May 26, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day: in 1805, Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan Cathedral, the gothic cathedral in Milan.
QOTD: “But we are not removing our foot from the pedal,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “On the contrary, I said to press on the pedal even more.”
AUSTRALIA/INDIA/US/JAPAN - Australia-India-Japan-US Quad to build a port, unveil pact on critical minerals
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/australia-india-japan-us-quad-seeks-relevance-foreign-ministers-meet-new-delhi-2026-05-26/
The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. agreed to jointly build a port in Fiji and signed pacts covering critical minerals and energy security, as they sought to inject fresh energy into their grouping known as the Quad.
The brief meeting between the countries' top diplomats – Australia's Penny Wong, India's S. Jaishankar, Japan's Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio – was the third such gathering of the Quad since September 2024.
The group unveiled its first joint infrastructure project, a port in Fiji.
"We are going to be partnering on issues of port infrastructure, in particular in response to insufficient port capacity in the Pacific Islands, we are announcing plans to work with Fiji," Rubio said.
The four-nation group had lost some momentum last year after failing to hold a leaders' summit, amid tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Washington's tariffs and other matters.
"We are beginning to show real achievements and real accomplishments," Rubio said. "We are deeply committed to this partnership. It is a linchpin and a cornerstone of our global strategy as a nation in the United States."
IRAN/US/MIL/DID YOU THINK ANY OF THIS WOULD BE EASY? - Iran threatens retaliation after U.S. strikes in southern Iran
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/05/26/us-renews-strikes-iran-citing-threats-posed-american-troops/
The United States launched new “self-defense” strikes on Iran, the U.S. military said Monday night, potentially complicating negotiations to end the war that President Donald Trump launched in February.
Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a military spokesman, said in a statement that the strikes occurred in southern Iran “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.” Targets included missile-launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to set mines, the statement said.
Hawkins said U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the region, “continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire.”
The strikes occurred after a weekend of negotiations between the Trump administration and the Iranian regime to bring the war to a close. The conflict began Feb. 28 with massive U.S. strikes on Iran after months of pressure by Trump to end Tehran’s nuclear program. A tense ceasefire began April 8, though it has been interrupted by sporadic exchanges of fire.
In a statement Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks, which it called a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire, and said it would “leave no act of hostility unanswered.”
The U.S. military acknowledged the strikes Monday evening — hours after Trump said on social media that Iran’s enriched uranium “will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed” or disposed of elsewhere.
Iran has yet to formally agree to those terms.
MORE: Iran would open Strait of Hormuz 30 days after peace deal, Nikkei reports citing source
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-would-open-strait-hormuz-30-days-after-deal-with-us-end-fighting-nikkei-2026-05-25/
The U.S. and Iran are discussing a plan to open the Strait of Hormuz about 30 days after the two countries reach a deal to end hostilities, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday citing a Middle East diplomatic source.
Iran would proceed to clear mines from the strait during a 30-day window following an agreement, after which ships from all countries would be able to navigate freely and safely, and Iran would stop collecting transit fees, Nikkei said.
The ceasefire agreed in early April would be extended for 60 days, with the plan to hold talks on Iran's nuclear program during the two-month pause, the report added.
ISRAEL/LEBANON - Netanyahu Says Israel Plans to Intensify Attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/world/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-hezbollah-lebanon.html
As President Trump sent conflicting messages about whether any progress had been made on a deal to end the war with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday signaled that his country’s fight with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would intensify.
“We are at war with Hezbollah,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video on social media.
Despite an American-brokered cease-fire that took effect in April, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to clash, with each side accusing the other of violating the truce. The fighting has recently escalated, exposing the limits of the fragile agreement.
In Mr. Netanyahu’s video statement on Monday night, he said that Israeli forces had in recent weeks killed more than 600 Hezbollah militants and indicated that the military would intensify the pressure.
US/ISRAEL/MENA - Trump demands more countries sign Abraham Accords as part of Iran deal
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260526-trump-demands-more-countries-sign-abraham-accords-part-iran-deal
US President Donald Trump said Monday that any agreement to end the Iran war should include a requirement for several additional countries, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to join the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreements from Trump's first term aimed at normalising relations with Israel.
Trump said in a social media post that negotiations are “proceeding nicely” but tied any eventual agreement to expanded participation in the 2020 accords.
The proposal came as the emerging Iran deal faced criticism from fellow Republicans who favour a harder line on Iran, and it could add new diplomatic complications to the negotiations.
Trump pointed to Saudi Arabia and Qatar as countries that should “immediately” sign on, alongside Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to join in 2020.
He wrote that “after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.”
DPRK/MIL - North Korea launches ballistic missile and other weapons over the sea in latest show of force
https://apnews.com/article/koreas-launch-projectile-060148d7789377ff8691bc24d42b136d
North Korea launched a close-range ballistic missile and other weapons toward the sea on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, days after the leaders of Russia and China voiced their opposition to Western pressures on North Korea.
