Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel-Kazakhstan ties deepen as Herzog arrives in Astana Iran Is flooded with so much unsold oil that it’s stashing it in derelict tanks US, Iran clash at UN after Tehran gets nuclear non-proliferation role Trump discussed new Iran proposal with national security aides on Monday, White House says Commentary Magazine’s Seth Mandel: Iran’s imperial jenga tower is collapsing Hezbollah's Qassem rejects 'direct negotiations' with Israel, will respond to 'Israeli aggression' The Australian’s Greg Sheridan: Israel and Lebanon: two victims of Iran and its proxies Iraq’s president names political newcomer to form government Fighting ‘sacred’ war in Ukraine, North Korea and Russia pledge to deepen ties EU extends sanctions against Myanmar by a year UK PM Starmer faces vote on possible parliamentary probe over Mandelson Hamas organizing pro-Palestinian protests, raising funds in Netherlands, Dutch intelligence saysIn The News
Israel
Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top rivals announced they would join forces in an upcoming election to oust his coalition government, with a focus mainly on domestic issues such as military conscription for the ultra-Orthodox. – Reuters
Israel’s military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir issued a sharp warning to troops about looting on Monday, and said using social media to spread “questionable” messages was crossing “a red line.” – Agence France-Presse
The IDF is set to present findings on Tuesday from an investigation into how four Israelis were allowed to enter the active combat zone of Bint Jbail in southern Lebanon without authorization, military officials said. – Jerusalem Post
Mossad Director David Barnea said on Monday that the organization’s agents demonstrated groundbreaking operational capabilities in “target countries” during 2025. – Jerusalem Post
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony in his criminal trial began at the Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday morning, after a two-month pause due to the war in Iran and security developments in the region. – Jerusalem Post
President Herzog expressed his deep appreciation for Kazakhstan and commended its decision last November to join the Abraham Accords, as well as its membership on the Board of Peace led by President Trump. – Arutz Sheva
The growing threat posed by explosive drones operated by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon has become a major concern for IDF forces operating in the area, according to a report aired this morning on Galei Tzahal. – Arutz Sheva
Editorial: Israel is a magnificent strategic ally, with military and intelligence capabilities superior to those of any other American ally. America gets this partnership at a very low price compared to the costs of its alliances with many other states. To end military assistance to Israel now, while it is fighting and winning a war for its survival, would not just be a disgrace but would also be strategically foolish. The U.S. wants to pivot to the Pacific, and it needs an ally willing to protect American interests in other regions while carrying a share of the defense burden. Israel, a model ally, is doing just that when too many other allies cannot or will not. This is a truth lost on today’s Democratic Party. – Washington Examiner
Amir Khnifess writes: In doing so, he signals to domestic and regional audiences that any political progress with Israel must remain subordinate to the broader Palestinian issue. Such approaches regarding major aspects of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict only stand as barriers to any progress between the two sides. As long as leaders like him view peace as a threat rather than an opportunity, the prospects for real change will remain limited. The question, therefore, is not only whether Israel and Lebanon are ready for a new chapter, but whether Lebanon’s internal leadership is willing to allow it. Until that question is answered, hope will remain just that – hope. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Iran has presented regional mediators with a new offer to stop its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a full end to the war and a lifting of the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, said officials familiar with the matter. – Wall Street Journal
Iran is scrambling to find new ways to store its oil, hoping to avoid a crippling production shutdown as a U.S. naval blockade bottles up its exports and negotiations to end the war remain deadlocked. – Wall Street Journal
President Trump has told advisers he is not satisfied with Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, according to multiple people briefed on discussions in the White House Situation Room on Monday. – New York Times
The United States and Iran clashed at the United Nations on Monday over Tehran’s nuclear program and its selection to be one of dozens of vice presidents at a month-long conference to review the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. – Reuters
Businesses working with Iranian airlines risk U.S. sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, calling the warning a part of a campaign to put economic pressure on Tehran amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump discussed a new Iranian proposal on resolving the war with Tehran with his top national security aides on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. – Reuters
