AFRICA – The commander of the Sudanese army on Monday designated the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a rebel group and ordered their dissolution, while this faction clashed with the army in bloody confrontations that hindered the transition to a civilian government and prompted the United States to call for a ceasefire. Both sides claimed advances on Monday in a brutal and nationwide power struggle that, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, a militant group, has caused at least 97 civilian deaths and 45 military deaths, with a total of 942 injured since the hostilities began this weekend.

EUROPE – Poland and Hungary imposed restrictions on certain imports from Ukraine on Saturday. Slovakia announced on Monday that it would follow suit, and other Central and Eastern European countries indicated they were also considering similar measures. Black Sea ports were blocked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, causing logistical difficulties and immobilizing significant quantities of cheaper Ukrainian grain – compared to those produced in the European Union – in Central European countries.

EUROPE – The 41-year-old father of three, Vladimir Kara-Murza, is an opposition politician holding both Russian and British passports. He has spent years criticizing President Vladimir Putin and urging Western governments to impose sanctions on Russia and Russian citizens for alleged human rights abuses.

ASIA PACIFIC – In January, when China reopened its borders after a long closure, Tianni Ren, an e-commerce marketing manager, quickly organized a team-building trip for her 14 employees to Australia, eager to explore the stunning pink salt lakes that had fascinated her on social media. However, she eventually took her colleagues from Hangzhou to New Zealand after discovering that Australia had been removed from Beijing’s list of approved group travel destinations abroad, ending a 20-year program that had allowed China to dominate Australia’s AUD 45 billion (USD 30 billion) international tourism market until 2020.

MIDDLE EAST – The most destructive earthquake in Turkey’s recent history has rekindled fears in Istanbul, prompting hundreds of thousands of individuals to seek safer homes. Approximately 5 million of Turkey’s largest city’s 16 million residents live in at-risk housing, as it is located just above a fault line that runs through the Marmara Sea in the northwest of the country.

EUROPE – A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told Reuters that Ukrainian forces are noticing an increasing presence of Chinese components in Russian weapons deployed in Ukraine. Supplies from Western countries are limited due to sanctions imposed on Russia.

EUROPE – Ukrainian authorities report that Russia has moved forces from other front sectors to launch a major attack on Bakhmut, a city Moscow has been trying to capture for nine months in order to revive the full-scale invasion initiated over a year ago.

ASIA PACIFIC – Leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test carried out on Thursday and warned that he would ensure adversaries “suffer a more evident security crisis and be constantly struck by extreme anxiety and terror by taking offensive and fatal measures until they give up their senseless thoughts and reckless acts,” according to North Korean state media.

UNITED STATES – The FBI arrested 21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira, a member of the US Air National Guard, on Thursday for sharing confidential documents on the internet that put Washington in an embarrassing position with its international allies.

EUROPE – Alexei Navalny, the most prominent opposition politician in Russia, is enduring intense abdominal pain in detention, which could be caused by a slow poisoning, his spokesperson announced on Thursday. An ambulance was called for Navalny on Friday night at the high-security IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, about 250 km east of Moscow, where he is incarcerated, Kira Yarmysh, his spokesperson, told Reuters.

ASIA PACIFIC – On Thursday, North Korea conducted a test launch of a new model of long-range ballistic missile, according to South Korea, prompting an alert in northern Japan where residents were advised to take shelter, although no danger was ultimately reported.

CHINA – China’s refusal to join the UN initiative, which involves other Asian countries, could exacerbate the frustration of international researchers who are urging Beijing to share information on the origin of COVID-19. They are seeking to prevent future pandemics related to the transmission of zoonotic diseases, i.e., from animals to humans.

EUROPE – Documents allegedly from US intelligence services and published on the web indicate that up to 354,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers may have been killed or injured in the conflict in Ukraine, which could extend well beyond 2023. If these documents are authentic, they provide a unique insight into Washington’s perspective on one of the bloodiest conflicts in Europe since World War II.

ASIA PACIFIC – Yan Yu-hsien, deputy chief of the general staff for intelligence at Taiwan’s defense ministry, said the “no-fly zone” would be located in the country’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), about 85 nautical miles north of its coast. An ADIZ is a section of international airspace that countries can arbitrarily define as their own for monitoring purposes.

MIDDLE EAST – Nine sources from Syria, Iran, Israel, and Western countries told Reuters that Iran may have diverted humanitarian aid flights intended for earthquake victims to transport weapons and military equipment to Syria, with the aim of strengthening Iranian defenses against Israel on Syrian soil and supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

EUROPE – Macron made these comments during an interview on a trip to China, which aimed to demonstrate European unity on Chinese policy, in the presence of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. However, these statements revealed divisions within the European Union.