Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Hamas releases video of Israeli-American hostage held in Gaza Israel working on release of 10 hostages, Netanyahu tells captive's family Iran has a reason to strike a nuclear deal: Its economy is in trouble Iranian foreign minister will consult on Iran-US talks during visit to Russia EU ministers adopt Iran sanctions over citizen detentions WSJ Editorial: Trump and the atomic Ayatollah Russian missile strike kills at least 34 in Ukrainian city Israel and Turkey in talks to avoid conflict over Syria Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran: America’s greatest Middle East test lies in Syria U.S. revives talks with Saudi Arabia on transfer of nuclear technology Sudanese paramilitaries kill entire clinic staff in famine-struck camp China halts critical exports as trade war intensifiesIn The News
Israel
The European Union will increase its financial support for the Palestinian Authority with a three-year package worth around 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion), the European Commissioner responsible for the Middle East told Reuters in an interview. – Reuters
Hamas on Saturday released a video purportedly of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who has been held in Gaza since he was captured by Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023. – Reuters
Israeli forces have completed the encirclement of Gaza’s Rafah, the military said on Saturday, part of an announced plan to seize more areas of the enclave, accompanied by large-scale evacuations of the population. – Reuters
The Israel Defense Forces on Friday confirmed that it participated in a just-completed annual aerial exercise hosted by Greece, which this year included the participation of Qatar. – Times of Israel
Hamas has agreed to the release of additional hostages in two stages, as well as to provide up-to-date information on the remaining hostages, Saudi state-owned Al-Arabiya news outlet reported on Sunday night. – Jerusalem Post
The Hamas negotiating delegation, headed by Khalil al-Hayya, will meet today in Cairo with senior Egyptian and Qatari officials, as part of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement, a source in Hamas told the Saudi-owned “Asharq” channel. – Jerusalem Post
William C. Daroff writes: The path forward demands a more flexible and inclusive framework, one that invites new actors to the table and reflects the region’s diverse tapestry. Of course, no discussion of regional peace is complete without addressing the central obstacle: the Islamic Republic of Iran. While many in the region pursue normalization and collaboration, Iran continues to spread terror, fund proxy militias, and threaten the countries working toward peace. Confronting Tehran’s destabilizing activities remains essential. The region’s growing unity against Iranian aggression is one of the key drivers behind today’s diplomatic progress. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
The threat of U.S. military intervention helped bring Iran back to the negotiating table. Its hobbled economy is likely to keep it there. Iran’s currency is among the weakest in the world. Inflation remains well above 30%. Young people are struggling to find work, and a frustrated middle class can no longer afford to buy imported goods. – Wall Street Journal
Iran sought sanctions relief from the U.S. in exchange for limits on its nuclear program during indirect talks Saturday that have opened the way to more serious negotiations next week, people briefed on the meeting said. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said the Trump administration’s “red line” with Iran is to stop it from being able to produce a nuclear weapon, a potential overture to Tehran ahead of high-stakes talks this weekend. – Wall Street Journal
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Russia this week, the foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, and will consult with Moscow regarding the latest talks between Iran and the United States in Oman. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he expected to make a decision on Iran very quickly, after both countries said they held “positive” and “constructive” talks in Oman on Saturday and agreed to reconvene this week. – Reuters
Eight Pakistanis were killed in southeastern Iran, according to a statement from the Pakistani government on Sunday. The people, who have yet to be identified, were killed in the Mehrestan County of Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan. – Reuters
European Union foreign ministers on Monday adopted sanctions against seven Iranian individuals and two organisations over the detention of EU citizens, which the bloc calls a policy of state-sponsored hostage-taking, diplomats said. – Reuters
Iran said that it’s “extremely important” that any sanctions relief agreed with the US as part of a potential future nuclear deal is “guaranteed” to last. – Bloomberg
The Iranian foreign ministry said Sunday that talks with the United States slated for next weekend will remain “indirect,” with Omani mediation, and focused solely on the nuclear issue and lifting of sanctions. – Agence France Presse
Editorial: “A second option, that it won’t happen. They’ll just drag out the talks, and then the option is military. Everyone understands that. We discussed that at length,” he said. A dismantlement deal is preferable to an attack on Iran that would have uncertain consequences, but the military destruction of most of Iran’s program is better than a deal that leaves Iran able to build a bomb after it has had time to rebuild its military strength and proxy network. That’s the test for Mr. Witkoff and the President. – Wall Street Journal
