Socialists win Portugal’s presidential electionMr Seguro won a five-year term in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with a landslide 66.7 per cent of votes, compared with 33.3 per cent for Mr Ventura. During the campaign Mr Seguro slammed Mr Ventura’s anti-Establishment and racist anti-immigration tirades. Mr Ventura’s campaign included billboards saying “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare.”
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/socialists-win-portugals-presidential-electionStarmer’s future hangs in the balance as Sarwar joins calls for PM to quitMr Sarwar was the first crack in the leadership dam, but cabinet ministers were loud in their initial silence, until ordered to get tweeting mid-afternoon in support of their boss. Just a day after his top adviser and factional mastermind Morgan McSweeney was forced to resign, Sir Keir lost communications chief Tim Allan, a New Labour-era retread, who tersely announced his departure.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-future-hangs-balance-sarwar-joins-calls-pm-quitIsraeli cabinet approves decision paving way for annexation, greater control of WB, as settlers burn Qurans The measures have been pushed by extremist and far-right ministers Israel Katz and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. According to local Palestinian media, the decisions are the most dangerous since 1967, and undermine the Oslo and al-Khalil agreements, which state that Israel has no authority over civilian matters in the West Bank. The new rules will make it easier for Israeli settlers to buy land in occupied areas and give Israeli officials powers to enforce laws on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-cabinet-approves-further-annexation-control-west-bankIran arrests leading reformists close to the country’s presidentAzar Mansouri, the secretary general of the Islamic Iran People party, had expressed deep sorrow at protesters’ deaths, and said nothing could justify such a catastrophe. She had not in public called for the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to resign. In what looked like a decisive roundup of the key reformist figures outside government, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, the head of the front’s political committee, and Mohsen Aminzadeh, a deputy foreign minister under the former president Mohammad Khatami, were also arrested.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/09/iran-arrests-leading-reformists-close-to-the-countrys-presidentUS held secret meeting between Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania over Western SaharaThe meeting, which was supposed to remain confidential, was revealed by Spanish newspaper El Confidencial's journalist Ignacio Cembrero on Saturday. According to Cembrero, the framework for the discussions was Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara, which was adopted by the UN Security Council last year. The plan has been rejected by the Polisario Front, who asks for a referendum on self-determination as planned by a 35-year-old UN resolution. It would cement Morocco's control over the African region, which it has occupied since 1975, while nominally offering a degree of self-governance for the Sahrawis.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-holds-meeting-between-algeria-morocco-mauritania-over-western-saharaEthiopia demands Eritrea ‘immediately withdraw’ troops from its territoryEthiopia’s foreign minister has accused neighbouring Eritrea of military aggression and of supporting armed groups inside Ethiopian territory, amid growing tensions between the neighbours. The two longstanding foes had waged war against each other between 1998 and 2000, but signed a peace deal in 2018 and became allies during Ethiopia’s two-year war against regional authorities in the northern Tigray region.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/8/ethiopia-demands-eritrea-immediately-withdraw-troops-from-its-territoryhttps://archive.ph/1ikMOBhumjaithai Party’s election victory signals a conservative shift in Thailand’s politicsWhile the progressive People’s Party, which finished second with 118 seats, has ruled out joining a Bhumjaithai coalition, the populist Pheu Thai Party, in third place with 74 seats, has left the possibility open. Bhumjaithai has not yet revealed its intentions.
https://apnews.com/article/thailand-election-bhumjaithai-reformists-e7897c6f7f2c6eb997ced850d56c03b2Hundreds of thousands participated in a national strike in Pakistan against the conservative government’s policiesIn several places, protesters were stopped by the police and security forces, with TTAP claiming hundreds of its workers and leaders were detained in attempts to stop the protests. Security forces also allegedly forced businesses to stay open and not to participate in the strike in some areas. Ammar Ali Jan, leader of the left-wing Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP), claimed that one of the main organizers from his party, Ammar Rashid, was arrested by the police when he was participating in one such mobilization in the capital Islamabad.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2026/02/09/hundreds-of-thousands-participated-in-a-national-strike-in-pakistan-against-the-conservative-governments-policies/Colombia: Ruling-party candidate to file criminal complaint against ex-President Pastrana over Epstein filesThe newly surfaced material includes references to Pastrana in dozens of files, among them email exchanges from 2003 and 2004 with Maxwell and mentions of meetings and travel arrangements. One message thread discusses logistical details for a New York trip and reception arrangements. Cepeda has framed the issue as more than a political controversy, calling for authorities to determine whether the contacts reflected in the files carry legal consequences and whether any actions involved improper use of official resources or non-institutional arrangements.
https://en.mercopress.com/2026/02/09/colombia-ruling-party-candidate-to-file-criminal-complaint-against-ex-president-pastrana-over-epstein-filesCuba says airlines can no longer refuel on the island as US blockade deepens energy crisisThe government of Cuba published the notices to airlines and pilots on Sunday night, warning that jet fuel won’t be available at nine airports across the island, including José Martí International Airport in Havana, starting Tuesday and continuing until March 11. Political pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump on Latin America has effectively severed Cuba’s access to its primary petroleum sources in Venezuela and Mexico.
https://apnews.com/article/cuba-airplanes-fuel-shortages-us-blockade-oil-18d79e2f138520dcbf28c24c1599b1a5