Latest news for 24 April 2026

UNITED STATES

List of punishments.

An internal Pentagon email suggests the US is mulling options to punish allies for not helping on Iran, including suspending Spain from NATO and reviewing DC’s position on UK-run Falklands (which Argentina claims). (Reuters)

Comment: It’s unclear if unilateral NATO suspension is even possible. Rather, by actively briefing all this out to a journalist (at the non-serious level of an email), it looks like classic Trump-era pressure and signalling for allies to get in line (or else).

LEBANON

Ceasefire extended.

President Trump has announced a three-week extension to the fragile Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, despite Hezbollah and Israel trading breach allegations, and Lebanon accusing Israel of war crimes after an airstrike killed a reporter. (BBC)

NORTH KOREA

Exiting hermit mode.

Russia and North Korea have celebrated the joining of their first cross-border road bridge in a project they say will boost trade when it opens this summer. (CNA)

Comment: Tough to verify, but this is likely also about solidifying the supply lines for North Korean arms and troops backing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

UNITED KINGDOM

Foreign investors.

London’s BAE Systems will start building naval frigates for Norway before completing the Royal Navy’s own eight-ship order, after the UK reassigned production slots under a $13.5B export deal. (BBC)

Comment: Prioritising Norway’s cash over the Royal Navy’s own readiness is an awkward headline, though you could spin it as a win-win: help accelerate the deterrence for a treaty ally bordering Russia, while repairing the UK’s own budget.

NETHERLANDS

Dirty arms.

An independence movement for Indonesia’s West Papua province has urged former colonial power the Netherlands to halt arms sales to Jakarta, arguing it uses Dutch arms in operations that harm West Papuan civilians. No response from Jakarta, which generally refuses to acknowledge what it sees as an illegal separatist movement. (RNZ)

MEXICO

Bienvenido.

President Sheinbaum has tapped Mexico’s dual development bank chief (Roberto Lazzeri) as her new ambassador to the US. (Reuters)

Comment: This looks to us like a signal Sheinbaum wants her top envoy to focus on critical economic issues like tariffs, supply chains, and the USMCA renegotiation. Senate approval will be a formality before Lazzeri lands in DC around May or June.

LESOTHO

Greater market share.

King Letsie III and South Africa’s Ramaphosa have inaugurated a new bridge in Lesotho that paves the way for a massive new dam to nearly double water exports to South Africa, parts of which rely on Lesotho for drinking water. (Africa News)

Comment: These kinds of cross-border dependencies are rapidly going out of style, for reasons the two neighbours know well: Lesotho now wants more for its water, and modern Africa’s ‘first water war’ actually featured South Africa deploying troops to secure Lesotho’s water infrastructure amid the kingdom’s 1998 post-election riots.