Six tankers loaded with Iranian oil have been forced back to Iran by the U.S. blockade in recent days, ship-tracking data shows, underscoring the impact the Iran war is having on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a major global oil export route. – Reuters
Iran has banned the export of steel slabs and sheets until May 30, state media reported on Monday without further details, as the country’s steel industry has been targeted in strikes during the conflict with Israel and the United States. – Reuters
Iran is ready to share its defensive weapons capabilities with “independent countries, especially members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)”, Deputy Defence Minister Reza Talaei-Nik said on Tuesday, according to Iranian state media. – Reuters
In the heartland of Iran’s famed carpet-making industry, manufacturing has ground to a near halt. Dairies struggle to find packages for milk and butter. Giant steel mills that once drove Iran’s economy have gone silent. Hundreds of thousands have lost jobs, and millions more are at risk. – Associated Press
Iran shared on Tuesday a breakdown of the death toll from a deadly strike on an Iranian school on the first day of the Middle East war, state media reported. – Agence France-Presse
France said Monday that Iran must be ready to make “major concessions” to end a crisis, as countries piled pressure on Tehran at a UN session on its control of the key Strait of Hormuz. – Agence France-Presse
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council held a meeting following a report from intelligence agencies with concerns over popular protests returning to the streets, Iran International reported early Tuesday morning, citing sources familiar with the gathering. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: Pumping oil isn’t a matter of turning a spigot on and off. Shutting down productive wells means risking their usability forever, because the oil flow will effectively destroy the wellhead. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been clear about the preposterousness of the Iranian proposal, calling it an effort to “buy themselves more time.” Trump certainly understands that Iran is dealing from a position of weakness. At the same time, he’s clearly eager to wrap up the conflict. Stand tough, Mr. President. Don’t succumb to Iranian tricks. The war’s end is near. But any peace that permits Iran to retain its nuclear weapons program is no peace at all. If you really want to make them take the United States more seriously, open the Strait by force. – New York Post
Walter Russell Mead writes: Mr. Trump, it should now be clear, is willing to impose such costly and disruptive blockades even in the face of strong allied and domestic opposition. War is unpredictable, and Mr. Trump’s critics may yet have their day. While the pressure on the administration is for the moment sustainable, market turmoil or a dramatic collapse in the president’s approval ratings could make a change of course attractive to an often-impulsive administration. Still, for now the president can afford to wait and see how mounting pressure affects the Iranian side. Betting the farm on TACO scenarios seems dangerously premature. – Wall Street Journal
Dr. Martin Sherman writes: Indeed, while nervously clutching their pearls, the critics of the law seemed to have lost sight of both the explicitly articulated intentions of Tehran and the historical parallels with the events that precipitated WWII. This is especially concerning when it comes from countries that have experienced the ravages and ruin at the hands of brutal tyrants. One can only wonder how many lives could have been spared and how much destruction and destitution could have been avoided had Churchill’s clarion call as to the dangers of trying to appease the likes of Hitler, the futility of trying to do so, and the disaster such endeavors leave in their wake. – Arutz Sheva
Seth Mandel writes: Then there’s Hezbollah, once Iran’s strongest and most dangerous proxy, which the IDF has put on the backfoot in Lebanon. It was hard to ignore this quote that Fouad Makhzoumi, a Lebanese member of parliament, gave to the Washington Institute’s David Makovsky, who asked Makhzoumi what should happen to Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Rodolphe Haykal if he fails to disarm Hezbollah: “At the end of the day, we are asking them to deliver. If he doesn’t, yes, he has to be removed.” […] As the clock ticks, Iran is becoming more isolated by the day. And that isolation will persist and shape the Middle East that emerges on the other side of this conflict. – Commentary Magazine
Russia and Ukraine
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov held talks in Kyrgyzstan on Monday with Iran’s Deputy Defence Minister Reza Talaei-Nik, state-run TASS news agency reported. – Reuters
A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, one of very few vessels to transit the blockaded shipping lane at the heart of the U.S.-Iran conflict. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday praised the Iranian people for battling to stay independent in the face of U.S. and Israeli pressure and said Moscow would do all it could to help Tehran. – Reuters
An employee of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, controlled by Russian forces, was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack, the Russian-installed management of the station said in a Telegram post on Monday. – Reuters
