For decades, the "Middle East crisis" was a headline about crude oil, tankers, and the price at the pump. But as of March 2026, the stakes have shifted from the engine to the motherboard. While the world watches drone strikes over Isfahan and naval skirmishes in the Persian Gulf, a more quiet, more lethal war is being fought over the very building blocks of the 21st century: semiconductors. The "Digital Iron Curtain" is falling, and it isn't just dividing East and West—it’s threatening to starve the global AI revolution of its most basic needs. The Helium Hostage: Why the Strait of Hormuz is the New Silicon Valley We’ve long been told that the South China Sea is the "front line" of the chip war because of Taiwan’s dominance in fabrication. But the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran has revealed a terrifying bottleneck: The Middle East is the lungs of the semiconductor industry. To make the world’s most advanced 3nm chips, you don’t just need engineers;...
A race hate group on Facebook now has members from Australia's elite schools. The group calls itself " Mate speak English, you're in Australia Now " and has a logo of the Aussie flag with the caption 'F** off we're full". With a Group Description saying " if you want to speak your crappy language, go back to where you came from" The group at present does not have any Admins as all the admins left. The last one said it was started as a joke when his friends heard immigrants speaking different languages on the train. Once he caught on that the postings were becoming raciest he exited the group. Saying that he had friends from different ethnic backgrounds. The group is against immigrants. One student posting on the page, who says he is from Melbourne's Xavier College, has challenged the college's principal to expel him for joining the group. Dr Chris Hayes, Principal of Xavier College , said anyone who had joined the group had broken the s...