International

A Deal Within Days, an Air Strike Within Nights: Somalia's Election Talks Advance Under Fire

MOGADISHU

Somalia's federal government and its opposition are within days of signing the first written agreement either side has produced since the country's constitutional order lapsed in the spring, according to a negotiator involved in the talks. The accord would create a body called the Democratic Transition…

“Winds of Change”: Milei Escalates the Falklands Dispute After Trump Casts Doubt on Backing Britain

Background

The Falkland Islands — Las Malvinas to Argentines — are a self-governing British overseas territory roughly 13,000 kilometres from the United Kingdom and a few hundred from the Argentine coast. Britain has administered them since 1833. Argentina argues it inherited Spanish sovereignty over the archipelago in…

Ethiopia Moves Toward an Executive Presidency While Tigray Slides Back Toward War

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia  

Ethiopia is preparing to attempt the most far-reaching redesign of its political system in a generation at the precise moment its northern peace settlement is coming apart. A national dialogue…

Xi's Return to Cairo Turns a Decade of Egyptian-Chinese Promises Into a List — and a Bigger Yuan Line

Background

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, is now in its fifth year, and the diplomacy meant to end it has spent most of 2026 in a state of suspended animation. President Donald Trump returned to office pledging a rapid settlement, and for a time his two most trusted envoys — special…

Fingerprinted and Out on Bail: Sara Duterte's Arrest Order Escalates the Philippines' Dynastic War

Background

The alliance that produced the current Philippine government lasted barely two years. In 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte ran as a joint ticket — the "UniTeam" — fusing the two most formidable political dynasties in the country: the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., who ruled…

Hospitality Without Concessions: Trump's Envoys Carry a Peace Proposal From the Kremlin to Kyiv

Background

For most of 2026, the war in Ukraine has not been Washington's war. Since February, the United States has been consumed by its conflict with Iran — a campaign that has closed the Strait of Hormuz, drawn missile fire onto American bases in Jordan and Kuwait, pushed oil above $90 a barrel and swallowed the…