The Strait of Hormuz may be the world's most important oil chokepoint, but its closure is sending shockwaves through something even more fundamental: the global food supply.

At the 2026 US-Canada Summit in Toronto, hosted by Eurasia Group and RBC, GZERO's Tony Maciulis sat down with Alzbeta Klein , CEO and Director General of the International Fertilizer Association, as part of a…

As global competition intensifies in the Arctic, Greenland has reemerged as a strategic focal point for the United States and its allies. From the sidelines 2026 US-Canada Summit, hosted by Eurasia Group and RBC in Toronto, Tony Maciulis sits down with Thomas Dans , chairman of the US Arctic Research Commission, to discuss why the Arctic is increasingly central to national security,…

********Global humanitarian needs are rising sharply – right as the systems designed to respond to them are facing the deepest funding cuts in years.

More than 120 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide in 2025, and the United Nations estimates that number will climb to 136 million by the end of this year as conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine continue, and the war in Iran adds…

As missiles and drones flew over the Gulf region, global shipping companies faced a new reality: the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for more than a quarter of the world’s oil and countless consumer goods, was suddenly at risk.

In this Global Stage interview, GZERO's Tony Maciulis speaks with Gulftainer Group CEO Farid Belbouab about how the UAE rapidly transformed its eastern coast…

This spring, the World Bank launched a new initiative to tackle a growing problem plaguing the world’s most fundamental resource: water. The program, dubbed Water Forward, is aiming to improve water access for 1 billion people over the next four years, as the resource comes under strain.

More than 70% of the earth’s surface is covered in good old H2O, so it would seem there’s plenty to go…

A rally in stocks tied to artificial intelligence today helped Asia’s stock benchmark erase the losses caused by the Iran war and climb to an all-time high. It’s part of a growing trend of AI-related stocks buoying stock markets despite the Iran war sending oil markets through the rough and spiking inflation in parts of the world.

Whether AI can offset the conflict’s shock to the global…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, World Bank Water Program Manager Sarah Nedolast joined GZERO’s Tony Maciulis to discuss global efforts to tackle water scarcity.

Nedolast highlighted the scale of the challenge, noting that more than two billion people lack access to safe water, while current systems risk falling short of feeding the world by 2050. “Incremental change…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, CFA Institute former President and CEO Margaret Franklin joined GZERO’s Tony Maciulis to discuss how investors are adapting to a world where disruption has become the baseline.

Franklin said today’s environment is defined by increasingly frequent “shock moments,” noting that recent years have brought a rapid sequence of crises including…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, former Egyptian Minister of Planning, Economic Development & International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat speaks with GZERO’s Tony Maciulis about a global economy increasingly shaped by geopolitical fragmentation and rising uncertainty.

She warns that while today’s shocks echo the Russia–Ukraine war, where exchange rate movements amplified…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, World Bank Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer Paschal Donohoe joined GZERO’s Tony Maciulis to discuss how development institutions balance immediate crises with long-term goals.

With conflicts, economic shocks, and shrinking development budgets putting pressure on global systems, Donohoe emphasized the need to stay focused on…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed says that diplomacy remains the UN’s primary tool for mitigating conflict as tensions escalate in Iran and across the Middle East.

“The leverage we have is to give that platform and to put a light and to keep talking,” she says, underscoring that sustained dialogue is essential to keeping channels…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, Eurasia Group’s Rob Kahn joined GZERO’s Tony Maciulis to assess why the IMF has downgraded global growth to 3.1%.

“I think it’s bigger than that,” Kahn says, arguing the global economy is absorbing multiple shocks at once. While last year’s resilience surprised many, he warns that the war in Iran “and all the disruption that comes from…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis asked how development institutions prioritize investments when funding is limited, and global needs are growing.

The World Bank Group’s German Cufré argued that scarcity is forcing a shift toward smarter, more collaborative financing. Rather than competing, multilateral institutions are increasingly pooling resources to…

At the 2026 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke with Microsoft’s Vickie Robinson and the World Bank Group’s German Cufré on why AI readiness depends on closing the digital access gap.

Despite progress, 2.2 billion people remain offline. “You need to cross the Rubicon from access to actual adoption,” Robinson said, noting that connectivity alone won’t…

AI is moving fast, but not everyone is moving with it. Inside the UN, global leaders debate how to close the widening AI divide.
Artificial intelligence isn’t just about innovation. It’s about access, infrastructure, and whether the benefits of a transformative technology will be shared or concentrated.

In a new Global Stage livestream from the United Nations Goals Lounge in New York, **Tony…

At the 2026 Munich Security Conference, entrepreneur and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt makes the case that the internet, and the AI systems rapidly reshaping it, must be redesigned to serve people, not platforms.

McCourt argues that today’s tech ecosystem is built on centralized, surveillance-driven incentives that clash with democratic values. As the world shifts from an app-based…

At the 62nd Munich Security Conference, Parag Khanna , founder and CEO of AlphaGeo, says globalization isn't dead, it's evolving.

Speaking with GZERO’s Tony Maciulis , he explains that countries are forming flexible alliances that expand and shrink based on their interests. “You’d rather be in the tent...if it suits your interest than not in it,” Khanna notes, highlighting how the US,…

On the sidelines of the 2026 Munich Security Conference, Annemarie Hou , Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Partnerships, joined Tony Maciulis to discuss the power of women leaders in global decision-making.

Hou highlighted the UN’s Women Rise for All initiative, explaining that during the COVID pandemic, women “came to the front lines of leading in really different and…

Alina Polyakova , President and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis, warns that NATO faces a defining moment.
From the sidelines of the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Polyakova told GZERO's Tony Maciulis that the Arctic has become “an arena of incredible global competition,” with Russia and China expanding their ambitions. While President Trump ’s focus…

At the 62nd Munich Security Conference, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke with Benedikt Franke , Vice Chairman and CEO of the Munich Security Conference, to discuss whether the post-1945 global order is under strain or already unraveling.

Reflecting on last year’s headline-making speech by Vice President JD Vance , Franke said it “freaked Europeans into cohesion,” accelerating calls for…