A guide to diagnosing the trajectory of democracy around the world in 2026. During the past several years, the trajectory of global democracy has been hovering uncertainly between two paths. On one side, many countries continue to backslide. At the same time, a small but growing number appear to have …

Latest Developments Erdogan Accuses Israel of Seeking ‘Fragmentation’ of Syria: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labeled Israel the “primary obstacle” to a stable Syria on December 16, pledging that Ankara would continue to support the Ahmed al-Sharaa-led government responsible for ousting former dictator Bashar al-Assad from power in late 2024. …

While everyone focuses on tankers transferring the Iranian oil, a massive financial valve remains open to Tehran on NATO’s eastern border. On paper, Iran is entering its most restrictive sanctions environment since 2012. United Nations snapback has reactivated global measures on Iran’s energy trade, but Western enforcement remains partial. And …

France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office in Paris has requested that the court impose a 1.125 million euro fine on the cement company Lafarge and sentence eight of its former senior executives to prison terms of up to eight years. The toughest prison sentence requested by prosecutors concerned Syrian intermediary Firas …

A Druze poet and activist who has previously criticised local separatist militias has been shot dead in the east of Syria’s Suweida province A poet and political activist critical of local authorities was killed in Syria’s Druze-majority Suweida province on Sunday night by unknown assailants. It is believed that 48-year-old …

Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti has been assaulted seven times in Israeli prisons since the start of the Gaza war, according to prisoner rights groups. Senior Palestinian Fatah leader and longtime prisoner Marwan Barghouti has been subjected to seven “brutal assaults” inside Israeli prisons since the start of Israel’s genocidal war …

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On December 12, 2025, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Rosen Zhelyazkov resigned after protesters took to the streets in cities across the country and filled the centre of the capital Sofia in the night of December 11. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people turned out in Sofia’s central Triangle of Power and …

I arrived at the Taj Hotel in Baghdad’s Jadriyah neighborhood at 6 a.m., worn thin by the long flight from Los Angeles. After sleeping until mid-afternoon, I stepped out into the 90-degree heat on a simple mission: find falafel, fries, and a place to exchange money. A local bus picked …