Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Israel rejects next phase of Trump’s Gaza peace plan Iran demands U.S. withdrawal to open Hormuz Iran elevates longtime military commander to top security post WSJ Editorial: Russia hears from Lindsey Graham Inside the war on Hezbollah’s finances Syria agrees to reorganized Russian military presence Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan sign defense pact WSJ Editorial: The Saudis spurn the Abraham Accords U.S. intel links Russia to explosive drone at German airport Trump ally takes office in Colombia with vow to fight cocaine armies Pentagon presses defense firms to build weapons as Iran war depletes stocks CSIS’s Seth G. Jones: America’s military is dangerously exposedIn The News
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected President Trump’s plan to establish permanent peace in Gaza, a rare public break with the U.S. leader, who just weeks ago hailed “a historic agreement” to disarm Hamas. – Wall Street Journal
Israel’s military on Sunday closed the West Bank village of Taybeh to non-residents, saying it aimed to prevent growing attacks on Palestinians by Israeli settlers across the West Bank. – Reuters
As the US-backed Board of Peace seeks to push ahead with its roadmap for postwar Gaza, Hamas asserted Saturday it remained ready to proceed with the plan and urged Washington to pressure Israel to implement it, while Israeli officials warned that the terror organization was exploiting the process to prevent renewed Israeli military action. – Agence France-Presse
An IDF investigation into the recent death of two reservists in an explosion in southern Lebanon will be expanding its scope after it was found that the force of the blast that killed them was unusually strong compared to a standard explosive device, Walla learned on Saturday. – Jerusalem Post
Nickolay Mladenov, the Gaza envoy of the US-backed Board of Peace, sought to dispel skepticism in Israel about the board’s roadmap for the disarmament of Hamas in the Strip, arguing that the plan’s full implementation is Israel’s only “guarantee” of preventing a repeat of the October 7, 2023, massacre, and that it will be based on verifiable steps, rather than trust of the terror group. – Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have quietly given the go-ahead for rehabilitation work to begin in southern Gaza, despite vowing that reconstruction of the badly damaged Strip would only take place once the Hamas terror group was disarmed, Army Radio reported Sunday. – Times of Israel
Neomi Neumann writes: At the same time, if Washington wants the plan to succeed, it will need to clarify its vision of Hamas’s political future after disarmament—if, in fact, disarmament takes place. The current ambiguity on key issues has enabled regional actors to advance differing, sometimes conflicting, interpretations. Although Turkey and Qatar may continue to play diplomatic roles in the process, their involvement in on‑the‑ground monitoring mechanisms should be limited to avoid providing Hamas with additional room to maneuver. Ultimately, the success or failure of the roadmap will depend on whether Israel and the United States can create an implementation framework that does not legitimize or empower Hamas, but instead strengthens Palestinian governance and accountability while contributing to long‑term regional stability. – Washington Institute
Iran
A top Iranian official laid out a series of tough demands for opening the Strait of Hormuz, and the United Arab Emirates said Iran launched a missile attack on one of its ships—developments that darkened the outlook for a deal to open the strategic waterway. – Wall Street Journal
Iranian officials said Saturday they were close to reaching an agreement with Oman over control of the Strait of Hormuz but said any deal would not reopen the waterway unless the United States met a list of demands, including payment of war damages to Tehran. – Washington Post
Iran is replacing its top national security adviser with a longtime military commander whose appointment could represent a further consolidation of power by the country’s old-guard security establishment. – New York Times
In the weeks leading up to the U.S. war with Iran, President Trump cheered on the Iranian protesters rising up against their government, telling them that they should “save the names of the killers and abusers” and that he would come to their aid. – New York Times
Iran and the U.S. are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches an interim deal signed in June, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday, adding that messages are being exchanged via intermediaries. – Reuters
The United States on Friday sanctioned an unlicensed multi-state cryptocurrency exchange, alleging it processed millions of dollars of crypto for Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other groups linked to the Iranian state. – Reuters
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington was “low-keying” its approach to Iran and only “semi-negotiating” with the Islamic Republic, as it suffers in dire economic straits. – Agence France-Presse
The United States and Iran are approaching a decisive point in negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran saying that a framework for an agreement with Oman has already been formulated and that the final text and details will be released soon. – Jerusalem Post
