Military service builds the skills we value most. Bank of America is committed to hiring 10,000 more people with military backgrounds in the next five years, building on previous military hiring commitments made over the last decade.
Three years ago, former IMF economist and banker Santiago Peña was elected President of Paraguay by more than a 15-point margin of victory. His win continued a run of dominance by the conservative Colorado Party that has seen it occupy the presidency for 73 of the past 78 years, navigating Paraguay through its dictatorship under Alfredo Stroessner, transition to democracy, and rapid economic development.
Last week, President Peña resigned after the collapse of a major bank, whose parent company he had been an investor in, left 2.9 million people locked out of their accounts. Congress – over which former President Horacio Cartes wields considerable influence – refused to accept his resignation, instead voting to impeach and remove Peña from office, so that he would not preserve his immunity from criminal prosecution. Now, Peña has been placed under house arrest, Vice President Pedro Alliana has taken power, and the country previously considered one of the most stable in Latin America is working to restore its financial credibility and pay back customers of the now-defunct Ueno Bank.
What happened? Is this a story about corruption or a political power struggle between Peña and Cartes? Yes and yes. And it reveals the cracks beneath a Paraguayan political system that's teetered on the edge of being a one-party state for generations.
The crisis began with the rise of Ueno Bank over the past five years, a fast-growing fintech firm with eye-watering bonuses for its customers and sponsorships across Paraguayan sports. As The New York Times reported, the bank attracted many Paraguayans who'd never had a bank account before, including young people and Indigenous citizens. At the same time, the bank's CEO Miguel Vázquez set up dozens of other companies and began loaning money, with minimal due diligence, to firms connected to his own group. As more and more money flowed into Ueno, including more than $850 million from the government's coffers, these crooked loans became a systemic risk for Paraguay's economy.
Up until 2025, President Peña had been an investor in the bank's parent company, Ueno Holding. Paraguay's Central Bank, led by Ueno's former president (whom Peña had appointed), supported Ueno's regulatory approval and a merger with another indebted bank under favorable terms. Peña dismissed the public outcry that emerged because of this self-dealing, going so far as to call it "financial terrorism." When a Central Bank employee began asking questions internally about the state of Ueno's balance sheets in July, he promptly found himself reassigned to a new agency.
This all came to a head last week when the bank failed, leaving customers in the dark and prompting Peña's resignation. But Peña's political downfall wasn't just a result of alleged corruption; it was partly engineered by business tycoon, former president, and current Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes.
Cartes left office in 2018 after failing to rewrite Paraguay's constitution to allow a second term. He was subsequently accused of corruption by the United States (including bribing lawmakers) yet still retained powerful sway over the Colorado Party, with Peña emerging as his protégé. That dynamic led the Trump administration to end sanctions on him, as the State Department under Secretary Marco Rubio looked to improve relations with Paraguay's dominant powerbroker.
Once in office, Peña became more powerful, challenging Cartes's status as Paraguay's kingmaker. The two men warred over who had the right to choose Alliana's running mate in 2028 and likely a future president of Paraguay. When the Ueno scandal broke, Cartes's allies in Congress pursued investigations and later ignored Peña's attempt to step down. Now, with Vice President Alliana having taken power with his blessing, Cartes has reasserted his control over the political system.
Meanwhile, the fallout from Ueno's collapse is continuing – more than 1.2 million customers have been refunded by the government so far (with deposits insured up to $37,000), but teachers are still striking over the uncertainty around what will happen to their pension funds. With many Paraguayans still unable to access their money, frustration towards the political establishment is building – offering a real threat to Cartes and the Colorado Party.
The consequences will be far-reaching. Even though Paraguay is not a large country (with a smaller population than New York City), it's been important to US diplomacy in the region as a member of the Shield of the Americas coalition to combat drug trafficking. Peña, as one of the many conservative candidates elected in Latin America in recent years, was well-liked by the Trump administration.
Paraguay has also played a significant role on China and Taiwan, as the only South American country to recognize Taiwan, while its neighbors pursue closer economic integration with China. At a time when Beijing is exerting pressure on countries to distance themselves from Taipei – Taiwan was forced to close its office in Papua New Guinea last week – a challenge to the Colorado Party is welcome news to Beijing.
The next presidential election isn't until 2028, so it's too early to predict how the scandal will affect the party's performance. And it's worth remembering that past scandals have previously failed to unseat its leaders. But in a global environment where incumbent parties from Hungary to Colombia are losing due to anger about affordability and corruption, the Ueno disaster will be harder for the Colorado Party to overcome.
