North Korean missile test. North Korea test-fired around ten ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea’s military said. The incident coincided with U.S.-South Korean joint military drills. It also followed South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok’s discussion with Trump Friday about potentially resuming nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang, which Kim said Trump supports.
Uganda opposition leader flees. The opposition leader known as Bobi Wine announced Saturday he had left the country after spending two months in hiding following January’s disputed election. Wine has alleged the vote, which elected President Yoweri Museveni to a seventh term, was rigged. Wine aims to mobilize international allies to advance democracy in Uganda, he said.
Energy summit in Tokyo. The United States struck $57 billion worth of deals with Asia-Pacific allies at an energy forum in Tokyo over the weekend, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox News. The United States and Japan co-hosted the summit. The agreements signed at the forum included a commitment by the U.S. Export-Import Bank to finance up to $4.2 billion of Japanese and South Korean nuclear fuel purchases from a California-based company.
Kazakhstan’s constitutional referendum. Exit polls suggest a majority of Kazakhs voted to approve a new constitution in a referendum yesterday. The changes would consolidate executive power by creating a new body of presidential appointees that can introduce legislation and referendums. Some journalists were temporarily detained while covering the vote, RFE/RL reported.
Canada-Nordic cooperation. Canada and the five Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—pledged at an Oslo meeting yesterday to cooperate more closely on areas such as defense production. Their announcement follows Trump’s threats against Canada and Denmark, including the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland, in recent months. Canada is weighing buying submarines from Norway and Germany and warplanes from Sweden as it aims to boost its defenses.
U.S.-China talks. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Premier He Lifeng are concluding a two-day meeting in Paris today intended to lay the groundwork for Trump’s planned trip to China later this month. Unnamed sources told Reuters the talks have been “remarkably stable.” But some bilateral tensions were visible in recent days: Trump said Sunday he might delay his trip as he urges China to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, and China’s commerce ministry on Monday criticized the latest U.S. trade probe into China.
Deadly fire in Gaza and the West Bank. Two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza yesterday killed at least twelve Palestinians, according to local hospitals, which said a pregnant woman, two boys, and eight police officers were among them. The Israeli military said it carried out a strike in the enclave yesterday after Hamas militants fired on Israeli troops Saturday, without specifying which strike it was referring to. In the West Bank, Israeli border police killed four Palestinians—a mother, father, and their five- and six-year-old sons—who were driving home Saturday night; Israeli authorities said the car “accelerated towards” the police and that the incident was under investigation.
Kenya’s Ukraine war stance. Russia has agreed to stop recruiting Kenyans to fight in the war in Ukraine, Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi told reporters today after meeting in Moscow with his Russian counterpart. Kenya’s intelligence service announced last month that more than one thousand Kenyans were believed to be fighting in the war, and lawmakers suggested the Kenyan recruits were sent to the frontlines with limited training.