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested on Monday that Ukraine may have to accept that parts of its territory could remain outside Kyiv’s control in a future peace deal with Russia, linking such concessions to the country’s prospects for joining the European Union. – Reuters
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Monday that Israel’s ambassador had been summoned to his ministry over what he described as Israeli inaction in allowing shipments of grain to enter the country from Russian-occupied Ukraine. – Reuters
Ukrainian drones attacked Russia’s Tuapse oil refinery on the Black Sea, causing a fire, authorities said on Tuesday. It was the latest of repeated drone attacks in the past few weeks on the Rosneft, owned refinery and the port of Tuapse that led to an oil spill at sea and a blaze that took several days to put out. – Reuters
Hezbollah
The Israel Air Force completed a preliminary investigation into the southern Lebanon incident during which Hezbollah terrorists targeted an IAF helicopter that was on the ground, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN News reported on Monday night. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF located a weapons cache belonging to Hezbollah in a children’s bedroom during a targeted raid in the area of Aadshit al-Qusayr in southern Lebanon over the past few days, the military said on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Hezbollah “categorically rejects direct negotiations” with Israel, the terror organization’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem said on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF said it launched a wave of airstrikes Monday against Hezbollah infrastructure in the Beqaa Valley and several areas of southern Lebanon as a fragile ceasefire appeared to be rapidly unraveling just days after it was extended. – Times of Israel
Lebanon
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that direct negotiations with Israel were aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah, while accusing those who drew Lebanon into war of “treason” in an implicit rebuke to the Iran-backed armed group. – Agence France-Presse
The Lebanese government has not taken a single step against Hezbollah since the ceasefire in Lebanon went into effect some two weeks ago, two Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Greg Sheridan writes: To clear this area perhaps 800,000 Lebanese have been displaced, an immense tragedy to be laid wholly at the feet of Hezbollah and Iran. The useful idiots of the Western left will gleefully portray this, entirely dishonestly, as Israeli “colonialism”, further undermining Israel in the West. Islamic State is urging its followers to emulate the Bondi massacre of innocent Jews everywhere. Synagogues are attacked in London, as in Australia. Israel and Lebanon are victims of Iran and of Hezbollah. But don’t expect to hear that much in Western societies which, insanely, are becoming themselves more anti-Israel and more antisemitic. – Arutz Sheva
Gulf States
A liquefied natural gas tanker managed by UAE’s ADNOC has crossed the Strait of Hormuz and appears to be near India, ship-tracking data showed on Monday. – Reuters
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies are sliding into their worst economic crisis since the pandemic, with several expected to contract this year on spillovers from the U.S.-Israel war with Iran right on its doorstep. – Reuters
Bahrain has revoked the citizenship of 69 people over what it described as sympathy with Iran’s hostile acts and collaboration with foreign entities, the kingdom’s interior ministry said in a statement. – Reuters
Editorial: The claims in the witness statement and recordings warrant investigation. If true, we don’t know what it would mean for Qatar to “look after” Mr. Khan. But we’d like to know. It was always egregious to indict Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister for the country’s defensive war, which Hamas began. […] That decision junked Mr. Khan’s own investigatory timeline, shocking his ICC staff. Instead of stopping, the court issued the warrants. In 2024 we wrote that Mr. Khan’s conduct had placed the ICC’s targeting of Israel “under a cloud.” Now it’s raining. – Wall Street Journal
Marc Champion writes: Trump went to war ignoring the advice and interests of his Gulf Arab allies. It isn’t clear why resuming and escalating the conflict would deliver on regime change when it has failed to do so until now. Nor, as Iran’s willingness to snub a second round of talks with the US and submit its own package of demands shows, does Trump, contrary to his claims, hold all the cards. This war was a gamble that Trump made, with other people’s money and other nations’ security and economies for stakes. With a fragile ceasefire in place and an unattractive deal on offer from Tehran, the smartest thing he can do is start listening to what the Saudis have to say about how best to escape his ill-advised war with the least possible damage. – Bloomberg
Amine Ayoub writes: The United States, which last week saw its own secretary of state revoke permanent resident status for individuals with Iranian regime ties, is in no position to lecture Manama about the appropriateness of the response. What Washington should do instead is treat the Gulf’s internal security crisis as a theater-level problem requiring coordinated policy. That means sharing IRGC network mapping more aggressively with Gulf partners, working with Bahrain and Kuwait to develop legal standards for prosecuting IRGC-linked operatives that can withstand international scrutiny, and factoring the depth of Iranian human penetration into contingency planning for Fifth Fleet operations. The missile threat from Iran has always been the headline. The infiltration threat has always been the footnote. After this month’s arrests, that hierarchy needs to be inverted. – Arutz Sheva
