Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel's Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Israeli official says Iran is pressed to make nuclear concessions to revive peace talks with U.S. WSJ Editorial: The Brits foil a possible terror attack Russian Foreign Minister vows Russia will see Ukraine war through North Korea is testing swarm attacks mixing drones and missiles Council on Foreign Relation’s David Sacks and Hudson Institute’s Nick Snyder: Japan is giving the United States a chance in Asia Standoff rocks a northern Irish town over contentious sectarian march CEPA’s Alina Polyakova and Christopher Walker: Russia’s intensifying shadow war against Europe At least 27 killed in 2 overnight mass shootings in South Africa U.S. troops are now fighting the drug war on the ground in Ecuador US lawmakers aim to keep China's datacenter tech out of sensitive government systems Former US Army’s Dan Driscoll: Rewiring the arsenal of democracyIn The News
Israel
It was early October 2023 and two Egyptian warnings about signs of an impending attack from Gaza had gone unheeded by Israel. Kamel called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a third alert, said officials in an Arab government. – Wall Street Journal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday, a senior Israeli official told Reuters. There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office and the UAE’s foreign ministry. – Reuters
The United Nations human rights office issued a list on Friday adding 61 more companies operating in Israeli West Bank settlements, which the global body considers illegal. – Reuters
Israel said on Sunday it was revoking the diplomatic status of Dutch diplomats who represent the Netherlands at the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, in response to Dutch sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. – Reuters
On Sunday, the IDF struck in the southern Gaza Strip and eliminated a Hamas sniper who advanced attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians and worked to rebuild Hamas’ abilities, systematically violating the ceasefire. – Israel National News
A 22-year-old student from Gaza studying at Maastricht University has been suspended after posting a video in which he appeared to suggest that he took part in the October 7 attack on Israel. The university says it cannot determine whether his claim is true, but the footage has triggered an uproar and raised questions about his background and arrival in the Netherlands. – Israel National News
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir met in prison with Hassan Salameh, a senior member of Hamas’ military wing who was convicted of orchestrating a series of deadly suicide bombings that killed dozens of Israelis in the 1990s. – Israel National News
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that it was leading “feverish efforts” to assist some 20 Israeli citizens who are stuck in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, amid a rebel advance in the area. – Times of Israel
Just a few nautical miles west of Haifa, the Israeli Navy’s sixth submarine was approaching Israel’s coast on Thursday morning after a 3,792-nautical-mile (around 8,000-kilometer) voyage over the past 23 days from Germany. – Times of Israel
A Palestinian terrorist who took part in abducting Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip, the military and Shin Bet announced Sunday. – Times of Israel
The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police have stopped proactively arresting ultra-Orthodox draft evaders, according to Hebrew media reports this week. – Times of Israel
Qatar’s prime minister accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government in a weekend interview of being the main impediment to the advancement of a US-backed peace plan in the Gaza Strip, which has made little progress since a ceasefire took effect last year. – Times of Israel
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Sunday that the United States will soon break ground on a permanent embassy complex in Jerusalem, announcing the next step in the project during a Sukkot reception for foreign diplomats hosted by Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion at Safra Square. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF has enacted a closure preventing virtually all Palestinians from entering Jewish areas of the West Bank for the remainder of hol hamoed Sukkot through October 4. – Jerusalem Post
Israel Police launched an investigation into a mock explosive device found attached to a Hamas flag on an access road near Baal-Hazor in the West Bank over the weekend, police stated on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF released footage on Sunday showing a terrorist using a child to transfer weapons into a civilian home in central Gaza in an attempt to prevent the military from striking the location. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF is reinforcing its deployment across the West Bank amid concerns over potential terrorist attacks during the intermediate holiday days, when hundreds of thousands of Israelis are expected to visit nature sites, prayer sites, and public events throughout the area. – Jerusalem Post
The “Atalef” (bat) style suicide drone, which was involved in the recent accident that killed two IDF soldiers, has had repeated incidents of failure in the past, N12 reported on Saturday. – Jerusalem Post
The Israeli Navy is seriously considering purchasing Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon aircraft, which is designed, among other capabilities, for submarine warfare, as part of efforts to expand its covert operational reach far beyond Israel’s borders, Walla learned on Friday. – Jerusalem Post
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed, on Sunday morning, N12 initially reported. A diplomatic source later corroborated this to The Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post
