MIRD Gala & Reconnect 2026: Inspiring diplomacy in a changing world - Universiteit Leiden

Britain’s Lib Dems are having a mini-meltdown. Here’s what’s going on. A surprise resignation followed by an extremely long show of unity: Britain’s centrist force — a potential key player in a future coalition — doesn’t seem ready to topple its leader just yet.

An eighth person in Kenya has tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the country’s first-ever cluster of cases of the virus, as the second-largest outbreak in history kills more than 4,300 and sickens more than 9,000 people in the region. It highlights the diminished role the US has played in the worsening Ebola outbreak by building a controversial quarantine center in Kenya, pulling back health support globally, and banning travelers from certain countries. All of this has also reduced the ability to identify and respond to the outbreak and exacerbated mistrust. The US created a controversial quarantine center at Kenya’s Laikipia airbase, where Americans returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be required to quarantine. The center, opposed by locals, has stirred distrust in the Kenyan government, leading to protests and a Kenyan court ordering a halt to the center.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sparked backlash from U. S. military veterans and several European politicians after suggesting "one or two" U. S.-allied countries were actively involved in combat operations in Afghanistan as the yearslong conflict drew to a close. Hegseth, who completed active-duty deployments in the Middle East, including Afghanistan, told cadets and military recruits at the University of Tennessee on Saturday he recalled dozens of flags on display in Kabul during the two decades of U. S. and NATO-led fighting against the Taliban. "Except there were, like, maybe five that contributed," Hegseth remarked. "It was actually closer to one or two that, by the end, were actually involved in kinetic operations. "A total of 51 NATO and U. S.-aligned countries deployed troops to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission and the U. S.'s Operation Enduring Freedom. ... It is the only time a NATO member has activated Article 5, the alliance's mutual defense clause which obliges all NATO states to defend a member under attack.