Middle East & North Africa
Iraq’s president on Monday named a businessman as prime minister-designate and gave him the task of forming a new government after a monthslong delay in selecting a candidate amid conflicting pressures from Iran and the United States. – New York Times
Turkey unveiled details on Monday of a broad package of incentives aimed to boost competitiveness and attract investment, and also position its biggest city Istanbul as a leading financial gateway across the region. – Reuters
Dr. Edy Cohen writes: The Egyptian military drill now taking place near Israel’s border is part of this pressure campaign. It is an attempt to worry Israel and force it to act on Egypt’s behalf. Cairo appears to believe that Israel can help rescue it, either by persuading the US or by pressuring Gulf states to transfer grants or loans to Egypt. Israel must not give in to this behavior. It should file a formal protest with the US, the mediator and guarantor of the peace framework, over Egypt’s dangerous conduct near the border and the erosion of the security understandings that have preserved peace for decades. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
Chung Yun-hee awoke to a body in revolt. Drenched in sweat and wracked with pain, the septuagenarian crawled into the bathroom of her small, quiet apartment on the outskirts of Seoul. She was still hunched over the toilet, vomiting, when her smartphone rang. – New York Times
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, hailed a “new history of friendship with Russia written in blood” as he presided over the opening of a memorial built for his troops killed fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine. Moscow, in turn, pledged to sign a five-year plan for bilateral military cooperation. – New York Times
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un confirmed a policy that requires soldiers to commit suicide on the battlefield to avoid capture, while fighting Russia’s war against Ukraine. – Bloomberg
China
China denounced remarks by Japan and the European Union about the South China Sea at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. – Reuters
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said China and the European Union had “reached a soft landing” over the bloc’s import tariffs on electric vehicles, during a meeting with the head of a German automakers industry group. – Reuters
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun on the sidelines of the SCO defence ministers’ meeting in Kyrgyzstan, where the two leaders discussed regional security and defence engagement, New Delhi said on Tuesday. – Reuters
China’s top leaders pledged to counter external shocks and enhance energy security, while highlighting the economy’s better-than-expected performance so far this year. – Bloomberg
South Asia
India named veteran politician Dinesh Trivedi as its next high commissioner to Bangladesh on Monday, in a rare appointment of a non–foreign service officer as New Delhi seeks to reset ties with its eastern neighbour. – Reuters
Afghanistan is at risk of losing more than 25,000 female teachers and health workers by 2030 if the Taliban-led country’s restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment are not lifted, according to a new UNICEF report released on Monday. – Reuters
Mortar and rocket attacks launched by Pakistan against Afghanistan killed four people on Monday and wounded 70 more, the Taliban government said, as fighting between the countries erupted again and threatened to derail fragile peace talks. – Reuters
The European Union on Monday extended its sanctions against Myanmar until at least May 2027, in an effort to maintain pressure on the country’s military rulers more than five years after their coup toppled an elected government. – Reuters
India said the war in the Middle East is a “complicating factor” as it holds talks with both Washington and Tehran over options to safeguard its $120 million investment in Iran’s Chabahar port. – Bloomberg
Two Iran-linked oil tankers that US forces interdicted near Sri Lanka last week appear to have halted their westward course in the Indian Ocean and turned around. – Bloomberg
Asia
A Taiwanese court on Monday sentenced a former employee of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to 10 years in prison for stealing trade secrets. The case marks the first time Taiwan has used security legislation to prosecute the theft of intellectual property involving critical chip technology. – Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration has not offered any direct help to Thailand, a long-standing U.S. treaty ally, as it struggles with the wide-ranging economic damage from the American-Israeli war against Iran, Thailand’s foreign minister, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, said in an interview with The Washington Post. – Washington Post
Taiwan has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait and has sent its own naval and air forces to keep watch, the defence ministry in Taipei said. – Reuters