Rachel Avraham writes: “The Iranian people cannot afford another delay. Their lives cannot be placed on the calendar of elections or political calculations. Trump and Netanyahu, finish the job before it is too late. Do not allow this regime to buy another opportunity to continue its reign of terror. “History will judge not only the brutality of the Islamic Republic, but also the choices made by those who had the power to stop it. The people of Iran have been waiting for freedom for over four decades. They are still waiting.” – Jerusalem Post
James Holmes writes: Since the turn of the century, however, yesteryear’s force of small surface combatants has withered. Progress at rebuilding it has proved fitful, to say the least. The littoral combat ship, the natural successor to frigates, underwhelmed to the extent that US Navy leaders canceled the program early. Just last year, moreover, the project to field a new frigate proved such a debacle that Secretary of the Navy John Phelan truncated the class to two vessels and ordered the service to start over with a new class, the FF(X), derived from Coast Guard’s national security cutters. All of this is to say that the US naval leadership has to hazard capital ships in Iran’s environs in order to blockade Iranian coasts or escort commercial shipping through the narrow Strait of Hormuz. The risk calculus relating to convoys looks more forbidding now than during the heyday of the 600-ship Navy. – The National Interest
Russia and Ukraine
Two years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin blessed an effort to turn Wildberries, a company founded by a young mother on maternity leave, into a global online retail behemoth designed to compete with the likes of Amazon. Now, Wildberries is under assault from Ukrainian drones, as Kyiv seeks to use the company’s size against it and knock another chunk out of Russia’s economy. The latest drone barrage Friday started a fire at one of its warehouses in Yekaterinburg. – Wall Street Journal
Russia’s war effort in Ukraine might be faltering, but the Kremlin has a high-tech superweapon to neutralize Western sanctions. It is called A7. The state-backed payment network moves money in and out of Russia, defying U.S. and European efforts to isolate Moscow from the global banking system. A7 helps Russia pay for everything from military-drone parts to luxury cars to imported fruit, using a mix of cryptocurrency transactions and more-traditional banking methods, researchers say. – Wall Street Journal
Ukraine and Russia accused each other of lethal attacks on Sunday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow was targeting global food security by striking Odessa’s seaport. – Reuters
Six people died in a Ukrainian overnight drone attack on the Russian city of Belgorod, the regional crisis centre said on Sunday. Alexander Shuvayev, the acting governor of Belgorod region, earlier said three people were killed and 25 others, including two children, were injured. – Reuters
Russian forces have taken control of the two villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, state-run RIA news agency reported on Sunday, citing the Russian Defence Ministry. – Reuters
The commander leading Ukraine’s drone war says his country’s recent strikes in Crimea are the first phase of a campaign aimed at rendering the peninsula — illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 — unusable as a staging ground for Russian forces. – Associated Press
At least 70 ships remain trapped in the Persian Gulf nearly six months into the Iran-U.S. conflict with more ships now being stalled after the ceasefire between the countries broke down. – USNI News
Editorial: Mr. Trump has been reluctant to increase pressure on Russia to end the war, and this legislation would put the onus on him to act. Ukraine understands that Mr. Putin won’t make peace until he feels the pain, which is why it’s using long-range strikes to pummel military and energy targets inside Russia. Enacting the Graham bill is a way for the U.S. to compound Mr. Putin’s economic stress. The Senate understands this, which is why the legislation passed with strong bipartisan support. After summer recess, the House will have its turn. Let’s hope Mr. Putin can’t soon forget the name Lindsey Graham. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Trump reportedly told Zelensky he would talk to Musk and consider the request. Musk acquiesced to a previous Ukrainian request to block Russians from using Starlink over Ukrainian territory. Given the extent of SpaceX’s business with the U.S. government, an ask from the White House would not be dismissed lightly. Russia has always probed its adversaries. Every “stray” drone or missile that goes unanswered encourages greater risk-taking. Doing nothing, paradoxically, is the more dangerous option. – Washington Post
Sergey Maidukov writes: In their last conversation, Graham told Mr. Blumenthal the agreement was a “big effing deal.” It was. Russia, which has supported Iran half-secretly and half-openly, saw the political board change overnight. Mr. Zelensky watched from the gallery as the Senate advanced a bill that now bears Graham’s name. In July 2026, having survived the leanest stretch of its relationship with the White House, Ukraine returned to its original model: allied with the whole West, on both sides of the Atlantic. The calf found both mothers again. – Wall Street Journal
Hezbollah
