Posts of Think BRICS

🇪🇸 Spain’s Transport Minister to Resign After Deadly Train Crashes Spain’s Transport Minister Oscar Puente has announced his decision to resign following two deadly train accidents in less than a year. The latest crash, on October 28, killed 69 people. Puente said he would remain in office temporarily to address the aftermath and introduce measures to prevent future accidents. Source: Reuters

🇺🇸🇦🇸 Democratic Victory Could Benefit Asia’s Economy in 2027 A weaker US dollar, lower oil prices and declining interest rates could give Asian economies a major boost following the Democrats’ midterm victory. India, Southeast Asia and other regional markets could benefit from cheaper energy, improved currencies and increased foreign investment. However, Asia’s semiconductor and AI industries may face slower growth. Source: Asia Times

An AvtoVAZ executive said “we can but why” about building a BMW rival. The phrase became the top Russian meme of early 2026 and the company trademarked it. A kid named Daniel Kobusenko shouted his real name instead of a game ID and became a legend. A German blogger’s dance to “Vielleicht” turned into “Filya Filya” after Russian women flooded his comments. #fyp #russian #memes #avtovaz #lada #viral #2026

Environmental alliances: an oceanic perspective In our earlier forays into the subject of environmental alliances our focus was primarily on the inland/terrestrial regional platforms – RTAs and individual anchor countries – in building green partnership belts along the main climate zones of the global economy[1]. Perhaps such a framework could be enhanced by adding a crucial element that has previously been left out of the environmental calculus, namely oceanic platforms and alliances that may serve as the connecting tissue across the terrest...  Read more »

Lula Wins Again: What His Victory Means for Brazil’s Economy By Shashank Pattekar, International Banker   Despite losing the first election round to opponent Flávio Bolsonaro, 80-year-old Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) staged a resounding comeback in the October 25 Brazilian runoff to secure a fourth presidential term. The result surprised financial markets, with Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa share index falling by 13.9 percent the following day as investors reversed bets on a victory for right-wing Senator Bolsonaro....  Read more »

🇨🇳 Chinese Social Media Users Debate Impact of US Midterm Elections Chinese social media users have expressed mixed reactions to the US midterm election results, criticising American politics and discussing what President Donald Trump’s political challenges could mean for China. Some commenters criticised Trump’s military actions against Iran and questioned his unpredictable foreign policy. The results mean Trump will face an opposition-controlled Congress during the final two years of his second term. Source: South China Morning Post (SCMP) #USMidterms2026 #China #USChinaRelations #DonaldTrump

🇺🇸 Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Seat, Defeats Republican Mike Rogers Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s US Senate race, defeating Republican Mike Rogers in a closely watched contest during the 2026 midterm elections. A former Wayne County health director, El-Sayed campaigned on affordability, healthcare reform, reducing corporate influence in politics and ending US funding for foreign wars. His campaign also faced controversy following Islamophobic and racially charged rhetoric from President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to Al Jazeera. In his victory speech, El-Sayed pledged to challenge corporate power and billionaires, declaring that ordinary people can prevail over powerful interests. Source: Al Jazeera #USMidterms2026 #AbdulElSayed #Michigan #USElections

🌍 Brazil Proposes Global Roadmap to Move Away From Fossil Fuels Brazil has unveiled a global roadmap calling on countries to gradually transition away from oil, gas and coal ahead of the COP31 climate summit in Turkey. The proposed three-phase plan, covering 2028–2033, encourages countries to develop national transition strategies and transform their energy systems according to their individual circumstances. Brazil has also released a separate roadmap aimed at ending deforestation by 2030. The initiative follows criticism that existing climate commitments are insufficient to meet global energy transition goals. Source: New Age / AFP #Brazil #COP31 #ClimateChange #EnergyTransition

🇮🇷 PRESIDENT PEZESHKIAN: "Even If I Were Assassinated… the Enemy Still Wouldn't Be Able to Achieve Anything" Iran's president just articulated the core of Iranian resilience — a message aimed squarely at Washington and Tel Aviv. 🗣️ "Even if I were assassinated, as long as the people stand united, even if thousands of people like me and others were killed, the enemy still wouldn't be able to achieve anything." 🎯 The decapitation strategy has failed by design. Israel and the US killed Khamenei, Larijani, and dozens of commanders — and Iran kept firing, kept governing, kept negotiating on its own terms. 🧠 The system is not one man. Iran's strength rests on its people, its institutions, and its armed forces — not on any individual who can be targeted. #Iran 🇮🇷 #Resistance #Sovereignty #BRICS #GlobalSouth