John F. Kerry and Thomas S. Kaplan write: Tehran has a choice to make. The civilization that has shaped the game of chess since the days of the Persian Court faces a moment of shah, or check: Despite so many key pieces taken off the board, Iran is being extended an opportunity for an agreement with the U.S. that could avert a war with unpredictable repercussions. If the current talks fail to result in a breakthrough, military options would be just as available then as they are now. Given these stakes, Mr. Trump’s willingness to pursue diplomacy is prudent. Iran would be smart to take him up on this opening for peace before shah is superseded by shah mat, checkmate. We should all root for wise decisions. – Wall Street Journal
Comfort Ero writes: Trump could advance the process by making a simple but significant quid pro quo that would open the door to direct high-level diplomacy: temporarily suspending maximum pressure sanctions in exchange for Iran suspending its uranium enrichment for the same period of time. That could pave the way for the presidential-level meeting Trump has sought for a long time. If they are serious about advancing talks, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, or another mediator whom Trump respects should propose such an arrangement. They could then host both the high-level meeting and subsequent technical discussions. Iran and the United States have a bitterly adversarial history. There is a chasm of mistrust between the two countries that diplomacy will struggle to bridge. But an agreement remains possible. Iran needs a deal. Trump wants one. And the alternative to successful negotiations would be catastrophic. – Foreign Affairs
Russia and Ukraine
A Russian ballistic-missile strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed at least 34 people, Ukrainian officials said, leaving bodies strewn across a central street and marking the war’s deadliest attack on civilians this year. – Wall Street Journal
Ukraine is seeking solutions to repair the damage caused by a Russian drone attack to the confinement vessel at the stricken Chornobyl nuclear power plant, a government minister said on Saturday. – Reuters
The Kremlin said on Sunday contacts with U.S. President Donald Trump’s team were moving ahead very well but that it was too early to expect instant results due to the level of damage done to relations under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden. – Reuters
Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, injuring four people and damaging residential and commercial buildings in Kyiv and other parts of the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday. – Reuters
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that Ukraine had carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past day, a violation of a U.S.-brokered moratorium on such strikes. – Reuters
U.S. and Ukrainian officials met on Friday on a U.S. proposal to gain access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, a source with knowledge of the matter said, adding that prospects for a breakthrough were scant given the meeting’s “antagonistic” atmosphere. – Reuters
Ukrainian lawmakers are almost certain to extend martial law again before it expires on May 9, the parliamentary speaker has said, determined to uphold democracy even as the United States and Russia pressure Kyiv to hold a new vote. – Reuters
Overnight attacks by Russia sparked a fire at a petrol station in Zaporizhzhia, injured at least eight people and damaged houses across the southeastern part of Ukraine, regional officials said on Monday. – Reuters
Nicholas Fenton and Alexander Kolyandr write: The goal of any smart sanctions strategy toward Russia should not be to cause economic disruption as an end in itself. Rather, the goal should be to create economic problems so severe that they generate enough social tension to force the Kremlin to back down or face serious domestic unrest. It should be noted, however, that without proper sanctions buy-in from key countries such as China, India, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, this kind of scenario will remain difficult to bring to fruition. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Ilan Berman writes: It also mirrors the thinking of President Vladimir Putin himself. In his rambling interview with former Fox News host and U.S. media personality Tucker Carlson last year, Putin offered a flawed and selective version of history in which he made the case for both Russian imperialism and further territorial expansion. In Europe, at least, the consequences of this sort of thinking are well understood. Strategists there are now actively debating how long it might take for Russia to regroup after its recent battlefield losses in Ukraine and be able to present a redoubled threat to the continent. What most definitely is not in doubt, though, is that it invariably will. – The National Interest
Hezbollah
The Lebanese-French national who was accused of detonating explosives in a 2012 attack in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists was buried in a cemetery designated for fallen Hezbollah fighters, said a former Lebanese security official who negotiated the return of his remains. – Associated Press
Most military sites belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have been placed under Lebanese army control, a source close to the terror group said Saturday. – Times of Israel
The Lebanese army has for the first time entered Hezbollah bases north of the Litani River and has nearly completed dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure in the south of the country, the Lebanese Al Jadeed network reported on Thursday. – Times of Israel
Hezbollah’s network for acquiring materials to produce drones to attack Israel spans across multiple European countries, French daily Le Figaro reported last week. – Jerusalem Post
Syria
Turkey and Israel are working to defuse military tensions in Syria, easing the risk of conflict between two important U.S. allies that have suffered a strain in relations since the war in Gaza began in 2023. – Wall Street Journal