As simulated enemy boats and unmanned craft closed in on the shores of Palawan island facing the South China Sea, Philippine and U.S. forces conducted counter-landing drills on Monday, repelling a mock assault by using live fire against designated targets and intercepting threats. – Reuters
Philippine shipowners and crewing agencies are still permitted to rotate Filipino seafarers into areas like the Persian Gulf, but all workers are free to refuse deployment in regions where they may be at risk, the government said on Monday. – Reuters
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has appointed a labour union chief as the country’s new environment minister, the palace said on Monday, replacing Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, who oversaw several high profile environment-related probes since taking office in late 2024. – Reuters
Students and civilians clashed with law enforcement personnel in Indonesia’s insurgency-hit Papua on Monday during a protest attended by hundreds of residents demanding the withdrawal of military personnel from the region, a police official said. – Reuters
Australia has moved to reverse a decline in the number of warships, as its surface combatant fleet stands to fall to its smallest size since World War II. – Defense News
Mihir Sharma writes: If Asian nations are to try and replicate this structure, then they will need Japan to step up. Abe’s vision of the Indo-Pacific was built around a group of partners that were able to hold the line for themselves; but the unstated assumption was that the US would fill whatever gaps were left. That assumption has now failed, and threatens to take Abe’s “free and open Indo-Pacific” down with it. A new glue is needed for the region, and its countries don’t have too many options. Korean arms will help; but Japan will have to become a supplier and organizer as well as a strategist. If Takaichi can get slow-moving corporations and doubtful officials acting swiftly, she has a chance of salvaging just enough of her mentor’s ambitions to make a difference. – Bloomberg
Europe
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday Iran’s leadership was humiliating the United States and getting U.S. officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the conflict. – Reuters
NATO is considering ending its recent practice of holding annual summits, six sources told Reuters, a move that could avoid a potentially tense encounter with U.S. President Donald Trump in his final year in office. – Reuters
Britain’s parliament will vote on Tuesday on a possible inquiry into Prime Minister Keir Starmer, looking at whether he misled the House of Commons over the appointment of former U.S. ambassador Peter Mandelson. – Reuters
Top EU officials and Hungary’s incoming government will discuss on Wednesday the changes Budapest needs to push through to release 17 billion euros in EU funds that have been blocked due to rule-of-law concerns under the outgoing government. – Reuters
Lithuania has charged 13 people from a number of countries with two attempted murders in Vilnius linked to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, the chief of the Baltic country’s criminal police said on Monday. – Reuters
Romania’s largest party in parliament, the Social Democrats, will team up with the hard-right opposition Alliance for Uniting Romanians in a bid to topple the pro-European coalition government that it left earlier this month, it said on Monday, putting the country’s EU funding at risk. – Reuters
The trial against a man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotting to attack one of superstar singer Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago is set to begin Tuesday in Austria. – Associated Press
Hungary’s incoming Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar rejected a request from billionaire Lorinc Meszaros – a close business ally of outgoing leader Viktor Orban – for talks aimed at containing damage to his business empire, even as the stock price of Meszaros’s flagship conglomerate Opus Nyrt. continued its free-fall. – Bloomberg
Europe’s leaders have a new fear: Donald Trump’s standoff with Iran is about to turn from an economic shock into a political crisis for the bloc’s fragile center. – Politico
A Hamas network has been involved in organizing protests in the Netherlands, according to a Thursday General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) report, which also detailed that it had identified individuals raising funds and lobbying on behalf of the Palestinian terrorist organization in the country. – Jerusalem Post
Gerard Baker writes: As a native-born Englishman, I will aver that Britain retains some virtues. Its cultural output remains peerless. It has the world’s greatest universities. Its technology sector is a sole economic bright spot—the U.K. is the third-largest market for investment in artificial intelligence. And Mr. Trump should remember that allies—even ones in decline—are useful to have. But the king will surely appreciate the irony: A man whose job is to “do nothing in particular and to do it very well,” in the words of those great Britons Gilbert and Sullivan, must persuade a skeptical America that his kingdom is more than a place of regal pageantry, glorious medieval castles, and the never-ending entertainment provided by a soap opera of the world’s most famously dysfunctional family. – Wall Street Journal
Africa
Over centuries, the people of the remote Chagos Archipelago have been battered by forces beyond their control. Slavery. Colonialism. The Cold War. Now they can add President Trump’s whims to the list. – Wall Street Journal
