Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Trump invites Israel's Netanyahu to White House, prime minister's office says Commentary Magazine's Seth Mandel: There’s no such thing as a time-bound path to a Palestinian state South Koreans arrested in Iran on smuggling charges, Seoul says Nobel laureate says Iran using execution as ‘tool of repression’ Trump’s push to end the Ukraine war is sowing fresh fear about NATO’s future Witkoff and Kushner to meet Putin in Moscow to discuss an end to the Ukraine war Russia and Saudi Arabia sign deal for visa-free travel US said to warn Iraq that Israel will strike militias that seek to aid Hezbollah Marathon Initiative’s Ely Ratner and Institute for Indo-Pacific Security’s Randall Schriver: Who could shield Taiwan from China? A new answer is emerging. CSIS’s Raymond Vickery: Is Russia India’s best friend? Sudan Offers Russia Its First Naval Base in Africa Trump rejected Maduro requests on call, options narrow for Venezuela leader, sources sayIn The News
Israel
U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in the “near future,” the prime minister’s office said on Monday, shortly after Trump said Israel should maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria. – Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court on Monday for the first time since asking the country’s president for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, a request backed by close ally U.S. President Donald Trump. – Reuters
A day after receiving a bombshell request for a pardon from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog said Monday that he will consider “only the good of the country” in his decision. – Times of Israel
Egypt and the European Union are preparing to expand training of Palestinian police for deployment in Gaza under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan for the Strip, two diplomats and a foreign official briefed on the issue have told The Times of Israel. – Times of Israel
Former hostage Alon Ohel recounted his time spent in captivity, including threats, sexual harassment, and surgery without anesthesia, while being held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip during an interview with N12 on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF identified a terrorist who crossed the Yellow Line in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, the military confirmed. – Jerusalem Post
Israel’s Iron Beam paradigm-shattering laser defense will be rolled out in the field on December 30, Defense Ministry research and analysis chief Dani Gold announced on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
The 2023-2025 Israel-Hamas War was the first-ever robotics war, Col. (ret.) Yaron Sarig, head of the AI and Autonomy Program Executive Office of MAFAT within the Defense Ministry, said on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Alaa al-Din Abd al-Nasser Hasan Khudar, a Nukhba commander within Palestinian Islamic Jihad Gaza City Brigade, was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the military said on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram departed on Monday for Germany, where he will participate in the official unveiling of the Israeli-supplied Arrow 3 missile defense system later this week. – Jerusalem Post
With the official launch of the Isaac Accords by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Israel aims to expand its diplomatic and security ties across Latin America, with the initiative designed to promote government cooperation and fight antisemitism and terrorism. – Algemeiner
Shalom Yerushalmi writes: The US president essentially determined that Israel’s law enforcement authorities are “making trouble for Netanyahu” and therefore the premier is worthy of a pardon. The Israel Police, the State Prosecutor and judges in various courts have determined that Netanyahu should stand trial for the acts he allegedly committed. The president must stand by these law enforcement agencies and require the conclusion of the trial, unless Netanyahu admits to the offenses and pays the price for them. With all due respect to Trump’s requests, and whatever Herzog regards as his dilemma, this is what Israeli law requires. – Times of Israel
Seth Mandel writes: What exactly did they picture when volunteering to man an international force whose mission is to police a war zone and disarm one of the belligerents? Here again, we have an almost pathological aversion to action. These same countries will grumble about America acting as the world’s police force and Israel clearing out terrorist enclaves in its neighborhood, yet it is crystal clear that they only signed on to an international stabilization force because they expected the U.S. and Israel to do all the actual policing and disarming. […] Donald Trump is not going to do that. Israel’s existence is the result of its own state-building. So, obviously, is America’s. If the Palestinians want to join them in that club, they and their friends should get to work. – Commentary Magazine
Iran
Thousands of young men and women, hair uncovered and dressed in jeans and short-sleeve tops, jumped up and down, dancing and singing at a packed outdoor pop concert. In another part of town, young people bobbed to the beat of a hard rock street band. And scores of people traversed the city to experience Design Week, a festival of gigantic colorful art installations, light shows and live music in multiple locations. – New York Times
South Korean nationals have been arrested in Iran on suspicion of smuggling, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday, but declined to confirm the number of people arrested. – Reuters
