Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog

For 25 år siden levde jeg livet i verdens vakreste by. «Siden vi nå er kommet hit, vil jeg fortelle om byens storslåtte prakt, som vel er verd noen ord», berettet Marco Polo på slutten av 1200-tallet. «Dette er uten tvil den fineste og mest fornemme by i verden ... her er det tolv tusen broer av stein som er så høye at et stort skip uten problemer kan passere under dem. Og det er lett å forstå,

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have sharply increased their use of artificial intelligence to deceive people online and mount cyberattacks against the United States, according to new research from Microsoft.This July, the company identified more than 200 instances of foreign adversaries using AI to create fake content online, more than double the number from July 2024 and more than ten times

The week began with a diplomatic breakthrough and a (fragile) cease-fire in a years-long war. It ends with another conflict stuck in a bloody, frustrating rut. Donald Trump has made it his mission to achieve peace in both. But the deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and return the last living Israeli hostages came about in part because Trump used his leverage to push both sides to make concessions.

As US President Donald Trump took a victory lap in front of world leaders following the Gaza ceasefire on Monday, he gave a shout-out to Pakistan’s top soldier, calling him his “favorite field marshal.”He then relinquished the podium to allow Pakistan’s civilian leader, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to deliver to the cameras his own praise of Trump’s ceasefire efforts. Sharif announced that same

Two top Chinese military leaders have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on corruption charges, the country’s defense ministry said on Friday, the most senior officers to be purged in an anti-graft drive that began in 2023.He Weidong, China’s number two general, and navy admiral Miao Hua, the Chinese military’s former top political officer, are the latest senior

Americans’ views on the economy turned more negative in the third quarter with deepening concerns about jobs, inflation and the outlook, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey. Together with blame for the shutdown aimed at the president and congressional Republicans, those views dragged down President Donald Trump’s net approval rating on the economy to 42% approving and 55%

A few years ago, it looked as if the US and China might battle over global hegemony and preeminence. But this looks less likely now, thanks to America’s own behavior. Under Trump 2.0, the US has alienated many of the key allies it would have needed in order to match China’s market size and manufacturing acumen, leaving America standing alone against a country four times its size. Tariffs have

Chinese state media and pundits have called the Dutch government a “pirate” and even threatened it with a ban on rare earths, following its seizure of control of the Chinese-owned semiconductor maker Nexperia in late September. On September 29, the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an interim rule extending its Entity List and Military End-User

As Andrea Baccarelli, the dean of Harvard’s School of Public Health, prepared to open a virtual town hall earlier this month, members of the university’s graduate-student union gathered for a watch party with “Baccarelli Bingo” cards. The game boards were filled with phrases the dean was expected to use: “these are difficult times”; “i know it’s not a satisfying answer but we don’t know”; “…

China has unveiled retaliatory measures against the United States’ newly imposed port fees, signaling rising tensions between the two sides ahead of their top leaders’ potential face-to-face meeting in Seoul later this month. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Tuesday it started levying a special port-entry charge of 400 yuan ($56) per net ton on US-linked container ships. It stated that the