Hamas will continue dedicating itself to “resistance” and fully intends to run as part of a coalition in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections in November, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya told Al Araby TV. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Peace negotiators are pressing Iran to make a concession on its nuclear program to revive ceasefire talks with the U.S. after President Trump rejected Tehran’s truce proposal, in a race to stop the conflict from escalating back into all-out war. – Wall Street Journal
President Trump has rejected Iran’s proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms, U.S. officials said. – Wall Street Journal
In recent days, Iran has seen its airlines cut off from critical regional routes and its top commercial bank stopped from transacting in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, both actions that came on top of longstanding sanctions and the continuing U.S. naval blockade. – Wall Street Journal
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told world leaders at the United Nations this week that Iran would neither shelve its nuclear program nor build nuclear weapons, repeating Tehran’s usual refrain. Back home however, there is a growing public debate about whether Tehran should aim to get the bomb. – Wall Street Journal
Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday that his country was waiting for mediators to communicate an official U.S. response to its latest cease-fire proposal before abandoning efforts to restart talks about the plan, despite President Trump’s public rejection of it. – New York Times
U.S. and Iranian officials said Sunday they still see a chance of a negotiated solution to the Iran war despite President Donald Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s latest offer. – Washington Post
Iran’s armed forces are prepared for any renewed U.S. attacks, state media quoted army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia saying on Sunday, after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting. – Reuters
Iran insisted on Sunday that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel, after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting. – Reuters
Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the United States accepts its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which calls for steps including the lifting of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday. – Reuters
A passenger bus overturned in Iran, killing 11 people and injuring 24 others, state television reported Saturday. – Associated Press
The US military denied claims that Iran had captured an American autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday evening. – Jerusalem Post
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy said on Sunday it had seized a US Remus 600 autonomous underwater vehicle operating in the Strait of Hormuz, which it said was conducting espionage, according to state media. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: The episode is a reminder that today’s conflicts aren’t limited to the immediate battlefield. Adversaries will use asymmetric means to inflict damage, if they can, on the U.S. homeland, its troops and diplomats abroad, and American allies. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard and its Quds force specialize in terrorist attacks abroad. They have plotted to kill former U.S. officials John Bolton and Mike Pompeo from Mr. Trump’s first term, and probably Mr. Trump himself. The Tehran regime won’t stop these attacks even if it signs a cease-fire deal to open the Strait of Hormuz. This is what a revolutionary regime does. – Wall Street Journal
David Petraeus writes: Every additional non-Iranian tanker that passes safely through Hormuz, every additional barrel exported through Fujairah and eventually Yanbu, and every barrel of demand removed from the market reduces Iran’s capacity to impose costs. Every Iranian barrel blocked and every cargo forced onto more expensive overland routes increases pressure on Tehran. None of this guarantees an agreement. A leadership that feels cornered may escalate rather than accommodate. But leverage matters, and the three clocks increasingly determine it. – Wall Street Journal
Russia and Ukraine
Moscow has mandated that businesses take steps to protect themselves. The Kremlin warned in an official decree last month that any company that doesn’t take responsibility for its protection against Ukrainian drones could face temporary state seizure. – Wall Street Journal
ArcelorMittal said it cannot safely restart operations at its Ukrainian subsidiary after missile attacks killed five people and injured 17 employees, and expects to record a $1 billion impairment. – Wall Street Journal
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, met with his German counterpart on Saturday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. It was the first meeting between the two countries at this level since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over four years ago. – New York Times
Russia hit the headquarters of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile service provider on Sunday, the company told local media, as Moscow continued a bombardment of Ukrainian data centres and communications infrastructure. – Reuters
The Russian defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had carried out overnight drone strikes on logistics centres, port and transport infrastructure, as well as communications centres and vessels that Moscow said were linked to the Ukrainian military. – Reuters
A guided Russian aerial bomb injured 22 people, including children, as it struck an apartment building in Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv in the northeast, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram early on Monday. – Reuters