A leading Iranian rights activist and Nobel laureate said state suppression in the Islamic Republic is getting worse as the country faces multiple crises, including regional isolation and a deteriorating economy. – Bloomberg
Iran has sentenced Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi, in absentia, to one year in prison, and has ordered a travel ban over “propaganda activities” against the country, his lawyer tells AFP. – Agence France-Presse
Iran arrested Ali Sabouri, the host and producer of the chat show ‘Midnight, along with several other production staff, alleging the broadcast had aired “immoral” content, according to Iranian media reports from earlier this week. – Jerusalem Post
Russia and Ukraine
This week will bring a split screen that will reinforce growing doubts in Europe about the American commitment to the alliance that has served as the bedrock of Western unity since the end of World War II. – Wall Street Journal
President Vladimir Putin hailed what his commanders told him was the full Russian capture of the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine as an important victory after a prolonged campaign, saying it would help Moscow fulfil its wider war aims. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talks on a possible way to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two. – Reuters
Russia said on Monday that remarks by NATO’s most senior military officer that the U.S.-led military alliance could consider a “pre-emptive strike” to be extremely irresponsible and an attempt to move towards escalation. – Reuters
Four people were killed and 40 wounded in a Russian missile attack on the eastern-central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Monday, Ukrainian officials said. – Reuters
As a U.S. envoy heads to Moscow to negotiate over a complex blueprint for peace in Ukraine, Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov says a vital element is missing from the agenda. – Reuters
Ukraine launched an offer to investors to swap $3.2 billion of complex and costly GDP warrants for international bonds on Monday, the government said, as it attempts to clear a major remaining hurdle in its push to emerge from sovereign default. – Reuters
Moving between damp basements and muddy dugouts to fend off constant Russian attacks in the nearly 4-year-old war, exhausted Ukrainian soldiers say their motivation is fortified by knowing they’re fighting for higher cause: the defense of their homeland. – Associated Press
Ukraine’s president spoke optimistically Monday about the progress of revising the Trump administration’s peace plan, saying “it looks better” and the work will continue during talks on how to end Russia’s nearly four-year war. – Associated Press
Diplomats face an uphill battle to reconcile Russian and Ukrainian “red lines” as a renewed U.S.-led push to end the war gathers steam, with Ukrainian officials attending talks in the U.S. over the weekend and Washington officials expected in Moscow early this week. – Associated Press
Ukraine is seeking some €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in additional European funding by the end of the year to finance US weapons purchases, the country’s ambassador to NATO said. – Bloomberg
Dmytro Kuleba writes: This is not an argument against hope. Hope has its place. Ukrainians live by it every day: They hope that their families will be safe, their country will survive and that Europe will finally treat their country as its own. But hope cannot be a strategy. In today’s wartime politics, it is doing far too much of the work that weapons, sanctions and hard political choices should be doing instead. – New York Times
Marc Champion writes: That makes it Europe’s second task to recognize Putin’s Russia as such a threat and unite around a common strategy to deal with it. This will have to include steamrolling any roadblocks set up by countries such as Belgium (on those frozen assets) or Hungary (on whether to resist Russian expansion at all), circumventing EU mechanisms for internal conflict resolution. Finding a way to do both — to keep the peace internally, while at the same time projecting power abroad — may be the most important challenge Europe’s leaders have faced since responding to that fateful Russian-German “peace” deal, in 1939. – Bloomberg
Turkey
A Turkish-owned oil tanker that was damaged near Senegal’s coast last week was hit by four external explosions but there were no injuries or pollution, its manager said on Monday. – Reuters
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea were unacceptable, issuing a warning to “all related sides” after an unmanned vessel reportedly struck a tanker off Turkey’s northern coast. – Reuters
Russian gas giant Gazprom is in talks with Turkish partners regarding the possible extension of gas contracts, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday, the state TASS news agency TASS reported. – Reuters
Turkey’s fifth prototype of the Kızılelma unmanned aircraft scored a direct hit on an aerial target with a beyond-visual-range, air-to-air missile, according to an announcement by manufacturer Baykar and the Turkish Ministry of Defense. – Defense News
Saudi Arabia
The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of support and training for military helicopters and related equipment to Saudi Arabia for an estimated cost of $1 billion, the Pentagon said on Monday. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia opened a bidding round for three mineral exploration licences across a 13,000 square km area, the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry said in a statement on Monday, as the kingdom accelerates efforts to tap deposits estimated at 9.4 trillion riyals ($2.50 trillion). – Reuters
