Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. Russia launched around nine hundred drones on Ukraine from Friday night to Monday morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. On Sunday, Trump said he would consider sanctioning Russia and wrote on social media that Russian President Vladimir Putin had gone “CRAZY.” The Kremlin dismissed Trump’s comments as “emotional.” The United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons inside Russia, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.
New aid group begins Gaza distribution. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, chosen by Israel to distribute aid, said it began work yesterday and hopes to reach more than one million people this week. On Sunday, its director resigned, saying that it was not possible to do the job while maintaining neutrality. Israel’s military said over the weekend that it aims to capture 75 percent of Gaza in two months. Meanwhile, Germany’s Merz said yesterday that harm to the civilian population “can no longer be justified by a fight against Hamas terrorism.”
ASEAN’s approach to Myanmar. ASEAN countries agreed at a Malaysia summit to discuss creating a permanent envoy to Myanmar rather than the current system of changing the envoy each year. The rotating envoy is tasked with helping Myanmar resolve its current civil war, but that implies starting “all over again each time” a new envoy is selected, Malaysia’s foreign minister said.
Election in Suriname... The opposition National Democratic Party won eighteen seats in the country’s legislature to the ruling Progressive Reform Party’s seventeen in a Sunday vote. This kicks off a period of negotiations, as a two-thirds majority in the legislature is required to elect the country’s president. The incoming administration is expected to oversee a boost in Suriname’s oil revenue as a major offshore project begins production.
...and in Venezuela. Venezuela’s electoral authority said the ruling party won governor’s races in twenty-three of the country’s twenty-four states after a Sunday vote that most opposition parties boycotted. The government also conducted an election in a district bordering the disputed, Guyana-controlled territory of Essequibo that it said would determine Essequibo’s governor. Guyana’s president has called the vote “false” and “propagandistic.”
Protests in Bangladesh. Primary schoolteachers and public sector workers demonstrated against the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus yesterday. Teachers sought a wage hike, while public sector workers opposed the government’s removal of procedural barriers to their dismissal. Yunus said elections could be held by June 2026, but the country’s army chief and a major political party have called for a vote by December.
South Korean frontrunner on North Korea policy. Presidential frontrunner Lee Jae-myung said he would aim to restore communication with North Korea, including through a military hotline, if elected. Pyongyang cut off the hotline in 2023. Lee said that cooperation with Washington would be an important part of efforts for peace on the peninsula and addressing North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
India’s fighter jet ambitions. India will soon begin accepting bids from private companies interested in building new advanced fighter jets for its air force, the defense ministry said today. India’s recent hostilities with Pakistan prompted new urgency for the country’s military modernization. Most of India’s military aircraft are currently made by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics.
