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A woman votes during the parliamentary elections, in Pristina, Kosovo, February 9, 2025. R
Who could Kurti team up with? The Democratic Party of Kosovo, or PDK, and the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, are projected to receive 21% and 20% respectively, while the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, the AAK, got 6%.
But it is possible that the opposition parties could form a government on their own. Former Prime Minister and AAK leader Ramush Haradinaj said he was “looking forward to cooperating on the creation of an opposition government” to keep Kurti out of power, and Kurti himself has said he would not engage with the opposition parties.
What’s at stake? Under Kurti’s leadership, tensions escalated with both neighboring Serbia and Kosovo’s Serb minority. His left-leaning government banned the use of the Serbian dinar and shut post offices used by Serbs, drawing criticism from Western governments and leading the EU to suspend aid funding. In contrast, both the LDK and PDK are center-right and pro-Western, with the PDK campaigning on rejoining NATO and restoring relations with the US.
Should Kurti form the next government and continue with his anti-Serb stance, Kosovo risks becoming even more isolated. But should the opposition take power, it could redefine Kosovo’s relations with the US and the EU – which it wants to join – and potentially relaunch peace talks with Serbia.Hostage release sparks outrage, Israel withdraws from more of Gaza
Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack, are released by Hamas militants as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel on Feb. 8, 2025.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly shocked by their condition and vowed to bring the remaining hostages home. “Due to the harsh condition of the three hostages and the repeated violations of the Hamas terror groups,” his office said in a statement, “the prime minister has ordered that Israel will not gloss over this and will take action as needed.” Hamas, meanwhile, says it won’t release more hostages until Israel withdraws completely from Gaza.
What’s next? Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel withdrew from Gaza’s Netzarim corridor on Sunday, allowing thousands of displaced Palestinians to return north. But military operations continue: Israeli forces on Sunday killed three Palestinians in Gaza and two women in the West Bank, one of whom was pregnant, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
And as nations continue to reject US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to relocate Gaza’s inhabitants to other parts of the Middle East, Netanyahu suggested that a Palestinian state could be established in Saudi Arabia. While the Israeli PM reportedly appeared to be joking, Riyadh immediately repudiated the comments. Qatar, which is set to mediate the next round of the ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel this week, also condemned the remarks.
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington, on Feb. 5, 2025.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday halting all “non-essential” assistance to South Africa. He also ordered American agencies to assist white South Africans fleeing racial discrimination and resettle them as refugees in the US.
What is the basis for these orders? Trump cited Pretoria’s new expropriation policies as well as its anti-Israel stance at the International Court of Justice.
In January, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Act, a law authorizing expropriation with “just and equitable compensation” in most cases but “nil compensation” under special circumstances. The law seeks to reversehistorical land inequality, namely that white Afrikaners, representing 7% of the population, still own 50% of the country’s farmland.
In December 2023, South Africa launched a legal challenge against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide in Gaza.
How has the world responded to Trump’s orders? Ramaphosa blasted them as “propaganda,” saying “We will not be bullied.”As for white South Africans, they appear to be staying put. Trade union chief Dirk Hermann, representing some two million Afrikaners, said “We are committed to build a future here. We are not going anywhere.”Hard Numbers: Trump to unveil steel tariffs, Maoist rebels killed, Baltics energized by Europe, Trump vs. Media, Modi’s party wins in Delhi
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl, on Feb. 9, 2025.
25: Donald Trump says he plans to announce a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from all countries. It’s unclear when the tariffs will take effect or whether they’ll apply to Mexico and Canada, but the US president said Sunday that he would make the announcement on Monday.
?: Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have reportedly been talking, but it’s unclear how many times the men have spoken. The US president claims he’s had at least one phone call with his Russian counterpart, but Trump was coy with the details, saying Friday that he “better not say” how many times they’ve spoken. This follows last week’s news that the men are planning a summit soon.
31: Security forces battled Maoist rebels in the Bijapur district of Chattisgarh in central India on Sunday, killing 31 insurgents. The left-wing communists, part of the Naxalite movement, have been fighting with India’s government since 1967. Two Indian commandos were also killed in the clash.