Russian drones set ablaze a market outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday, killing two people, while three others died in strikes by Moscow’s forces in different regions and Kyiv itself also came under attack, local officials said. – Reuters
US reporter Evan Gershkovich, in his first detailed published account of his arrest in Russia in 2023, says he was the victim of an elaborate sting operation by the FSB security service. – Reuters
Ukraine said it struck the Ilsky oil refinery in Russia’s Black Sea region of Krasnodar as Kyiv maintains persistent attacks against energy infrastructure while fending off waves of drones. – Bloomberg
Russian airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least six people across Ukraine and targeted a number of major data centers in Kyiv, officials said. Three people were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region and a man died in Kyiv as a result of strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X. – Bloomberg
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he asked U.S. President Donald Trump to press China’s leader to use Beijing’s influence over Moscow in a diplomatic effort to get Russia to end its 4½-yearlong invasion of Ukraine. – Associated Press
Ilan Berman writes: Even so, the contrast is instructive. It provides a useful reminder that there is a significant constituency of Russians that has a very different vision of their country’s future. Most of them, however, live outside Russia’s borders. The rest, meanwhile, are about to face an even more absolutist, totalitarian Kremlin. Indeed, the politics of Putin’s war—in which Russia now finds itself on the back foot against a reinvigorated and technologically capable Ukraine—necessitate it. As such, the results of the latest Duma elections may be a bellwether for what Putin needs next: greater mobilization, additional economic sacrifice, and an ever more compliant and passive population. – National Interest
Alina Polyakova and Christopher Walker write: Russia is already waging a multi-front shadow war against Western democracies. The regime in Beijing provides critical support to the one on Moscow, revealing the extent to which China contributes to the attack on the West. Democracies now urgently need to shift from passive defense and endless hesitation, a posture that only invites further aggression. The alliance must recognize this threat for what it is, match it with strategic resolve, and impose clear costs across the entire spectrum of conflict before the shadow war turns into a wider crisis. – National Interest
John Christer Tonnessen writes: To deliver this, the West needs an information strategy built around access, credibility, and consistency. Access means funding the digital infrastructure that allows independent media to reach audiences in Russia, credibility means treating such journalism as a strategic capability rather than a series of ad hoc projects, and consistency means ensuring Western diplomatic messaging aligns with Russian exile media and never reinforces the Kremlin’s account of reality. Ending Russia’s reliance on military force as a tool of statecraft requires change from within, and independent Russian voices are uniquely positioned to foster the critical awareness needed for such change. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Hezbollah
Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Sunday it would contribute soon to a project aimed at housing thousands of people displaced due to the war with Israel. – Reuters
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem told supporters gathered in Lebanon on Sunday to mark two years since the killing of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, that Israel had been unable to break his Iran-backed terror group. – Times of Israel
Two years after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, the organization he shaped for decades is still struggling to rebuild its command structure, military capabilities, and strategic standing following a campaign that systematically dismantled the network around him. – Jerusalem Post
Turkey
A deputy chair of President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party stepped down after an opposition politician accused her of making a large profit on shares just before a funds crisis triggered a major selloff on the country’s stock market. – Reuters
Turkish authorities lifted asset-freeze orders imposed on 46 companies as part of an investigation into investment funds and market manipulation, broadcaster NTV and other media reported on Monday. – Reuters
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed an interministerial team and the head of the International Law Department at the Justice Ministry to prepare a comprehensive legal case against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, i24NEWS legal analyst Avishai Grinzaig reported on Sunday evening. – Israel National News
Yemen
Yemen’s Houthi-run health ministry said seven people were killed and 40 injured, including children, in a strike on shops at a market in the Mawiya junction in Taiz province on Sunday. Later, Yemen’s internationally recognised government said its forces had targeted a Houthi military camp and vehicles at the same junction. – Reuters
The attack against a market at the Mawiya junction in Taiz province on Sunday was carried out by Saudi Arabia and not Yemen’s internationally recognized government, according to the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, who also warned the strike will have “severe consequences.” – Jerusalem Post
Yemen’s armed forces said on Sunday that 2,316 Houthi fighters had been killed or wounded in hundreds of operations against the Iran-backed militia over the past 72 hours. – Al Arabiya
Saudi Arabia
The military chiefs of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey discussed enhancing intelligence sharing, military coordination and capability integration at a meeting in Riyadh on Friday, according to statements from Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry and Pakistan’s military. – Reuters
