Norway bids farewell to its sovereign today. Harald V has passed away at the age of 89 at the National Hospital of Oslo after being admitted for hemolytic anemia, ending more than three decades of a reign defined by stability and closeness. He will go down in history as the heir who challenged the strict dynastic rules by imposing his marriage to the commoner Sonia Haraldsen, the act of determination that marked the character of his trajectory. His departure shocks a nation that saw in his figure a guarantor of neutrality and institutional integrity.

Icelanders go to the polls this Saturday to decide in a referendum whether this North Atlantic island, which for decades has preferred not to be part of the European Union (EU), will resume negotiations with Brussels for a possible accession to the community club.

This Friday in Nepal, excavators continue searching through the mud for victims of the massive flood from two days ago. The police have raised the death toll to 469, while lowering the number of missing persons to 910. On the Tibetan side of the Himalayas, meanwhile, Chinese authorities suspended rescue operations for hours after detecting an imminent risk of overflow at an altitude of 2,900 meters. It is believed to be a natural dam formed by debris from the first flood, containing two million cubic meters of water, which is already showing signs of leakage.

On February 28, the United States and Israeli Armed Forces launched a risky military campaign against Iran with the declared objective of overthrowing the Islamic regime, eliminating its nuclear program once and for all, and ending the threat capacity of its allied militias in the region. Emboldened by a swift and successful operation in Venezuela in January, when they kidnapped the dictator Nicolás Maduro in one night, President Donald Trump promised the American people that this would be a new “excursion” lasting “four or five weeks.” By the end of March, when the deadline arrived, he said it would take “maybe two more weeks to finish the job.” Since then, Trump has repeatedly declared that the Pentagon has emerged victorious, despite the reality on the ground showing a very different picture.