Tranche 2 of the EPBC reforms creates a national EPA as Australia takes a negotiator role at Türkiye's COP31
Leaders & Succession
Leaders, successions, elections and who actually decides.
state of play
The defining shift is in Tehran: Ali Khamenei was killed in the February war and his son Mojtaba installed as supreme leader in a contested, first-ever hereditary succession, leaving President Pezeshkian selling the US ceasefire from inside a wrecked establishment. The post-war Middle East is now a contest of leverage — Netanyahu trapped between his far right and an election due by October, Erdoğan warning against an East-Med energy bloc he reads as encirclement, and Sisi converting Gaza reconstruction into leverage over a fragile economy.
The Western powers realigned at the Évian G7: Macron hardened the Russia line and dropped the joint communiqué while Carney left with a sheaf of critical-minerals deals. Trade is the other battlefield — Modi and Trump fast-tracked an India-US pact against a July tariff cliff, India sealed its long-stalled FTA with the EU, while Lula and Sheinbaum fought Washington from the other side. Modi, now India's longest continuously serving elected PM, is simultaneously managing a fragile LAC thaw with Beijing, watching his effort to isolate Pakistan backfire, and commissioning indigenous warships.
The autocracies are absorbing strain: Xi refuses broad stimulus amid deflation, Putin downplays a Crimea fuel crisis, Kim orders "exponential" enrichment, and Moscow courted ASEAN at the Kazan summit. Governance is fraying across the Global South — South Africa's GNU cabinet standoff, Kenya's Gen-Z budget protests, Nigeria's contested reform record, Pakistan's IMF budget, Indonesia's sinking rupiah — while Europe churns through Starmer's resignation, Spain's Gómez trial and a Poland-Ukraine honours row. Latin America swings right after Colombia's runoff and Petro's contested transition, even as Milei clears an IMF review and Bolivia's new government sheds ministers. Watch the H2-2026 election calendar, the Israeli vote, and elite health — King Charles and a new papal consistory.
tracking
Heads of state
Trump (US)19 easingMacron's Évian G7 turns Trump toward Ukraine, drops the joint communiqué Xi (China)4 easingIndia and China deepen the LAC thaw while New Delhi protests Chinese roads in Shaksgam Putin (Russia)5 worseningPutin's SPIEF: 'no recession' as the war economy stalls and drones hit the showcase Modi (India)14 pending-decisionEU and India clinch the 'mother of all' trade deals von der Leyen (EU)9 pending-decisionEU and India clinch the 'mother of all' trade deals Macron (France)8 activeMacron leaves Australia off the G7 guest list, snubbing Albanese Merz (Germany)6 pending-decisionMerz demands 'all or nothing' on a 33-point pension overhaul Starmer (UK)3 transitionBurnham closes on Downing Street as the Labour contest turns to a coronation Meloni (Italy)6 worseningTrump and Meloni rupture publicly over a G7 photo and Italy's Iran refusal Sánchez (Spain)4 worseningSpain's Supreme Court jails Sánchez's former right-hand man Ábalos for 24 years Tusk (Poland)5 worseningWarsaw strips Zelensky of its highest honour; Tusk fights to contain the fallout Netanyahu (Israel)7 contested-resultNetanyahu pinned between the Iran ceasefire and his far-right partners Pezeshkian (Iran)5 contested-resultPezeshkian sells the ceasefire at home while hardliners and parliament fight the terms Zelensky (Ukraine)3 worseningWarsaw strips Zelensky of its highest honour; Tusk fights to contain the fallout Erdoğan (Turkey)5 activeCourt strips Turkey's opposition leader, reinstating his predecessor MBS (Saudi)5 worseningSaudi Arabia posts its largest-ever quarterly deficit on war spending MBZ (UAE)5 activeMBZ pivots from war footing to Arab coordination as Hormuz reopens el-Sisi (Egypt)4 activeSisi turns Gaza diplomacy into leverage as Egypt's economy stays fragile Ramaphosa (S. Africa)2 stalemateA DA reshuffle demand tests who really controls Ramaphosa's cabinet Tinubu (Nigeria)3 activeThree years on, Tinubu says reforms saved Nigeria; fuel is up 463% Ruto (Kenya)3 escalatingRuto signs the Finance Bill early as Gen Z marks the June 25 