Global flashpoints: parliaments, straits, and resignations
From a chair thrown in Armenia to a cruise ship stranded in Cambodia, the last 12 hours delivered a cascade of distinct crises.
Global flashpoints: parliaments, straits, and resignations — In the Armenian parliament today, a deputy speaker threw a chair at opposition members. Prime Minister Pashinyan backed his party members, calling the act "proportionate and correct."[^1] The scene, captured on video, marks an extraordinary escalation in what had been a procedural dispute. Maariv's coverage frames the incident as a symptom of deepening dysfunction in Yerevan, though Pashinyan's defense suggests he sees it as a justified response to obstruction. In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced that at least four tankers caught fire after hitting mines while attempting to cross.[^2] The announcement came as Arab48 reported that Iran has not yet responded to a message from Trump's deputy, JD Vance.[^3] The Walla report on the same incident notes the Iranian claim of seizing an American drone near the strait, adding another layer to an already volatile maritime corridor.[^4] The juxtaposition is striking: Tehran projects military capability in the Gulf while senior officials admitted to the British newspaper The Telegraph that they examined ways to recruit agents to interfere in Israeli elections.[^5] Elsewhere, the luxury cruise company Villa Vie Residences suspended operations and ordered approximately 200 passengers to disembark from the ship Villa Vie Odyssey in Cambodia.[^6] The company cited rising fuel costs, which surged from $1,800 per cabin per month to $6,000-$8,000. In Serbia, the director of the state broadcaster RTS, Manja Grčić, resigned under pressure from the opposition student movement, while an anchor on another channel opened his broadcast with an apology: "We failed, we remained silent, we turned a blind eye."[^7] Ynet's coverage notes that the student list now holds 140 seats in parliament against Vučić's party's 104, a remarkable inversion of power. In Berlin, Left candidate for mayor Elif Arap expressed concern about elements with ties to Hamas within her own party, even as the Left won 25.7% of the vote and the emerging coalition will have 91 seats in the local parliament.[^8] The European Union, meanwhile, retreated from its proposal to open negoti