A much-delayed nuclear fusion project involving more than 30 countries is ready to assemble the world's most powerful magnet - a key part of efforts to generate clean energy by smashing atoms together at super-high temperatures.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, based in southern France and backed by the United States, China, Japan, Russia and the European Union, needs the magnetic system to create an "invisible cage" to confine super-hot plasma particles that combine and fuse to release energy.
ITER said late on Wednesday that the final component of the system - the central solenoid - had been completed and tested by the United States, and assembly was now underway.
"It is like the bottle in a bottle of wine: of course the wine is maybe more important than the bottle, but you need the bottle in order to put the wine inside," said Pietro Barabaschi, ITER's director general.
The magnet was originally scheduled for completion in 2021, but has been beset by delays.
"To be behind schedule by four years after 10 years of effort shows just how troubled this project is," said Charles Seife, a professor at New York University who writes about nuclear fusion.
Barabaschi said the "crisis" was now over and construction was proceeding at the fastest pace in ITER's history. The start-up phase of the project will begin in 2033, when it is scheduled to start generating plasma.
He said ITER proved that countries could still cooperate despite geopolitical tensions.
"They have a very, very strong cohesion of objectives and for the time being I see no sign of a withdrawal from anyone."
Fusion investment has been growing, with dozens of initiatives currently underway. Several private start-ups have said they can build commercial fusion reactors within a decade.
Barabaschi said he was sceptical but supportive of the dozens of ventures in development across the world.
"We already know that we can get fusion," he said. "The question is, are we going to get fusion in such a way that it would be cost-effective?
"I am quite sceptical that we will be able to achieve this within, say, one or even two decades. Frankly speaking, it will take more time."
The Aegean region has become a key driver in Türkiye’s clean energy transition, supplying nearly 30 percent of the country’s wind power capacity and supporting millions of homes annually.
Azerbaijan’s AERA and Moldova’s ANRE signed a memorandum to strengthen cooperation in energy regulation and regional resilience.
The World Bank has approved a $100 million concessional loan to Uzbekistan to help integrate renewable energy into power grids and enhance electricity reliability in key regions. The national grid operator will contribute an additional $50 million to the five-year program.
A high-level Afghan delegation led by Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat CEO Dr. Abdul Bari Omar arrived in Tajikistan to take part in a key meeting on the CASA 1000 energy project, joining regional and international partners to accelerate progress on the major cross-border power initiative.
Slovakia and Hungary have condemned the European Commission’s new proposal to phase out Russian energy imports by 2027, warning the move would harm EU competitiveness.
S&P Global Ratings has revised Uzbekistan’s outlook to positive from stable, affirming its 'BB-/B' ratings. The change reflects steady economic reforms, resilient growth, and support from high gold prices, which are helping stabilize the country’s fiscal and external positions.
Russia launched a major overnight missile and drone attack across Ukraine on May 24–25, killing at least 12 people, including three children, in one of the war’s deadliest assaults.
Officials in Congo are hopeful that ongoing negotiations with the United States will yield a landmark investment agreement in critical minerals, alongside a peace deal with Rwanda to end a deadly rebellion in eastern Congo, by the end of June.
Uzbekistan’s historic city of Samarkand has been declared the Cultural Capital of the Islamic World for 2025 by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has imposed strict restrictions on journalists’ access within the Pentagon, limiting movement in key areas without official escort, in what the Department says is a move to prevent information leaks.
Tensions flare in the India-France Rafale deal as France refuses to share the fighter jet’s source code, limiting India’s ability to integrate indigenous weapons and reducing its combat autonomy.
France has rejected India’s request to share source codes needed to integrate indigenous weapons into Rafale fighter jets. Despite repeated appeals, French manufacturer Dassault Aviation has refused to compromise on the issue
AnewZ takes to the streets of Yerevan and Baku to ask a simple yet deeply complex question: How do you see peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan? In the first part of our special report, we hear the hopes, doubts, and scars still shaping people’s perspectives on both sides.
Anton Kobyakov, adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum that the USSR’s dissolution was legally invalid and that the Soviet Union still exists under constitutional law, framing the Ukraine war as an “internal process.”
Kyiv faced a large-scale Russian drone and missile assault overnight, with explosions and gunfire echoing throughout the city, forcing residents to shelter in subway stations.
Another busy Atlantic hurricane season is on the horizon for 2025, with forecasters predicting above-average storm activity fueled by warmer ocean waters.
Chinese clean energy companies risk losing tax benefits under the Inflation Reduction Act if the One Big Beautiful Bill becomes law, following its narrow passage in the U.S. House of Representatives.
A delegation led by Yalchin Rafiyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Chief Negotiator of COP29, participated in Climate Week in Panama, held from May 19–21, 2025, in Panama City.
Even if global warming is limited to 1.5°C — the goal set by nearly 200 countries — rising seas will still pose a major threat to coastal communities for centuries, scientists say.
Colombia lost nearly 88,900 hectares of forest — an area larger than New York City — in just six months, according to a new report from the country’s public watchdog.
S&P Global Ratings has revised Uzbekistan’s outlook to positive from stable, affirming its 'BB-/B' ratings. The change reflects steady economic reforms, resilient growth, and support from high gold prices, which are helping stabilize the country’s fiscal and external positions.
Russia launched a major overnight missile and drone attack across Ukraine on May 24–25, killing at least 12 people, including three children, in one of the war’s deadliest assaults.
Officials in Congo are hopeful that ongoing negotiations with the United States will yield a landmark investment agreement in critical minerals, alongside a peace deal with Rwanda to end a deadly rebellion in eastern Congo, by the end of June.
Uzbekistan’s historic city of Samarkand has been declared the Cultural Capital of the Islamic World for 2025 by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has imposed strict restrictions on journalists’ access within the Pentagon, limiting movement in key areas without official escort, in what the Department says is a move to prevent information leaks.
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