President Lee Jae-myung is set to mark his one-year anniversary in office with an excellent showing in Wednesday’s local elections that were viewed as a referendum on his presidency. Exit polls suggest that his left-leaning Democratic Party is set to win 11 of 16 municipal leadership races, while the conservative People Power Party (PPP) will win…
****Hundreds protested in Kenya on Monday after the US announced it was establishing an Ebola quarantine center on the Laikipia Air Base, about 120 miles from the capital Nairobi. The facility will be exclusively used to house US citizens exposed to Ebola while traveling in other countries. The protests even turned fatal,…
*Far-right candidateAbelardo de la Espriella* won the first round of Colombia’s presidential election yesterday with 43.7%, besting left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda , who finished with 40.9%. Because neither cleared the 50% threshold, the two will lock horns in a head-to-head runoff on June 21 to decide…
A Kafkaesque political metamorphosis is unfolding across India as millions of disaffected Gen Z’ers are turning into cockroaches – that is, members of the new Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The party, an online protest movement created by a 30-year old recent graduate from Boston University, was inspired by India’s Chief Justice **Surya…
*When the sun shines, we’ll shine together — but when it doesn’t, you’ll have the protection of France’s nuclear arsenal. That, to adapt the classic Rihanna record, was the message from French PresidentEmmanuel Macron* to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at a bilateral meeting in Paris on Wednesday. Norway, like the rest of…
The merry-go-round of negotiations between the two countries continues. The latest began on Saturday, when US President Donald Trump said an agreement was “largely negotiated,” before Iran poured cold water on this. The US military then hit Iranian missile launchers and boats suspected of dropping mines in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Iran…
Riot police over the weekend raided the headquarters of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), following a court order to remove party leader Özgur Özel. There were subsequent demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara against the move by the government of President Recep Tayyip****Erdoğan , one that protesters…
Student protesters will take to the streets in Serbia this weekend in the first major demonstrations this year against President Aleksandar Vučić. Students have become a significant political force in Serbia over the last two years: in 2025, then-Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned after anti‑corruption protests led by…
You heard that right: before the Iran war began, the United States and Israel planned to make former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – a Holocaust denier who has called for the destruction of Israel – the new leader, according to a New York Times report. Evidently, Ahmadinejad, who was under house…
On Saturday, the World Health Organization declared the current epidemic of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda “a public health emergency of international concern,” but said it does not meet the criteria for a pandemic. The latest outbreak has killed over 100 people, and at least 330 are suspected to…
US spy chief John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana yesterday just hours after the communist-run island said it had run out of fuel due to the ongoing US energy blockade. Ratcliffe, the highest ranking Trump administration official to visit, went to reiterate his boss’s vision of a “deal”: if Cuba opens up its economy and…
US President Trump and Chinese President Xi on Thursday exchanged friendly toasts and reiterations of commitment on the first day of a Beijing summit flush with pageantry. The friendly tone suggests that both sides hope to maintain the current status quo of fragile detente in a relationship marked by deep…
****The world's most-watched live music event kicks off today in Vienna under the theme “United by Music.” Yet the 70th Eurovision Song Contest is facing the largest boycott in its history over Israel's participation. Five countries said they wouldn’t compete, citing Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, while Slovenia, Ireland, and Spain will not…
Both the United States and Iran accused the other of violating the truce on Thursday. The US said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran accused the US of firing on an oil tanker attempting to pass a US blockade. But US President Donald Trump dismissed the exchanges as a “trifle,” and Iran’s foreign minister…
Brazil’s pugnacious left-wing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will**** sit down with**** US President Donald Trump today at the White House, and ties between the two leaders have been fraught, to say the least. Last year, Trump imposed sanctions and tariffs on Brazil over its content moderation policies and the legal prosecution of…
The United States has paused its 72-hour old mission to “guide” ships through the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran reviews a US-proposal under which Iran would accept some limits on uranium enrichment, the US would lift sanctions, and both sides would agree to reopen the waterway. US President Donald Trump has warned that…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s Hindu nationalist party won the state of West Bengal for the first time, booting out the once-formidable opposition, the All India Trinamool Congress, which had governed for 15 years. This is the latest bit of good electoral news for Modi, whose party has now won a string of state…
Fifty thousand demonstrators gathered in Tokyo on Sunday, the country’s Constitution Memorial Day, to protest Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's call for “advanced discussions” on revising Japan’s pacifist constitution. Since 1947, Article 9 has prohibited Japan from maintaining land, sea, or air forces and from waging war. It was reinterpreted…
Starting today, China is scrapping tariffs on imports from 53 African nations. Yet Beijing’s zero-tariff policy is unlikely to narrow the continent’s growing trade deficit with China any time soon. Africa’s exports to China are primarily raw materials and critical minerals such as copper and cobalt, which are essential to making…