World roundup: May 9 2025

Stories from Israel-Palestine, India, South Africa, and elsewhere

Today’s roundup is out early because I have a commitment this evening. We’ll catch up on anything I miss on Sunday. Thanks for reading!

TODAY IN HISTORY

May 9, 1271: Lord Edward, Duke of Gascony—the future King Edward I of England, AKA “Edward Longshanks”—lands at Acre to begin what historians now regard as the Ninth Crusade or, if you prefer, “Lord Edward’s Crusade.” Edward’s Crusader army was far too small to make any serious gains, in part because the French army that was supposed to join him was wiped out besieging Tunis. But with some assistance from the neighboring Mongolian Ilkhanate he was able to win a number of small victories against Mamluk forces that prevented Sultan Baybars from eradicating the Crusader presence in the region. Admittedly this only bought the Crusaders another couple of decades—Acre, the last Crusader state in the Levant, fell to the Mamluks in 1291—but as Crusades go that counts as a success.

Edward outmuscling his would-be killer in a 19th century engraving by French illustrator Gustave Doré (Wikimedia Commons)

The campaign is perhaps best known for the attempted assassination of Edward in June 1272 by parties (still) unknown. Edward famously fended off and killed the assassin though he did receive a nasty wound in the process. Curiously, the assassination attempt took place after Edward had negotiated a lengthy peace treaty between the Crusader states and Baybars and the wound actually delayed his departure from the region.

May 9, 1865: US President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring that the Confederacy’s armed resistance was “virtually” over and obliging any countries or ships at sea that were harboring Confederate fugitives to turn them over to authorities. There were still small rebel units in the field, so the fighting wasn’t completely at an end, but this date is frequently cited as the formal conclusion of the US Civil War.

INTERNATIONAL

The United Nations World Food Program warned on Friday that some 52 million people across much of West and Central Africa could struggle to meet their basic food needs during the upcoming June to August lean season. The WFP report cited myriad causes, including extreme weather and fuel price hikes that have reduced supply as well as regional conflicts that have displaced millions of people and greatly complicated food distribution. The report apparently did not include the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where some 28 million people are already at serious hunger risk.

MIDDLE EAST

TURKEY

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) revealed on Friday that it had held a party congress earlier this week in northern Iraq to discuss founder Abdullah Öcalan’s call earlier this year for the PKK to disarm and disband. PKK leaders have indicated that they will obey that call, but they delayed the congress for a number of reasons, including concerns over the safety of its attendees from a Turkish military attack and because they were pressing Turkish authorities to allow Öcalan to attend (the answer was obviously “no”).