When Israel launched its latest war against Hezbollah in March, the first targets the military warned it would strike were not weapons depots or underground command centers. They were banks. Israeli fighter jets leveled more than a dozen branches of a shadowy financial institution known as Al-Qard al-Hassan, long accused of operating as Hezbollah’s bank in Lebanon. – New York Times
Lebanon and Israel have agreed a shortlist of countries that could send troops to verify the disarmament of Hezbollah under a U.S.-brokered agreement, a Lebanese official said on Friday, with the United States due to pick countries from the list. – Reuters
Hezbollah launched an explosive drone near IDF soldiers north of the Beaufort Castle area on Friday, but the IDF did not report the incident, according to Israeli media outlets. – Jerusalem Post
Hezbollah’s attacks on the IDF and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have not derailed talks between Beirut and Jerusalem, even amid Israel’s recent strikes on the group, two experts told The Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post
Syria
Syria and Russia have come to an agreement reorganizing Moscow’s military presence in the country after more than a year and a half of negotiations, the Syrian foreign ministry announced on Sunday. – New York Times
A former senior Syrian intelligence official accused of orchestrating torture and massacres has been found living in Moscow. Hussam Luka, who headed Syria’s general security directorate under Bashar al-Assad, the deposed dictator, fled when Damascus fell in December 2024. – The Telegraph
Syrian security forces arrested a nine-member ISIS cell in Khan Arnabah, Quneitra Province, the Syrian Interior Ministry confirmed on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
Turkey
The leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a mutual defense agreement on Friday, laying the foundation for closer military ties among three U.S. allies looking for new ways to shore up their security after years of upheaval in the Middle East. – Wall Street Journal
A defence pact signed between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is technically the same as NATO’s Article 5 mutual defence agreement, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday, adding the accord was not targeting Iran. – Reuters
A mutual defense pact between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan could be expanded to include other regional states including Egypt, Turkey’s foreign minister said. – Bloomberg
Turkey is restricting some commercial ship traffic into the Black Sea, according to people familiar with the matter, following growing concern from the government over an uptick in Russian and Ukrainian attacks on vessels in the area. – Bloomberg
Lebanon
US senators introduced legislation that would authorize $200 million a year in security assistance to Lebanon’s armed forces and impose sanctions on foreign persons who back Hezbollah, a bipartisan effort to help secure peace in the country. – Wall Street Journal
Lebanon’s Shi’ite population should carry out an “intifada” against Hezbollah, Kataeb Party (Lebanese Social Democratic Party) leader Sami Gemayel told a delegation from Lebanese Press Editors’ Syndicate, according to Lebanese media reports. – Jerusalem Post
Israel raised the possibility of transferring the remains of Jews buried in Lebanon to Israel during talks with Beirut, according to a report Monday by the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar. – Ynet
Yemen
The internationally recognized government of Yemen said its forces had retaliated on Saturday against Iran-backed Houthi rebels after days of attacks on the military, the latest in a surge of fighting that threatens to tip the country back into full-scale civil war. – New York Times
The Houthi militant group said on Friday it had launched a drone and missile attack on a military camp of the internationally recognized government in Yemen, escalating fighting that has threatened to reignite the country’s civil war. – New York Times
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery, they said on Sunday, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met Saudi general intelligence chief Khalid al-Humaidan on Friday to discuss coordination over regional security developments, the prime minister’s office said. – Reuters
Editorial: There is also a nuclear subtext. Turkey’s joining the Saudi-Pakistani relationship, which has a murky nuclear-weapons component, should raise alarms. In February the Turkish Foreign Minister responded with a long silence and a smile when asked on live TV if Turkey should pursue the bomb. All of this underscores the need for Congress to insist the Saudi nuclear deal exclude domestic enrichment of uranium. When a superpower flails about, regional powers begin to make arrangements for themselves. This can be good—locals should carry more of the load—or bad, when allies accommodate our enemies and interests counter to our own. This looks like the latter. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: The US should ask why one of its most important Arab partners feels it needs an alternative security structure, and how to prevent that structure from developing an explicitly anti-Israel character. Israel should speak clearly to Riyadh while continuing to pursue normalization. Saudi Arabia can play a central role in building a more stable Middle East. Israel has every reason to bring it closer. Riyadh must decide whether its new alliances will strengthen regional stability or give greater influence to governments seeking to turn Israel into the common enemy. The Mecca agreement has made that choice much harder to avoid. – Jerusalem Post
