Latest news for 4 November 2025

PERU

Un-friended.

Peru has cut ties with Mexico after Mexico’s embassy in Lima granted asylum to a former Peruvian PM (Chávez) who was out on bail while fighting charges over the alleged self-coup attempt by her boss and Peru’s then president (Castillo). (DW)

Comment: It’s becoming a familiar story in Latin America again: bids for embassy asylum triggering claims of domestic interference and counter-claims of political persecution. Mexico’s populist ruling party has become a repeat protagonist (recall last year’s spat with Ecuador) — it’s not just about ideological fervour, but also a way to rally its home base amid continued security scandals, and project its power abroad.

UNITED STATES

Next steps?

The US has reportedly sent fellow UN Security Council members a draft resolution to establish Trump’s proposed international force in Gaza. The hope is the council can approve a final version in the coming weeks, with the first international troops deploying to Gaza by January. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have arrested Israel’s top military lawyer after she admitted leaking 2024 footage of IDF soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee. (Axios)

Comment: Negotiations around this UN resolution will flush out some basic problems in the Gaza peace accord: Hamas reportedly says it won’t even let foreign troops inside Gaza, while potential troop contributors (Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, and Azerbaijan) are reportedly wary of clashing with Hamas and being seen as occupiers.

AFGHANISTAN

Another deadly quake.

A 6.3 earthquake in northern Afghanistan has left at least 20 dead, while reportedly also damaging the 15th-century Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif. Afghanistan was still recovering from the massive August quake that killed over 2,200. (Guardian)

CZECH REPUBLIC

To the right.

Populist Eurosceptic Andrej Babiš has clinched a deal with two right-populist parties to form a coalition government, featuring a platform that pushes back on EU climate policies and cracks down on irregular migration. (Euractiv)

Comment: While this new government pitches itself as sovereignty-first, it’s still doing so within the EU, while also pledging to continue NATO alignment. Still, it pushes the Czechs closer to the Hungarian and Slovakian model of Euroscepticism, and makes no mention of Russia.

BRAZIL

Free cruise!?

Days out from this year’s COP30 climate talks, dozens of small countries still haven’t secured a room in the maxed-out host city of Belem, so Brazil is offering free cabins aboard nearby cruise ships for low-income delegations. (Reuters)

Comment: As odd as this sounds, there’s precedent! Papua New Guinea famously housed delegations on cruise ships when it hosted APEC in 2018.

TURKEY

Cutting down.

Turkish refineries have cut down on their Russian oil purchases, joining the list of buyers now tapping the brakes amid stronger US sanctions. (Bloomberg $)

Comment: Turkey is Russia’s third-largest oil customer after China and India (who’ve also reportedly curbed their orders), so any slowdown will hurt. And even if markets stabilise around some new workaround, Putin’s energy export revenues are still half what they were before he invaded Ukraine.

MALDIVES

No smoking.

The Maldives has enacted a complete tobacco ban for folks born after 1 January 2007, potentially the first country to impose this kind of generational ban (though others have tried). (BBC)

UNITED KINGDOM

Magnitsky Awards.

This year’s Magnitsky* winners include former Lithuanian FM Gabrielius Landsbergis (check out our chat with him here!), Hong Kong democracy defender Chloe Cheung, Eritrean activist Vanessa Tsehaye, and freed Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abd El-Fattah. (via Twitter/X)