With the fall of the French government, a leadership crisis in South Korea, and the toppling of the 54-year-old Assad regime in Syria, this week there has been a lot to cover. Have a read to catch up on these major events and much, much more.
Spotlight: In Syria, the end of the Assad regime
by Elisa Latora
In ten days, Syrian opposition fighters captured city after city on the road to Damascus. On Sunday, they toppled Bashar al-Assad’s government, and Russian state media reported he had fled to Moscow. So what happens now?
First of all, the world stands to watch as thousands are freed from the Syrian prisons. Under the regime these prisons had enabled the persecution of any form of political opposition. On Sunday, the UN’s International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism released a report analysing the widespread use of torture in Syria’s detention system. More than 300 witness interviews detailed severe physical and psychological abuse on detainees, including beatings, sexual violence, and executions.
On Monday morning, at the Turkish border with Syria, there were lines of refugees seeking to re-enter their country. The Syrian civil war, which erupted from protests against Bashar al-Assad’s government back in 2011, has resulted over the past 14 years in one of the largest displacement crisis in the world. According to the UN, in 2024 Syria is the origin country generating the highest number of refugees (6.3 million people). In a June 2024 UNCHR report on Syrian refugees’ perceptions and intentions on return to Syria, a third of respondents (ie. Syrian refugees living in neighbouring countries Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan) expressed their intention to return to their country in the next five years. The toppling of the regime has surely emphasized these feelings, but European countries like Germany are perhaps excessively riding this wave. Germany, which is the host to the largest Syrian refugee population outside the Middle East, has said it will freeze asylum processing for Syrian citizens. Many NGOs have warned against this move since the current political situation in Syria is not yet safe nor stable.
At the same time, bombings have hit sites across Syria as regional actors in the Middle East rush to defend their interests in the country. One of these actors, Israel, has since carried out strikes on a Syrian weapons factory and is occupying the buffer zone beyond Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The fall of the Assad regime signifies the first time in years since neither Russia nor Iran have held an influential role in the country: hence, there is a scramble to establish new geopolitical balances.
Around the World
South Korea President Yoon banned from foreign travel as leadership crisis deepens. Despite his botched attempt to impose martial law on the country earlier in the week, South Korea’s President survived Sunday’s impeachment vote in parliament. The ruling party, which had initially supported the removal of Yoon from power, in the end boycotted the vote. Yoon has said that he will leave his political fate to his ruling People Power Party (PPP), but has not yet resigned. South Korea’s prosecutors are currently investigating Yoon on charges of treason and abuse of power, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has barred him from foreign travel.
Namibia elects its first female president in disputed elections. Namibia has elected Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as its first female president, extending the ruling Swapo party’s 34-year grip on power. Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, secured 57% of the vote, avoiding a runoff, despite technical issues during the election. Opposition parties, led by Panduleni Itula, who garnered 25.5% of the vote, have rejected the results and plan to challenge them in court. A veteran of Namibia’s independence movement and a seasoned diplomat, Nandi-Ndaitwah is seen as a steady leader untainted by corruption. Her victory defies the trend of declining support for liberation movements in southern Africa, as seen in South Africa, Botswana, and Mozambique.
Trump threat and mounting dangers in Mexico drive migrant rush towards US. Outside the migration office in Tapachula, Mexico, Tito, a Haitian migrant, described the struggles faced by migrants trapped in the city. After leaving Haiti for Chile in 2019, Tito’s business failed during the pandemic, prompting him to head for the US. However, after 15 months in Mexico, he remains stuck, awaiting a CBP-One appointment that would allow him to proceed. Tapachula, a hub for migrants, offers limited resources and is rife with exploitation, violence, and misinformation. Organized crime preys on migrants, while Mexico enforces US immigration policies, exacerbating hardships. Despite the challenges, migrants persist in their quest to reach the US.
Cuba’s national grid collapses leaving millions without electricity. Cuba’s national electrical grid collapsed early Wednesday after its largest power plant, Antonio Guiteras, failed, the government announced. The plant’s shutdown at 2 a.m. caused widespread outages, leaving Havana mostly dark, with lights visible only in some hotels and government buildings. Reports suggested the entire island, home to over 10 million people, was affected, though officials had not confirmed this. Cuba’s aging oil-fired plants have faced increasing strain due to reduced fuel imports from Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico. The grid has suffered repeated failures in recent months, exacerbated by hurricanes and a deepening economic crisis, leading to nationwide blackouts.
