He fled Assad. Now he’s leading Syria’s tech transformation https://restofworld.org/2025/syria-tech-minister-abdulsalam-haykal

“Our language is vulnerable and at risk of disappearing. So I took matters into my own hands.” A look at the mission to build better AI tools for India’s less common languages:

Find the perfect gift for the reader in your life https://shop.restofworld.org/

Weekend #longreads: One small step for Oman https://restofworld.org/2025/oman-space-industry-launchpad-satellites

Microsoft, Google say their data centers create thousands of jobs. Their permit filings say otherwise https://restofworld.org/2025/data-centers-jobs-microsoft-google-chile/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1763146621

Gaza’s tech community reflects on two years of war https://restofworld.org/2025/gaza-tech-community-war-experience/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1763053141

Why Elon Musk’s $1 trillion paycheck is anything but certain:

China, the world’s largest EV maker, is installing thousands of two-way charging stations, which turn idle electric cars into mobile energy storage. It's a risky bet on a technology that has failed to take off in tens of other countries over the past decade

“Data centers are like warehouses filled with machines and cables, and there's little need for workers” https://restofworld.org/2025/data-centers-jobs-microsoft-google-chile/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1762891320

"I was building the perfect life any young person dreams of: a promising future, a safe home, and stability. But the violence destroyed everything; we lost it all." Gaza’s tech community reflects on two years of war https://restofworld.org/2025/gaza-tech-community-war-experience/

Can BYD do for China what Ford did for the U.S., Mercedes for Germany, and Ferrari for Italy? Probably not: https://restofworld.org/2025/byd-china-soft-power/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1762868220

Microsoft and Google say data centers will create thousands of jobs in Chile, but an analysis of permit filings by @restofworld.org shows only a small number of potential positions — and most are not skilled IT jobs, but those in security and cleaning. restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...

🎁 ⏳️ Rest of World's pop-up merch store is back, for a limited time only. Head to shop.restofworld.org to find the perfect present for the reader in your life (or for yourself)

In his first interview on the job, Syria’s new tech minister Abdulsalam Haykal talks to @emilywither.bsky.social about how he plans to rebuild the country’s shattered digital infrastructure — and why he came back after years in exile https://restofworld.org/2025/syria-tech-minister-abdulsalam-haykal

“If there is still a Gaza, there will continue to be a Gaza Sky Geeks.” After two years of war, members of the pioneering tech hub Gaza Sky Geeks are surveying the damage and trying to figure out how they can rebuild restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sky-geeks-bombing-rebuilding

“Some of the easiest, most lucrative places for TikTok to make money were wealthy markets like the Gulf that were unburdened by Western norms about privacy, human rights, and democratic self-governance.” https://restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-saudi-uae-investors-us-ban/

The online shopping boom is built on the backs of millions of workers https://restofworld.org/2025/hu-anyan-deliver-parcels-beijing-book-china-interview/

They were building a tech scene in Gaza. Then came the war restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sky-geeks-bombing-rebuilding

In her new book, Every Screen on the Planet: The War Over TikTok, journalist @ebakerwhite.bsky.social charts the Chinese app’s meteoric rise. Read an excerpt on the company’s courtship of Saudi Arabia and and the UAE restofworld.org/2025/tiktok-...

“Data centers are like warehouses filled with machines and cables, and there's little need for workers”

With a tentative ceasefire in place, members of Gaza Sky Geeks are reflecting on two years of war, surveying the damage done to Gaza’s tech scene, and asking how they can help rebuild their community. Read our new feature: https://restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sky-geeks-bombing-rebuilding

Microsoft and Google say data centers will create thousands of jobs in Chile. But our analysis of permit filings shows a much smaller number of potential positions — mostly in security and cleaning, not skilled IT jobs. New: restofworld.org/2025/data-ce...

This is one of the most important stories we've told at @restofworld.org, and I hope you get a chance to read and share it. restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sk...

This morning @restofworld.org published the incredibly heart-breaking story of Gaza Sky Geeks, the vibrant Gaza-based tech hub that was the darling of international press through the 2010s 🧵 restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sk...

Love global tech journalism — and staying warm? Keep it hygge with our stylish new beanie, featuring Rest of World's signature diacritics. See what else we've got in store, for a limited time only: shop.restofworld.org

Gaza Sky Geeks started with a question that sounded like a dare: could a startup accelerator survive under siege? Founded in 2011 with support from Google and operated by Mercy Corps, it became the heart of the Strip’s tech scene. 🧵 about our new feature: restofworld.org/2025/gaza-sk...

