64% of UAE residents now use generative AI

14 January 2026 at 06:00

Artificial intelligence adoption has been on the rise globally, but new data shows some countries significantly outperforming others, while the gap between advanced nations and developing nations has widened. The...

Uganda shuts down internet two days before election

Rest of World

By: Damilare Dosunmu

14 January 2026 at 04:54

Two days before its general elections, Uganda has turned off the internet across the country. The measure is necessary to mitigate the rapid spread of “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud, and...

TOPSHOT - Residents travel past an electoral billboard supporting Uganda's incumbent president and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni, ahead of the 2026 Ugandan general elections, in Kampala on January 10, 2026. (Photo by Luis TATO / AFP via Getty Images)

Tesla is losing the EV race. Its stock keeps winning

Rest of World

By: Indranil Ghosh

14 January 2026 at 01:49

Tesla sold fewer cars for the second year in a row in 2025. The company’s annual deliveries fell 8.6% to 1.6 million vehicles, according to its investor relations filing, the...

Iran crippled Starlink and why the rest of the world should worry

Rest of World

By: Indranil Ghosh

13 January 2026 at 12:17

Iran is systematically crippling Starlink, the satellite internet service said to be almost impossible to jam. Military-grade GPS jammers deployed since January 8 have cut satellite internet performance by as...

An Armed member of Iranian security forces is seen in front of a burning building during a protest in Tehran, Iran on January 9, 2026.

Why India’s plan to make AI companies pay for training data should go global

Rest of World

By: Javaid Iqbal Sofi

13 January 2026 at 06:00

India recently released a draft proposal requiring artificial intelligence companies to pay royalties when they use copyrighted work from the country to train their models. If enacted, the law could...

BYD burns profit chasing global dominance over Tesla

Rest of World

By: Kinling Lo and Ananya Bhattacharya

13 January 2026 at 00:11

Winning the global electric-vehicle race is costing BYD dearly. The Chinese EV giant reported a 33% drop in profit for the period from July to September, marking its second consecutive...

AI’s green-energy goal is devastating Taiwan’s coastal villages

Rest of World

By: Hsiuwen Liu

12 January 2026 at 06:00

For generations, Li Cheng-chieh and his family have lived off the tidal flats along Taiwan’s west coast, harvesting oysters and selling them to homes and in local markets. Four years...

Silicon, not oil: Why the U.S. needs the Gulf for AI

Rest of World

By: Indranil Ghosh

12 January 2026 at 03:34

The U.S. is tapping Gulf nations to win the artificial intelligence race. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are set to join Pax Silica, a U.S.-led initiative aimed at securing...

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 12: Undersecretary of State Jacob Helberg Convenes The Pax Silica Summit, the first convening of a high level, private gathering focused on economic security and the establishment of a new grouping of partners tailored for the AI economy at Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace on December 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg)

Will the Meta-Manus deal push more Chinese AI startups to Singapore — or shut the door?

Rest of World

By: Kinling Lo

9 January 2026 at 06:00

Meta’s acquisition of Manus, a Chinese-origin artificial intelligence agent startup, has swiftly turned from celebration to complication. The Chinese government has said it will review the estimated $2 billion deal...

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 15: The logo of the U.S. company created by Mark Zuckerberg, Meta is displayed during the Viva Technology conference at Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles on June 15, 2023 in Paris, France. Viva Technology, the biggest tech show in Europe but also in a unique digital format, for 4 days of reconnection and relaunch thanks to innovation. The event brings together startups, CEOs, investors, tech leaders and all of the digital transformation players who are shaping the future of the Internet. The annual technology conference, also known as VivaTech, was founded in 2016 by Publicis Groupe and Groupe Les Echos and is dedicated to promoting innovation and startups. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

A global crackdown on online gambling

Rest of World

By: Hazel Gandhi

8 January 2026 at 14:06

The online gambling industry has exploded in popularity since the pandemic. Estimates suggest that its total market value has more than doubled from $37.5 billion to $81 billion between 2015...

