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Ukraine and Russia have exchanged accusations of violating the Orthodox Easter ceasefire, as the conflict between the two nations continues to escalate. The truce, which was agreed upon for 32 hours, was intended to provide a temporary reprieve from hostilities during the religious holiday.According to the Ukrainian military's general staff, 2,299 ceasefire violations were recorded, including 28 enemy assault actions, 479 enemy shellings, and 747 strikes by attack drones. In response, Russia's Ministry of Defence accused Kyiv of nearly 2,000 breaches, including 258 artillery or tank attacks and 1,329 FPV drone strikes.The ceasefire violations have raised concerns about the prospects of a lasting peace agreement. The Kremlin has stated that it will not extend the truce unless Kyiv accepts its terms, which include control of 17-18 percent of Ukraine's disputed Donetsk region. Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along the current front lines, but Russia has rejected this, seeking control of the entire Donetsk region.Despite the challenges, the truce did bring some relative calm to the region, with the Ukrainian army reporting no long-range Shahed drone attacks, guided aerial bombings, or missile strikes during the ceasefire period. However, the conflict has continued to take a toll on civilians, with Governor Alexander Khinshtein of Russia's Kursk region accusing Kyiv of breaking the ceasefire by attacking a petrol station, injuring three people, including a baby.

Peruvians are heading to the polls to elect their ninth president in less than a decade, a period marked by political instability and corruption scandals that have led to widespread voter disillusionment.Since 2018, Peru has seen eight presidents, with a high turnover rate marred by impeachments and corruption scandals. This has resulted in weak governments and a lack of trust in the political system.On Sunday, 27 million Peruvians are eligible to vote, with polling stations across the country opening at 7am (12:00 GMT) and closing at 5pm (22:00 GMT). Preliminary results are expected shortly afterwards.The presidential ballot features 35 candidates, including a comedian, a media baron, a political dynasty heiress, and a hard-line ex-mayor. However, all major candidates continue to poll well below the 50 percent needed to win the election, making a June 7 run-off appear likely.The most well-known candidate is conservative Keiko Fujimori, who will make her fourth presidential bid. Her candidacy remains polarizing due to her family legacy, with her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, convicted of human rights abuses and corruption.Other notable candidates include Ricardo Belmont, a former mayor of Lima, and Carlos Alvarez, a popular comedian who has campaigned on a platform of being tough on crime. Peru's homicide rate has more than doubled in the past decade, making crime a major concern for voters.Many Peruvians, however, remain disillusioned with the political system and the available candidates. A fruit seller in Lima told the Reuters news agency that she was still undecided on who to vote for, saying "Peru is a mess, and there's no candidate worth voting for." A clothing merchant also shared similar sentiments, stating "We've been governed by nothing but corrupt, thieving scoundrels."

Benin is voting in its presidential election, with long-serving Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni poised to win in the absence of a major challenger. Polls opened at 7am (06:00 GMT) on Sunday and will close at 4pm (15:00 GMT).More than 7.9 million people are registered to vote, including 62,000 in the diaspora. Wadagni, a 49-year-old former Deloitte executive, is backed by the two main parties in the governing coalition and the outgoing president, Patrice Talon.Wadagni is being challenged by Paul Hounkpe, an opposition figure and former culture minister, whose campaign has been low-key. The new president will have to address major challenges, including a huge gap between the poor and well-off, with the poverty rate estimated at more than 30 percent.Benin’s economic growth will also depend on improving security and stabilising the country, particularly in the north where JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate, has made major gains. Wadagni has promised to deliver on bread-and-butter issues like expanding access to potable water and guaranteeing emergency healthcare.Provisional results are expected on Tuesday, with many people expressing concerns about the election process. Some voters have spoken of the presidential election as a formality and urged Wadagni to deliver on his platform, including promoting job opportunities for young people and improving security in the north.

