International

Senate Panel Advances Todd Blanche's Attorney General Bid After GOP Revolt Over Trump's IRS Settlement Fund

Background
Todd Blanche has spent the past two years moving through an unusually compressed arc of American legal and political life: from criminal defense lawyer to the sitting president, to the country's chief law enforcement officer. Before entering Donald Trump's orbit, Blanche built a conventional prosecutorial résumé,…

Germany's Merz Faces a 'Palace Revolt' as His Own Party Doubts His Future and the Far Right Hits a Record Poll Lead

 World Politics

Background
Friedrich Merz became German chancellor in the spring of 2025 at the head of a CDU/CSU-SPD coalition formed after an election in which the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) made historic gains, finishing as the second-largest force in the Bundestag.…

Trump Says Iran Struck a Hormuz Deal to Avert the 'Biggest Attack Since World War II' — Tehran Calls It a Lie

World Politics   

Background
For nearly six months, the world's most dangerous open conflict has run on a jagged rhythm of strikes, pauses and collapsed diplomacy between the United States, Israel and Iran. The war began on February 28, 2026, when American and Israeli forces launched a coordinated…

Japan Launches First Centralized Intelligence Agency Since World War II After Russian Spy Network Exposed in Tokyo

Background
For decades, Japan's approach to intelligence has been an outlier among major powers. Unlike the United States with the CIA, Britain with MI6, or even close regional partners like South Korea and Australia, Japan never built a unified foreign-intelligence service after World War II, a legacy of the country's…

Trump Cancels Planned Iran Strikes as 'Perimeters of a Deal' Emerge — But Tehran Calls It a Lie

Background
The renewed conflict between the United States, Israel, and Iran traces back to February 28, 2026, when U.S. and Israeli forces launched a devastating opening barrage of nearly 900 strikes over twelve hours, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and hitting nuclear and military infrastructure across the…

Colombia Locks Down Cali for Historic Inauguration as Far-Right President Takes Power Amid Fraud Claims and Coup Allegations

Background
On June 21, 2026, Colombia held a presidential runoff between right-wing lawyer and political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella and progressive Senator Iván Cepeda, a protégé of outgoing leftist President Gustavo Petro. The result was one of the tightest in the country's modern history: de la Espriella defeated…