The missile fired from Jongju, a city near the North’s west coast, flew about 80 kilometers (50 miles), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. North Korea launched other kinds of projectiles, it said, but didn’t elaborate.
South Korean media, citing the military, reported the other weapons systems mobilized included multiple rocket launch systems. The reports said that the simultaneous launches of different kinds of weapons were likely meant to test an ability to evade South Korean and U.S. defenses.
South Korea’s military said that it closely monitors activities in North Korea. It said that South Korea, with a solid alliance with the U.S., maintains a readiness to repel any provocations by North Korea.
DRC/HEALTH/SEC - Ebola patients flee in attacks on Congo health facilities, hobbling response
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/ebola-patients-flee-attacks-congo-health-facilities-hobbling-response-2026-05-25/
Doctors operating on the front lines of the fight against Ebola in Congo, already grappling with shortages of basic supplies, are now also having to deal with attacks on their facilities and fleeing patients as the virus spreads rapidly.
At least three such incidents have occurred in the northeastern province of Ituri where the first Ebola cases were reported, including two at the weekend targeting the same hospital that permitted more than two dozen patients to run away.
The attacks recall the widespread violence targeting health facilities during a 2018-2020 outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that killed more than 25 health workers.
Some were perpetrated by civilians who were angry about not being able to bury their loved ones or were convinced that the outbreak was a hoax. The influx of money and manpower into an area that had felt neglected during decades of conflict and humanitarian crisis has spurred local suspicions about the real motives for the sudden spike of interest.
A similar dynamic seems to be playing out now, said Dr Richard Lokodu, medical director of the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, which came under attack first on Saturday and again on Sunday.
SENEGAL/POL - Senegal appoints economist as new PM after Sonko's sacking
https://www.dw.com/en/senegal-appoints-economist-as-new-pm-after-sonkos-sacking/a-77290692
Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Monday appointed Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo as the African nation's new prime minister.
Lo is replacing Ousmane Sonko, who was sacked on Friday, after months of simmering tensions between him and the president.
The sacking led to the resignation of all the members of the government and its dissolution.
Lo, who will now have to form a new government, previously served as head of the Senegal branch of the Central Bank of West African States. He also served as state minister to the president and secretary-general of Sonko's government.
Lo knows "the inner workings of the economy and finance," a presidential decree on announcing his appointment said.
COLOMBIA/POL - Could a Marxist Take Over Conservative Colombia? The Polls Say Yes
https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/colombia-president-election-ivan-cepeda-ec62e339?mod=world_feat3_americas_pos1
More than 30 years ago, a Communist lawyer won a Senate seat while quietly advancing a strategy of combining guerrilla warfare with electoral politics to seize power. Manuel Cepeda’s plans ended when Colombian government agents assassinated him on the streets of this capital city.
The senator’s son, Ivan Cepeda, channeled his mourning into a political mission that could realize his father’s Communist dreams. He won elections as a congressman and then senator before becoming the top adviser to Colombia’s first leftist president, Gustavo Petro.
Now, Cepeda finds himself leading the polls for an election Sunday to choose the next president of Colombia, a country long governed by a conservative establishment allied with the U.S. Cepeda has pledged to introduce a new economic and social model, one that his orthodox Communist father might have envisioned.
A 63-year-old leftist senator who made denouncing rights abuses by the military and its allies his calling, Cepeda says he wants to turn over farms to the poor, urge cocaine-trafficking groups to disarm in peace talks, ratchet up social spending and stop the central bank from raising interest rates. He would also pursue efforts to rewrite the constitution, begun by Petro, who by law must leave office in August after one term.
“The program calls for clear social reforms,” Cepeda told the “In Depth” podcast here about what he would like to do as president. “I want these reforms to not only deepen and consolidate but that they also radicalize in some cases.”
JAPAN/RUSSIA - Japan Sends Officials to Russia to ‘Facilitate Communication’
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-26/japan-sends-officials-to-russia-to-facilitate-communication?srnd=phx-politics
Japan has sent senior officials to Russia to keep communication channels open and protect the assets of Japanese companies operating there, in what Tokyo says is the latest in a series of visits that have taken place since the war in Ukraine began.
Masayoshi Arai, director-general of the trade policy bureau at the trade ministry, and Masaki Ishikawa, deputy director-general for European affairs at the foreign ministry, are currently in Russia and are scheduled to meet Russian government officials and other relevant parties, Japanese Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa said Tuesday at a press conference in Tokyo.
Akazawa played down the significance of the talks, which will take place amid ongoing Group of Seven sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine and as Japan looks for alternate energy supplies as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran keeps passage through the Strait of Hormuz limited.
“The purpose of this visit is to facilitate communication with the Russian side from the perspective of protecting the assets of Japanese companies operating in Russia,” Akazawa said. “As for further details, since this involves diplomatic exchanges and relates to the individual business activities of companies, I must refrain from commenting.”