Hungarians are casting their votes in a parliamentary election that could mark a significant shift in the country's political landscape. Incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a eurosceptic nationalist, is facing his biggest electoral challenge after 16 years in power.The election for the 199-seat parliament began at 6am local time (0400 GMT) and is set to close at 7 pm (0500 GMT). Opinion polls over the last two weeks have shown Orban's Fidesz party trailing Peter Magyar's upstart centre-right opposition Tisza party by 7-9 percentage points, with Tisza at around 38-41 percent.Orban has framed the election as a choice between 'war and peace', warning that Tisza's victory could drag Hungary into Russia's war with Ukraine. However, many Hungarians have grown weary of Orban's 16-year rule, citing economic stagnation, soaring living costs, and reports of oligarchs close to the government accumulating wealth.A 24-year-old Budapest resident, Kriszta Tokes, expressed her concerns, stating, 'I am very excited but also very scared... I know that my future depends on this.' She added that she plans to leave Hungary if Orban wins.Despite the challenges, Orban remains optimistic, telling supporters in his birthplace Szekesfehervar, 'If we know ourselves well, if we know our country well and if we know our own people well, then I must say Hungarians will vote for safety on Sunday.'

The latest analysis by HR consultancy Hamilton Nash shows that 54 employment tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales cited remote‑working issues in 2025 – a 13% decline from the previous year and the first drop since the pandemic began.This marks the end of a six‑year upward trend during which tribunal filings related to remote work surged tenfold from the pre‑COVID baseline of 2019. The number of cases peaked at 62 in 2024 but fell sharply to just six in 2025.According to the Office for National Statistics, 28% of working‑age adults in Great Britain now operate in a hybrid model, splitting time between a traditional office and another location such as home. Yet many large employers, notably financial giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, have intensified return‑to‑office mandates, with some demanding five days a week on site.Employment experts attribute the unexpected dip to broader labour‑market dynamics. The UK unemployment rate rose to a near five‑year high of 5.2% in Q4 2025, while job vacancies have continued to fall, shifting bargaining power back toward employers. As Jim Moore, employee‑relations partner at Hamilton Nash, explains, “Top talent did vote with their feet for a while, but that has changed because of wider issues in the labour market and people saying: ‘I am going to stay put and keep my head down.’”Legislative changes may also be curbing tribunal filings. The amended Employment Relations Act, which introduced a right to request flexible working from day one of a new job in April 2024, appears to encourage employees to resolve disputes internally rather than through the courts.Moore warns that tribunal numbers represent “the tip of the iceberg,” noting that much workplace conflict never reaches a public hearing. Adding to employer confidence, a 2024 tribunal decision rejected a senior manager’s claim against the Financial Conduct Authority for the right to work entirely from home, a ruling that, according to Hill Dickinson partner Padma Tadi‑Booth, “may give some encouragement to employers” to tighten office‑attendance policies.Consequently, some firms are already planning to raise on‑site requirements, moving from two to three days a week or mandating a higher percentage of total working hours in the office.Nevertheless, the backlog of employment tribunals remains a significant hurdle. Over 500,000 cases were pending last year, and claimants can expect waits of up to three years for a hearing, potentially deterring future filings.

Iran's economy is struggling to recover from a lethal mix of local mismanagement, corruption, sanctions, and two major wars in less than a year. The ceasefire announced overnight into Wednesday has brought some relief, with more people returning to work and shops reopening in Tehran's Grand Bazaar.However, sales remain slow compared to before the war, and merchants are facing significant challenges, including 20-30 percent price increases for products due to inflation. The near-total internet shutdown imposed since the start of the war on February 28 has caused countless income streams to be wiped out for families trying to survive.The government has promised to provide support to digital businesses, but it is unclear how they will operate while their customers remain offline. Lay-offs are widespread, with technology firms only signing contracts spanning several months, major carmakers laying off thousands of workers, and numerous journalists being let go by state-run and private sector media outlets.The situation for the embattled Iranian economy could still get worse, as the deepening impact of attacks against civilian infrastructure will likely become more apparent over the coming weeks and months. Iran's top steel factories, petrochemical manufacturers, aluminium producers, airports, and civilian aircraft have been bombed and put out of commission by the US and Israel.It would take Iran years to rebuild even if the war ended today, and that is while the country faced a huge budget crunch even before the war, and still has no prospects of lifting the harsh sanctions imposed by the US and the United Nations over its nuclear programme in order to boost foreign investments.

