CL Hong Kong sent its first astronaut into orbit this morning, and the city felt it in a way the mission brief does not quite capture. A Hongkonger in space opens a question about identity that this city has been carrying for years, not answering it, but holding it differently. That is worth noticing.-- CL

MB Washington announced an Iran deal that Tehran immediately denied, and froze the arms shipments it is legally required to send Taiwan. Moscow chose the same morning to fire a nuclear-capable ballistic missile at Kyiv. The gap between what the White House announces and what its own apparatus delivers has widened, and the people paying closest attention to that gap are not in allied capitals.-- MB