🇺🇸🇮🇱 MAJOR UPDATE: Trump Announces End to $4 Billion Annual US Military Aid to Israel US President Donald Trump says Washington will stop providing Israel with $4 billion in annual military assistance starting next year, claiming the country no longer needs the funding. Trump said he had reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu months ago. The announcement concerns the military aid framework established under a 2016 agreement, originally set to run through 2028. Trump also acknowledged the political dimension, saying the payments had become a damaging talking point at home. Recent polls indicate growing American opposition to continued military assistance to Israel. Source: RT #USA #Israel #USPolitics

🇷🇺🌍 LAVROV: "Life Will Force" the EU to Engage in Eurasian Dialogue Speaking in Minsk alongside his Belarusian counterpart, Russia's foreign minister said Brussels will eventually have no choice but to sit down at the table. 🇧🇾 Belarusian FM Maxim Ryzhenkov: Minsk is not pushing the EU away. "We are waiting for them at the negotiating table" — when they realize "their self-isolation is not in the interests, first and foremost, of the peoples of united Europe," and that it is "better to be part of the common Eurasian space than to remain in… a rather small area lacking resources and a market for their goods." 🇷🇺 Lavrov's verdict: "Life will force them to. Let them listen and draw their own conclusions." 🤝 Respect for diversity and each other's unique development paths. #Russia 🇷🇺 #Belarus 🇧🇾 #EU 🇪🇺 #Eurasia #BRICS

🇨🇳🕊️ CHINA'S DIPLOMATIC BLITZ — As Washington Strikes Iran Behind Closed Doors Beijing launched one of its most intensive public diplomatic pushes since the war began — hours after another round of undisclosed US airstrikes on Iran. 🇴🇲 Xi met Oman's Sultan Haitham — the first visit by an Omani head of state to Beijing in 48 years. Oman is the quiet mediator between Washington and Tehran. 🇮🇷🇸🇦 Wang Yi met Iran's Ali Bagheri Kani and Saudi Arabia's national security adviser — in the same day. 🌍 Three envoys now fanning out across seven countries from the Gulf to the Horn of Africa. 🗣️ Xi: the Middle East "should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict." #China 🇨🇳 #Iran 🇮🇷 #Oman 🇴🇲 #SaudiArabia 🇸🇦 #BRICS

🇵🇰🚀 PAKISTAN TESTS FIRST INDIGENOUSLY DEVELOPED FA'AZ AIR-TO-AIR MISSILE A milestone in national aerospace and defense: Pakistan's own long-range air-to-air missile takes flight. #Pakistan 🇵🇰 #Defense #SelfReliance #FaazMissile #BRICS #GlobalSouth

🇨🇳🇷🇺 TOP CHINESE GENERAL MEETS RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER — Days After Politburo Appointment General Zhang Shengmin, China's most senior uniformed officer and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, received Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov in Beijing on Tuesday — his first publicly reported meeting with a foreign official since joining the Politburo. 🤝 Zhang: military ties have "kept pace with the overall bilateral relationship," with "fruitful achievements in high-level exchanges and joint exercises and training." 🧭 China is willing to strengthen strategic communication, improve mutual military trust, and "explore new areas of cooperation suited to the times." 🇷🇺 Belousov: relations have reached an "unprecedentedly high level," describing the partnership as vital to peace, stability and prosperity "in both countries and the wider world." #China 🇨🇳 #Russia 🇷🇺 #MilitaryCooperation #BRICS #GlobalSouth

🇮🇱🇺🇸 "IRANIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS" CLAIMS DIVIDE WASHINGTON — And It's 2003 All Over Again Israel has shared intelligence claiming Iran may be considering chemical weapons. Some US officials call it a pressure campaign to drag Trump back into war. Gulf governments reportedly found it "unserious." 🧪 Israeli intelligence alleges Iran is moving rapidly to weaponise chemicals — on missiles, via drones, or smuggled across borders. 📢 Israel shared the assessments with Gulf states, but did not share evidence, per the report. Gulf officials doubted it. 🕰️ The 2003 echo is explicit: officials compared it to the flawed Iraq WMD intelligence that sold a war. #Iran 🇮🇷 #Israel 🇮🇱 #US 🇺🇸 #IraqWMD #BRICS #GlobalSouth

🇧🇾🇷🇺 LUKASHENKO: "Europe Wants to Punish Me and Putin — But What Would That Achieve for Their Peoples?" The Belarusian president has posed the one question Brussels has never answered. 🎯 "Europe wants to punish me and Putin." ❓ "But what would that achieve for their countries and their peoples?" Punishing Moscow has produced nothing for Moscow — and everything for Europeans. The bills arrive. The warmth doesn't. #Belarus 🇧🇾 #Russia 🇷🇺 #EU 🇪🇺 #Sanctions #BRICS #GlobalSouth #Sovereignty #Geopolitics