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan arrived in Washington on Monday for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Saudi state news agency said, amid escalating hostilities between Riyadh and Yemen’s Houthis. – Reuters
Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition said early on Saturday it had intercepted two ballistic missiles and two drones launched by the Iran-backed Houthis towards the kingdom. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia warned UN members Saturday that attempts to block Middle East waterways are a threat to global energy security and demanded the international community do more to defend freedom of navigation. – Agence France-Presse
Dov Zakheim writes: Leaving the Saudis to their own devices will simply encourage Riyadh to reevaluate its relationship with the U.S. […]Ceding the region to China surely is not a prospect Washington should relish, even if it wishes to lower its Middle Eastern profile. For that reason, it would behoove the Trump administration to reconsider its rejection of Saudi entreaties, and, despite the materiel shortages it surely confronts, come to the aid of its longstanding Middle Eastern ally. – The Hill
Korean Peninsula
North Korea has started practicing swarm attacks that combine unmanned systems with conventional weapons, adopting tactics already used in Ukraine and the Middle East that could challenge U.S. and allied air defenses. – Wall Street Journal
South Korea’s military and the United Nations Command launched a joint investigation into a landmine explosion near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Sunday, as opposition lawmakers called for transparency about the origins of the device. – Reuters
South Korea’s presidential office on Monday demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine, saying Kyiv unilaterally disclosed the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea despite a prior agreement to keep the matter confidential. – Reuters
China
With the population of China shrinking, Beijing wants more marriages and babies. One long-shot strategy: turn the government bureaus that handle marriage paperwork into swoon-worthy destinations. – Wall Street Journal
The effort to develop a China-free supply chain for vital manufacturing inputs moved into high gear after April 2025, when China put export controls on key rare-earth elements. The U.S. push for mineral independence has spanned the departments of Defense, Energy, State, Commerce and Interior. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. and China said they agreed to a $30 billion reciprocal tariff reduction and to launch a bilateral dialogue on artificial intelligence, two tangible outcomes from Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s recently concluded summit meeting in Washington with President Trump. – Wall Street Journal
China’s leader Xi Jinping, during his summit on Thursday with President Trump in Washington, revealed the impending arrival of Chinese exports that even a trade warrior might not complain about: a pair of giant pandas. – Wall Street Journal
When Xi Jinping took his seat at the candlelit state dinner held in his honor Thursday night, President Trump in black tie beside him, the Chinese leader was dressed in a Mao suit—the high-collared tunic long associated with Communist Party authority. – Wall Street Journal
China pushed back against the United States in its speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, saying sovereignty of countries in the Gulf should be respected and urging the “relevant country” to stop threatening Cuba and lift its blockade on it. – Reuters
China said on Monday a two-month extension of a trade truce with the United States would provide room for both sides to evaluate the implementation of their arrangement to resolve economic and trade issues, while considering how to advance on those fronts. – Reuters
China is set to cut tariffs on a broad range of US agricultural goods, from corn and wheat to meat and dairy, but top import item soybeans were excluded from a tariff-reduction list its commerce ministry issued on Monday. – Reuters
China agreed to import at least 10 million metric tons of coal from the US next year and again in 2028, according to the White House, in a sign of progress in easing trade frictions. – Bloomberg
China‘s People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command conducted a joint naval and air training exercise in the waters and airspace around Scarborough Shoal on Sept. 27. – Bloomberg
China and the US have the ability and responsibility to manage and develop artificial intelligence, according to a post published Sunday by Yuyuantantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster China Central Television. – Bloomberg
Editorial: China continues to provide economic support that helps prop up Tehran. At home, China adds to its nuclear arsenal and the number of warheads aimed at the U.S. The main deliverable of Xi’s visit, beyond good vibes, seems to have been the extension of a trade truce for two months, until Jan. 10. Trump is right to advocate for more burden-sharing by U.S. allies. New global security arrangements and regional alliances can enhance America’s global reach. But networks created out of fear of a U.S. retreat risk leaving America more isolated and with fewer friends to trade with. They also reflect weakening trust in what has been one of America’s greatest strengths — its word. – Washington Post
Tenzin Baghen writes: If China continues to ignore the potential seismic and ecological consequences of its actions in the Himalayas, and continues to systematically dismantle the only culture equipped to manage the plateau’s fragile ecosystem, it accelerates the clock on destructive glacial lake outburst floods and pushes the Tibetan environment further out of balance. But what happens in Tibet doesn’t stay in Tibet. It eventually flows downstream into neighboring countries, including China itself. – The Hill