Gulf States
The United Arab Emirates’ Adnoc Gas said it would invest over $8 billion to grow its production capacity, just months after the country’s departure from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The exit freed Abu Dhabi, an emirate within U.A.E., from the cartel’s quota restrictions. – Wall Street Journal
Iran is vowing to bar U.S. Navy warships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz as part of an agreement to reopen the waterway, pressing its goal of curtailing America’s decades-old military presence in the Persian Gulf. – Wall Street Journal
Gulf states that normally receive their food and household goods by sea have spent five months flying them in, and the cost is turning up in what their residents pay. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday urged the Defence Ministry to relocate a military airbase in Gwangju city by mid-2028 in order to accelerate the construction of a semiconductor manufacturing hub in the area. – Reuters
A North Korean hacking group built large language model tools and collected software that could help automate cyberattacks, analyse stolen material and produce more convincing phishing campaigns, a South Korean cybersecurity firm said on Monday. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed in Russia to fight for Pyongyang’s ally, while calling on South Korea to provide support for its air defence. – Reuters
Zheng Jiyong writes: The high-level meeting in Pyongyang in June was the first step toward realizing this strategy. Chinese–North Korean relations will have to follow a new logic: if North Korea desires broader cooperation with Beijing, it has to meet China’s requirements on border stability, crisis communications, and military restraint. In return, China is willing to provide greater economic support, expand trade and investment, assist with infrastructure development, and offer international political backing, especially because it wants to see a stable and economically viable North Korea that neither poses a security threat to China nor becomes a pawn in great-power competition. With a changed North Korea, emotional ties among fellow travelers can no longer sustain regional stability. Beijing is counting on the possibility that more connections and clearer boundaries can transform its influence over Pyongyang into effective crisis management tools. – Foreign Affairs
Nigel Cory writes: The question is whether Korea addresses these regulatory challenges in ongoing US-Korea trade negotiations or lets them accumulate as friction that spreads into the broader relationship. Last week’s negotiations and Trump’s response to the EU’s fine make Korea’s choice immediate. Reform deepens an alliance and technology partnership that has served both countries well. Inaction invites a fight that puts far more than technology at risk, for both economies. The collision leaves room for only one trend. Korea should choose the trend on which its success was built. – The National Interest
China
Secrets from Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s disciplinary purges keep surfacing online, defying a crackdown that has ensnared millions of people—and highlighting how deeply embedded graft and disloyalty remain within the Communist Party. – Wall Street Journal
To repel any future Chinese invasion, Taiwan is building fleets of flying drones and unmanned attack boats. The goal is to use them to help locate and attack Chinese forces approaching the island, relying on Taiwanese soldiers trained to move quickly before China can strike them. – New York Times
David Feith and Jimmy Goodrich write: Washington also needs a RISC-V strategy that reduces dependence on Arm without inviting dependence on China. Federal support could accelerate high-performance processor design, software tools and security while ensuring government-backed chips are fabricated, packaged and tested in the U.S. or allied countries. America shouldn’t exchange dependence on a foreign-owned architecture for dependence on a Chinese hardware supply chain. For years, ISAs were an obscure technical layer beneath the semiconductor industry. This was reasonable when Arm was a neutral supplier, but no longer. America’s semiconductor strategy now must confront not only who controls the factories, tools, and materials required to make chips, but also who controls the language those chips speak. – Wall Street Journal
Ellen R. Ward writes: Not only has Communist China made food more expensive in 2026 with its protectionist policies, but it is also compounding this problem by using its state-subsidized economy to drive prices even higher, worsening food insecurity in the United States and around the world. This is just the latest salvo in China’s economic war against American farmers, but it should be its last. Policymakers need to take the necessary steps to secure America’s food supply against Chinese economic manipulation, both by denying China the ability to purchase our raw materials and by strengthening our domestic supply chains. – The National Interest
South Asia