In recent weeks, Syrian government forces have been trying to choke off smuggling routes that cross the rugged 233-mile border with Lebanon. These routes are the last vestiges of the “land bridge” — a network traversing the breadth of Syria — used by Iran and its allied militias to ferry weapons, cash, drugs and fuel. – Washington Post
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met his United Arab Emirates counterpart in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, the Syrian leader’s office said, on his second visit to a Gulf state as the country’s new Islamist rulers seek to reassure foreign partners they will create an inclusive political system. – Reuters
Syria’s finance minister, foreign minister and central bank chief are planning to attend the annual spring meetings held by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, D.C. this month, four sources familiar with the plans said. – Reuters
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has extended a deadline for a fact-finding committee to produce its report on the killings of Alawites on Syria’s coast last month, the deadliest episode of sectarian violence since Sunni Islamist rebels seized power. – Reuters
President Tayyip Erdogan told Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday that Turkey will continue its diplomatic efforts to lift international sanctions against Syria, Erdogan’s office said. – Reuters
Michael Doran writes: This initiative would also play well in Saudi Arabia, which has already signaled its willingness to invest in Syrian reconstruction. Riyadh wants stability. It fears a return to civil war, which would destabilize the region and offer Iran a path back to Syria to make mischief. If Syria became like Jordan—a buffer between hostile powers—everyone would win. Israel and Turkey would gain security. The Syrian people would gain peace and stability. The U.S. would reassert influence without boots on the ground. And Mr. Trump would prove that restrained foreign policy built on economic leadership and mediation can shape a new regional order. – Wall Street Journal
Turkey
Three weeks after the arrest of Turkey’s most prominent opposition figure, nightly street clashes between protesters and police have subsided. Yet Turkish youths, the engine of the protest movement, have vowed to keep resisting. – Washington Post
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main rival of Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, appeared before a court on Friday for the first time since his high-profile arrest last month, over earlier and separate accusations of insulting a prosecutor. – Reuters
Loqman Radpey writes: Despite their internal rivalry, both the CHP and AKP – along with their Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) ally – share one common reality: They need the Kurdish vote to win the next general election in 2028 and cement their grip on power. This places the Kurds and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in a precarious position, as both factions seek to manipulate Kurdish political aspirations for their own gain. This exposes the so-called “peace” initiative they launched in October 2024 as insincere from the start. – Jerusalem Post
Yemen
The Israeli military said on Sunday it believes it was successful in intercepting an incoming missile launched from Yemen after air raid sirens sounded across Israel. – Reuters
Suspected U.S. airstrikes around Yemen’s rebel-held capital killed at least six people and wounded 26 overnight, the Houthis said Monday as they also claimed shooting down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone. – Associated Press
Saudi Arabia
The Trump administration has revived talks with Saudi officials over a deal that would give Saudi Arabia access to U.S. nuclear technology and potentially allow it to enrich uranium, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday. – New York Times
Tesla officially launched in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, marking a new chapter in the company’s global expansion after Elon Musk ’s troubled relationship with the kingdom — but the Middle East country’s extreme heat could pose a challenge for its electric vehicle performance and battery efficiency. – Associated Press
Noam Raydan writes: Addressing these challenges requires international cooperation and consistent investment in research and development. As nuclear technologies advance and more countries begin applying them, policies and regulations to ensure nuclear safety need to advance in parallel. The UAE and the United States have more opportunities to explore in this regard, especially now that Abu Dhabi seeks to become a regional AI hub and invest in nuclear power plants overseas, including the U.S. market. – Washington Institute
Middle East & North Africa
Sudanese paramilitaries killed the entire staff of the last medical clinic in a famine-stricken camp in the western region of Darfur, Sudan, as part of a broader assault that killed at least 100 people, aid groups and the United Nations said on Saturday. – New York Times
U.S. officials gained the release on Sunday of an American detained in Tunisia, Robert Vieira, U.S. special envoy Adam Boehler said. Vieira was detained 13 months ago while doing missionary work in Tunisia and was suspected by Tunisian authorities of espionage, Boehler told Reuters. – Reuters
Winthrop Rodgers and Sardar Aziz write: When it comes to the KRI, there is a perception that the United States will have always have priority in terms of political, security, and economic cooperation. But if other actors like China are able to use soft power to affect this calculus, the costs of ensuring U.S. strategic assets in the KRI like military bases, oil infrastructure, and business opportunities for U.S. companies could become much higher in the future. China is clearly looking to make inroads on the void left by the Trump administration. It will be filled one way or another, perhaps one park at a time. – Washington Institute
