Supreme Court corruption scandal rocks Brazil

François Picard is pleased to welcome Anna Borshchevskaya, Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute. She interprets Russia’s reported missile support for Iran not as an isolated arms transaction, but as part of a broader geopolitical strategy in which Moscow treats Ukraine, Iran, NATO, and the United States as interconnected fronts. In her analysis, Vladimir Putin’s objective is less about pursuing direct military confrontation with Washington than about altering the strategic environment around it: strengthening actors hostile to the United States, increasing the costs of American and Israeli military action, and repeatedly probing Western thresholds for retaliation.

Kyrgyzstan balances ties with global powers while leveraging its geography to secure economic and political opportunities.

In Tunisia, the Court of Cassation is set to issue its final ruling in the “conspiracy against the state” case. In April 2025, 37 people – most of them prominent political figures opposed to President Kais Saied – were sentenced to prison in connection with the case. Several human rights organisations have condemned the trial as unjust and called for the release of all political detainees. The appeal represents the defendants’ last legal avenue to overturn their convictions, according to a press release from Amnesty International. But defence lawyers and the detainees’ families remain pessimistic, as FRANCE 24’s Lilia Blaise reports.