Look there, in the skies over Lithuania! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… a balloon from Belarus carrying contraband cigarettes? This story is more than just hot air, as hundreds of the deviant dirigibles have wafted across the border in recent weeks, forcing the closure of Lithuania’s main airport and flight cancellations affecting tens of thousands of passengers. Lithuania’s government has imposed a state of emergency, saying the balloons are part of an ongoing campaign from Belarus and Russia of low-level, high-troll “hybrid warfare” against EU and NATO countries. Looks like that planned European “drone wall” can’t go up soon enough. In the meantime, it’s raining loosies in Lithuania!
The White House granted Nvidia permission on Monday to sell its H200 chip – the company’s second-most powerful AI semiconductor – to China, in exchange for the US getting a “cut” of the revenues. The move is in line with President Donald Trump’s suggestion last month that the US should start allowing Beijing to buy them again. Why would the US allow its main tech rival to buy some of its most advanced hardware? To make Beijing dependent on the US, goes the thinking. But there’s just one problem: China doesn’t want the chips, and may not even need them. Beijing is limiting companies’ ability to purchase them. Why? China claims that its domestic industries already have designed chips of similar quality.
Australia today is implementing a first-of-its-kind social media ban for users under 16 years old. The move is meant to mitigate the harmful effects of early social media use on kids’ mental health. Big tech firms are unsurprisingly against the ban, arguing that it’s logistically unfeasible, anti-free speech, and could inspire similar laws globally. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a potential 2028 US presidential hopeful,is already saying that Washington should follow Australia’s lead. But for a domino effect of that kind to occur in other countries, Australia will need to prove two things: first, that it can actually keep the kids off these apps, and second, that the ban has had measurably positive effects on adolescents’ mental and academic wellbeing. Do you think kids should be banned from social media? Let us know here.
2026 is a tipping point year. The biggest source of global instability won’t be China, Russia, Iran, or the ~60 conflicts burning across the planet – the most since World War II. It will be the United States.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia were once on the same side in Yemen, but no longer. The split has exposed a larger regional rift between the two oil-rich, Gulf powers.
Walmart’s $350 billion commitment to American manufacturing means two-thirds of the products we buy come straight from our backyard to yours. From New Jersey hot sauce to grills made in Tennessee, Walmart is stocking the shelves with products rooted in local communities. The impact? Over 750,000 American jobs - putting more people to work and keeping communities strong. Learn more here.
Is Venezuela entering a real transition or just a more volatile phase of strongman politics? In GZERO’s 2026 Top Risks livestream, Risa Grais-Targow, Director for Latin America at Eurasia Group, examines Delcy Rodríguez’s role as Venezuela's interim president after Nicolás Maduro.