Politics today is defined by contested authority, from the high seas to the courtroom to the Middle East. France, backed by Britain and other partners, says it intercepted and detained a sanctioned tanker linked to Russia in the Atlantic, a muscular signal that Europe is prepared to enforce sanctions beyond its shores. In Washington, a U.S. appeals court dealt the Trump administration a blow by finding its transgender military ban likely unconstitutional, though the policy remains in place for now as appeals continue. And in the Middle East, Donald Trump is claiming credit for a fragile de-escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, saying Benjamin Netanyahu agreed not to send troops into Beirut and that Hezbollah pledged to halt fire — assertions still clouded by a lack of public confirmation and uncertainty over parallel Iran diplomacy. In Britain, meanwhile, former Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell is pressing for a joint Westminster-Holyrood inquiry into alleged financial wrongdoing by Peter Murrell.