Peacekeeping missions are facing an unprecedented crisis. The number of international personnel deployed has fallen to 78,633, the lowest figure since 2000 and a 49% decrease from 2016. This is the main conclusion of a report by the prestigious Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which warns that the viability of multilateral peacekeeping is at risk. While the number of deployed personnel has been decreasing throughout the decade, 2025 saw the steepest year-on-year drop (17%), coinciding with the start of Donald Trump's second term in the United States. Last year, there were a total of 58 active operations in 34 countries, three fewer than in 2024.

When the agreement between the United States and Iran seemed imminent, Donald Trump has made a new U-turn and has conditioned the understanding on the Gulf countries normalizing relations with Israel, its historic regional rival. In a message on his Truth Social network, the American president has urged the mediating states, starting with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to sign the so-called Abraham Accords – which explicitly include this normalization – if they want the pact that would allow the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened to prosper.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz seems closer than ever. The United States and Iran, which have been negotiating for months through Pakistani mediators, have reportedly reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen this maritime route, according to U.S. officials cited by the New York Times and Associated Press. Both sides are celebrating that there is consensus in some areas of the agreement, but they disagree on how and when the understanding should be announced.

The 18 Catalan activists who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla landed this midday at El Prat airport from Istanbul, after having spent five days detained by Israeli authorities. With banners of "Welcome home" and shouts of "Long live, long live Palestine," nearly two hundred people awaited them in the Terminal 2 hall, and the reception left emotional images of reunion with their families. Dressed in gray Israeli prison tracksuits, flip-flops, and a Palestinian scarf, the activists denounced the mistreatment they suffered and demanded action from Western governments: "We are risking our lives because governments are silent and complicit," assured Ariadna Masmitjà, a teacher linked to the IAC union, who also asked the European Union to break relations with Israel.

The United States is not easing its threat against Cuba. The day after indicting the former president and one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution, Raul Castro, the US military has reported deploying a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the US "Nimitz", and a strike group in Caribbean waters. "Welcome to the Caribbean, Nimitz Carrier Strike Group!", the Southern Command, responsible for operations on the continent, wrote on X in a message threatening the "unmatched" reach and lethality of the deployed vessels.

The organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, the expedition carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza to denounce the Israeli blockade, have reported that several vessels were fired upon by the Israeli army while being intercepted. "Shots clearly fired at the ship Girolama", the organization explained in a brief statement, adding that Israeli soldiers fired on at least five of the vessels.

Donald Trump has left China –where he met with Xi Jinping– with kind words, but without having resolved any of his concerns: neither the blockade in Hormuz, nor the Taiwan crisis, nor the trade balance. Manel Ollé, professor of Chinese studies at the UPF and expert in the Asian giant, analyzes the meeting between the two leaders, which has been more marked by gestures than by tangible agreements.

A program that can remotely activate the microphone and camera of a mobile phone or access message history. Software capable of scanning real-time traffic to identify people and generate profiles. A device that connects to a computer or mobile phone and can download all its information by bypassing passwords. These and other technologies manufactured in member states of the European Union too often end up in the hands of governments that violate human rights, despite current legislation to prevent it. This is the main conclusion of the report "Looking the Other Way" published this Tuesday by the NGO Human Rights Watch, which denounces that the European Union's mechanisms to prevent these exports have failed.

Israel has intercepted some of the humanitarian aid ships that are part of the Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza. This was reported by Israeli radio, citing military sources, and confirmed by the Global Sumud Flotilla through a statement in which they assure that speedboats identified as the Israeli army have stopped their ships. According to their account, they pointed their lasers and semi-automatic assault weapons at the crew members and ordered them to position themselves at the front of the boats and get on all fours.

The Flotilla activists detained by Israel will disembark in Greece soon. This was announced by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, who assured in a message on X that "the individuals transferred from the flotilla boats to the Israeli ship will disembark on a Greek beach in the coming hours", in coordination with the Greek authorities. "Israel will not allow the legal naval blockade on Gaza to be broken", the text concludes.