For over a decade, Gaza Sky Geeks was a model for how tech could transform Gaza. Just days after October 7, its office was blown to pieces by an Israeli airstrike. Now, with a tentative ceasefire in place, it’s trying to rebuild. Read our new feature from @mohamhawish.bsky.social & Aseel Mousa:

When published in 2023, “I Deliver Parcels in Beijing” became a bestseller in China. Readers lapped up anecdotes from the lives of those powering the ultra-efficient e-commerce industry — workers often treated as dispensable. The book is now available in English. Read an interview with its author:

“It’s almost impossible to transition away from fossil fuels without nickel from Indonesia,” said one researcher. Fueling that transition — and risking their lives in the process — are thousands of migrant workers from China https://restofworld.org/2025/chinese-migrant-workers-indonesia-nickel-ev/

🎃 Here's what Rest of World's Product team has been up to this spooky season, including open-sourcing our AI Narrations plugin for WordPress, sticky mastheads, accessibility improvements, and a new addition to the notoriously haunting 404 page: restofworld.org/inside/produ...

From Bangladesh to Buenos Aires, Skype powered friendships, business, and love stories. Now that it’s gone, what do you remember most? https://restofworld.org/2025/skype-shutting-down/

As China tightens its export restrictions on rare earths — critical minerals in semiconductors, EVs, smartphones and more — the U.S. is racing to find supplies elsewhere. Can Brazil fill the gap? Read our latest story: restofworld.org/2025/china-r...

The metaverse is rewriting the rules of who can be a K-pop star https://restofworld.org/2025/metaverse-kpop-idols/

“For patients like my mom, who feel they don’t get the time or care they need from their health care systems, these chatbots have become a trusted alternative.” The sick and lonely are finding comfort on AI chatbots like DeepSeek: https://restofworld.org/2025/ai-chatbot-china-sick/

"China is methodically rewiring the global EV supply chain around its industrial and geopolitical interests.” Read our new report on how China turned the world into its EV supply chain

“Mining absorbed almost everyone,” Marta Ríos, who runs the civil registry in Tolar Grande, Argentina, said of the lithium boom. “At first it was strange to see trucks all the time, buses full of workers — suddenly, there was no unemployment.” Then the boom went bust restofworld.org/2025/lithium...

A look at the many ways AI is reshaping childhood in China https://restofworld.org/2025/ai-china-childhood/

Even virtual stars must stick to K-pop’s rigid code of conduct restofworld.org/2025/metaver...

The world is putting more satellites into space, but running out of places to launch them from. Oman thinks it can build a launchpad program in the perfect place — an intergalactic Goldilocks situation https://restofworld.org/2025/oman-space-industry-launchpad-satellites/

Jack spent years training to become a K-pop star. Crushed by the industry’s harsh beauty standards and fierce competition, he spiraled into insecurity. Now virtual reality has given him a second chance at stardom. Story by Michelle Kim in @restofworld.org restofworld.org/2025/metaver...

“As a virtual idol, I no longer wrestle with insecurities about my looks. Now I know I have what it takes.” Virtual K-pop idols are building huge fandoms and going mainstream in South Korea. Read our new story:

EVs are depreciating much faster than gas-powered cars https://restofworld.org/2025/ev-depreciation-blusmart-collapse/

Weekend #longreads: One small step for Oman https://restofworld.org/2025/oman-space-industry-launchpad-satellites/

China's need for new markets is pushing up against India’s desire to build its own EV industry. New: restofworld.org/2025/china-w...

Japanese convenience stores are being stocked by AI robots monitored by remote workers in the Philippines https://restofworld.org/2025/philippines-offshoring-automation-tech-jobs/

Oman, the “Switzerland of the Middle East,” wants to become a launchpad option for companies and countries that want to decrease dependence on the world’s major powers restofworld.org/2025/oman-sp...

With oil reserves expected to run out in 15 years, Oman sees a future in outer space https://restofworld.org/2025/oman-space-industry-launchpad-satellites/

A new AI is designed to give advice to Malawi farmers, who are struggling with the impact of climate change. The tool, which speaks the local language, uses ChatGPT, and is trained on government data and traditional knowledge to help fight pests, drought, and misinformation

With plummeting lithium prices and slowing demand for EVs, the once-booming mining towns of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia are going bust New: restofworld.org/2025/lithium...

I am not a STEM writer, though I did my best; if you'd like to read some of the dreamy little thinkpiece that got left on the cutting-room floor you can also do that here: