Moldova in the UN spotlight: Moldova abstained in a UN General Assembly vote backing a new “Equal Earth” world map that aims to show Africa at its true size, challenging the centuries-old Mercator projection; the resolution passed 164-1 with the U.S. the only no vote, and it encourages governments, schools and tech platforms to use equal-area maps without banning Mercator. Russia-Ukraine diplomacy: U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Vladimir Putin in Moscow for talks on ending the war, with no breakthroughs reported; they are set to travel to Kyiv next, while Ukraine said it will work to keep airspace safe during the visit. Cybersecurity concern for the region: A Russian state-linked group, BlueDelta, deployed a Windows backdoor called HOOKEDGE against government and defense-related targets in Romania and other countries, using malicious Word documents and Edge-based command retrieval. Energy corridor update: North Macedonia and Serbia joined the Vertical Gas Corridor, expanding the network that already includes Moldova’s Vestmoldtransgaz, with more cross-border gas-flow capacity planned. Food-price pressure: Global food prices rose to their highest level since late 2022 as Russia-Ukraine war disruptions continue to hit wheat exports and Black Sea shipping.