The White House said that it would hold off on imposing tariffs and sanctions on Colombia after it agreed to accept deportation flights of migrants. Earlier Donald Trump had announced “emergency” tariffs of 25% on Colombian goods in response to Colombia’s refusal of entry to two such flights. Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s foreign minister, said the diplomatic “impasse” had been overcome and his country would receive returning Colombians.
Israel and Hamas reached an agreement securing the release of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza and allowing the return of Palestinians to the north of the strip. Israel had said it would not allow the displaced Palestinians back until Arbel Yehoud, whom it had expected to be released on Saturday, was freed. She, and five others, are due to be set free by next weekend.
An undersea fibre-optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Sunday, probably by an “external influence”, said Latvia’s prime minister. Sweden is investigating possible sabotage and has seized a vessel as part of its inquiry. NATO is sending patrol ships to the area. Previous recent damage to cables in the Baltic Sea has been linked to Chinese and Russian ships.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo said they had captured the eastern city of Goma. The Congolese government accused Rwanda of “declaring war” and cut diplomatic ties. Since 2021 M23 has taken over large parts of the mineral-rich provinces bordering Rwanda. Around 400,000 people have been displaced from the region this year.
Perplexity AI, an American search-engine startup, reportedly filed a revised proposal to merge with TikTok. The offer was submitted to the social-media app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance. It would give the American government up to 50% of the new company. Tech giants—such as Microsoft and Oracle—are also believed to be in talks to buy or merge with TikTok.
Voting took place in Belarus’s all too predictable presidential election. An exit poll suggested that Alexander Lukashenko would win a seventh term of office with 88% of votes cast. He has crushed almost all opposition to his rule in his three decades in power. After nationwide protests greeted his last “victory” at the polls five years ago, Mr Lukashenko launched a sweeping crackdown, imprisoning thousands of political opponents.
South Korean officials found duck DNA in the engines of the Jeju Air plane that crashed last month, according to a preliminary report. Investigators are still trying to determine whether it was a bird strike which caused the flight to make an emergency landing and overshoot the runway. All but two of the 181 people on board were killed in South Korea’s deadliest air disaster.
Figure of the day: 200,000, the manpower of Poland’s armed forces, which have doubled in size since 2014. Read the full story.
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