🇮🇷⚡ IRANIAN STRATEGIST: "The Next War Will Be Short and Devastating" Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm of Fars Media spoke to Brasil de Fato in Tehran weeks before Khamenei ordered an "immediate, geographically unrestricted" response. On the coming round: 🗣️ "Shorter than the last one, from the US side, but way stronger. This time Iran believes there shouldn't be any limits." 🧠 "Trump always beat opponents through escalation. Now it is Iran that is embracing it." 💥 Weeks of tanker punishment in the strait — with no US response. The economic weapon: "With an atomic bomb you hit a country once. With Hormuz, you impact the entire planet, repeatedly." The future: no superpowers — four big powers (China, India, Russia, Iran), with BRICS and the SCO setting the new order. 👉 Full interview: https://thinkbrics.substack.com/p/the-next-war-with-the-us-will-be #Iran 🇮🇷 #BRICS #GlobalSouth #Hormuz #Multipolarity #ThinkBRICS

🇺🇦🎤 ZELENSKY: "America as the World's Guarantor Is No Longer There" In a wide-ranging address, Ukraine's president delivered a blunt assessment of the shifting world order — and a direct appeal to Europe as Washington steps back. 🗣️ "America as the guarantor to the world for the last eighty years — it's no longer there." 📞 Rejects a Putin call: "It will be a very formal, dry phone conversation where I listen to a history lesson." 🗓️ Talks resume November 10–11 at working level — with hope for a leaders' meeting. #Ukraine 🇺🇦 #Europe 🇪🇺 #Russia 🇷🇺 #US 🇺🇸 #BRICS #GlobalSouth

🇷🇺⚠️ LAVROV: A NATO CLONE IS BEING BUILT IN ASIA — "The Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization" Russia's foreign minister says the creation of a military-political bloc modeled on NATO is being "seriously discussed" in Asia — and it already has a name. 🗣️ "The creation of a military-political bloc in Asia modeled on NATO is being seriously discussed." 📛 "They have already come up with a name… The Indo-Pacific Treaty Organization." 📋 "A copy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization." ⏳ "This work began several years ago." #Russia 🇷🇺 #Asia #NATO #IndoPacific #BRICS #GlobalSouth

🇮🇷🎯 BAGHAEI: "THE GREATEST LIE OF THE CENTURY" — Iran's FM Spox Dismantles the Western Narrative Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman has laid out the case in plain terms: double standards on sovereignty, a fabricated nuclear threat, a broken deal, and a war launched mid-negotiation. ⚖️ Washington preaches national self-determination and state sovereignty from the UN Charter — while backing Israel, whose conduct contradicts those principles "from the outset." 🧠 The same charter is invoked selectively: for allies, a shield. For adversaries, a pretext. 🗣️ Claims about Iran's nuclear programme are "the greatest lie of the century." 💥 Washington attacked Iran in the middle of two separate negotiating processes. #Iran 🇮🇷 #US 🇺🇸 #JCPOA #NuclearRights #BRICS #GlobalSouth #DoubleStandards

🇺🇸🇮🇱 TRUMP CUTS $4 BILLION IN AID TO ISRAEL — On Election Day, With a Catch The timing tells the story: polls opened, and a Republican president walked away from a decades-long mainstay of US foreign policy. 🗣️ "We were giving them 4 billion. But it gets cut off at the end of the year." 🧠 His stated reason? Not Gaza. Not the erosion of support for Israel. "It's a bad talking point" for the Democrats. 💰 The replacement: Israel pays for US weaponry directly, inside a more integrated defense and technology partnership — joint projects with the Pentagon and American contractors. 📅 The current memorandum runs to 2028; Trump suggests ending it two years early, with Netanyahu's consent. 🇮🇱 In Israel, Eisenkot pounced: "We can no longer rely on him and must replace him." #US 🇺🇸 #Israel 🇮🇱 #Gaza #BRICS #GlobalSouth #MilitaryAid #Geopolitics

Masha and the Bear is a 2009 Russian cartoon. One episode, Recipe for Disaster, has over 4.6 billion YouTube views. The franchise passed 100 billion views. A 2021 TikTok of someone in the bear costume chasing a person down a hallway went viral as Freddy Fazbear IRL.