One of Ueno Bank's slogans on its website reads: "We are disruptive." The company has lived up to its mandate, just not in the way it might have intended.
As children face growing risks from social media, artificial intelligence, and other global challenges, France is calling for stronger international action to protect younger generations.
Speaking with GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis at the Paris Peace Forum, Éléonore Caroit, France’s Minister Delegate for Francophonie and International Partnerships, discusses the need to accelerate protections against online harms. She warns of children’s exposure to deepfakes and bots “that are telling them how they should feel,” arguing that governments must work with technology companies to establish meaningful safeguards.
Caroit also examines the growing anxieties shaping young people’s outlook, from concerns about technology displacing jobs to the effects of climate change. She argues that governments must invest more in younger generations and address the economic pressures fueling political discontent. On the international stage, she makes the case for pragmatic cooperation, arguing that multilateral forums remain essential even as the global system faces mounting challenges.
This conversation is presented by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft. The Global Stage series convenes global leaders for critical conversations on the geopolitical forces reshaping our world.
That list got shorter on Tuesday after a UK court overturned laws criminalizing homosexuality in Trinidad and Tobago, ending an 11-year-long legal battle. The Caribbean is home to several Commonwealth countries – mostly former British colonies that still recognize the British monarch as their head of state – that still have laws around homosexuality. As a region, the Caribbean is a notable exception when it comes to anti-LGBTQ laws in the Western Hemisphere, where most countries have decriminalized same-sex relations. LGBTQ activists hope the landmark ruling will set a precedent for other Caribbean nations to follow suit.
Spanish workers are taking to the streets today for the country’s first general strike in 14 years, protesting against a severe housing crisis and soaring living costs. The timing might seem bad for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez – who faces snap elections on November 29 – but his government actually encouraged the strike. With his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party sliding in the polls, Sánchez has sought to capitalize on public anger over housing costs, which came to a head this summer after an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her Madrid apartment. By backing the protests, Sánchez hopes to cast his party as the champion of housing reform ahead of the vote. But it’s a risky gamble. The conservative People’s Party and far-right Vox have been surging in the polls after the mass wave of migration in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta this summer.
One week after scoring majorities in the US House and Senate, Democrats’ battles over the party’s direction in the new Congress are taking shape. Progressive and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, said on Tuesday he would not support Sen. Chuck Schumer as majority leader in January. Sanders was joined by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who called for a broader discussion on who should lead Senate Democrats, along with a number of newly elected progressive senators, some of whom argued Schumer, who has led democrats in the Senate since 2017, is too old and too moderate to lead. However, Schumer’s election only requires a majority of Senate Democrats to support him, which he appears on track to win if no one else announces a run. Across the aisle, Republicans re-elected Sen. John Thune as party leader in the chamber, and House Republicans chose Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan as minority leader, who pitched himself as best prepared to push back against the Democratic majority.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s military adventure into Haiti is getting increasingly aggressive. On Monday, he posted a video on X showing a Salvadoran helicopter destroying an alleged gang headquarters after crowdsourcing its location directly from a social media user. And last week, Salvadoran helicopters fired on gangs attacking members of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), but hit the nearby US Embassy building in the process, according to US officials. Although President Donald Trump reportedly gave Bukele his blessing to send troops to Haiti, it may be causing a rift in the Trump administration. State Department officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, worry that poor coordination between the Salvadorans and the GSF – which the Trump administration has strongly supported – could undermine efforts to restore order in Haiti.
Could artificial intelligence give authoritarian governments an edge over democracies? On an upcoming episode of GZERO World, former White House AI advisor Ben Buchanan and author of the new book “The Bitter Struggle” warns that AI could supercharge surveillance, censorship and government crackdowns, giving autocracies new ways to tighten their grip on power. China is racing ahead on AI, but Buchanan says it may be dangerously overconfident in its ability to control the technology.
So how can democracies win the AI race without sacrificing the very values they’re trying to protect? Buchanan says the US needs to stay ahead of China in AI innovation, put that advantage to work in America’s national security, and ensure the technology doesn’t concentrate too much power in the hands of corporations and the state -- one of the most challenging parts of the AI rollout and the race for technological supremacy.
Should governments ban young people from social media? Paul Ash of the Christchurch Call Foundation says he has real reservations about age bans but understands why governments are turning to them.
