Checkpoint

This story was produced in partnership with Type Investigations and was supported by the Pulitzer Center.  ​ Last August, Christine Burton got an unexpected call from her sister, an employee at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. The state-owned facility was about to conduct an unannounced test launch of what…

Jurisprudence The U.S. Supreme Court has to decide whether a district court will hear the case at all. Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Jim Brown/Getty Images Plus and e-crow/Getty Images Plus. Sign up for Executive Dysfunction , a weekly newsletter that highlights one under-the-radar story about how Trump is…

A Republican lawmaker is requesting the Pentagon blacklist 58 Chinese universities and 62 technology labs as national security threats, a move Beijing calls Cold War-style overreach and critics warn could freeze US-China scientific collaboration and ultimately undermine American innovation itself. In a letter to US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth...Read…

By Alex Kimani - Oct 14, 2026, 7:00 PM CDT Kentucky secures a $100 billion AI energy investment, featuring a 1.8-GW data center campus, 2 GW of gas-fired power, and 2.6 GW of battery storage. AI infrastructure investment faces growing financial pressure, with Stargate projects struggling with debt financing, permitting…

Brexit, Donald Trump’s rise and Israel’s war in Gaza signal the collapse of the post-Cold War political, economic and moral order. Populism, unchecked power, geopolitical conflict and growing economic instability are pushing the global system towards breaking point...Read More

Germany faces a ‘shadow war’ more far-reaching than Cold War, warns minister Reuters Last Updated: Oct 12, 2026, 03:50:00 PM IST Synopsis Alexander Dobrindt emphasized the need for enhanced intelligence capabilities to address emerging threats facing Germany. He believes the current 'shadow war' surpasses the intensity of the Cold War.…

While likely an accident, the consequences of FARRAH III's explosion could become serious. Credit: Grandfailure via Getty Images It’s still unclear why a Cold War-era spy satellite named after famed Charlie’s Angels actress Farrah Fawcett recently exploded above Earth . The secretive reconnaissance craft FARRAH III (officially designated USA-32) launched…

An immigration judge has ruled that the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque can be deported under a controversial, cold-war era law the Trump administration has sought to wield against foreign nationals who have been outspoken about Palestinian rights. Salah Sarsour, a US permanent resident for nearly three decades, was detained…

News Investigators/ UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that humanity is facing its most dangerous nuclear moment since the end of the Cold War. Guterres sounded the alarm on Tuesday at the UN General Assembly’s plenary meeting commemorating the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. “We meet…

Nearly four decades after it was launched to secretly eavesdrop on the Soviet Union, an American spy satellite has suddenly shattered above Earth. What caused the Cold War relic to break apart remains unclear, but the debris now drifting through low Earth orbit (LEO) could create a very real problem…