South Asia
Afghanistan’s defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had killed 28 fighters and wounded 32 in the eastern province of Nuristan after a group it said included Islamic State militants crossed from Pakistan. – Reuters
Heavy rain and storms have triggered floods and landslides that killed 56 people in India, while in Nepal, 14 have died and another 11 are missing, with authorities there warning on Sunday that more flash floods are possible. – Reuters
Two Pakistani pilots are memorising Mandarin, spinning in centrifuge drills and learning to eat, sleep and repair equipment while weightless as a decision nears on which one will become the first foreign astronaut aboard China’s Tiangong space station. – Reuters
The Election Commission of India ordered a review of its voter-roll software on Saturday after a newspaper reported that its chief had been questioned by his deputies over changes to voter lists that excluded millions of voters. – Reuters
Eleven people were killed and 30 injured in a blast in Dera Ismail Khan in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, emergency service Rescue 1122 said. – Reuters
Asia
Such aerial attacks — in which light, recreational aircraft, or paramotors, have been turned into deadly weapons — are carried out by the military almost daily now in central Myanmar, giving it an edge in its campaign to crush pro-democracy forces. – New York Times
The United States “very much” understands Taiwan’s defence needs and the severe military threat it faces from China, a senior Taiwanese diplomat said on Sunday, following a Washington summit between the US and Chinese leaders. – Reuters
Thailand’s Constitutional Court will rule on Monday on a challenge to the legality of February’s general election, a decision that could put part or all of the result in doubt. – Reuters
Taiwan is pushing back against what it sees as Beijing’s efforts to rewrite the history of World War Two after Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump highlighted the wartime alliance between their countries at a summit last week. – Reuters
Taiwan must deepen cooperation with its democratic partners on developing drones which are crucial to fighting modern warfare, President Lai Ching-te said on Monday. – Reuters
Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed his defense minister after 14 military personnel died during exercises in the Caspian Sea. Dauren Kosanov was relieved of his duties and Aidos Myrzakhmetov was appointed as his replacement, according to two presidential decrees. Before this role, Myrzakhmetov was the commander of special operations forces. – Bloomberg
Australia’s sensitive government data is kept in a “fortress,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Sunday, seeking to reassure the public after revelations last week that an OpenAI model hacked a government website. – Bloomberg
Public support for Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and his Bhumjaithai Party has plunged, according to an opinion poll, as his government confronts rising oil prices and a court ruling that may threaten its hold on power. – Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi spoke by phone about the US-China summit that took place earlier this week, Kyodo news agency reports. – Bloomberg
Incessant rain hammered several areas of Thailand’s capital on Saturday, disrupting traffic and forcing thousands to evacuate, as authorities declared the city a disaster area. – Associated Press
David Sacks and Nick Snyder write: One way to allay fears that the United States is retrenching from the world’s most important region is to chart an ambitious course for its most critical alliance. For now, Japan has staked its future on the United States, but its continued course depends on the United States also choosing to loudly and publicly embrace Japan. Washington has a rare chance to elevate a critical alliance to new heights. If the United States allows the alliance to atrophy, however, Washington, Tokyo, and the region alike will suffer. – Foreign Affairs
Europe
British authorities said Sunday they arrested five men on suspicion of planning a terrorist act near an air base that the U.S. has used in the war with Iran. – Wall Street Journal
This summer, a small crowd gathered around six freshly exhumed human skeletons protruding from the ground on the edge of a sunflower field in Ukraine. They didn’t belong to victims of Russia’s war on Ukraine, but to Poles massacred by Ukrainian ultranationalists who briefly allied with Nazi forces in World War II. – Wall Street Journal
Serbia’s strongman leader, Aleksandar Vucic, resigned as the Balkan nation’s president on Sunday, a move that allows him to keep his grip on power by taking over as prime minister if, as expected, his governing party wins a parliamentary election in October. – New York Times
After a judge ruled on Sunday that a contentious march by a Protestant group through a mostly Catholic area in Northern Ireland could proceed for the first time in nearly three decades, residents blocked the streets to prevent the marchers from passing. – New York Times
French far-right leaders said their party, the National Rally, and its right-wing allies won enough seats in Sunday’s indirect election of senators to form their own caucus. It was the first time the party had cleared the 10-seat threshold for a Senate caucus, as it prepares for a 2027 presidential race in which opinion polls show it in the lead for the first round. – Reuters
Swiss voters on Sunday firmly rejected a proposal to adopt a more restrictive form of neutrality that would have blocked their country from imposing economic sanctions or cooperating with NATO. – Reuters
