsible remain unclear. The police intervention, and the promise to punish those responsible, has restored calm.
Even Afghans with valid papers are affected by warrantless arrests and deportations, Human Rights Watch reports. Women and children are hiding to avoid repatriation, while journalists, activists, and former officials with the previous government fear persecution by the Taliban. More than a thousand Afghans are in a precarious situation stranded in Qatar, with the United States seeking to send to Congo.
From India to Australia, Tibetan expatriates in 27 countries elected the 45-member assembly with 93 candidates running. Just over 91,000 voters cast their ballot. The five-year parliament, based in Dharamsala, serves as the representative body for the approximately 150,000 Tibetans living in exile. Young voters call for greater attention to the community's future.
An amendment amending the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) has been introduced in the Lower House. Among other things, the bill proposes the establishment of an “authority” tasked with “seizing, managing and disposing of” the assets of the affected organisations. For Fr Thelakkatt, it is “cloaked in rhetoric” about “national security” but is a tool to fuel the “nationalist ideology” of Hindutva.
