Israel intensifies Gaza strikes. Israel bombarded the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis yesterday in an effort to kill senior Hamas official Mohammed Sinwar, unnamed Israeli officials told the New York Times. Around the same time, Gaza’s health ministry said at least six people were killed in a strike on a hospital. Israeli strikes today killed at least seventy people across Gaza, local health authorities said.
Egypt cuts canal fees. Large ships will get a 15 percent discount on passage fees for the Suez Canal for ninety days, the canal authority said yesterday. The move is intended to encourage more traffic given the relative stability in the Red Sea region after the United States and Yemen’s Houthi rebels reached a truce. Monthly revenue from the Suez Canal has dropped by more than half since the Houthis’ current campaign against international ships began in late 2023.
Taiwan’s nuclear power plants. Taiwan’s legislature amended its nuclear regulations to allow nuclear power plants to apply for licenses to operate twenty years beyond the previous forty-year limit. The re-embrace of nuclear power comes the same month that the country is closing its last functioning reactor; concerns about energy independence and rising demand prompted the switch.
Uruguay remembers Mujica. Former President José Mujica died yesterday at the age of eighty-nine. A left-wing guerrilla in his youth, Mujica oversaw the decriminalization of abortion and the legalization of both same-sex marriage and marijuana—the latter being a step that Uruguay took before any other country in the world. He is also remembered for promoting civil democratic debate.
Uganda’s push to empower military courts. The government introduced a bill in the legislature yesterday that would allow military courts to try civilians, even after Uganda’s top court ruled that would be unconstitutional. Such trials would occur in cases such as illegal possession of military equipment. Human rights groups have long said that the current Yoweri Museveni administration uses military courts to politically target opponents.
Brazil-China agreements. The two countries signed more than thirty bilateral agreements during Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to Beijing, which concluded yesterday. China said it would invest more than $4 billion across Brazilian industries such as cars, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors. In a meeting with Latin American and Caribbean countries yesterday, Beijing also announced $9 billion in new credit to the region.
India, Pakistan expel diplomats. Pakistan declared an Indian diplomatic staffer persona non grata yesterday after India expelled a Pakistani diplomat earlier in the day. India said the diplomat was engaged in “activities not in keeping with his official status,” and unnamed Indian foreign ministry officials quoted in Indian Express said he was linked with recent arrests in India’s border region with Pakistan. Pakistan accused the Indian diplomat of espionage.
France’s nuclear umbrella. Paris is open to discussing the deployment of its nuclear weapons elsewhere in Europe, President Emmanual Macron told broadcaster TF1 yesterday. He said that France would not pay for other countries’ security, and that the French presidency would retain decision-making power over bomb usage. U.S. nuclear warheads are currently stationed across Europe, but Trump has said he wants European countries to take more responsibility for their own security.
