Latest news for 23 March 2026

FRANCE

Dress rehearsal.

France’s mayoral elections delivered wins across the political spectrum, with the left holding in Paris, Marseille, and Lyon, the populist-right winning in Nice and Perpignan, and President Macron’s centrists taking Bordeaux. (EuroNews)

Comment: Local issues often dominate, but these results point to a competitive field ahead of France’s 2027 elections, with no single faction at the wheel.

UNITED STATES

Aeroplane crash.

Authorities have closed New York’s LaGuardia Airport after an Air Canada Express jet from Montreal crashed into a firefighting vehicle, killing at least two. (FlightRadar)

ARMENIA

Energy connects.

It turns out Armenia and Turkey quietly held energy minister talks earlier this month — a big deal for two historically hostile neighbours. (EurasiaNet)

Comment: Armenia has traditionally relied on Iran and Russia for energy, but both sources now look vexed as the Armenians try to pivot West, while traditional foes Turkey and Azerbaijan maintain what is effectively an energy blockade.

HUNGARY

Staged event?

According to The Washington Post, Russia’s SVR (its CIA) has proposed staging an assassination attempt against Prime Minister Orbán to stir his supporters ahead of next month’s critical elections. The same scoop alleges Orbán’s foreign minister has been briefing the Kremlin on internal EU talks for years. (Washington Post $)

Comment: Given the stakes of Putin potentially losing his most sympathetic EU and NATO leader, you can expect this election to somehow get even dirtier. The centre-right opposition leader (Magyar) is citing the reports as evidence of treason, from next door in Austria, where he’s getting drug tests to disprove another smear attempt!

PHILIPPINES

Dirty fuel.

HAITI

Going back home.

After two years, the Kenya-led multinational security mission to Haiti is now winding down to make way for a broader, UN-backed Gang Suppression Force. (Miami Herald)

Comment: The new mission is bigger, better-funded, and more intelligence-led, but only time will tell whether that’s enough to dislodge the armed gangs running Haiti. Haiti authorities have also reached out to private mercenary groups.

MADAGASCAR

Are you lying?

Madagascar’s new-ish military leader (after last year’s Gen-Z protests) has decreed that new ministers have to take a lie detector test to root out corruption. (Guardian)

Comment: These polygraph tests are often ineffective, so it’s likely more about giving Randrianirina an excuse to ditch ministers he doesn’t like.