Peru Elections Coming Up

• Peruvian general elections are set to begin on April 12th
• Thirty-five candidates are said to be running for president. If no single candidate gets over 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will be pit against each other on June 7th in a runoff vote.
• The election is significant since Peruvians will get to directly elect members of the Senate for the first time since 1992!
• Polls indicate that far-right candidates Keiko Fujimori, former first lady of Peru, and Rafael López Aliaga, former mayor of Lima, are the race’s two frontrunners.

US-Iran Peace Talks to Continue in Pakistan

• Vice President JD Vance flew out to Pakistan on April 10th to advance Iranian peace talks in Pakistan
• The talks come after a ceasefire in the region was repeatedly reported to have been broken in Lebanon, Kuwait, and Iran
• There’s expected to be tension revolving topics including the Strait of Hormuz, nuclear power, sanctions, and Lebanon
• Iran has indicated that it’ll refuse talks of peace until attacks on Lebanon cease indefinitely

Meta Faces (Another) Lawsuit

• On April 10th, Massachusetts’ attorney general sued Meta Platforms for intentionally creating addictive social media apps aimed towards children. The Massachusetts high court unanimously approved the lawsuit
• The attorney general alleges that features on Instagram like push notifications, like counts, and scrolling are designed to be addictive
• The Massachusetts lawsuit is one of many; thirty-four other states are filing similar lawsuits against Meta Platforms in federal court

Taiwan Opposition Leader Meets Xi Jinping in China

• Cheng Li-wun, party chair of the Kuomintang, met with Xi Jinping for the first time in a decade on April 7th.
• Media reports indicate that discussion surrounded shared culture and peace instead of the rising tensions between China and Taiwan
• Cheng spoke positively of Xi after the meeting and said she hoped to “consolidate a stable relationship.”

North Korea fires Missiles Towards Sea in Clear Hostility

• On April 8th, South Korea reported that North Korea fired several missiles into the sea from the Peninsula’s eastern coast
• South Korea made it clear that there were no threats to civilians and that the country was ready to defend against potential attacks
• The missiles come days after North Korea’s first vice minister declared that South Korea would always be the North’s “most hostile enemy state.”

Harris Announces She’s “Thinking About” 2028 White House Bid

• Harris announced at the National Action Network convention in New York that she was “thinking about” running for president again in 2028
• Harris’ announcement was met with great enthusiasm; at one point, the convention crowd began chanting repeatedly encouraging Harris to “Run again!”
• Polls indicate, though, that Gavin Newsom is likely to beat out Harris in a race for the Democratic primary.