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s ousted leader Yoon Suk Yeol argued that his brief martial law declaration late last year was “not a coup d’etat” as he appeared in court on Monday for the start of a criminal trial over charges that he led an insurrection. – Reuters
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol returned to his private home on Friday from the official residence after his removal from office, with crowds of supporters turning out to greet his motorcade. – Reuters
New satellite images show what could be North Korea’s biggest warship ever – possibly more than double the size of anything in leader Kim Jong Un’s naval fleet. – CNN
China
China’s exports surged in March as shipments were likely front-loaded before President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, but they are expected to falter in the coming months. Outbound shipments rose 12.4% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the official data released Monday. – Wall Street Journal
America needs its allies and partners for what is shaping up as a protracted contest for geopolitical primacy now that President Trump has unleashed a trade war against China. They are in no rush to take sides. Some 70 countries currently negotiating tariff relief with the U.S. should “approach China as a group” together with Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week. – Wall Street Journal
China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. – New York Times
China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday called for stronger ties with Vietnam on trade and supply chains amid disruptions caused by U.S. tariffs, as he kicked off a three-nation trip to Southeast Asia in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. – Reuters
Taiwan officials held their first tariff talks with U.S. officials on Friday, with both sides looking forward to further discussions soon, the island’s government said on Saturday. – Reuters
China will allow coal-fired power plants to be built through at least 2027, according to new guidelines from the government, which also call on generators to ensure they’re able to meet gaps in supply from intermittent renewables. – Bloomberg
The Chinese government over the past four months has halted or significantly curtailed direct imports of major U.S. commodities including beef, poultry and liquefied natural gas through an array of bureaucratic blocks and tricky third-party sales deals. – Politico
South Asia
India and the U.S. have finalised terms of reference for talks over the first part of a bilateral trade deal, an Indian trade official said on Friday, adding it was possible that a “win-win” deal could take shape in the next 90 days. – Reuters
The Taliban leader said executions were part of Islam, days after four men were killed by gunfire in Afghanistan after they were convicted of murder. – Associated Press
Anti-corruption authorities in Bangladesh have issued a warrant for the arrest of a British Labour MP, it has been reported. According to media reports, Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission sought an arrest warrant for former City minister Tulip Siddiq over allegations she illegally received a 7,200 square feet plot of land in the country’s capital, Dhaka. – Bloomberg
Bangladesh has restored an “except Israel” inscription on passports, local media reported Sunday, effectively barring its citizens from traveling to Israel. The phrase “valid for all countries except Israel,” which was printed on Bangladeshi passports for decades, was removed in 2021 during the later years of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure. – Times of Israel
Asia
The Democratic Party in Hong Kong was for decades the city’s largest opposition party. It led protests demanding universal suffrage. Its lawmakers sparred with officials in the legislature about China’s encroachment on the region. – New York Times
The Philippines voiced concerns on the South China Sea, including incidents that endangered its vessels and personnel, during negotiations between ASEAN and China for a code of conduct in those waters, its foreign ministry said on Monday. – Reuters
Vietnam’s party chief To Lam wants to enhance cooperation with China in diplomacy, defence, security and infrastructure connectivity, according an article by the Vietnamese leader published in Chinese state media on Monday. – Reuters
Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to deepen his country’s strategic partnership with Indonesia in a call with President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. – Reuters
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Sunday his country needed the United States as an “active” partner in the Indo-Pacific region, after a trip to Washington last month to bolster ties with the Trump administration. – Reuters
Thailand will cut tariffs on imports of corn from the United States, but volumes still need to be finalised, the finance minister said on Friday. – Reuters
Lynn Kuok writes: Greater U.S. regional influence cannot come through ultimatums and coercion, nor from cutting a deal with Beijing over the heads of U.S. allies and partners. Instead, Washington should honor its commitments, boost trade and investment, step up diplomatic engagement, and respect foreign countries’ agency. The Trump administration may believe that its ultimatums are simply extracting the full value of U.S. security commitments and economic engagement, but this discounts the critical contributions that allies and partners make. The United States risks becoming a power that, in the words of Oscar Wilde, “knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Coercion will ultimately weaken the United States, not strengthen it. Without its allies and partners, U.S. leadership in Asia, and around the world, will erode. This will not make America great again—it will leave it weaker abroad and poorer at home. – Foreign Affairs