Men gather in front of screens at an online gambling hall at the Kibera informal settlement in Nairobi, on May 18, 2025.

The AI race is creating a new world order

Rest of World

By: Nick Srnicek

8 January 2026 at 06:00

The outcome of the geopolitical struggles between silicon empires is uncertain, but some features are becoming clear. At its limits, this competition would entail a breakdown into fully decoupled hemispherical...

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Health. Should we trust it?

Rest of World

By: Rina Chandran

8 January 2026 at 05:12

Amid rising concerns about people relying on ChatGPT for medical advice, OpenAI made its most significant push yet into health care. The company has launched a new feature called ChatGPT...

In Chinese data factories, workers teach humanoid robots boring tasks

Rest of World

By: Viola Zhou and Kinling Lo

7 January 2026 at 06:00

Inside a brightly lit office in Shanghai, Kim’s task for the week was to pretend he was opening the door of a microwave. Wearing a virtual reality headset and exoskeletons...

Humanoid robots follow technicians to learn job skills at the data collection area of an embodied AI robot innovation center on September 14, 2025 in Shaoxing, of China.

Why Venezuela’s political shock had MercadoLibre’s stock rallying

Rest of World

By: Ananya Bhattacharya

7 January 2026 at 03:49

Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has unexpectedly boosted a Latin American e-commerce company’s stock. Shares of MercadoLibre have gained over 10% on Nasdaq between January 3 and...

TOPSHOT - A supporter of ousted Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro carry his portrait during a rally outside the National Assembly in Caracas on January 5, 2026. Venezuela's parliament swore in Delcy Rodriguez as interim president on January 5, two days after US forces seized her predecessor Nicolas Maduro to face trial in New York. Members of the new National Assembly offered their full backing to Rodriguez -- who had been Maduro's vice president -- and reelected her brother Jorge Rodriguez as parliament head. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese AI unicorns beat Silicon Valley giants in race to go public

Rest of World

By: Kinling Lo

6 January 2026 at 06:11

Two Chinese challengers to ChatGPT are set to go public this week. Zhipu AI and MiniMax will debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 8 and 9, respectively,...

Countries are outlawing online gambling ads. Meta is selling them anyway

Rest of World

By: Hazel Gandhi

6 January 2026 at 06:00

Between 2021 and 2024, India saw a surge of popularity in online gambling, as increasingly cheap mobile data and expanded access to smartphones fueled use of the games. Driven by...

The day the cloud went out

Rest of World

By: Damilare Dosunmu

5 January 2026 at 06:00

November 18 was supposed to be a routine workday for Rwanda-based entrepreneur Derrick Ikenga. But it turned out to be a nightmare he wasn’t prepared for. Cloudflare, a U.S.-based cloud...

India gives Musk 72 hours as X floods with obscene images generated using Grok

Rest of World

By: Ananya Bhattacharya

5 January 2026 at 05:29

Elon Musk’s Grok is under fire in India after its viral “bikini” trend. On January 2, India’s IT ministry issued a 72-hour ultimatum to X over its artificial intelligence chatbot...

WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 13: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY - MANDATORY CREDIT - 'INDIAN PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU / HANDOUT' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Head of the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) and CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and X Elon Musk meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) at Blair House in Washington DC, USA on February 13, 2025. (Photo by Press Information Bureau / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The year in charts

Rest of World

By: Rest of World

30 December 2025 at 06:00

We at Rest of World love a good chart. So much so that this year we launched Charts, a page dedicated to preserving all the original charts we put into...

Innovative ways the world used AI in 2025

Rest of World

By: Rest of World

29 December 2025 at 06:00

2025 was yet another transformative year in the artificial intelligence boom. ChatGPT was the fifth most-visited website in the world, tech companies poured hundreds of millions into refining their models,...

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