Global Summary

This week's five-region brief captures a world under compounding pressure. The most acute development is the US-Iran war, now in its 13th consecutive night of US strikes on Iranian targets, which has kept the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and pushed Brent crude toward its highest level in over six weeks, while Houthi strikes on two Saudi tankers this week opened a second maritime front at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. In the Americas, Nicaragua's Ortega formalized authoritarian consolidation while US-Canada trade tensions escalated with a 50% tariff proclamation. Europe faces a dual strain, with the Russia-Ukraine conflict continuing to expand geographically as the UK enters a political transition under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the RSF siege of El Obeid in North Kordofan, Sudan, has displaced nearly 400,000 people into acute food insecurity and the DRC's Ebola outbreak has passed 1,000 deaths, while in Asia-Pacific all 25 workers trapped in the Sikkim tunnel disaster have been confirmed dead, Beijing continued normalizing its military presence around the Taiwan Strait, and Bangladesh's president is set to resign under pressure tied to Sheikh Hasina's planned return from exile.

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EXPANDED ANALYSIS THIS WEEK