Giorgia Meloni

In office; signed the decree into law

For more than 160 years, anyone who could trace an unbroken bloodline to an Italian ancestor could claim Italian citizenship, no matter how many generations had passed or whether they had ever set foot in Italy. On March 12, 2026, Italy's Constitutional Court upheld a law that ended that principle, capping eligibility at people with an Italian-born parent or grandparent and requiring that ancestor to have held only Italian citizenship. The ruling closes the door on millions of descendants in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and elsewhere who previously had a legal path to an Italian passport and, with it, the right to live and work anywhere in the European Union.

Updated Yesterday

Questioning legality of U.S.-Israeli military actions; coordinating Strait protection efforts

The Strait of Hormuz remains under effective Iranian control as new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vows to maintain the blockade as 'leverage' and urges Gulf states to expel U.S. bases. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continues coordinated attacks on commercial shipping, stranding over 1,000 vessels worth $25 billion in the Persian Gulf; Iraq has halted 1.5 million barrels per day of production, QatarEnergy's LNG facilities are offline, and Saudi Aramco cut output by 20% to 8 million barrels per day as storage overflows. A March 14 drone attack caused fire at UAE's Fujairah port, partially suspending operations at this key oil hub outside the strait.

Updated Yesterday

In office since October 2022

Brazil protected Argentina's embassy in Caracas for 14 months after Nicolás Maduro expelled Argentine diplomats in July 2024. That arrangement ended on January 16, 2026, when Italy assumed custodianship—a shift triggered by Brazil's opposition to the U.S. military operation that captured Maduro two weeks earlier, and accelerated by Argentine President Javier Milei's sustained social media attacks on Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Updated Feb 3