When thousands of unarmed students marched toward the Indian Parliament building last month in a rare challenge to the government, they were met by a wall of riot police officers determined to stop them. – New York Times
Pakistan’s foreign minister said Sunday a new defense agreement his country signed with Saudi Arabia and Turkey was not directed against any country and remained open to other nations in the region. – Associated Press
India’s student-led protests continue in the eastern state of Jharkhand over alleged exam irregularities, even as demonstrations in New Delhi have subsided following the education minister’s resignation. – Bloomberg
Last Thursday, in what at the time seemed out of the blue, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X/Twitter that he had received a phone call from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that they “exchanged views on the current situation in West Asia.” – Jerusalem Post
Asia
Taiwan’s government pushed urgent alerts to millions of cellphones this week to warn people their high-speed 5G service would be disrupted. The message, delivered with the loud buzz of an emergency system typically used for natural disasters, was part of a drill intended to awaken the population to the risk of being taken offline by a Chinese attack. – Wall Street Journal
The only country to have experienced atomic bombings in war has long upheld its “Three Non-Nuclear Principles” as a core policy, under which Japan does not possess, produce or permit the entry of nuclear weapons. – Washington Post
Malaysia is not alone in struggling to implement and enforce restrictions on social media use. But the authorities there had suggested the rollout would be smoother than in countries like Australia and Indonesia, because they had told companies to rely on government-issued documents like identity cards to verify users’ ages. – New York Times
Four years ago, after a former police officer shot or stabbed more than 30 people in northeastern Thailand — the deadliest mass killing by a single attacker in the country’s history — Anutin Charnvirakul, the country’s health minister, vowed tighter controls on guns. – New York Times
Myanmar’s military-backed government has pushed back against the regional ASEAN bloc’s special envoy for the war-torn country, days after its leader made a landmark visit to Thailand, which is pushing for its neighbour’s full re-engagement with the grouping. – Reuters
A gunman was arrested after firing shots at a local government office on the outskirts of Thailand’s capital on Monday, officials said, just days after a teenager’s killing rampage at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control. – Reuters
Alexander Wooley writes: For the first time since 1945, Japan is seriously rearming, with shipbuilding deals with Australia, weapons development plans with the U.S., the easing of self-imposed restrictions on military exports and the concession that the country might one day have to engage in offensive operations. To some, Yamato was the culmination of the imperial period, which led directly to the suffering brought on at Hiroshima. Scholars generally agree that Japan has been less successful than Germany at acknowledging and atoning for its sins of aggression. Consider Yamato, then, a literal vessel for the unresolved and sometimes conflicting feelings that linger in the country’s consciousness, constantly being reinterpreted. – Washington Post
Europe
Daniel Kinahan, the suspected head of one of the world’s most feared crime syndicates, was extradited from Dubai to Ireland on Sunday, ending a yearslong effort by European and U.S. authorities to bring him to trial. – Wall Street Journal
Spain introduced new border checks on arrivals from Italy on Saturday, as a dispute between the two countries over migration policy escalated into a tit-for-tat that is testing the unity of the European Union. The Spanish rules will remain in effect until Sept. 7. Spain’s ministry of interior said it was a response to the “persistent irregular migratory pressure” affecting the country. – Wall Street Journal
An explosive-laden drone discovered at an airport in Germany this week likely belongs to the Russian government, according to U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports about the incident. The drone was spotted on the tarmac at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany on Tuesday night in a secure area near a Ukrainian cargo jet, prompting the airport to shut down for the night. – Wall Street Journal
Germany faces daily hybrid warfare attacks from abroad, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt was quoted by a local newspaper as saying on Sunday, following a suspected attack attempt involving an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport. – Reuters
Hungary’s ruling Tisza party nominated Andras Baka, a former head of the Supreme Court, as the country’s next president, the party’s parliamentary group said on Facebook on Saturday. – Reuters
European consumers can expect natural gas from an undersea deposit off Cyprus to help meet their energy needs as early as March 2028, the island nation’s energy minister said. – Associated Press
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is embarking on a nationwide tour to promote new policies aimed at reducing the cost of living, just as controversy over his prisons policy threatens to end the honeymoon he’s enjoyed since taking office. – Bloomberg
