The decade long civil war in Yemen entered a dangerous new phase as Saudi Arabia attacked a United Arab Emirates shipment of military equipment sent to UAE allied separatist rebels in late December. The airstrike, which destroyed eighty military vehicles was aimed at eliminating UAE support for the Southern Transition Council, or STC, which is seeking to restore South Yemen as an independent state.
(“UAE Promises to Withdraw From Yemen After Bombing by Saudi Arabia,” Guardian, Dec. 30, 2025; “Saudi Arabia Reveals Details of Yemen Bombing as UAE Set to Withdraw,” Al-Jazeera, Dec. 31, 2025)
After weeks of border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia in December, the two nations agreed to a short-term ceasefire on December 27th. The agreement followed a breakdown of an earlier ceasefire deal that U.S. President Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim brokered, to halt a previous border conflict in July.
(“Is Cambodia’s Scam Industry Too Big to Fail,” Foreign Policy, Dec. 1, 2025; “Are Scam Compounds the Real Cause of the Thailand-Cambodia Fighting,”Foreign Policy, Sept. 12, 2025)
With an abundance of sunshine and wind, New Mexico could become a mecca of clean, renewable energy with enough of a surplus to supply electricity to Arizona and California. But instead, consumer and clean energy advocates warn that the state has become a battleground for private equity groups bidding to use the state’s natural resources to power new data centers that are needed to provide enormous amounts of electricity to expand the artificial intelligence industry.
(“Private Equity Utility Spending Spree Threatens New Mexico,” American Prospect, Dec. 10, 2025)