Europe
British laws restricting what the police can say about criminal cases are “not fit for the social media age,” a government committee said in a report released Monday in Britain that highlighted how unchecked misinformation stoked riots last summer. – New York Times
Britain moved to take control of British Steel and keep its blast furnaces open on Saturday, as a minister told an emergency parliamentary session that a full nationalisation of the UK’s last maker of virgin steel was becoming increasingly likely. – Reuters
Thousands from towns in Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia arrived by buses on Saturday to attend a rally in Belgrade organised in support of President Aleksandar Vucic, whose grip on power has been threatened by months of anti-corruption protests. – Reuters
Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar vowed on Sunday to unlock billions of euros of suspended European Union funding to revive the economy if elected next year, and to hold a referendum on whether Ukraine should join the 27-member bloc. – Reuters
European Union finance ministers expressed interest on Saturday in the idea of a joint defence fund that would buy and own defence equipment, but some also said the EU should first look at existing financing options before creating new ones. – Reuters
A new extremist group claimed responsibility Sunday for a bomb that exploded near the offices of Hellenic Train, Greece’s main railway services operator and the planting of another near the Labor Ministry in early February. – Associated Press
Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative German party CDU is set to be elected chancellor on May 6, party sources said on Friday. – Reuters
Hungarian lawmakers are preparing to vote on a constitutional amendment viewed by many critics as both a crackdown on the freedoms of assembly and expression and the most recent move by the populist government to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ communities. – Associated Press
Finland’s opposition Social Democrats won the most votes in municipal and county elections that were widely seen as channeling voter discontent against the pro-business government. – Bloomberg
Africa
Brice Oligui Nguema, who led a coup in Gabon in August 2023, won Saturday’s presidential election with 90.35% of votes cast, according to provisional results, the Central African country’s interior minister said on Sunday. – Reuters
Tanzania’s main opposition party CHADEMA has been disqualified from elections due later this year, a senior election commission official said on Saturday, days after the party’s leader was charged with treason for allegedly seeking to disrupt the vote. – Reuters
Clashes between pro-government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels reached Goma in east Congo, residents told Reuters on Saturday, as each side blamed the other for the worst violence in the area’s largest city since the rebels seized it in January. – Reuters
Zambia will resume construction of a power line linking it to East Africa, creating one of the largest energy markets in the world, a senior World Bank official said on Friday. – Reuters
The National Communications Authority of Somalia awarded a license to Elon Musk’s Starlink on Sunday, allowing it to start services in the country. A ceremony held in the capital of Mogadishu was attended by government officials and representatives from Starlink, according to a statement on the authority’s website. – Bloomberg
South Africa’s biggest political party is set to back down from a plan to increase value-added tax after other parties indicated they won’t support it, the Sunday Times reported. – Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump signaled the country will continue boycotting group of 20 meetings in South Africa, repeating unsubstantiated claims that white farmers are being killed and their land confiscated. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Ecuadoreans re-elected President Daniel Noboa to a four-year term Sunday, giving him another chance to carry out a crackdown on transnational gangs waging a war for control of cocaine routes to the U.S. – Wall Street Journal
They are all part of an economy that has some of the world’s highest import duties, imposes currency controls and erects a host of other trade barriers. Brazil provides a glimpse into an economic system similar to President Trump’s vision for imposing the highest tariffs in decades on nearly every country. – Wall Street Journal
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the United States had sent 10 members of two gangs — MS-13, which originated in the United States and operates in South America, and Tren de Aragua, rooted in Venezuela — to El Salvador late Saturday. – New York Times
The International Monetary Fund’s board approved a 48-month, $20 billion extended fund facility arrangement for Argentina and the immediate disbursement of $12 billion, the fund said on Friday. Argentina needs the cash to unlock capital controls and bolster its foreign currency reserves. – Reuters
The International Monetary Fund said on Friday it had reached a staff-level agreement with Honduras that would result in the disbursement of around $155 million should the board approve the review in June. – Reuters
Newly implemented U.S. tariffs will have a moderate impact on Peru’s economy, the chief economist of the Andean nation’s central bank said on Friday. – Reuters
North America
The head of one of Canada’s largest steelmakers says President Trump’s steel tariffs are punishing the wrong target, putting the country’s entire steel industry at risk. – Wall Street Journal
