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  1. 01

    IRAN

    On again / off again.

    The US and Iran have begun the next stage of talks in Switzerland, though the Iranians almost stormed home over the weekend after the US president dialled in to threaten them personally if the regime closes Hormuz again. Things then seem to have stabilised by this morning (Monday), with Pakistani and Qatari mediators claiming “encouraging progress” on the creation of a high-level committee to oversee the talks plus a new “deconfliction cell” in Lebanon. (NPR)

  2. 02

    UNITED KINGDOM

    Starmer resigns.

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced his resignation after a brutal weekend of party and public pressure. The trigger was Andy Burnham’s thumping by-election win in Makerfield, which has given the outgoing Manchester mayor a fast-track back into parliament as a clear challenger to the low-polling Starmer. (BBC)

  3. 03

    ITALY

    Trouble in paradise.

    There’s been a spectacular unravelling in the once-warm ties between Prime Minister Meloni and President Trump, after Trump questioned her approval ratings and insisted she had repeatedly “begged” for a G7 photo — Meloni responded with an angry video labelling it all BS, and declaring “Italy does not beg — ever.” (Ansa)

  4. 04

    JAPAN

    Visa fees quintuple.

    Tokyo’s foreign ministry has announced Japan’s first visa fee hike since 1978, with foreigners paying a fivefold fee from July. (The Star)

  5. 05

    BELGIUM

    NATO drops new nuke statement.

    Gathering in Brussels, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group just issued its first ministerial statement in nearly two decades, committing to modernise the alliance’s nuclear capabilities and strengthen its nuclear planning. (NATO)

  6. 06

    ETHIOPIA

    Abiy wins big.

    After three weeks of counting, Abiy Ahmed’s ruling party has won another supermajority, claiming 90 of the seats declared so far. (Reuters)

  7. 07

    RUSSIA

    Fuel panic?

    Per our warning on Friday, Putin-installed authorities in occupied Crimea have now suspended all civilian fuel sales amid an ongoing wave of Ukrainian hits on logistics. Meanwhile, Putin still hasn’t publicly commented on last week’s spectacular drone-strikes in Moscow, with his big troop build-up suggesting he instead hopes to answer by taking a key city (Kostyantynivka) in Ukraine’s Donbas. (Al Jazeera)

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