In this conversation from the 2026 Paris Peace Forum, Tony Maciulis asks Ash where he lands on debates over the age at which a child should be able to use platforms like social media. Ash says that if policymakers could eliminate the information asymmetries that exist, they would not end up removing tools from a certain age group.
He says the debate often puts the onus on the public to tackle online harms rather than on those who designed the products. Ash says platform providers also have a responsibility to keep people safe. He says governments and tech firms have still not had a deep conversation about how recommender algorithms work.
Ash says he would like to see a move toward a more nuanced approach focused on product design and safety. In the meantime, he says, age bans could act as a forcing function for a more mature conversation.
This conversation is part of Global Stage, an award-winning series produced by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft exploring the intersection of technology, politics, and society.
Forests regulate the climate. Mangroves protect coastlines. Insects pollinate crops. But the people protecting those ecosystems often aren’t paid for the benefits they provide. What is protecting a forest worth? What about restoring a wetland or helping endangered wildlife recover?
Nature credits are one way to change that by letting companies fund measurable conservation work. The challenge: How do you measure a healthier forest, price a recovering ecosystem, and make sure conservation isn’t used to justify destruction somewhere else?
In the latest episode of The Debrief, Eurasia Group’s María José Valverde explains how nature credits work, why they’re harder to measure than carbon credits, and what it would take to make the system credible.
The UN’s annual climate summit, this year known as COP31, kicked off in Turkey on Monday, as the world gets hotter – and political temperatures rise.
Over the past year, devastating heatwaves and wildfires in Europe, a catastrophic glacier collapse in Nepal, and both flooding and drought in Africa have all underscored the risk of global warming. The world is on track to exceed its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and 2026 is set to be one of the four hottest years on record.
On opening day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world had entered “a new age of climate extremes.” He urged leaders to cut emissions faster, speed up the transition to clean energy, and provide more funding to help developing countries adapt to changing conditions.
Meanwhile, the war in Iran has disrupted global oil supply, sending fuel prices soaring and frustrating citizens already facing affordability crises. While the disruption prompted some countries to speed their transition from fossil fuels, for others the immediate priority of bringing down fuel costs has complicated energy-transition plans. That tension is one of several major obstacles facing leaders meeting this week to lower carbon emissions, transition from fossil fuels, and put the brakes on climate change.
Economic pressures complicate climate action. For citizens around the world, reducing the cost of living is now their top priority, far ahead of issues like climate change. The World Economic Forum first warned in its 2023 risk report that a looming affordability crisis could overshadow climate change, after the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine upended supply chains and energy prices. Since then, US tariffs and trade wars, as well as energy supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Iran, have further destabilized the global economy – and people are making their frustration clear, both at the ballot box and in the streets.
In Nepal and Madagascar, popular movements ousted governments last year that hadn’t responded to calls for lower prices. In Europe, millions of protesters are denouncing high energy costs, leading some far-right parties like Germany’s AfD to call for a return to cheaper Russian gas supplies. And just this week, in the US, President Donald Trump acknowledged that a backlash against higher gas prices cost the Republicans the House and Senate in last week’s midterm elections.
Countries disagree over keeping electricity clean. “Electrification” is the talk of this year’s summit as a way to lower reliance on fossil fuels. Simply put, electrification is the process of converting anything countries can into electricity, whether it be from hydro, nuclear, or solar. This year, host nation Turkey is championing an ambitious pledge, dubbed “35-by-35,” to boost electricity's share of global energy consumption from about 20% today to 35% by 2035. But there’s a catch: the pledge doesn’t ban or ask countries to phase out using fossil fuels.
The Iran war has pushed some Asian countries, including India and China, to rely more heavily on coal to generate electricity. Turkey has also long relied on coal for its electricity production, and has no date set to end its use. Without a clean-energy requirement, environmental groups worry that a pledge to increase electricity use could end up increasing fossil fuel consumption in some countries, rather than reducing it.
No change without cash. Arguments over money began even before the summit opened. Developing countries have long maintained that wealthy nations, which produced a disproportionate share of historical emissions, must help poorer economies adapt and transition. That money, dubbed adaptation financing, can pay for weather-proof housing, drought-tolerant crops, seawalls to guard against floods, and emergency relief after climate-related disasters.
The UN’s Adaptation Gap Report 2026 found that developed nations contributed $28 billion in 2024, but the need will rise to $305 billion by 2035. African negotiators are seeking to triple contributions by that date, but even before the summit opened, a senior European Union official reportedly warned that cash-strapped governments had “no political will” to provide for extra funding.