OPEC+ members to delay oil production increases. The OPEC+ alliance has delayed plans to ease crude production cuts until 2026 due to weak global demand, according to sources and internal documents. The coalition will cap production at 39.725 million barrels per day until the end of 2026, extending a strategy previously set to last through 2025. Eight members will continue a 2.2 million-barrel-per-day voluntary cut into early 2026, with gradual increases planned between April and September. Another 1.7 million-barrel-per-day cut will now extend through 2026. Despite these adjustments and regional conflicts, oil prices remain under pressure, with analysts citing weak demand and downside risks for future prices.
EU agrees landmark trade deal with South America. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen finalized a landmark trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc on Friday, a move that has deepened divisions within the EU. The agreement, 25 years in the making, establishes a free-trade zone for over 700 million people but faces fierce opposition from France, which fears cheap imports will harm its farmers. Germany, however, views it as vital for boosting exports. Von der Leyen hailed the deal as a geopolitical victory, emphasizing its political significance amid global tensions. Ratification remains uncertain, as France leads opposition efforts and Italy’s position could determine the agreement’s fate.
European News
Spotlight: French prime minister resigns after both left- and right-wing parties vote no confidence.
2025 Budget law has claimed another victim across European governments: after the German Chancellors Scholz was forced to call for new elections in January, also the French government has fallen. Michel Barnier, who was appointed my president Emmanuel Macron in September to lead a minority government, has resigned after two no confidence votes, coming from both right-wing party Rassemblement National and left-wing party La France Insoumise. This unconventional and temporary alliance was formed to oust the unpopular government that was formed after July’s elections.
Barnier’s term has been the shortest since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958 and now France is once again embroiled in a political standoff. Both populist coalitions oppose a reduction of the deficit, such as the one in the just repelled Budget, and are calling for Macron’s resignation. As no clear coalition can form a majority, the country is nosediving into a chaotic December, as the Budget must be approved before the end of the year if a shutdown is to be avoided.
Man jailed for life for murder of university student that horrified Italy. Filippo Turetta has been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his former girlfriend Giulia Cecchettin, whom he brutally killed in November 2023. The story has had massive impact on Italian public opinion, as both were only 22 at the time. The cruelty of the tragedy has made this a symbol of the extremely problematic relation that Italy has with gender-based violence. This widespread phenomenon is recognized by many as an emergency that needs to be tackled as soon as possible. The father of Giulia, Gino Cecchettin, has made a very strong statement about it, clearly opposing the punishment driven approach of the current Meloni government: “Gender violence cannot be fought with sentences, but with prevention”
New wave of protests sparks in Georgia as EU talks are postponed. This year Georgia has been at the forefront of international attention due to its rapidly changing political landscape. The sitting Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, is the leader of the pro-Russian party Georgian Dream and has slowly pursued anti-European policies, drifting the Caucasian country away from Brussels. The last instance has been the announcement that the talks to join the EU would have been postponed to 2028. This, coming after the disputed October elections, has angered the pro-EU part of the population, that has started to protest again. The political atmosphere couldn’t be more tense, as the pro-EU President Salome Zourabichvili is supposed to step down by the end of the year. Yet things might not go so smoothly, as the President has denounced the newly elected Parliament as illegitimate and therefore incapable of electing her successor.
Romanian court annuls first round of presidential election. Romanian presidential elections have been unexpectedly annulled. The Constitutional Court of the Eastern European country has declared that the electoral process was rigged by Russian forces, that lobbied in favor of Călin Georgescu, who emerged has leading candidate coming basically out of nowhere. He is described by observers as a right-wing populist, who is an admirer of Putin and Trump. Russian influence was exerted through social media platforms such as Tik Tok and Telegram, that are now under close surveillance by European authorities.
Having lived both in Italy and the UK, I enjoy exploring how multiculturalism affects our personal identities. I use language, writing and journalism as tools to decipher the world around me. And, I will of course never turn down a lively convo about current news. With a degree in Economic and Social sciences, I’m now pursuing a master’s in Politics and Policy Analysis.
I have spent most of my life in India before recently moving to Milan, where I am pursuing an MSc in Finance at Bocconi. I am interested in politics, art and culture, cinema, and travelling. Through my writing, I aspire to document important voices and present opinions. In my free time, I try to keep up with my movies-to-watch list, sample as many restaurants as I can, and find cats to pet.
Every week, your TiL Monday Briefing 🗞: you better read it with a cup of coffee! ☕️
Head of the Monday Briefing column: Pietro Ferrari. Current writing staff: Vatsal Aggarwal, Cristiana Murè. Cartoons by Polina Mednikova. The Monday Briefing column was established in its current form in 2021 by Bojan Zeric.