anniversary Lula (Brazil)8 activeLula leads Flávio Bolsonaro by double digits as the fourth-term campaign hardens Sheinbaum (Mexico)9 easingMexico's May inflation eases to 3.94%, back inside Banxico's target band Milei (Argentina)8 easingArgentina's May inflation falls to 2.1%, the lowest in eight months Petro (Colombia)5 worseningPetro's 'Total Peace' ends as 'Total War', armed groups stronger at his exit Prabowo (Indonesia)2 worseningPrabowo's rupiah breaks 18,000 as investors flee Indonesia's worst-performing currency Marcos (Philippines)3 contested-resultMarcos balances ASEAN chair against China's Scarborough 'nature reserve' Anwar (Malaysia)3 activeAnwar warns Europe after Norway pulls a missile-export licence: 'we'll seek alternatives' Kim (N. Korea)3 activeXi in Pyongyang: first visit in seven years re-anchors the China–North Korea axis Sharif (Pakistan)4 activeModi's bid to isolate Pakistan backfires as Islamabad courts Washington and Beijing Yunus (Bangladesh)1 transitionBNP sweeps Bangladesh's first post-Hasina vote; Tarique Rahman to be PM Carney (Canada)3 easingCarney leaves the G7 with $5bn in minerals deals and a hot-mic on Chinese EVs Albanese (Australia)4 activeAlbanese's Nature Positive law stands up a federal environment regulator from July
Successions & elite health
Khamenei (Iran)2 contested-resultPezeshkian sells the ceasefire at home while hardliners and parliament fight the terms King Charles III1 easingCharles's cancer treatment moves to a 'precautionary phase' — but the palace won't say remission The papacy1 activeLeo XIV summons the whole College of Cardinals — a governing method takes shape Putin5 worseningPutin's SPIEF: 'no recession' as the war economy stalls and drones hit the showcase Xi4 easingIndia and China deepen the LAC thaw while New Delhi protests Chinese roads in Shaksgam
Election calendar
Cabinet & coup turnover
latest
Headline returns below 4% even as Q1 GDP contracts 0.6%, framing the central bank's June pause
After dropping the contested unrealised-gains design, Labor lands an extra 15% over A$3m and 25% over A$10m, indexed
Évian invites Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya and South Korea — but not Canberra, breaking a near-unbroken run since 2019
RM600m+ in direct losses after a cancelled NSM delivery; Anwar, on Russian TV, contrasts Oslo's reversal with Moscow 'honouring all commitments'
pending-decision Anwar faces a July test as Johor and Negeri Sembilan call snap polls
Two states vote within 60 days; PH fields 56 candidates in Johor on July 11 — a referendum on Anwar's reform record before the 2028 general election
INDEC prints 2.1% as the disinflation holds, though still above Milei's sub-2% goal
The large-investment regime tops 18 approved projects and >US$22.5bn; critics cost the fiscal giveaway at ~US$1.8bn a year
Mexico's security chief reports the Jalisco cartel splintering 'like Sinaloa did', with a stepson among the contenders facing extradition
ELN talks frozen since the Catatumbo massacre; violence less deadly but more pervasive, monitors find, as the transition looms
pending-decision EU and India clinch the 'mother of all' trade deals
Two decades of stalled talks ended on geopolitics as much as commerce; the text is signed only on paper, with formal signature due by end-2026
France hosts a summit that hardens the Russia line and claims a 'deep change' in the US approach, at the cost of consensus theatre
Modi's party ends Mamata's 15-year rule and wins a third Assam term, but Vijay's TVK seizes Tamil Nadu and Congress sweeps Kerala — three of four states change hands
Doval and Wang Yi note 'gradual normalisation' and an 'early harvest' sectoral track even as the MEA calls CPEC infrastructure in the China-held Shaksgam Valley 'illegal and invalid'
pending-decision Modi and Trump fast-track the India-US trade pact at the G7
First leaders' talks in 16 months order a 'commercially meaningful' deal; USTR Greer flies to Delhi as a July 24 tariff cliff looms and Congress cries appeasement
A state dinner on the G7 margins becomes the unexpected venue for an initial war-ending agreement
