Latest news for 25 August 2025

UKRAINE

Independence Day.

President Zelensky has used independence day celebrations to pledge Ukraine will keep fighting as long as its “calls for peace are ignored”. VIP guests included Canadian PM Mark Carney, who signed a joint defence production pact (Canada also hosts the world’s second-largest Ukrainian diaspora). (Politico)

TAIWAN

New tools.

Taiwan’s pioneering chipmaker TSMC is reportedly cutting the use of China-made tools from its ultra advanced 2-nanometer chips, to avoid potential US blowback. (Nikkei)

Comment: This far deep into the chip wars, it’s a little surprising the free world’s most advanced chipmaker was still relying on tools from a hostile neighbour. Some of it is just the same raw material chokepoints everyone else is facing. Other bits come from US tech (like Mattson) that China bought just before the US really rethought ties. But other inputs come from areas (like etching) where China is making rapid progress.

SOUTH KOREA

Shots fired.

South Korean troops have fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the demilitarised zone. Seoul argues it was a Northern flex on the eve of President Lee’s Japan and US trips. (BBC)

Comment: Newly elected Lee is on an omni-directional charm offensive right now, balancing his meeting with President Trump today (Monday) against a lower-profile delegation he’s sent to Beijing in hopes of normalising frosty China ties.

UNITED STATES

You’re fired.

Defence Secretary Hegseth has fired the head of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) for unspecified reasons. (WP)

Comment: If we had to guess (it’s our job?), we’d wager it’s related to the DIA’s initial (leaked) assessment that maybe US airstrikes didn’t fully obliterate Iran’s nuclear program.

NIGERIA

Freed.

The Nigerian air force says airstrikes on a “notorious bandit kingpin” in northwestern Katsina state have helped free 76 kidnap victims. (France24)

Comment: Nigeria has been fighting these kidnap-for-ransom gangs for years, but there’s evidence some are aligning more with jihadi groups as Islamist insurgencies gain momentum in the Sahel.

VIETNAM

Time to move.

Authorities in Vietnam have issued evacuation orders to over half a million people ahead of Typhoon Kajiki, which is expected to make landfall today (Monday). (BBC)