3: The three Baltic countries have bid farewell to Russia’s power grid. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania completed their switch from the Russian to the European grid on Sunday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the move — amid heightened security owing to suspected sabotage of underwater cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea — a new era of freedom for the region.
20 billion: President Donald Trump shifted his war on the media up a gear on Friday, amending his lawsuit against CBS to seek a whopping $20 billion — twice the original damages demanded — amid claims that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited its interview with former VP Kamala Harris to boost her image. CBS, meanwhile, maintains that it didn’t manipulate the material, and the FCC recently released raw transcripts from the unedited video showing that Harris was quoted correctly. The move comes amid threats of using the FCC to investigate and possibly defund other networks, including PBS and NPR.
27: For the first time in 27 years, PM Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won a state legislature election in India’s federal territory, including Delhi. On Saturday, the BJP won 40 of the 70 assembly seats, beating the Aam Aadmi Party, or AAP, which has been in power in New Delhi since 2015.
Spanish Vox party leader Santiago Abascal presided over the European Patriots Summit in Madrid over the weekend. The event brought together numerous conservative leaders from across Europe under the banner of "Make Europe Great Again."
Who are the Patriots and what do they want? Formed after the May 2024 European election, the bloc includes 86 members from 14 countries, representing 19 million votes. It is the third largest group in the 720-seat European Parliament, and it opposes green policies, migration, gender and family diversity, and “population replacement.” It wants to change the EU’s governance structure to one based on national sovereignty and boost Europe's economic competitiveness.
Could the Patriots make it happen? Other right-wing parties, including Italy’s Fratelli d’Italia, or FI, Poland’s Law and Justice, and the German AfD have so far refused to join. However, in a letter sent in late January, the European Conservatives and Reformists group, home to Italian Prime Minister and FI leader Giorgia Meloni, urged the center-right European People’s Party to ally with the Patriots. And as tariffs loom, Le Pen claims that the group is the only one that can “talk with the new Trump administration.”
We’ll be watching whether the AfD or other parties change their tune about joining the Patriots – and how this impacts the EU’s ability to negotiate with Trump.Elon Musk walks on Capitol Hill on the day of a meeting with Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD), in Washington, U.S. December 5, 2024.
While the Trump administration had hoped for 200,000 resignations, just over 40,000 employees – less than 2% of the federal workforce – had reportedly accepted the offer as of Wednesday.
Another federal judge also limited DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department payments system over privacy concerns on Thursday. That order gives “read only” access to two DOGE employees, both of whom have close ties to Musk.
Despite these legal measures, DOGE employees are fanning out across federal agencies, including the Center for Disease Control, the Labor Department, and the big kahuna: Medicare and Medicaid. Since Wednesday, DOGE officials have gained access to payment and contracting systems for both Medicare and Medicaid, which control hundreds of billions in healthcare provider payments.
DOGE aims to tackle fraud in the system – some of the $100 billion in improper Medicare and Medicaid payments in 2023 – by strengthening existing anti-fraud efforts. But some fear the complexity of the healthcare system could lead to mistakes and overly aggressive cuts. Any missteps that cost voters their insurance or lead to grave health consequences could cost Republicans in the 2026 midterms.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a press conference following a bilateral meeting at Admiralty House in Sydney, Wednesday, May 24, 2023.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his country will crack down on illegal migration to the United States. The announcement, which came before Modi’s meeting next week with US President Donald Trump in Washington, is part of an effort to head off a possible trade war.
What moves is Modi making? Delhi has made a series of concessions in the past few weeks. On Saturday, itrevised its tariff system, slashing levies on a broad range of imported US goods, from textiles to motorcycles, including Harley Davidsons, whichTrump had repeatedly raised. Modi has also agreed to accept 18,000 Indian nationals currently on the US deportation list and to keep the US dollar as India’s trading currency. The US had a$45.7 billion trade deficit in goods and services with India in 2022.
But a backlash is brewing. Modi is facing anger at home after a US military transportflew 104 Indian nationals in shackles to Amritsar on Wednesday. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankarmaintained that US authorities followed “standard procedure,” but deportees tell a different story, describing a 40-hour flight in restraints.Opposition leaders called the deportations "deplorable and unacceptable” and demanded that they be conducted under humane conditions in the future. We’ll be watching whether future flights go differently – and whether or not tariffs follow.