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called on Saturday for an expedited procedure to deport individuals following mass border crossings, such as the influx into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta in July. – Reuters
A former member of a violent far-right group was found guilty on Friday of murdering former Argentina rugby international Federico Aramburu four years ago in Paris, following an altercation near the Boulevard Saint-Germain. – Reuters
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Sunday his decision to meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov was driven by security concerns and to address a growing food-export crisis. – Reuters
A 45-year-old man pleaded not guilty on Friday to attempting to murder two Jewish men who were stabbed in a knife attack in north London in April, an offence prosecutors said they were no longer treating as terrorism. – Reuters
This month’s victories for far-right and far-left parties in German state elections have intensified official debate over whether security authorities can restrict secret information that might be passed on to Russia or criminal groups. – Reuters
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said elections may be held as soon as January, as infighting between members of his ruling coalition threaten to cost him a majority in parliament. – Bloomberg
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin rejected claims that Ireland’s sharp criticism of Israel has crossed into antisemitism as tensions flared around a politically charged soccer match between the countries Sunday, with Irish players holding a last-minute vote over whether to boycott the game. – Fox News
European leaders are raising alarm that Russia is intensifying its years-long hybrid war against NATO member states, lashing out as it struggles to make decisive gains in its nearly five-year war against Ukraine. – The Hill
Ireland defeated Israel 3-0 in a politically charged UEFA Nations League match in Debrecen, Hungary, on Sunday, with the teams declining to shake hands before kickoff and Irish players wearing black armbands. – Israel National News
Africa
At least 27 people were killed in two separate shootings in South Africa on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, adding to the toll of mass shootings in a country struggling to control violent crime. – New York Times
The World Health Organization said on Friday that the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has spread to two additional health zones, bringing the total number affected to 63 across seven provinces. – Reuters
There has been a sharp increase in the number of people fleeing from Sudan to Chad to escape fighting and dire conditions, and aid funding is failing to keep up with needs, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday. – Reuters
South Africa remains open to talks with the US on areas of dispute, including rules for foreign investors on Black employment and ownership, although it was surprised by last week’s US visa restrictions, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Friday. – Reuters
Thirteen people including three army officers were killed on Friday when a military plane crashed in Democratic Republic of Congo, an official said. – Reuters
A US-sanctioned oil tanker, Sibu 1, has been freed after being hijacked by Somali pirates in August, the maritime police force in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Friday. – Reuters
The Americas
Ecuador’s security forces carried out a series of raids this week around the country, killing three alleged drug traffickers and capturing dozens more. At their side was a contingent of heavily armed American soldiers. – Wall Street Journal
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez arrived in New York this week for the UN General Assembly seeking business deals on debt, energy and mining, to demonstrate the once sanctioned country was open for business again after US forces removed her predecessor in January. – Reuters
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had spoken this week with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez about elections. – Reuters
President Donald Trump predicted on Saturday that the US and Cuba will reach an agreement and that he does not think military action will be necessary. – Reuters
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday announced a ban on online betting operations in Latin America’s largest economy and unveiled a new debt relief program aimed at households, the latest in a series of measures introduced ahead of next month’s election. – Reuters
Venezuela’s long-awaited vote may not happen for a year or more due to planned overhauls of the courts and electoral authorities, according to five political sources and analysts, despite Acting President Delcy Rodriguez’s promise of a transition to “full democracy”. – Reuters
Colombia has extradited an alleged drug-trafficking leader from a dissident faction of the former FARC rebel group to the US, President Abelardo De La Espriella said on Friday. – Reuters
A manhunt was underway Saturday after a shooting that left four people dead in the small Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where authorities have struggled to contain gang violence. – Associated Press
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado took to the country’s streets on Sunday to demand her safe return and presidential elections that could lead to a democratic transition in Venezuela. The government has been widely accused of stealing elections, jailing dissidents and stifling freedom of speech. – Associated Press
Human rights groups in Venezuela said that significant numbers of political prisoners were released in the South American country on Saturday, though the total number of those freed has still not been determined. – Associated Press
A panel of appeals court judges appeared to be divided Friday on whether to reverse or uphold an order for the Trump administration to facilitate the return of dozens of Venezuelan migrants who were deported from the U.S. to a notorious prison in El Salvador last year. – Associated Press