A temporary 32‑hour ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine started at 4:00 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday and will run until midnight on Sunday, according to the Kremlin. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy affirmed Kyiv’s commitment to honor the pause provided Moscow does the same. President Vladimir Putin ordered the ceasefire to align with Orthodox Easter celebrations, more than a week after Zelenskyy first proposed the truce. Both sides have publicly confirmed their intention to observe it. Zelenskyy posted on social media that Ukraine will “adhere to the ceasefire and respond strictly in kind. The absence of Russian strikes in the air, on land, and at sea will mean no response from our side.” The Ukrainian army added it stands ready to react immediately if the truce is breached. Hours before the truce began, Russian forces launched at least 160 drones against Ukrainian targets, killing four civilians in the east and south and wounding dozens. The southern Odesa region suffered two fatalities and damage to civilian infrastructure. In the Russian‑occupied parts of Donetsk and Kherson, Ukrainian drone attacks killed four people, according to officials installed by Moscow. Public confidence in the ceasefire remains low. Last year’s Easter pause saw numerous accusations of violations from both sides, and similar doubts persist this time. Despite the tension, the warring parties completed a reciprocal exchange of 175 prisoners of war each on Saturday. The United Arab Emirates facilitated the swap, as confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defence. Prisoner exchanges have become one of the few tangible outcomes of the stalled U.S.-brokered peace talks, which continue to falter over territorial issues. Ukraine has reiterated its proposal to freeze the conflict along the current front lines, a suggestion Russia rejected, insisting Kyiv relinquish all territory it holds in the Donetsk region—an offer Kyiv deems unacceptable. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Russia did not discuss the Easter proposal with the United States in advance and did not signal an immediate revival of the three‑way peace negotiations. Fighting on the front has largely stalled. While Russia has achieved modest territorial gains at a high cost, Ukrainian forces have recently pushed back in the southeast, and Russian advances have slowed since late 2025, according to the Institute for the Study of War. Moscow now occupies just over 19 percent of Ukraine, most of which was seized in the early weeks of the conflict.

Djibouti's longtime President Ismail Omar Guelleh has claimed a landslide victory in the country's latest elections, ushering in his sixth consecutive term in the Horn of Africa country.Guelleh secured 97.81 percent of the votes cast on Friday, according to official results published by Djibouti's state-run news agency.His sole opponent, Mohamed Farah Samatar, earned just 2.19 percent of votes. Samatar's Unified Democratic Centre (CDU) opposition party has no seats in parliament, and he struggled to gain recognition ahead of the polls.Guelleh, 78, wrote on X as early results arrived: “Reelected”. Politicians last year removed presidential age limits, allowing him to seek another five years in power.Voter turnout was 80.4 percent on Friday, according to Djibouti media outlets. Roughly a quarter of the population – about 256,000 people – were registered to vote.Guelleh has ruled Djibouti's population of roughly one million since 1999. Neighbouring Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, the country is strategically located at the Bab al-Mandeb strait, which provides access to the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden.Even as voters turned in their ballots on Friday, few doubted who would win. Thousands had gathered at Guelleh's campaign rallies ahead of the election, while his posters could be seen plastered across the capital.

Colombia's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism announced on Friday that it will increase tariffs on Ecuadorian goods to 100 percent, up from 30 percent. This move is a direct response to Ecuador's decision to impose a 100 percent tariff on Colombian imports a day earlier.The trade dispute between the two South American countries has been escalating, with Ecuador citing a trade deficit and accusing Colombia of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking. However, Colombia has denied these accusations, pointing to its military operations aimed at intercepting illicit drugs, including a significant seizure last November.The diplomatic tensions have also been fueled by disagreements between the two countries' leaders. Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa has clashed with Colombia's President Gustavo Petro over issues including the imprisonment of former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, whom Petro has called a political prisoner.Colombian Trade Minister Diana Morales stated that her country had exhausted all diplomatic efforts to resolve the issue with Ecuador. She emphasized that the decision to increase tariffs was made to protect Colombian businesses and communities.