The bottom line: Unless cost-of-living pressures ease, governments may be less inclined to take on big climate initiatives. The irony is that the floods, fires, and droughts exacerbated by climate change also carry a financial cost – one that will only continue to rise as the planet warms.
Nearly 20 years after leaving the country, Exxon is returning to Venezuela under a preliminary deal to explore production possibilities. Exxon left in 2007 after then-president Hugo Chávez changed oil contract terms and seized some of its assets. But since the US ousted Chávez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, back in January, Washington has taken control of the oil industry and redrafted the rules to entice US oil companies again. Exxon’s return is symbolically important, but the company says it won’t actually invest without “stable policies.” One key issue: the US effectively forced the current rules upon acting president Delcy Rodríguez, a widely reviled former Maduro deputy beholden to the US. But popular opposition figure Maria Corina Machado, who recently returned from exile, has questioned the transparency of that process. If Venezuela holds elections – as both the Trump administration and Rodríguez herself have promised – would a new government try to tweak the rules again?
Taiwan has put all diplomatic and economic ties with Papua New Guinea on ice, after Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the “One China” policy in July. Taiwan, which said it was blindsided by the decision, announced this week that it would end all aid programs to Papua New Guinea and stop purchasing its liquefied natural gas, a third of which is exported to Taiwan. China welcomed the move, but Australia, which wants to curb China’s footprint in the region, criticized it. China has been expanding its presence in the region, promising aid and investment to small island nations in exchange for cutting ties with Taiwan. But Australia has been pushing back, and Papua New Guinea – rich in minerals like copper, cobalt, and nickel that are used in battery production – has found itself caught in the middle.
Indonesia’s vice president, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, offered to resign today after a probe by the country’s constitutional court last month questioned his educational credentials. It’s unclear whether the president has accepted the resignation. In Indonesia, candidates must have at least a senior high school diploma to run for office, but the court annulled the “equivalency document” Gibran submitted for his 2024 run. If he leaves office, it could widen the political rift between current president Prabowo Subianto and Gibran’s father, popular former president Joko Widodo. Widodo backed Prabowo as president in 2o24 only after he chose Gibran as his vice president, helping Prabowo win by a significant margin. But now tensions are high amid an alleged wiretapping scandal involving the president’s chief of staff, a Widodo loyalist. Meanwhile, Prabowo faces slumping approval ratings for his high-spending populist policies, and this new scandal adds more instability to his government.
A new YouGov poll, conducted on behalf of the Institute for Global Affairs, a nonprofit geopolitics education organization founded by Ian Bremmer, reveals how much affordability was top of mind for voters during last week’s midterm elections. Most voters said they’d rather prioritize their wallets over military goals. It’s a timely reminder as negotiations between the US, Qatar, and Iran kick off this week to find a diplomatic solution to end the war, even as both sides assert that they won’t allow for major concessions to the other.
Can sovereignty and cooperation go together? Franck Paris, the new director general of the Paris Peace Forum, says sovereignty without cooperation is "just an illusion."
At the sidelines of the 2026 Paris Peace Forum GZERO Media's Tony Maciulis sat down with Franck Paris to discuss this year's theme "from sovereignty to cooperation" and the inaugural child summit. Paris says the summit comes at a moment when international solidarity is shrinking. Almost 20 heads of state are expected to attend and endorse a common declaration on children's well-being. The summit will also focus on children's safety online, a key priority of the French presidency of the G7.
He also discusses frustration among young people in France and elsewhere about the way the world is run. He says this makes the case for new thinking on how to govern climate change, mineral resources, agriculture and AI. Paris, who previously advised French President Emmanuel Macron on Africa and represented France in Taiwan, says he hopes to build connections between continents, such as Asia and Africa.
This conversation is part of Global Stage, an award-winning series produced by GZERO Media in partnership with Microsoft exploring the intersection of technology, politics, and society.
Last month, Microsoft and Cyberlite launched their expanded AI Classroom Toolkit for educators. The toolkit focuses on the critical thinking skills needed to navigate an increasingly AI-powered world, with classroom-ready scenarios that help students learn how to evaluate AI-generated content, verify information, trace claims to reliable sources, and make informed decisions about what to trust online. The initiative is part of Microsoft’s broader work to help young people use AI safely and responsibly, while strengthening the judgment they need to participate confidently in an evolving digital environment.
Read more here.
