We like to think Poland's semi-ceremonial president (Nawrocki) was about to crack open a fresh ginger ale and recline into a big House of Cards rewatch when — somewhere off Spain's south coast en route to Senegal — he suddenly told the pilot to turn the presidential jet around and race home!
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UNITED STATES
Take this with the requisite quarry of salt, but final national polling averages now put the Democrats ahead by somewhere between seven and nine points, with modellers forecasting they’ll flip the House though the Senate will see tighter margins. (BBC)
WESTERN SAHARA
The UN’s 35-year peacekeeping mission in the disputed Western Sahara will now wind down after a UN Security Council showdown saw competing US and Russian resolutions collapse over the weekend: Russia vetoed the US text leaning more into Morocco’s claims over the territory, but then exasperated Council members mostly abstained on Russia’s proposal to just roll the mission over for another 12-months. (MEE)Comment: While grim news for those Western Saharans preferring independence, not to mention a broader world depending on a functioning Security Council, the end of the UN mission is good news for both Morocco (one less obstacle to annexation) and the US (which has backed Morocco’s claims since 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords to normalise ties with Israel).
ISRAEL
Israel’s mostly-ceremonial president (Herzog) is urging parties to enter coalition talks with “an open heart” now that neither PM Netanyahu nor Eisenkot’s opposition have a majority. Meanwhile, Israeli electoral officials have dismissed Bibi’s rhetoric that Arab-Israelis stole the election. (NBC)
NORTH KOREA
The FBI is blaming North Korea for history’s biggest crypto hack, seizing $6.3B from the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. (AP)
BULGARIA
The ceremonial presidency’s more Moscow-sympathetic incumbent (Yotova) has won Bulgaria’s runoff with ~57% of the vote, comfortably beating her more pro-Western challenger. (Bloomberg $)
BANGLADESH
Garment factories across the country reopened on Monday after widespread worker protests for higher wages. Authorities are bracing for further unrest in the nation responsible for ~7.5% of the world’s apparel exports. (Reuters)
RUSSIA
The respected ISW think tank is reporting that Russia just lost net-territory in Ukraine for the second consecutive month, even as Ukraine claims it inflicted a record 54,000 Russian casualties the same month. (Al Jazeera)
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