A rare joint offensive by Tuareg separatists and militants linked to Al Qaeda in Mali over the weekend represented a major setback for the West African country’s military regime and its Russian paramilitary partners. – New York Times
A plane crashed southwest of South Sudan’s capital Juba on Monday, killing all 14 people on board, the country’s civil aviation authority said. – Reuters
Sudan is banning imports of a wide range of foods, consumer goods and industrial inputs in a bid to stem the slide in its currency, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday. – Reuters
Democratic Republic of Congo’s mines inspectorate said on Monday it had created a paramilitary mining guard to secure mining sites and mineral supply chains, as the world’s top cobalt producer tries to curb smuggling and insecurity in the sector and boost investor confidence. – Reuters
The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Monday for an attack that killed at least 29 people in Nigeria’s Adamawa state, according to a statement by the group on Telegram. – Reuters
Suspected pirates have boarded a St. Kitts and Nevis-flagged general cargo vessel off Somalia’s waters and were sailing it towards the Somali coastline, British maritime security groups Vanguard and Ambrey said. – Reuters
Displaced people who took refuge from conflict in an isolated South Sudan village were denied lifesaving aid by the government even as deaths there mounted, eyewitnesses and aid groups said. – Associated Press
Gunmen raided an orphanage in north-central Nigeria and abducted 23 pupils, authorities said Monday. Fifteen have since been rescued. – Associated Press
The Americas
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro are statistically tied in a simulated runoff for this year’s presidential election, a BTG Pactual/Nexus poll showed on Monday. – Reuters
The president blocked accredited reporters from entering the government’s headquarters. He took to social media, in all caps, to insult the country’s news media as “filthy scum that claims to be journalists.” He posted an AI-generated image that showed a local TV journalist in an orange prison jumpsuit. – Associated Press
Ecuador dissolved two opposition political parties ahead of local elections in November, a move critics decried as another sign of the South American country’s democratic backsliding under President Daniel Noboa. – Bloomberg
Chile’s new right-wing leader faces a tough choice: continue using state-owned Codelco as a cash cow to bolster state coffers, or allow the copper giant to retain more profit so it can issue less debt. – Bloomberg
Juan Pablo Spinetto writes: “Populist governments erode institutional controls and minority rights. What’s at stake is not so much the core of democracy, but its liberal trappings,” says Andrés Malamud, a political scientist at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, who also flags the rise in drug-related violence against candidates as “the real threat to democracy.” Latin America may also offer recent examples of clean elections where losers concede after hard-fought but fair campaigns, from Chile’s runoff in December to Argentina’s sharp swing from Peronism to Javier Milei in 2023. But when politicians increasingly push the system to its limits in pursuit of power or when organized crime breaks into the process, institutions erode and democracy itself comes under threat. Sadly, Peru is far from alone in this. – Bloomberg
North America
When word reached Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum last week that two Central Intelligence Agency officials had died in a car wreck in northern Mexico while participating in a counternarcotics operation, she could have chosen to express outrage at an apparently egregious violation of Mexican sovereignty. – Wall Street Journal
Canada intends to launch its first sovereign-wealth fund, Prime Minister Mark Carney says, as part of the government’s drive to build trade corridors and develop resource projects to ease the economic squeeze posed by President Trump’s trade policy. – Wall Street Journal
Mexican special forces have arrested Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero” and one of the top commanders of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), in the western state of Nayarit, security minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Monday. – Reuters
Canada is still reviewing its plan to buy 88 Lockheed Martin, F-35 fighter jets, Defence Minister David McGuinty said on Monday, adding that Ottawa could also purchase some foreign planes. – Reuters
The latest annual audit of antisemitic incidents in Canada shows an increase of almost 10 per cent since last year, driven by a spike in online harassments even as incidents of violence and harassment fell slightly. – National Post
United States
King Charles III of Britain will acknowledge on Tuesday that his country has had its differences with the United States, but he plans to tell a joint session of Congress that the “two countries have always found ways to come together,” according to a preview of his remarks by Buckingham Palace. – New York Times
A California man is being charged with trying to kill US President Donald Trump during an attack on a Washington gala dinner over the weekend. – Bloomberg
Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Iran still wants to retain control of the Strait of Hormuz and cast that as unacceptable to the US, after President Donald Trump canceled the latest round of negotiations with Tehran over the weekend. – Bloomberg
