Politics

• Tuesday, August 11th 2026 - 09:21 UTC

  Syrian court sentences Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for crimes against humanity

  

  A criminal court in Damascus sentenced former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia on Tuesday for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity. Assad was ousted in December 2024 and is living in exile in Moscow. It is the first public sentence handed down against the man who governed Syria for more than two decades.

• Tuesday, August 11th 2026 - 09:18 UTC

  Kast rules out backing bill that ties abortion access to hearing the fetal heartbeat

  

  Chilean President José Antonio Kast said on Monday that his government would not push forward a bill introduced by lawmakers from his own coalition that would condition access to legal abortion on a woman agreeing to hear the fetus's cardiac activity.

• Monday, August 10th 2026 - 19:16 UTC

  De la Espriella gives the first earthquake toll and entrusts Colombia to Jesus Christ

  

  Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella reported 111 dead and 87 injured on Monday from the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck the west and center of the country, in an address containing extensive religious references. “I entrust our country to the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said after chairing a meeting of the unified command post set up at the National Disaster Risk Management Unit.

• Monday, August 10th 2026 - 10:55 UTC

  Reform UK in talks with El Salvador over sending foreign prisoners to Bukele's jails

  

  Britain's Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, has opened contacts with the government of El Salvador to transfer foreign prisoners to jails in that country should it win the next United Kingdom general election, which must be held by 2029 at the latest. The report was published on Monday by the newspaper The Sun and has not been confirmed by San Salvador.

• Monday, August 10th 2026 - 08:32 UTC

  De la Espriella sets ten armed group leaders as his target for his first 90 days

  

  Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has pledged to capture or kill ten leaders of illegal armed groups during the first 90 days of his term, which began on Friday in Cali. The commitment, made during his campaign, is the centerpiece of the “shock plan” with which the new president seeks to reverse the negotiation policy of his predecessor, Gustavo Petro.

• Sunday, August 9th 2026 - 20:58 UTC

  Keiko Fujimori starts her term in Peru with 60% approval, Datum poll finds

  

  Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori has begun her five-year term with a 60% approval rating, against 24% disapproval and 16% who gave no opinion, according to a Datum Internacional survey published on Sunday by the newspaper El Comercio.

• Sunday, August 9th 2026 - 20:44 UTC

  Bolivia records its first same-sex civil marriage after a court ruling

  

  Bolivia has recorded its first civil marriage between two people of the same sex, held on Friday, August 7, in Santa Cruz, the country's most populous city, following a legal process that lasted three years and ten months.

• Sunday, August 9th 2026 - 20:37 UTC

  Uruguay's Partido Nacional sets a 2030 return to government as its goal

  

  The president of the board of Uruguay's Partido Nacional, Álvaro Delgado, on Sunday called on members of the country's main opposition force to “build the history of the future” and set a return to government in 2030 as the first objective, so that Uruguay can “find direction again.”

• Sunday, August 9th 2026 - 20:05 UTC

  Machado congratulates De la Espriella and says Venezuela will soon follow suit

  

  Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado congratulated Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, and said Venezuela would “very soon” undertake a process of institutional and democratic strengthening similar to the one she said is beginning in the neighboring country. The Colombian president replied on Sunday thanking her for the support.

• Saturday, August 8th 2026 - 07:52 UTC

  De la Espriella sworn in before Congress in Cali, delivers first speech to the military

  

  Abelardo de la Espriella took office as president of Colombia in Cali on Friday, the first time a Colombian leader has been sworn in outside Bogotá, and delivered his first speech at an Army battalion rather than before Congress, breaking with the country's institutional tradition.