Manila condemns Beijing's 3,500-hectare reserve as a sovereignty grab, mandates Philippine names for sea features — while chairing ASEAN and courting a code of conduct
An October election looming, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich demand Hezbollah's destruction while opposition brands the US-Iran deal Netanyahu's failure
contested-result Pezeshkian sells the ceasefire at home while hardliners and parliament fight the terms
Iran's president defends US talks and warns of economic ruin, but a new supreme leader and an IRGC-shaped parliament constrain what he can concede
Two deputy governors dissent to hold at 6.75% as inflation returns to the band; the next decision lands 26 June
Justices signaled they may preserve birthright citizenship and block the firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook
A budget-reconciliation bill ends a 76-day DHS shutdown and entrenches the deportation machine to term's end
An Istanbul court annuls the CHP's 2023 congress, unseating Özgür Özel and bringing back Kılıçdaroğlu — judicial pressure on Erdoğan's main rival party deepens
US, Greece, Cyprus and Israel launch an energy centre at Rice University; Ankara invokes 'guarantor state' powers and warns Israeli strikes now threaten Turkey
Jailed over a year, Erdoğan's strongest rival faces 15-20 years on espionage charges and a separate indictment seeking up to 2,430 — and tells the court the nation will decide at the ballot box
'A deal is a deal' — MEPs approve the Turnberry framework while warning it is unbalanced
Farías Laguna's letters to Sheinbaum widen the huachicol fiscal case; his defence disputes that the full file was handed over
The NTA scraps the 2.27-million-candidate medical entrance after a paper leak; a satirical youth movement demanding the education minister's resignation gains 22 million followers in a month
A decade after Modi vowed to quarantine Pakistan, Islamabad signs minerals and crypto deals with Trump's circle and an 'all-weather' upgrade with Xi — and India is left protesting from the sidelines
easing Charles's cancer treatment moves to a 'precautionary phase' — but the palace won't say remission
Buckingham Palace scales back the King's schedule on doctors' advice; two years on, the type and stage stay undisclosed
Qassem calls the disarmament drive a 'roadmap to annihilate' as Israel vows an open-ended stay in south Lebanon and keeps striking past the ceasefire deadline
At 80, Lula runs for an unprecedented fourth term with the right's standard-bearer dogged by scandal and his father jailed
Brussels bans Brazilian meat, poultry and honey from September over growth-promoter use, weeks after Mercosur-EU took provisional effect
stalemate Senate rejects Lula's Supreme Court pick — first since 1894 — and he renominates the same man
The chamber blocks AGU Jorge Messias 42–34 in a historic rebuke tied to its own president; Lula sends the name back
pending-decision Marcos vs Duterte: Sara's Senate impeachment trial opens July 6
257 House votes, $110m in flagged transfers, and a trial that runs in parallel with the elder Duterte's ICC case at The Hague
Trump says Meloni 'begged' him for a photo; she calls it fabricated and her diplomat cancels his US trip
pending-decision Merz demands 'all or nothing' on a 33-point pension overhaul
A commission hands Germany a capital pillar and life-expectancy retirement ages; the SPD and unions revolt
pending-decision Morena's Senate pushes Mexico's judicial elections from 2027 to 2028
An 87-40 constitutional vote reworks candidate selection and lets TEPJF magistrates seek re-election, extending the bench overhaul
A new corporate category run by AI agents, human shareholders optional; Harari warns of regulatory arbitrage and impunity
The self-styled Beijing critic extends the active yuan swap tranche for 12 months as Washington presses Buenos Aires to cut financial ties
The Fund unlocks ~$1bn and praises the disinflation, but pins a reserves floor that critics say could reignite inflation in an election year
The float climbs toward the crawling-band top while reserves hit a seven-year high — the tension at the heart of the IMF program
The prime minister leaves the stand calling the case a 'Stasi' operation as a verdict slips toward 2027 and an election toward autumn
