Al Majalla covered last week’s clinching of a ceasefire deal in the Black Sea between Ukraine and Russia. Con Coughlin writes: “While the US believes a comprehensive deal could be reached by 20 April, the Kremlin played down expectations, saying ‘difficult negotiations’ lay ahead.”

Moscow’s pessimism wasn’t the only thing weighing heavy on the Trump administration. In what has become known as Signalgate, US administration officials were under fire after they mistakenly added a journalist to a Signal chat group discussing imminent strikes on Yemen—a blatant breach of national security that Trump officials have sought to play down. John Haltiwanger answers five key questions about the scandal.

For his part, Arash Azizi pens a piece titled Iran’s coming concessions to Trump, in which he makes the case that, bravado aside, Tehran will eventually reach a deal with Washington. He says, “Knowing just how bad its hand is, Iran worries about being robbed at gunpoint by a strong Trump administration.”

Similarly, in Syria, Trump wants to have his way. Ibrahim Hamidi writes: “The US-Israeli plan for a new Middle East requires a pliable Syria. To this end, a long list of tall demands has been handed to the new leadership in Damascus.” And Abbas Sharifa lays out future scenarios and redlines for foreign fighters in Syria. He says, “Alongside the Syrians who ousted Assad in December were Chechens, Uyghurs, Arabs, Europeans, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turks, and Albanians, to name a few.” Read his article to find out what next for them.

Switching to Gaza, Amr Emam pens a piece titled Israel’s ‘voluntary’ migration policy in Gaza is anything but, where he says: “Palestinians are beginning to dribble out of the battered enclave as Israel starts implementing its "voluntary migration" plan. Gaza is being ethnically cleansed before our very eyes.” And citing the horrific US-Israeli imposed catastrophe in Gaza as an example, Houssam Itani asks: “Have hegemons become so drunk on power that we are heading towards an authoritarian dystopia? It seems so.” Read his article titled Might-is-right politics pushes rules-based order into obscurity to learn more.

Onto South America, Antoine Jockey revisits the legacy of Eduardo Galeano: the voice of the oppressed ten years since his passing. He says, “The passion and imagination of the Uruguayan writer remain timeless, not least over Gaza”. For his part, Samer Abou Hawwach turns our attention to Walter Salles’s Oscar-winning film I’m Still Here about the forced disappearance of the patriarch of a Brazilian family in the Cold War era, which he says “masterfully peels back the layers of human suffering”. He singles out lead actress Fernanda Torres, who “delivers a masterful performance of a wife who fights tirelessly to uncover the fate of her husband.”

Turning to tech, Marco Mossad explains Why the Pentagon is increasingly turning to AI startups. He says, “Artificial intelligence is offering cutting-edge solutions that slow-moving legacy contractors can't seem to keep up with.” And, in economy, Toufic Chanbour explains Why US ‘white swan’ debt cannot be wished away by cuts. He says, “With an average monthly fiscal deficit of $150bn, there are no good options for Donald Trump, who boasts of defaulting on debt in corporate life. Will he do the same with America’s $36tn I-O-U pile?”

And finally, Omer Onhon profiles Istanbul’s now-arrested mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu. He writes, “The man many think could end Erdoğan's quarter-century reign in Türkiye was arrested just days before he was nominated as the CHP presidential candidate. Who is he, and why is he behind bars?” Read his article to find out.