Israel's National Security Minister, the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, stated that Israeli forces should "kill 30 or 40" Palestinians every night in Gaza, in addition to those who may pose "a danger at this specific moment." Ben-Gvir made these statements to Rom Braslavski – who was kidnapped on October 7 and held in the Strip by Palestinian militias – in an episode of a podcast published on Sunday. "There are people there who do not deserve to live. They are not even human," the far-right politician added.

The Kremlin intensifies its crusade against the pacifist opposition one month before the legislative elections. Specifically, it seeks to punish the only party opposed to the war in Ukraine that had initially been authorized to participate in the elections, Yabloko. The justice system has sentenced one of its vice-presidents, Lev Shlosberg, to 11 years and one month in prison for having defended the need for a ceasefire and criticized Vladimir Putin. Furthermore, the Supreme Court has rejected the party's appeal against the decision to ban them from the electoral process, after Yabloko's popularity soared in polls in recent weeks and an unprecedented wave of support among young people was generated.

Sixty days. This was the deadline that the United States and Iran gave themselves to transform the memorandum of understanding signed in June into a final agreement. The deadline expires this Monday without this agreement having been reached. And during these two months, the understanding that was supposed to contain the war has been on the verge of causing it to explode again. In fact, in the last few hours Tehran has raised its tone again: a high-ranking commander of the Revolutionary Guard has warned that its defensive stance will become "offensive" and has threatened with "strategic surprises" against the enemy.

As every Saturday, at eight in the evening, nearly a thousand people have gathered in Avlabari Square, near the center of the Georgian capital. The protest atmosphere, with a profusion of national flags and anti-government slogans, and their demands are not very different from those of other countries suffering an authoritarian drift in the current global populist wave.

"They brought me here to kill me. I don't think I'll get out alive." This is the last message that pediatrician Hussam Abu Safiya was able to convey through his lawyer from his captivity. He had recently been transferred to Rakefet, an Israeli underground prison where inmates never see the light of day. When lawyer Nasser Odeh visited him on July 2, he barely recognized him: his face was full of bruises, he had difficulty speaking and breathing, and he could barely stay seated. Several times he seemed on the verge of losing consciousness.

A zero-emission sustainable city, with large green spaces, advanced internet connections, and an industrial fabric dedicated to innovation, is the future dream of Chinese President Xi Jinping. And the dream is becoming a reality about a hundred kilometers southwest of Beijing, and the name of the new city is Xiong'an. The project began in 2017, but after some difficulties and delays, this year Xi Jinping has given it a new impetus. The objective, according to the propaganda of the Chinese administration, is that by 2035 the metropolis will be fully completed and become the model of a “socialist modern city”.

“Which floor are you going to?” asks a girl to a woman who is walking with a child by the hand, carrying a large travel bag and waiting for the elevator in the building’s entrance. “To the sixth,” replies the woman. Coincidentally, both are going to the same floor, and both are also dressed in a strictly Islamic manner: black tunic and headscarf, and a mask covering part of their faces. Inside the elevator, they don’t exchange many words either: like everyone else, they comment that it’s too hot in Kabul these days. When they reach the sixth floor, they realize they are not only going to the same floor, but also to the same place.

One year after the historic summit in Alaska between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, a peace agreement in Ukraine seems much further away than at that moment, although in reality it has never been close. During these months, Russian diplomacy has coined the concept spirit of Anchorage –the military base where the meeting was held– to argue that in Alaska the Americans had accepted the Kremlin's conditions to end the conflict. However, the passing weeks have shown that this spirit was an evanescent chimera. Relations between Russia and the United States are now going through one of the worst moments since the Republican's return to the White House,, and the thawing process that peaked a year ago is heading into a dead end.

In February 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House after Donald Trump returned to power to guarantee American military support. It was the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders after the Republican regained the presidency in the US and also a time when Patriot missiles, crucial for defense against Russian attacks, were already beginning to be scarce in Kyiv. That day Trump berated Zelensky, telling him he had no cards. What the leader perhaps did not imagine was that, a year and a half later, he would find himself in a similar situation: the Pentagon is having trouble resupplying its Patriot missiles.

It doesn't matter which corner of Africa you are in. Whether you are in a small village on the outskirts of Bobo-Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso, in a provincial capital in Guinea, or in a large city like Lagos, Nigeria, you will always find a recurring figure: a product, a project, or a major infrastructure made in China. The Asian giant presents itself to Africans with a very effective narrative: during the 19th century, they too suffered the effects of foreign domination, and now they have become a world power by following their own path, ignoring the criticism of the countries that had previously dominated them. If Africans unite with China, they will be able to follow the same path towards a new global order, breaking the monopoly of Western power. On the ground, this translates into the construction of roads, hospitals, schools, and airports, structural investments to guarantee the mobility and future of the continent.Not everything is idyllic. Across the continent, African workers from Chinese companies denounce cases of labor exploitation, and in the most serious cases they have been accused of acting as new colonizers. Resource extraction has generated pollution of rivers and forests, scarcity of fish and an increase in food prices, while part of the available supply is packaged and sold in China. Trade relations with China continue to have the same contradictions that globalization generates everywhere.While the trade war between the United States and China occupies most of the headlines, another reality has remained hidden: 2025 was the year in which Africa's trade deficit with China broke its historical record. 100 billion dollars, 61% more than the previous year. For now, Africa mainly sells unprocessed raw materials, and China sells manufactured products and machinery. It is a trade pattern that does not solve the structural problems of the African continent, and both African capitals and Beijing are aware of this.The revolution of value chains