Mexico will make an immediate water delivery to farmers in Texas, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday, to help make up its shortfall under a treaty that has strained U.S. relations and prompted tariff threats by President Donald Trump. – Reuters
The leader of Canada’s Conservative Party promised to introduce legislation that he says would limit politicians’ financial and lobbying-related conflicts of interest if he wins the country’s April 28 election. – Bloomberg
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, on the campaign trail, vowed Saturday to deport foreigners from Canada for criminal hatemongering, accusing pro-Palestinian protestors’ “hate marches” of contributing to a spike in antisemitism. – Agence France Presse
United States
More natural gas purchases from American firms. Fewer tariffs on U.S. exports. Lower taxes on Silicon Valley tech giants. Pledges to stop China from using other nations to ship its products to the United States. – Washington Post
U.S. levies on semiconductor chips, smartphones and laptops — which the White House exempted late Friday from a slew of “reciprocal” tariffs — are in fact still in the works, and will be determined in a month or two, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other top Trump administration officials asserted Sunday. – Washington Post
A Wisconsin teenager charged with killing his parents was planning to assassinate President Donald Trump as part of a plot to overthrow the government, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Sunday. – Washington Post
A 38-year-old Pennsylvania man has been taken into custody after police say they connected him to an arson attack on the official residence of Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) in the state capital of Harrisburg. – Washington Post
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would be announcing the tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, adding that there would be flexibility on some companies in the sector. – Reuters
A U.S. immigration judge ruled on Friday that Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to proceed with its effort to remove the Columbia University student from the United States a month after his arrest in New York City. – Reuters
The Trump administration insisted Sunday that it has no legal obligation to arrange for the return of a Maryland man illegally deported from the United States, arguing that a Supreme Court ruling last week only requires officials to admit him into the country if he makes it back from a high-security prison in El Salvador. – Politico
Ari Ben Am and Johanna Yang write: That’s not to say that Washington should mimic the tactics of its adversaries. The malign influence campaigns by China, Russia, and Iran using fake online personas can often be clumsy or ineffective. Explosive press reports about past, misguided U.S. operations indicate that the Defense Department needs a clear strategy and guardrails. Failures are not a reason to leave the field, but rather to develop a better playbook. This strategy should delineate what types of operations are acceptable, which agencies and commands are authorized to carry out which types of operations, and protocols to ensure that all operations have appropriate legal and policy oversight. Once guiderails are established, Washington can begin to contest adversarial influence worldwide while also degrading adversaries from within. – The National Interest
Defense
The U.S. military has fired the commander of a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland following a visit there by Vice President JD Vance and said it would not tolerate actions that “subvert” President Donald Trump’s agenda. – Reuters
The U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy will no longer consider race as a factor in admissions as the military schools had long done to boost enrollment of Black, Hispanic and other minorities, President Donald Trump’s administration said on Friday. – Reuters
Donald Trump has authorized the military to take control of land at the US-Mexico border as part of the president’s broader efforts to crack down on undocumented immigration. – The Guardian
A guided-missile destroyer was dispatched to patrol the Eastern Pacific on Friday, the Navy announced. USS Stockdale (DDG-106) left Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on Friday with an embarked Coast Guard law enforcement detachment. – USNI News
Long War
The brother of the terrorist who bombed an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, in 2017 was accused on Saturday of launching a violent attack inside a high-security jail where he was serving time for his own role in the concert bombing. – New York Times
Across Europe and further afield, the picture is similar: Counterterrorism agencies are grappling with a new generation of attackers, plotters and acolytes of extremism who are younger than ever and have fed on ultraviolent and potentially radicalizing content largely behind their screens. – Associated Press
A roadside bomb suspected to have been planted by Islamic extremists in northeastern Nigeria struck a passenger bus, killing eight people and wounding more than a dozen others, authorities said. – Associated Press
Salem Alketbi writes: Given these facts, compelling reasons exist to classify the International Union of Muslim Scholars as a terrorist organization. The union explicitly advocates armed jihad, violating anti-terror laws worldwide while using religious platforms to justify violence. Evidence clearly shows that the IUMS directly threatens Western security by inciting Muslims in these countries and undermining Western societies by spreading terror and extremism. So will America and Europe act now to address this threat before it’s too late? The answer will determine security and peace in the years ahead. – Jerusalem Post