Disciplinary and criminal files over his X account and rally speeches; the Council of State orders him to stop official political messaging
Washington's first 'failed demonstrably' label since 1997, plus sanctions on Petro himself, collide with a Trump-endorsed successor
A WWII-memory rupture pits President Nawrocki against PM Tusk and Kyiv, with Moscow the only clear winner
An oil-price shock, a corruption scandal in the free-meals programme and an unnerving inner circle drive a crisis of confidence in Jakarta
Saudi guest of honour, a US delegation back after a decade — and a president conceding 'risks of stagnation' while Ukrainian strikes shadow his hometown forum
Reports name Sonora's Durazo and Tamaulipas's Villarreal; Sheinbaum calls it a discrediting campaign as her predecessor breaks silence
pending-decision Sheinbaum walks into the USMCA review having already tariffed China to please Washington
Mexico dodged Trump's reciprocal tariffs; now the July 1 joint review turns on whether it can keep China out of North America's supply chain
The first final corruption ruling to reach the PM's inner circle, in the pandemic 'masks' case
5½ hours answering for a string of PSOE probes; the Senate demands a vote he won't give
pending-decision USTR proposes forced-labor tariffs on 60 economies — Trump's post-IEEPA tariff vehicle
After the Supreme Court voided IEEPA tariffs, Section 301 becomes the new, uncapped lever against China, India, the EU and dozens more
1,000+ arrests, a blocked move to federalize Illinois troops, and a fourth 'No Kings' day of protest
After winning Makerfield, Burnham is the sole declared candidate to succeed caretaker PM Starmer
Manufacturing utilisation near a decade low, retail growth at a three-year trough — and Beijing answers with 'anti-involution', not a consumer bailout
Beijing pulls Kim back into orbit after Russia's courtship — 'good neighbour, good friend, good comrade', and silence on the bomb
At a 35th-anniversary summit in Kazan, ASEAN and Russia adopt four cooperation documents; the Philippines' Marcos co-chairs even as he leans on Washington
71 foreign-investment projects and a Dunkerque data-centre mega-deal as France defends its FDI lead
Petro's bloc launches a 'juridical offensive' over the scrutiny; the CNE denies a full overseas recount
Leaders agree the 2028–2034 MFF shape, roll Russia sanctions for 12 months, and start Ukraine accession talks
The first full year on a new 2022-23 base year shows the fastest-growing major economy, even as a rare rise in unemployment and an implausibly low deflator fuel a credibility debate
Q1 GDP shrank 3.3% from the Iran war, but the ceasefire sends the currency to a 1993 peak and ratings outlooks to stable — even as Smotrich fights a record defence budget
A third straight quarter-point cut paired with a hawkish communiqué — election-year fiscal stimulus and El Niño flagged as upside risks
A 30-day deadline lapses, Washington moves on a 25% levy, and Lula readies a retaliation law months before facing Flávio Bolsonaro
The Gulf's most hawkish leader flies to Cairo to welcome the US-Iran deal and the strait's reopening — after demanding hard terms on Iran's missiles and nuclear program
France, the UK, Italy and Poland join Germany to coordinate Ukraine, Iran and burden-sharing
An extraordinary consistory on 26–27 June puts war, the synod, just-war doctrine and AI to the cardinals who will one day pick his successor
Insiders blame erratic, poorly communicated policy and an opaque advisory court; a Tony Robbins session at the palace becomes the symbol of the unease
Drone strikes on refineries trigger the worst fuel shortage on the Black Sea peninsula since 2014; the Kremlin and independent press describe it in opposite terms
Russia's spring-summer push around Pokrovsk grinds; Putin admits the drone war is hurting the economy and vows to bolster air defences
Moscow leans wholly on the Trump–Anchorage framework, demands Ukraine stop its advance, and tells Kyiv to sign before any meeting
A $33.5bn Q1 hole — most of the year's planned shortfall in one quarter — as military outlays jumped and Hormuz throttled oil exports despite high prices
