ISS astronaut rotation. A SpaceX capsule with four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday. Four other astronauts already aboard the ISS are due to return to Earth in the coming days. They include Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose planned eight-day visit to the ISS lasted more than nine months due to technical issues with Boeing’s Starliner capsule.
Serbia’s antigovernment protest. More than 100,000 people took part in a Belgrade rally Saturday, according to a conservative estimate by the government; an independent monitor put attendance at 325,000. Protests that began in response to a train station collapse last November have grown into broader expressions of discontent with the government of President Aleksandar Vučić. Serbia’s prime minister announced his resignation in January but remains in office.
Russia’s advance in Kursk. After Russia made gains in the region where Ukraine launched an offensive last August, Ukrainian forces now only control a sliver of the territory, according to open-source maps. Kyiv had aimed for its control of Kursk to be a bargaining chip in potential talks to end the war in Ukraine. Trump said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to speak tomorrow about a cease-fire proposal.
Cuts to U.S.-funded media agencies. More than one thousand journalists at Voice of America were put on administrative leave and grants for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia were curtailed over the weekend. A Trump executive order mandated that their parent entity, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, be reduced to its minimum legal functions, deeming it and other targeted agencies to be “unnecessary.” Reporters Without Borders described the move as “a departure from the United States’ historic role as a defender of free information” and called for its reversal.
Disputed deportations. The Trump administration invoked wartime powers in the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to carry out migrant deportations on Saturday, government lawyers wrote in a court filing. A presidential proclamation invoking the Act for alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang was used to transfer 137 people to El Salvador, an unnamed White House official told the Washington Post. Also on Saturday, a U.S. judge ordered a temporary halt to the use of the Act for deportations. Deportation planes were in the air at the time of the ruling; the judge verbally instructed them to turn around, but they did not. The White House press secretary said the order was issued after the migrants “had already been removed from U.S. territory.”
Tensions in Tigray. A senior official in Ethiopia’s Tigray region pushed back on Friday against warnings of renewed conflict there, saying the country’s “federal government will not attempt to resolve the region’s challenges through force.” Last week, a dissident faction of Tigray’s main political party seized parts of the regional capital, Mekelle, and the region’s second-largest city, Adigrat, sparking fears of a return to civil war in Africa’s second-most populous country.
China’s stimulus blueprint. Beijing unveiled a list of actions designed to boost domestic consumption, such as increasing wages, pensions, and medical benefits. But it gave local governments the responsibility for implementing many of the measures without immediately promising significant new funding for those administrations. Top Chinese officials have sought to rebalance the economy away from a reliance on exports.
India-New Zealand trade talks. The countries agreed to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. An Indian foreign ministry official said the deal could be concluded by the end of this year. The countries have tried to negotiate such a deal in the past, but talks fell apart ten years ago. India “will play a pivotal role” in New Zealand’s target of doubling its exports over the next decade, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said.
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Welcome to my geopolitics blog site. This is a Hawaii Island news site focusing on geopolitical news, analysis, information, and commentary. I will cite a variety of sources, ranging from all sides of the political spectrum.