United States
Trump administration officials said the U.S. has no plans to sell weapons to Beijing after Ambassador David Perdue told an interviewer that the president “at one point” offered to make a deal to transfer American arms to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. – Wall Street Journal
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced legislation on Friday to bar the federal government from equipping sensitive government systems with Chinese-made components used to transmit data in AI data centers. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said he is still looking “very seriously” at implementing a US ban on diesel exports to combat high prices, even as others in his administration continue to focus on other possible steps. – Bloomberg
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) said Sunday the Iranian government was “clearly” involved in an alleged terror attack authorities in the United Kingdom thwarted earlier in the day. – The Hill
President Trump on Sunday praised law enforcement in the U.K. for its work in arresting five men suspected of planning a terror attack on a U.S. air base – The Hill
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Sunday that President Trump rejected Iranian officials’ ceasefire proposal because they asked for “everything up front.” – The Hill
New York police arrested Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25, after they were spotted Wednesday evening emerging from the sewer system near the hotel where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was staying during the UN General Assembly. – Israel National News
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic from military contracts, handing a victory to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in their battle with the AI startup over safety guardrails on its technology. – Defense News
George Terwilliger writes: Weak-kneed politicians who would kick the can down the road are ignoring the threat an IRGC-led Iran and its terrorist affiliates represent to global stability. The can here is a bomb, and it can’t be kicked down the road without risk of blowing up in our faces. It shouldn’t take a 9/11 level of attack on our own soil to motivate officials to step up to the responsibility they have to our citizens and their safety. That means supporting the use of military force against the IRGC because it is an international outlaw organization that needs to have its capabilities as a whole arrested. – Wall Street Journal
Dan Driscoll writes: In the emerging era of warfare, the United States cannot bear the deterrence burden alone. If Operation Spider’s Web reveals anything, it is that standing militaries are not a measure of deterrence […]But while authoritarian regimes can mass-produce, they cannot match the entrepreneurial power of free markets. To deter—and ultimately defeat—their adversaries, the United States and its allies must align their defense ecosystems. The U.S. Army’s recent innovations, under Trump and Hegseth’s leadership, can be a blueprint for all of Western defense. Digital and industrial capacity, adaptability, and compatibility are the new measures of strength for the United States and its allies – Foreign Affairs
Cybersecurity
OpenAI agents bombarded a United Nations website with search requests and then used a variety of aggressive techniques to access data on the system in June, according to an independent research report published Saturday. – Wall Street Journal
TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have reached a settlement with Alabama over allegations they designed the platform to addict children and misled consumers about its safety, marking the company’s first deal with a state as it fights similar claims nationwide. – Reuters
The CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic have been called to appear at an Australian Senate inquiry on AI, the head of the probe said on Sunday, days after the revelation that a rogue OpenAI bot had hacked the country’s health-system database. – Reuters
FBI personnel data recently stolen by the ShinyHunters hackers includes sensitive psychiatric and medical evaluation records, according to the hackers and documents reviewed by Reuters. – Reuters
Global anxiety over artificial intelligence risks has intensified following fresh disclosures about a far wider range of breaches by advanced AI models, setting the stage for a high-stakes meeting between Anthropic PBC Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei and President Donald Trump. – Bloomberg
Defense
Defense contractors are spending billions to build factories and increase production to stock America’s nearly bare cupboard of highly engineered missiles. But those efforts haven’t translated into real gains yet, leaving the U.S. and allies with depleted stocks of important weapons while it fights Iran. Most of the new missiles will arrive too late for any conflict in the next couple of years. – Wall Street Journal
A federal appeals court upheld on Friday the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic from military contracts, handing a victory to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in their battle with the AI startup over safety guardrails on its technology. – Reuters
The British Ministry of Defence has struck a partnership with Ukraine’s Avengers AI Labs, an information-rich platform built to train AI for battlefield drones, marking the first time that Kyiv has opened up its trove of wartime data to an outside government, according to officials in London. – Defense News
The Trump administration has made legally binding commitments to spend almost all of the $400 million Congress approved for military aid to Ukraine late last year, ensuring that the money will not expire on Sept. 30, according to three sources familiar with the plan. – Defense News