Daily killings at a 12-year low under Harfuch's strategy, but the rising missing-persons count undercuts the headline
Trump courts El-Sisi at the G7 over Gaza reconstruction and the Iran deal; at home inflation, a weak pound and lost Suez revenue still bite
A Madrid judge sends Begoña Gómez to a jury trial on graft charges, deepening the corruption siege around Spain's prime minister
The WSJ says Mirage 2000 jets hit a Gulf island refinery, making the UAE the only third country to attack Iran — after Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Emirati targets
Singapore meeting streamlines the buy to second-hand boats and launches the first Pillar II undersea-drone project
A 7-year sentence for Osama Almasri reopens the case against Meloni's ministers
Defence, education and labour ministers gone in ten days; ~100 roadblocks, fuel and food shortages, and calls for the new president to quit
contested-result Lula and a Bolsonaro son run dead even into Brazil's October vote
Jailed and barred, Jair Bolsonaro hands the flag to Senator Flávio; an 80-year-old Lula seeks a fourth term with the race tied
Klingbeil defends ~€196bn in fresh debt as defence spending climbs toward €180bn by 2030
Canada's PM banks 13 critical-minerals partnerships and a France intelligence pact, while caught reassuring Trump over Chinese EV imports
The Building Canada Act's debut fast-track designation pits Arctic sovereignty against Indigenous consent
Four years two months and ineligibility to 2038 for coercion — tried in absentia for seeking US sanctions on the court trying his father
Tamar/Leviathan maintenance cuts ~250 mcf/d on top of the war cutoff; Cairo fast-tracks LNG to hold a gas-dependent grid through summer
Ankara condemns the strikes as illegal, mourns Khamenei, and offers Trump support to implement a ceasefire — with two-thirds of Turks wanting Turkey to stay out
pending-decision Von der Leyen unveils the EU's 21st Russia sanctions package
First-ever hits on shadow-fleet enablers, LNG-tanker resales and a frozen oil price cap
The right's 2026 candidate confirms a recording asking ex-banker Daniel Vorcaro to release money for a biopic of his father, widening Lula's lead
At the G7 Trump says the dam is causing Egypt 'tremendous problems' and offers to restart US Nile mediation, six months after Ethiopia inaugurated Africa's largest hydro project
The 16th NSAs' meeting in Delhi exposes the bloc's fault lines — China draws lessons from the Iran war while Tehran demands a stand on 'state terrorism' — ahead of a September Modi summit
Trump insists 'no $300 billion payment to Iran by the US'; Vance says Arab states and investors will fund it — and no country has confirmed a cent as Iran's own bank warns of a 12-year rebuild
A 5,000-tonne destroyer for nuclear-capable missiles — built, Seoul says, with Russian help — as Kim pivots from missiles to ships and submarines
North Korea reveals a fresh uranium-enrichment hall — likely a third site — as Kim says weapons-grade output has more than doubled in five years
contested-result Merz calls the EU's next seven-year budget 'unaffordable'
After the June European Council, Berlin rejects the MFF proposal and floats Ukraine 'associate membership'
Manuel Adorni concedes off-the-books savings the anti-casta government had built ethics policy around; opposition pushes a censure session
A federal-police report finds the token's supply concentrated in one address; Inecip and Cipce seek Milei's indagatoria
4,399 days surpasses Nehru — a record the cabinet calls a democratic milestone and the opposition calls 'dubiously invented'
The flagship of Vision 2030 cuts its population target to 100,000 and faces a bigger bill to cancel contracts than to build, as Riyadh resets its megaproject
The president pushes a mediated plea deal Netanyahu won't take — admitting wrongdoing and quitting politics — while Trump calls Herzog 'weak and pathetic'
Markets and FAAC allocations have surged since the subsidy was cut and the naira floated, but petrol has risen more than fourfold and households are still squeezed
The US-Iran MoU sends Brent toward $77 and Aramco cuts its July price to Asia — even as the war banked Riyadh a routing windfall through the East-West pipeline
