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Description: Europe faces key election cycle spreading from Lisbon to Bucharest and Warsaw as the continent faces the rapid rise of the populist far – right while facing internal political and security divisions. In Portugal, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro’s failed vote of confidence led to the elections which are stained by the rise of the far – right party called Chega. Poland’s presidential election would see Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski face independent Karol Nawrocki and the far – right candidate Slawomir Mentzen. Romania’s political upheaval was marked by Calin Georgescu’s disqualification from the elections by the country’s Constitutional Court which fueled support
Description: Official reports from the Kremlin stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not attend the proposed Istanbul peace negotiations and would send emissaries instead. The announcement comes as days of continued Russian aerial attacks and silence from the Kremlin casted doubts over Putin’s presence in Istanbul. Reports indicated that the Russian delegation would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, close aide to Putin and the one that started the 2022 negotiations which failed. Medinsky would be accompanied by Russia’s deputy defense Minister Alexander Fomin, deputy foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and Igor Kostyukov, head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, t
Description: The meeting between the US President Donald Trump and the de facto ruler of Syria Ahmed al Sharaa was publicly hailed as massive foreign policy progress and shift towards stabilizing the region. Trump and Al Sharaa met in Riyadh in a meeting mostly facilitated and lobbied by Saudi Arabia and Turkey after which Trump announced the complete lift of sanctions on Syria which could aid the devastated economy of the Middle Eastern country. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman praised the meet between the leaders as a major breakthrough in the Middle East’s complicated and ever-changing power dynamics. The US President characteriz
Description: US President Donald Trump continued his economic and investment Gulf tour visiting Qatar where he met the country’s emir Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha. The leaders exchanged pleasantries and quickly addressed the public before taking off to a 4 – hour long meeting where key international issues were reportedly discussed such as Israel’s war in Gaza and the Ukraine – Russia war. Trump and Al Thani also mulled several multi – billion-dollar agreements most notably between Boeing and Qatar Airways, with the latter purchasing up to 120 planes and components worth approximately $96 billion. Other significant agreements included the ones between the US company Pars
Description: Israel’s air forces conducted bombing runs in the cities of Khan Younis and Jabaliya leaving more than 70 people dead, 22 of whom were reported to have been children. The attacks were allegedly conducted in order to target the senior Hamas commander Mohammed Sinwar, who took refuge in the hospital near the city of Khan Younis. The disastrous humanitarian crisis caused by nearly three months of blockages by Israel is further aggravated by the closing of the several hospitals treating the wounded in the region. Charity kitchens in Gaza were also forced to close down in the midst of mounting warfare campaigns from Israel’s army as they faced severe difficulties to
Description: The Polish NASK Disinformation Analysis Center published indications that the social media platform Facebook might be used to launch political campaigns that unilaterally supported liberal candidate Rafal Trzaskowski in the upcoming presidential elections on Sunday. Trzaskowski faces Karol Nawrocki, senior member in Poland’s Civil Platform party and far – right candidate Slawomir Mentzen on Sunday 18 May. NASK has stated that they informed the Polish Internal Security Agency regarding the discrepancies and investigations were already underway to determine the origin of the financing for the political campaigns and advertisements launched on Facebook. Conflicting
Description: Cambodia hosted Chinese warships in the newly reformed and reconstructed Ream Naval Base which was sponsored by China earlier this year. Military officials from both sides have stated the exercises were focused on joint anti – terrorism operations and developing mechanisms for disaster relief. The Ream Naval Base previously hosted Japanese and Vietnamese ships in another round of joint military exercises, while the US appeal to Cambodia to conduct such exercises was denied. China has become the largest economic and strategic enabler of Cambodia in the past couple of years exceedingly supporting the country’s economy while countering US influence in the region.
Description: US President Donald Trump has begun his so-called Gulf tour with an initial visit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where he was warmly welcomed by his partner the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump’s visit was interactive as he attended the US – Saudi Business forum in Riyadh where high – level executives were present such as Blackstone Group’s CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Tesla’s Elon Musk. While hailing the US – Saudi strategic partnership Trump announced multiple bilateral agreements with the Kingdom in various business sectors which would incentivize close cooperation between both countries in the military, technological, justice
Description: German police forces conducted multiple arrests in an operation to subvert the far – right secessionist group called Kingdom of Germany. The leader, Peter Fitzek, alongside four of his followers were arrested over separatist and monarchist claims which posed a significant national security threat. Kingdom of Germany was founded in 2012, the group doesn’t recognize the German state in its current borders, has its own currency and continuously leads a campaign for founding a parallel government which would put the German state back within its legitimate World War II borders. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated that these separatist groups weren’t mi
Description: Massive armed clashes erupted between Al – Qaeda affiliated militants and the junta – led government forces in Burkina Faso on multiple locations. Initially, a pro – government militia group called Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland was accused of massacring more than 130 Fulani civilians in March, near the western town of Solenzo. The information was disclosed and supported by evidence from the Human Rights Watch group, after which an Al – Qaeda affiliated terrorist group called Jamaat Nusrat al – Islam wa al – Muslimin (JNIM) launched simultaneous attacks on military outposts on 8 locations across the country on 13 May. Due to the low availability of p