International

Benefited from one of the typical electoral snowballs of politics in times of social networks and ideological polarization, the hard-right candidate, Abelardo de la Espriella, won the first round of the Colombian elections held on Sunday. Gustavo Petro, the incumbent president, has cast doubts on the result and assures that he will not accept it until it is officially confirmed by the judges overseeing the process.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the Army on Monday to attack targets in Dahiye, the Hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut. According to a statement released by his office, the decision was made together with the Defense Minister, Israel Katz, in response to the “repeated violations of the ceasefire” by the Shiite militia and the attacks launched against cities in northern Israel.

There are no oxygen tanks. The United States has backtracked on its intention to cancel the deployment of 4,000 soldiers in Poland, but this does not change its plans to progressively withdraw its conventional defense capabilities in Europe. The Pentagon wants to accelerate the troop withdrawal from bases on the continent and could present its plans to allies in a few weeks, which will force European countries to agree on replacing the US deterrent capability and embrace the idea of a more European NATO.

Next year around this time, several candidacies will have already been presented for the North American presidential elections in November 2028. Campaigns are increasingly expensive and complex, and nothing can be left to chance.

The Israeli flag already flies atop Beaufort Castle, the main lookout of southern Lebanon. The fortress, built 900 years ago during the Crusaders’ advance towards Jerusalem, is a symbolic but also strategic conquest for the Israeli Army, which is already advancing into Lebanese territory beyond the Litani River.

Leonardo Padura (Havana, 1955) is very cautious. The writer refuses to venture predictions for Cuba or to answer whether he sees any middle ground between the current regime and a U.S. intervention that would lead to a status of protectorate or colony for the island. “I have no idea what might happen,” says the winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2015, visiting Paris to promote the French version of Going to Havana and for a colloquium at the Cervantes Institute. The author, tired of the media’s insistence for him to take a stand, acknowledges that the Spanish transition could be an inspiring source, like many others, “but it depends on other decisions that are beyond my reach, not even able to outline them.” “Speculating about any future is very risky; speculating about Cuba’s future is madness,” he apologizes.

“Please sign the petition for the repair of the Lukianivskyi market,” reads the signs held by several women. Behind them lie the burnt iron and roofs of what until the early hours of last Sunday was one of the oldest markets in Kyiv, said to date back 120 years. “I have been living in fear of missiles, of losing everything, for more than four years. And now we have nothing left,” says Marina, who stands out among the other women because of her yellow wool jacket. For 25 years she has had, or had, a small fruit and vegetable shop.

Taking advantage of a Supreme Court ruling, southern U.S. states have rushed to eliminate majority-Black electoral districts.

Although it later turned out to be a mistake by the character, who confused one island with another, the Icelanders jumped when, in his speech in Davos last January, Donald Trump mentioned Iceland as a target of his expansionist appetites. The President of the United States meant Greenland, so the alarm passed quickly, but anyway his harassment of the neighboring Arctic island has struck a chord in Icelandic society and politics.