Our Monday morning stroll around the world

🇮🇩 The world’s oldest example of narrative cave art was discovered in Indonesia. The 36-inch x 15-inch painting, which depicts three people surrounding a wild pig, was determined to be 51,200 years old, surpassing the previous record-holder by 5,000+ years. Experts say the painting supports the idea that narrative storytelling was a crucial part of human culture from a very early point in time.

🇬🇧🇫🇷 The UK and France held nationwide parliamentary elections. The UK’s Labour Party won 412 of 650 parliamentary seats, marking the government’s first leadership change in 14 years and a record loss for the formerly ruling Conservative Party. New Labour PM Keir Starmer said his plans for this term include scrapping a controversial Rwanda migrant deportation plan, accelerating clean energy projects, and establishing a publicly-owned energy company. Separately, France is facing a hung parliament after early results show its three main political coalitions – representing the left, center, and right – all earned large shares of the vote in Sunday’s elections (though the left earned the top spot), with the country’s PM resigning after his centrist coalition failed to win a majority.

🇮🇱 Israel approved the largest West Bank settlement expansion in 30+ years. Israeli authorities recently approved the appropriation of 4.9 square miles of land in the Jordan Valley, according to documents viewed by the AP – a move watchdog group Peace Now says is the largest single appropriation since 1993. Most of the international community, including the US, considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal or illegitimate, though Israel disputes their illegality.