Ece Temelkuran was Turkey's most read journalist. In 2016, after receiving death and rape threats, she decided to leave the country for good. Now, a decade later, she explores the pain of homelessness in The Land of Strangers (Anagrama 2026), and calls on all those left out in the cold – also morally out in the cold – to unite against a world that is increasingly yielding to fascism. She is in Barcelona to participate in a meeting of ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge Network.

Global military spending has once again exceeded records for the 11th consecutive year, reaching $2.887 trillion in 2025, meaning it cost more than 300 euros per person. This figure is equivalent to 2.5% of global GDP. This is indicated by the annual report published by Sipri (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), the most prestigious institution for military studies, which warns that global spending has increased by more than 40% in the last decade.

The Pentagon is reportedly considering suspending Spain from NATO, among other proposals to punish countries that have not supported American operations in the war with Iran. This is indicated by an email that has circulated among senior officials of the War Department —formerly the Department of Defense— of the United States, as a funcionario has assured the Reuters agency on condition of anonymity.

At the end of this year, the mandate of António Guterres, current Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), expires. And the race to succeed him has begun with a very present question: will the organization be led by a woman for the first time in its 80-year history?

"Before the war, I had a good life. [...] One day a shell fell at home. It killed my father and mother instantly." This is the testimony collected by Doctors Without Borders from Amna, a thirteen-year-old girl who now lives with her fifteen-year-old sister in the Tawila refugee camp in Darfur. Like her, 14 million people have been displaced to Sudan because of the war. Like her parents, about 150,000 people have died victims of the conflict.

They waited until the second day to flee. Experience, even in a war, counts for something. The first time Sara Ajami and her family had to leave their home, a small village near Tyre in southern Lebanon, due to Israeli shelling, they had to queue for 15 hours. In 2024, under the shadow of the Gaza war, Israel invaded Lebanon, thousands of people from the south had gathered on the roads leading north. This time, on March 2, under the shadow of the Iran war, Israel launched the offensive in Lebanon, Sara and her family stayed home one more night, exposing themselves to danger, to avoid the queues.

The doors of the Serena hotel, where the conversations between the United States and Iran have taken place in Islamabad –the capital of Pakistan– to end six weeks of war, were barricaded by cars and security agents. Inside, American and Iranian representatives have negotiated face-to-face accompanied by Pakistani mediators, as confirmed by the White House. The meeting was the highest-level direct contact the two powers have had since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Writing a diary in wartime often responds to the need to preserve humanity in the face of barbarism and to bring order to chaos. From Anna Frank's to Victor Klemperer's, these are documents for posterity and a portrait of daily life amidst the bombs. With the advent of the internet, these writings reach the world in real time. Now some Iranian citizens share their reflections daily with internet users in the midst of war. But if it is about the son of the president of Iran, his testimony has a special meaning.

"There is method in his madness," says Polonius, the king's advisor, referring to Hamlet. In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet pretends to be mad. But he only pretends to be so to gain time and prepare revenge against his father's murderer. With this metaphor, Christopher Tulloch, a professor of communication at Pompeu Fabra University, defines Donald Trump's communication strategy, also with the Iran war. In recent weeks, the official White House account has shared several videos on social media referring to video games like Call of Duty or Nintendo's Wii Sports. And with clips from movies like Braveheart, Superman or Top Gun. Frenetic scenes mixed with declassified images of attacks on Iranian facilities.

Who determines what is true? In the era of fake news, manipulated algorithms, and post-truth, a group of architects, journalists, engineers, and lawyers work together, putting technology at the service of facts. They call it forensic architecture and they dedicate themselves to reconstructing disputed events, from demonstrations to military attacks around the world. Since 2023, they have focused on Gaza, and their reports are used as evidence in South Africa's accusation against Israel at the International Court of Justice. We speak with Júlia Nueno, a researcher at Forensic Architecture, based in London, and editor of Genocides. A Forensic Reading (Galaxia Gutenberg).