Pakistan recasts itself from war-adjacent bystander to lead mediator; Pezeshkian's thank-you visit and Nobel chatter follow a 14-point deal reopening Hormuz and extending the truce
contested-result Petro refuses to concede, alleging US and Israeli interference as his term winds down
A lame-duck leftist president, barred from re-election, demands a recount and audit after his bloc loses the runoff by under 1%
The president orders international access restored after one of the longest shutdowns on record; hardline outlets say he had no authority, exposing the rift inside the system
German troops to help fortify the Belarus and Russia borders as US engagement wavers
37 presidential vetoes in ten months turn cohabitation into open warfare
The DA's new leader Hill-Lewis tells the president to demote Steenhuisen and reslot its ministers, forcing a constitutional question about the GNU's power to dictate appointments
A 1 June proclamation cuts farm-equipment duties and rewards high US material content, building a new tariff wall
Two defence resignations on 11 June reframe the collapse as policy-driven, not just poll panic
Every EU member now runs a deficit with Beijing; leaders weigh a 'menu' of trade measures
pending-decision EU top-court adviser sides against von der Leyen in 'Pfizergate'
An Advocate General urges dismissing the Commission's appeal over the secret Pfizer vaccine texts
21-gun salute for Min Aung Hlaing, a 'shared future' joint statement, RMB–kyat settlement and Kyaukpyu — Beijing legitimises a ballot that barred the opposition
Yunus's interim government hands over after a February landslide; Jamaat-e-Islami a distant second, the student NCP nearly shut out
Parliament restores a post scrapped in 1972; reports that Biya named son Franck VP are claimed by some outlets and denied by the government
The CBE keeps rates on hold a second straight meeting and lifts its 2026 inflation forecast to 16-17% from 11%, blaming the regional conflict and an energy shock
From Algeria in July to South Sudan's long-delayed vote in December — who votes, when, and where power actually turns over
A damning annual report passes 381-107, naming Akın Gürlek over the İmamoğlu case; Ankara calls it 'hostile propaganda'
An 11 April landslide hands the EU a new Budapest — unblocking Ukraine aid while refusing to fast-track Kyiv's accession
The chief of staff raises '10 red flags' over reservist strain while Israel tallies $1.1bn+ in missile damage and 45,000 home-front claims
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to expand parliament to 850 seats and freeze delimitation on the 2011 census fails the two-thirds bar amid a united opposition and southern revolt
An ₹18.36-crore freeze on Kerala's ex-CM revives 'weaponised agencies' charges; the Supreme Court's November opinion narrows its own April ruling that had reined in Governors
Modi inducts INS Dunagiri, Sanshodhak and Agray as a marker of self-reliant defence — and an answer to PLAN's Indian Ocean push
Rolling blackouts and reservoirs near 5% collide with a sixth drought year, as Pezeshkian warns the capital could run dry and even floats evacuation
Sudani sidelined, Maliki vetoed under US pressure: parliament approves Ali al-Zaidi with a partial cabinet, defence and interior still vacant
pending-decision Meloni weighs an early Italian election as soon as April 2027
Bloomberg reports a snap-vote calculation as ratings slide and Vannacci eclipses Salvini
pending-decision Merz signals German minesweepers could secure the Strait of Hormuz
With a US–Iran framework deal, Berlin readies the Bundeswehr — under three conditions
Atiku takes the ADC ticket; Obi and Kwankwaso bolt to the NDC — handing the president two rival challengers instead of one, just as the 2027 race opens
Seven members add 188,000 bpd for July — but Saudi Arabia's quota sits far above what the closed Strait let it actually export
Aurangzeb cuts salaried tax rates and scraps the surcharge while holding to the $7bn IMF programme's consolidation targets and a 17.6% higher revenue goal
Months after Congress ousted Boluarte, a fragmented 35-candidate field narrows to far-right Keiko Fujimori versus the left's Roberto Sánchez