Former prime minister and presidential candidate Gabriel Attal has filed a complaint over an alleged Russian disinformation campaign ahead of next year’s French presidential election, local news outlets reported on Saturday. – Politico
Africa
Roseline Rabouine was 8 when British soldiers showed up at her family’s home on the Chagos Islands and told them they had to leave. – New York Times
Ghana appointed a new defence minister on Friday, a year after a military helicopter crash killed his predecessor. President John Dramani Mahama’s office said in a statement that Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, previously minister of works, housing and water resources, had been reassigned to the defence portfolio. – Reuters
Democratic Republic of Congo authorities released 15 prisoners and handed them over to rebels from the AFC/M23 movement on Friday, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which facilitated the first known transfer of prisoners under last year’s deal to end fighting in the east. – Reuters
Some of the 163 kidnapped Nigerians rescued from jihadi captivity have spoken of the suffering and fear they lived in for six months. The freed captives, mostly women and children, were among over 300 kidnap victims freed by Nigerian forces this week. – Associated Press
More than 178,000 African immigrants have left South Africa in recent months, spurred by a crackdown on undocumented migration by authorities and sometimes violent anti-immigration protests that have led many to leave citing fears of attacks. – Associated Press
Nigerian troops have rescued 33 people who were abducted while traveling in Zamfara state, in the northwestern part of the country, an army statement on Sunday said. – Associated Press
Editorial: Airline deregulation has proven successful in the West. In the European Union and the United States, deregulation resulted in more flights with lower fares. Similar results can be seen on some African routes, such as between South Africa and Zambia. African leaders have often paid lip service to the enormous benefits that would come from liberalizing the aviation industry. In 1999, more than 40 countries reached an agreement to remove restrictions on flights and standardize aviation rules. They reaffirmed these goals in 2018 by committing to the Single African Air Transport Market. Yet most of the countries that signed that initiative still cling to protectionism. – Washington Post
Nacima Carino writes: Ultimately, that is the uncomfortable truth at the heart of Ceuta. Africa cannot simultaneously celebrate its youth as its greatest advantage while watching large numbers of that same youth risk their lives to leave. The real scandal is not that Europe continues to attract African youth. Rather, the real scandal is that so many African youths have lost confidence that their own countries can offer them a future worth staying for. Therefore, if Africa’s young generation is truly its greatest asset, success will not be measured by how many young Africans make it to Europe. Instead, it will be measured by how many choose to stay because they genuinely believe they can build dignified and meaningful lives at home. Until then, Ceuta will not be remembered as an exception. Rather, it will be remembered as another warning. – Jerusalem Post
The Americas
Trump administration ally Abelardo de la Espriella was inaugurated Friday as president, vowing to launch an offensive using aerial bombardments and new prisons to combat cocaine-trafficking groups that nearly doubled in size under the previous leftist government. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. State Department said on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration plans to provide $1 billion in security assistance to the government of Colombia’s new right-wing President Abelardo De La Espriella. – Reuters
Peru and Mexico have agreed to resume diplomatic relations, the two countries announced on Friday, after severing them at the end of last year when the Mexican government granted asylum to a former official of ousted leftist Peruvian president Pedro Castillo. – Reuters
Nearly 40 years after the last papal visit to Argentina, many Catholics received the news of Pope Leo XIV’s trip to the South American country in November as a divine sign during economic hardships that have driven millions of Argentines into debt. – Associated Press
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella on Friday pledged to revive the country’s oil and gas sector, restore state-owned energy company Ecopetrol and strengthen the electricity system, arguing that energy security would be a cornerstone of his administration. – Associated Press
A car bomb exploded Saturday in southwestern Colombia, the army said, a day after conservative political neophyte Abelardo de la Espriella was sworn in as Colombia’s new president. – Associated Press
North America
Cuba is running short of fuel, but not sunshine. As the Caribbean island’s energy crisis has deepened, Chinese-provided solar panels have popped up across the country, offering an unlikely bright spot for a power grid plagued by fuel shortages, crumbling infrastructure and near-daily blackouts. – Wall Street Journal
Canada has offered the Trump administration a package of trade proposals in hopes of preventing 50 percent tariffs that the United States plans to impose in less than two weeks, according to two people familiar with Canada’s stance in the talks with Washington. – New York Times
