Published/updated July 18 · AP; Reuters updated July 18
The United States and Iran exchanged new strikes Saturday as their fight over the Strait of Hormuz intensified. U.S. strikes targeted Iranian surveillance, logistics, weapons-storage and maritime capabilities; Iranian and regional reports also described hits on power and desalination infrastructure. Kuwait said an Iranian attack struck a power-generation and desalination station, while Bahrain sounded air sirens and Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq reported interceptions.
Why it matters: the conflict is no longer just about ships or nuclear bargaining. It is becoming a struggle over the systems that make Gulf economies function: ports, bridges, water plants, electricity and maritime insurance. Hormuz normally carries about a fifth of globally traded oil and gas; if the war keeps moving into civilian infrastructure, the economic shock will spread well beyond the Middle East.
Sources: AP; Reuters
Published July 18 · Al Jazeera
The Philippines lodged a diplomatic protest after state-backed China Daily published videos portraying Filipinos as monkeys. Manila called the depictions racist and dehumanising; the videos were tied to the 10th anniversary of the 2016 arbitration ruling that rejected China’s sweeping South China Sea claims.
Why it matters: this is not just an ugly media episode. It shows how territorial disputes are being fought through legitimacy campaigns, audience-building and nationalist humiliation as much as through coastguard collisions. The 2016 ruling remains the legal core of Manila’s position; Beijing’s rejection of it is increasingly paired with narrative warfare aimed at weakening the ruling’s moral and political force.
Source: Al Jazeera
Published and updated July 18 · Reuters
Skyroot Aerospace launched Vikram-1 from Sriharikota and successfully placed payloads into a 450 km orbit, Reuters reported. It is India’s first privately developed orbital rocket and makes India the third country to achieve orbital launch capability through private enterprise.
Why it matters: India is trying to turn its state-led space competence into a commercial launch ecosystem. If private Indian firms can reliably serve the small-satellite market, space access becomes less concentrated around the U.S., Europe and China — and India’s target of growing its space economy from roughly $8 billion to $44 billion by 2033 looks less aspirational.
Source: Reuters
Published and updated July 18 · Reuters
Shanghai Xingshu Tiansuan Space Technology said it launched the first constellation in a planned 1,000-satellite space-computing project, a step toward commercial operation of China’s first space-based computing network. The announcement came as Xi Jinping used Shanghai’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference to frame China as a leader in a new global AI order.
Why it matters: AI competition is beginning to merge with orbital infrastructure. Space-based computing could process satellite data closer to where it is collected and reduce dependence on terrestrial data centres, power grids and jurisdictions. Whether technically decisive or not, it points to a larger trend: compute itself is becoming strategic infrastructure, and states want it distributed, sovereign and hard to disable.
Source: Reuters