SDNY charges Sinaloa's Rocha Moya with aiding 'Los Chapitos'; Sheinbaum says Mexico may reject the detention request absent evidence
Operation Dudula's ultimatum and a fatal Mossel Bay attack force the president to address the nation; he calls xenophobia unacceptable, then unveils tougher migration enforcement that critics call recycled
A second corruption strand circles Sánchez: kickbacks on public works and an obstruction probe
Abu Dhabi's AI campus moves from US approval to deployment — up to 35,000 GB300 systems licensed, a 1GW first cluster, and a 5GW build at the centre of MBZ's bet on Washington
Van Hollen and Jacobs say the UAE is arming the RSF in contradiction of its assurances; resolutions of disapproval target Emirati weapons sales as Abu Dhabi denies all
Sworn in under Article 233 following the January US raid, she extends a hand to Trump while insisting Maduro is still the only president
The ₹99,446-crore PM-VBRY pays first-time formal workers up to ₹15,000 and subsidises employers; a ₹2,400-crore first tranche reaches 15 lakh, but start-ups and micro-firms barely know it exists
Sheikh Tahnoon chairs a Q1 review of ADIA, Mubadala, L'Imad and ADNOC as the emirate steers wartime capital and builds a 'fourth pillar' fund
pending-decision Carney nominates Manitoba's Glenn Joyal to the Supreme Court
A bilingual Prairie 'institutionalist' fills the Western seat left by Justice Martin
A Chaves-aligned conservative wins outright with 48.5% and a single-party legislative majority — the first since 1990
pending-decision Israel sets 27 October vote — Netanyahu's first ballot since 7 October and three wars
A judge fixes the date Netanyahu wanted, the latest possible; a dissolution bill that would have pulled it earlier is in play
The DFP 2026 cuts growth and dashes hopes of exiting the excessive-deficit procedure early
A new finance law with bread VAT and phone-activation duty revives the 2024 grievance; for the first time Ruto signs before June 25, the date that has met him with protests every year
A blogger died in a Nairobi police cell in June 2025; a year on, the murder trial of six officers halts because the station's CCTV was deliberately formatted hours after his death
A KNCHR reparations framework verifies over 1,000 victims of 2017-2025 state violence, but bars looting and 'ordinary criminal' victims and withholds the names, drawing daily picketing
Parliament extends its own term to 2028 amid the Hezbollah–Israel escalation; Christian parties object to the open-ended delay
A diplomacy-driven bounce, with PM Lecornu matching him exactly, as the final year of the term opens
The first leaders' summit under the 2021 Quirinal Treaty, focused on defence, space and energy
President's Rule was lifted in February for a BJP chief minister; by June a Kuki-Naga rupture, mass hostage-taking and fresh shootings show the conflict is mutating, not ending
Gunmen seized pupils aged 2 to 16 and seven teachers in May; one teacher murdered, the rest still captive in June, amid a wider wave of mass abductions and Middle-Belt killings
June airstrikes on Khost, Kunar and Paktika break a brief calm; Islamabad claims 26 militants dead, Kabul and the UN count 13 civilians including 11 children
A Seine-side monument marks France's long, incomplete reckoning — short of a formal apology
The president can't veto the budget, so he refers it — Tusk says it changes nothing
Most for drug offences and many of them foreign nationals, with the total under King Salman now past 2,000 — as the kingdom courts the world on Vision 2030
The royalist-military-favoured party tops the 8 February poll on nationalism and stimulus; a referendum approves scrapping the 2017 constitution
Sterling and gilts move only modestly on Starmer's exit — the real question is the spending rules
Iran's first hereditary succession installs a mid-ranking cleric the Guards pushed through; a third of the Assembly never signed on
Less than two years after a landslide, Keir Starmer resigns amid Reform UK's surge; Andy Burnham is the frontrunner
A Trump-aligned lawyer edges leftist Iván Cepeda by under 1%, ending the Petro era and realigning Bogotá toward Washington