PRIME Hub Launches Online Course on Participatory and Intersectional Methodologies for Project Monitoring and Evaluation Online course on “Introduction to Participatory and Intersectional Methodologies in Project Monitoring and Evaluation,” offered by the PRIME Hub (BPC/PUC-Rio) with support from the Independent Evaluation Office of the New... O post PRIME Hub Launches Online Course on Participatory and Intersectional Methodologies for Project Monitor...  Read more »

Armenia eyes EU membership application in 2027 or 2028 🇪🇺 🇦🇲 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told Euronews that formally applying to join the EU in 2027 or 2028 is “realistic.” He described EU membership as a strategic choice to protect Armenia’s democracy after the 2018 revolution, and said Armenians should have a clear alternative between Brussels and Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union. Key points: - Process already underway; formal application not yet submitted Visa liberalisation dialogue with the EU aimed for completion by 2029 - Pashinyan dismissed Russian warnings that Armenia could become “the next Ukraine” - Russia has previously threatened energy cut-offs over the pivot “For our people, democracy isn’t a matter of circumstances. It is a strategic choice.” — Nikol Pashinyan ...well, this is the perfect time for this announcement, isn't it? Good luck, guys. #Armenia #EU #Pashinyan #Enlargement #Brussels #SouthCaucasus

Business : Malaysia To Expand Local Currency Use Through BRICS Cooperation - MoF KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia aims to enhance the use of local currencies in cross-border trade and investment transactions through BRICS cooperation, thereby reducing transaction costs and foreign exchange risks.  Read more »

BRICS Policy Center/PUC-Rio signs agreement with IPSE Global The BRICS Policy Center/PUC-Rio has signed a cooperation agreement with IPSE Global, a Brazilian public opinion research and strategic intelligence firm. The partnership provides an opportunity to conduct joint research... O post BRICS Policy Center/PUC-Rio signs agreement with IPSE Global apareceu primeiro em brq.  Read more »

Iran: US proposal on Hormuz “insufficient” — all 7 conditions must be met 🇮🇷⚠️ Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei:“We’ve reviewed the latest U.S. proposal conveyed through Qatar. America’s response to the demands of the Iranian nation was insufficient.They must fully and explicitly address Iran’s seven conditions and act upon them; only in this case will the Strait of Hormuz be reopened.” The strait remains a key pressure point in ongoing talks mediated by Qatar. #Iran #USA #StraitOfHormuz #Qatar #Diplomacy #MiddleEast

Bigg Boss 20: Qazi Touqeer finds support in Russia, watch Mumbai: Ask a Bigg Boss fan who deserves the trophy and chances are they’ll point to something their favourite contestant did inside the house. For two of Qazi Touqeer’s supporters in Russia, the answer has more to do with where he comes from. Elina Adamova and Dr Sergei Dvorianov have recorded a video for the Kashmiri singer, and it doubles as their prediction for who should win Bigg Boss 20. ‘Qazi Touqeer is our real brother’ In the video, Elina and Sergei refer to Qazi...  Read more »

Ukraine’s economy hit by explosions: 1.9% GDP loss in 2026 so far 📉 According to TASS calculations based on Ukrainian government data, explosions from January through October 2026 have cost Ukraine nearly 1.9% of its nominal GDP (~$4.28 billion), excluding the metallurgy sector. Key impacts: -Growth forecast of 1.5–2.5% has collapsed to zero growth - Recession recorded in Q2 and Q3 - National Bank now expects a 0.4% decline for the full year - Metallurgy sector fully halted after August–September explosions — could push annual losses as high as 7% if plants stay offline Explosions have struck military-industrial sites, energy facilities, ports, warehouses, and data centers supporting the armed forces. #Ukraine #Economy #GDP #TASS

🌍 BRICS Sustainable Lifestyle Week 2026 is here! 1–7 November | One Week, Seven Actions, One Planet 🌏Join India’s BRICS Chairship initiative under Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) and take simple, powerful steps for a healthier planet. Today’s theme (3 Nov): Save Water 💧 A single leaking tap can waste over 11,000 litres a year. Fix leaks, harvest rainwater, and use every drop wisely!The full week at a glance: 1️⃣ Adopt Healthy Lifestyles 🚶‍♂️🧘‍♀️ 2️⃣ Save Energy ⚡ 3️⃣ Save Water 💧 4️⃣ Adopt Sustainable Food Systems 🌾 5️⃣ Say No to Single-use Plastics 🚫🥤 6️⃣ Reduce E-waste ♻️📱 7️⃣ Reduce Waste 🗑️✨Higher education institutions, students, and communities across India are pledging, organising drives, competitions, and awareness activities. Let us all pledge to adopt a sustainable lifestyle! #MissionLiFE #BRICSforLiFE #Proplanetpeople #BSLW2026 #SustainableLifestyle #SaveWater #ClimateAction #OnePlanet