The Trump administration has been looking for a current or former Cuban official who could be persuaded to take over the government in Havana as the United States ratchets up its pressure campaign, according to current and former U.S. officials. – New York Times
The U.S. government will partially restart activities in Mexico’s top avocado-producing state of Michoacan, the U.S. embassy said on Friday, easing a suspension that had disrupted export inspections after security concerns in the violence-plagued region. – Reuters
Albert R. Ramdin writes: Nicaragua’s government may believe it can insulate itself from the region by leaving the OAS. History suggests otherwise — geography, migration and the aspirations of Nicaraguan citizens for a democratic future tie that country to the rest of the Americas, whether its authorities accept it or not. The OAS will keep the door open, and we will keep doing what is necessary to defend the just cause of a democratic Nicaragua, until its citizens can once again choose their own future. – Washington Post
United States
The Senate on Friday overwhelmingly approved a bill to intensify sanctions on Russia’s wartime economy, in a long-awaited victory for congressional supporters of Ukraine. – Washington Post
US President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche was confirmed as US attorney general on Saturday after Senate Republicans brushed aside Democratic concerns that he could politicize the Justice Department. – Agence France-Presse
Rep. Josh Gottheimer writes: Finally, we can’t ban hateful language, but we don’t have to amplify it. Antisemitism isn’t just an attack on Jews; it’s anti-American, a betrayal of the values this country was built on. The only way to stop influencers from turning age-old tropes into engagement bait, and from monetizing their hatred, is by walking away and focusing on real solutions to our country’s real economic challenges. The politicians who intentionally share these influencers’ stages bear the same responsibility. – The Free Press
Cybersecurity
The U.S. Coast Guard said it is monitoring the aftermath of a cyberattack that disrupted gate operations at all three of North Carolina’s port facilities this week, though it offered few details as the investigation into the breach continues. – CyberScoop
The Senate on Friday confirmed Adam Cassady to serve as the next U.S. ambassador for cyber and digital policy. The chamber confirmed Cassady in a 51-47 vote on a package of more than 70 nominees. – The Record
Editorial: That doesn’t mean violating the alternative currency’s foundational principle of operating outside the traditional banking system. But the promise of decentralization should not become a license for anonymous, industrial-scale money laundering. Consumer education is also vital. Individuals are their own best line of defense against online scammers. Older people are most often the targets. Their more tech-savvy children and grandchildren should make sure, for example, that their apps do not accept cold-call messages from unknown numbers. Artificial intelligence will make internet fraud more rampant as bots continue to proliferate. An all-hands approach is required. As is so often the case, the solution starts with the family. – Washington Post
Santiago Schnell writes: A degree is a public claim as well as a private benefit. Employers, patients, clients and citizens rely on it as evidence that its holder can exercise judgment. Self-government also depends on citizens who can distinguish a sound argument from a fluent approximation. Universities therefore need to show that graduates can use AI intelligently, recognize when its answer is wrong or incomplete and decide when a task should not be delegated. Generative AI makes polished work easy to produce. Universities must now devise credible ways to observe the capacities behind it. The value of a degree will depend increasingly on whether they succeed. – Washington Post
Defense
The Pentagon is asking the U.S. defense industry to rapidly escalate the production and delivery of weapons, including munitions that are in extreme shortage due to the war with Iran, according to a Defense Department memo obtained by The Washington Post. – Washington Post
The Trump administration has revoked the security clearance of Frank Kendall, who served as Air Force secretary under President Joe Biden, accusing him of disclosing classified information about Air Force One to the media. – Washington Post
As the U.S. approaches six months of war with Iran, the costs to taxpayers and consumers continue to grow, beyond what has yet been fully quantified. Lawmakers are wrangling over a plan to pay the bill. Consumers face bills of their own, including gas prices driven up by supply disruptions during the war. – Washington Post
President Trump’s war against Iran has depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles to troubling levels, siphoning supplies from Asia and Europe, according to senior officials. – New York Times
Seth G. Jones writes: Congress should boost the Pentagon’s facilities sustainment, restoration and modernization funds to address these gaps—and the Pentagon should spend it quickly. The U.S. has already paid a huge price for being unprepared in a world where drones and missiles are ubiquitous. Will the U.S. military learn before the price escalates? The Chinese, Iranians, North Koreans and Russians are waiting to see. – Wall Street Journal