“Nowadays, countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Ghana, and Guinea are dismantling this system: prohibiting the export of raw materials and enforcing local processing standards,” wrote Kenyan journalist Jevans Nyabiage this week in the South China Morning Post. The importance of so-called critical minerals has generated a small negotiation margin for Africans. Aware of the scarcity of these resources, African countries attract Chinese investments to process their minerals. Jumping from selling unprocessed lithium to the first phase of refining means that, per kilogram, Zimbabwe can earn between 3 and 5 times more. Chinese investors respond positively to these requests: it is a way to reduce costs in their own value chain.The purchase of Chinese technology linked to renewable energies has also skyrocketed in the last four years. Energy is the essential condition for achieving industrialization. The joint package of energy and technological transfer is, for Africans, a loophole through which to access industrialization. The last year and a half has confirmed the differences, from the African perspective, between the hegemonic blocs of the global economy. The United States is increasing tariffs and reducing development aid; Europe is also reducing this aid – with fewer alarmist headlines – and prioritizing migration control. China has been facilitating the entry of African students into its universities for years, and has wide-open doors for its products: since May of this year, 53 African countries can sell tariff-free to China. Despite the contradictions, in many parts of Africa they see China as a reliable partner that will allow them to change their living conditions, and some countries are willing to try.

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New grandiloquent promise from the President of the United States. Donald Trump has assured in the last few hours that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz as "United States territory" once the American army has fulfilled its mission to "defeat Iran". The leader assured this at a rally in New York, and quickly received a response from Tehran: "The Strait of Hormuz cannot be conquered with a tweet or with aircraft carriers, nor by issuing an order or with an electoral speech," wrote Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, on X.

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Andy Burnham's arrival at Downing Street has spurred British veterans who participated in the UK's nuclear tests during the fifties and sixties to pressure the government for the current premier to fulfill a promise he had repeatedly defended when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester.

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For years he was an academic superstar, a prodigy. But after rumors that what he boasted of was a lie came to light, he suddenly became a pariah, an outcast. On Friday, Jason Arday, 41, was found dead at his home in circumstances that have not yet been clarified. Everything suggests he committed suicide.

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From the outside, it looks like a small venue, but upon entering, stairs lead down to a huge basement, carpeted and divided into different rooms with large curtains. There, dozens of girls, young women, and women memorize the Quran, sitting on the floor with crossed legs and in front of small plastic tables on which they rest the holy book. All of them wear their hair covered with a veil. Some also cover their faces with a mask, or with a black niqab typical of the Gulf countries, which only leaves the eyes exposed and which women in Afghanistan had never worn. The traditional veil was the burqa, blue or any other color, although the result is the same: being covered from head to toe. It was also not common for them to wear black gloves so that their hands would not be seen, but some young women who are sitting studying the Quran also wear them.

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On August 15, 2021, I had to go to university like any other day. News was reaching us that province after province was falling into the hands of the Taliban, and fear was slowly taking hold of me. But I still couldn't believe that Kabul would fall. We thought that if the Taliban entered Kabul, it would be through an agreement with the central government and not through war or force. In our WhatsApp group, my classmates and I had agreed to go to class the next day.

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Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty to federal charges for the murder of the CEO of the health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson. The young man, 28, admitted to the judge that he shot the CEO on December 4, 2024, outside a New York hotel: "I shot Mr. Thompson. I was aware that my actions would make him fear for his life or for possible bodily injury. I knew that what I was doing was illegal."

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The Constitutional Council of France has blocked President Emmanuel Macron's flagship bill that aimed to ban access to social networks for minors under 15 years of age. The body, responsible for ensuring the constitutionality of laws, has determined that the measure constitutes an "inadequate, unnecessary, and disproportionate infringement" on the freedom of expression and communication of young people.

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Several Palestinian families from Qusra, in the north of the West Bank, have been trapped in their homes for days, besieged by Israeli settlers who have blocked access to the homes and cut off their water and electricity supplies. The Israeli army has reinforced its deployment in the town and initially ordered the evacuation of about fifteen homes, in an operation that comes amid a full escalation of settler violence in the West Bank. The evacuation order, however, was withdrawn shortly after, and the army assured that residents can stay in their homes.

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The ultra Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party, regained the seat for the Clacton-on-Sea constituency – southeast England – in Thursday's by-elections called following the his own resignation, in early July. Farage had turned the by-election into a plebiscite between his figure and the Westminster establishment. In objective terms, Farage has achieved a solid victory (22,239 votes, 63.34%), just over a thousand more ballots than in the 2024 general election, with lower turnout now (44.37% compared to 58.7% two years ago).

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On August 15, 2021, I had to go to university like any other day. News was reaching us that province after province was falling into the hands of the Taliban, and fear was gradually taking hold of me. But I still couldn't believe that Kabul would fall. We thought that if the Taliban entered Kabul, it would be through an agreement with the central government, not through war or force. In our WhatsApp group, my classmates and I had agreed to go to class the next day.

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