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has renewed his calls for the Trump administration to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, arguing the self-declared African republic would be a significant strategic partner if Washington were to formalize relations. – Algemeiner
Jonathan Alpert writes: None of this is new. People have always found ways to justify what they want to do. What has changed is how quickly it spreads—and how confidently it is delivered. The gap between recognizing that something is wrong and explaining it away has narrowed. Most people don’t need to be told that stealing, much less murder, is wrong. The harder part is holding on to that judgment when tempted with a plausible and self-serving explanation. It isn’t a failure of knowledge but a failure of restraint. That’s the real shift. Not just in what people do—but in how easily they come to believe it makes sense. The result easily could have been deadly on Saturday night. – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
China has banned Meta Platforms’ acquisition of artificial-intelligence startup Manus on national security grounds and ordered that the $2.5 billion deal be unwound. – Wall Street Journal
The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted supplies of crucial raw materials and pushed up prices of the printed circuit boards (PCB) used in almost all electronic devices, from smartphones and computers to AI servers, industry sources and executives said. – Reuters
South Korea and Google have agreed to build an artificial-intelligence campus in Seoul to develop cooperation between the tech firm and local engineers and startups, Kim Yong-beom, a presidential policy adviser, said on Monday. – Reuters
Some of the world’s largest technology companies swiftly quashed a California legislative measure that pitted giants like Apple Inc. and Google against smaller rivals, a display of their immense political influence in their home state. – Bloomberg
Germany suspects Russia is behind a cyberattack that targeted top decision makers in Berlin via the Signal messaging app, according to a government official in Berlin. – Bloomberg
Israelis all over the country received threatening text messages via WhatsApp on Monday. The messages, written in English, are sent from business accounts that appear legitimate, such as those for a cake shop or other businesses, yet involve hackers taking control of existing accounts or creating fake ones. – Jerusalem Post
Researchers warn that BlackFile, an extortion group likely associated with The Com, continues to impersonate IT support in voice-phishing and social engineering attacks that have impacted organizations in multiple industries, including healthcare, technology, transportation, logistics, wholesale and retail. – CyberScoop
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill late last week to ban cryptocurrency ATMs outright over concerns that the kiosks are being used by scammers to steal money from victims. – The Record
Hackers are impersonating Microsoft Teams help desk workers to trick victims into installing data-stealing malware, according to a new report from Mandiant. – The Record
Editorial: Beijing still views Manus as “Chinese,” however. An oddity of Monday’s regulatory ruling is that technically Beijing is blocking an American company’s acquisition of a Singaporean firm and Beijing shouldn’t have a say. Beijing has leverage. The Chinese government in March summoned Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao, two co-founders of Manus, to Beijing to discuss the company’s compliance with foreign-investment rules. They reportedly haven’t been allowed to leave the country since. In China, possession of a company’s executives is nine-tenths of the corporate law. Mr. Xi aspires to keep more AI innovation and talent within China. First he can ask why so much of that talent wants to leave. – Wall Street Journal
Defense
Global military spending reached a new record of almost $2.9 trillion in 2025 − the 11th consecutive year of growth − even as the United States recorded its sharpest single-year decline in decades, according to new data published Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. – Defense News
The U.S. Air Force wants inexpensive, long-range missiles that can be launched in mass volleys by cargo aircraft. – Defense News
The Navy has successfully completed the highly-anticipated maiden flight of Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray, a critical milestone for the service’s effort to field its first aircraft carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle. – DefenseScoop
Mike Benitez writes: Finally, these elements ought to be integrated into a single production–consumption model that is updated continuously. This model should inform budgeting, program selection, and operational planning. It should make explicit the tradeoffs between capability, capacity, and endurance, and provide a clear answer to the central question: Can the force sustain itself under the conditions it expects to face? The United States needs affordable mass, but it will not be achieved by buying more systems at lower cost. It will be achieved by building a force that can absorb losses, replace them at speed, and continue fighting without a decline in effectiveness. It is a higher standard. It is also the only one that matters in war. – War on the Rocks