
The five things you need to know today:
COLOMBIA. UNITED STATES. A spat with Bogota is a test for the region.
CHINA. Beijing could win the tech race with or without Taipei.
THE NORDICS. Chokepoints tighten from the Baltic to the Arctic.
ISRAEL. PALESTINE. A new plan for Gaza is suggested.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. In a distracted world, Kigali seizes Goma.
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COLOMBIA. UNITED STATES. Colombian exchange
A spat with Bogota is a test for the region.
Washington withdrew an order to impose 25% tariffs and travel bans late Sunday, after Bogota agreed to accept military deportation flights. Mexico debunked reports it had refused landing for a separate US flight carrying deported migrants.
INTELLIGENCE. President Gustavo Petro backed down after threatening tariffs of his own and at one point calling the Trump administration "Nazis". The US is Colombia's biggest trading partner. And while Colombia's position as the US's third-biggest partner in Latin America isn't insignificant, the likely impact of the tariffs would have been minimal for most US consumers (and Colombia's biggest export to the US, cocaine, would not have been affected).
FOR BUSINESS. Fighting a revived war with the ELN rebel group, reeling from an alleged sex scandal with a trans journalist, and losing influence in Venezuela, Petro was ripe for the pressure tactics, but the threats were more directed at Mexico and Central America, who have more to lose from Trump and less to gain by standing up. And while Canada doesn’t have the same risks on migration, it’s been shown that Trump is prepared to act on threats.
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CHINA. Byte me
Beijing could win the tech race with or without Taipei.
Nvidia shares fell 5% in 24-hour markets Sunday after Chinese start-up DeepSeek released code for a model built at a thirteenth of the cost of OpenAI’s GPT1. Donald Trump said a decision on TikTok's sale would be made within 30 days.
INTELLIGENCE. TikTok’s owner ByteDance says it won’t part with the company’s IP, irrespective of the multitude of offers Trump is