Latest news for 24 June 2026

PERU

Fujimori clinches it.

17 days after election day, Peru’s right-populist heiress Keiko Fujimori (the late Alberto’s daughter) now has an unbeatable lead over hard-leftist Roberto Sánchez. But Sánchez is now crying fraud (without proof) and rejecting the result. (Al Jazeera)

Comment: Neither polarising candidate has exactly given "heal a divided nation” energy, and Keiko herself has a record of crying fraud (this is her fourth run for the presidency). But left or right, the bigger issue is that every time Peru’s leaders make unfounded electoral fraud allegations, they chip away at institutions that are famously hard to glue back together.

EUROPEAN UNION

Pax over the chips.

The EU, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands have now joined Pax Silica, DC’s evolving coalition to de-risk AI supply chains away from China. Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, and Panama are apparently next in line. (FirstPost)

Comment: Europe now getting onboard marks a major shift from the continent’s initial hesitations around its ‘strategic autonomy’, but the big ‘get’ here is really the Netherlands which (via ASML above) is arguably upstream of everything else.

SOUTH KOREA

Accepting returns.

South Korea has announced it’ll take North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine while fighting for Putin, if they choose to defect to the South. (Reuters)

POLAND

Friendly fire.

Ukraine’s Zelensky will no longer co-host this week’s big Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, after Poland’s new nationalist president (Nawrocki) stripped the Ukrainian leader of Poland’s highest honour. The spat comes after Zelensky renamed a special ops unit in honour of a group Warsaw says committed WWII atrocities against Poles. (France24)

Comment: Ukrainians revere the historic UPA as anti-Soviet independence fighters, and the new name fits Zelensky’s pattern of leaning into nationalist symbols for wartime identity and resolve. Poland remains one of Ukraine’s strongest security partners, but it’s a reminder of how historical grievances can poison even the strongest ties.

INDIA

Apple components exposed?

Tata Electronics, a major supplier to Apple and Tesla, has now confirmed it suffered a data breach, weeks after a ransomware group dumped 200,000+ proprietary files on the dark web. (TechCrunch)

Comment: As Western firms try to diversify their supply risk away from China, they’ll still encounter new vulnerabilities — including weaker cybersecurity in this case.

CUBA

Schools close as fuel crisis bites.

The ruling regime has brought the school year to an abrupt close and suspended university entrance exams, citing energy shortages amid the US fuel embargo. Meanwhile, the US has slapped fresh sanctions on military-linked entities, including the regime’s main commercial bank and largest steelmaker. (NYT $)

Comment: As Trump 2.0 doubles down, the pain is now spreading from one Cuban prize (tourism) to another (education). It all looks to us like a US signal that last week’s historic economic liberalisation in Cuba wasn’t enough for DC.

SOUTH SUDAN

We have a date.

After 15 years and five prior postponements, authorities have finally announced a December date for the country’s first-ever election since independence. (BBC)

Comment: This potentially ends Africa’s longest election-free period in recent history, which might be why folks are still sceptical it’ll even happen — President Kiir has been busy with an epic power struggle (his veep is still under house arrest), rather than completing the required census, constitution, voter register, or election funding.