Russia and Saudi Arabia on Monday signed an agreement to implement a visa-free regime for tourists and business people from the two countries for up to 90 days, the Russian government and the Saudi foreign ministry said. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia wants to bring in more Japanese companies as it looks to attract foreign investment to back its ambitious economic diversification plans, the governor of its sovereign wealth fund said on Monday. – Reuters
A new mechanism adopted by OPEC+ to assess members’ maximum output capacity will ultimately help to stabilise markets and reward those who invest in production, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Monday. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
Pope Leo XIV’s voyage to the Middle East is taking him to places where early Christianity flourished, but where that community is now struggling. – Wall Street Journal
A Libyan war crimes suspect was transferred from Germany to The Hague and put into the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICC said on Monday. – Reuters
The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of sustainment for F-16 jets and related equipment to Bahrain for an estimated cost of $455 million, the Pentagon said on Monday. – Reuters
US envoy Tom Barrack reportedly warned Iraq’s leader on Sunday that Israel could carry out strikes on militias in Iraq if they seek to aid Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. – Times of Israel
Iraq plans to invite a select group of major US oil companies for direct negotiations over the acquisition of Lukoil PJSC’s stake in the giant West Qurna-2 oil field, as Baghdad accelerates efforts to reshape ownership of one of its key energy assets. – Bloomberg
Emily Milliken writes: Simultaneously, the United States and allied navies active in the region need to strengthen interdiction of suspected weapons shipments through coordinated maritime patrols and port inspections, expand intelligence sharing among states and commercial operators, and increase naval escorting and monitoring of vulnerable convoys. Moreover, they need to prioritize broadening medical readiness in Yemen and neighboring states, stockpile appropriate protective equipment and countermeasures, and train first responders and maritime crews in the management of chemical incidents. […] The path from smuggled dual‑use components to effective chemical warfare will be difficult. Yet, even small-scale incidents could have devastating impacts on Yemen’s vulnerable population, US regional allies, and international shipping. – National Interest
Korean Peninsula
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday called for increased penalties for corporate negligence in data breaches, saying a massive leak at e-commerce giant Coupang had served as a wake-up call. – Reuters
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday confirmed that the general tariff rate on imports from South Korea, including on autos, would drop to 15% retroactive to November 1 because South Korea has introduced legislation in parliament to implement the country’s strategic U.S. investment commitments. – Reuters
The trial of the head of South Korea’s Unification Church started on Monday, with prosecutors portraying Han Hak-ja as keen to exert political influence and accusing her of using Chanel bags to bribe former First Lady Kim Keon Hee. – Reuters
Pat Fallon writes: The “new” Cold War the United States has found itself in will be fought with computer code as much as with conventional weapons systems, and the time has come to unleash the full potential of US cyber defense. In addition to our military, our government agencies, as well as the American private sector, are all on the frontlines of the cyber domain, whether we like it or not—all must be loaded for bear. – National Interest
China
Chinese rare-earth magnet companies are finding workarounds to their government’s onerous export restrictions, as they seek to keep sales flowing to Western buyers without falling afoul of Chinese authorities. – Wall Street Journal
The fire in a Hong Kong high-rise last week was followed by an outpouring of support for victims and official efforts to control the public response, including a threat to arrest those who direct their anger over the tragedy at the government. – Wall Street Journal
Beijing is using artificial intelligence to deepen its control over the Chinese population, deploying the cutting-edge technology to enhance online censorship and surveillance, according to a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. – Washington Post
The economic relationship between the United States and China is as fraught as it has been in recent memory, but that has not stopped a wave of Chinese food and beverage chains from moving aggressively into the United States for the first time. – New York Times
Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned on Monday that China posed “national security threats” to Britain, but defended his government’s decision to step up engagement with the country, saying closer business ties were in the national interest. – Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to China this week for his fourth state visit, as Europe seeks to balance economic and security threats from Beijing with reliance on the world’s second-largest economy during a time of global trade turmoil. – Reuters
China and Japan gave conflicting versions of a maritime confrontation involving their coast guards and a Japanese fishing vessel around the disputed Senkaku Islands on Tuesday. – Reuters
Editorial: China’s economic coercion today is an omen of what’s to come should it gain naval control of the region. As has been amply demonstrated against Japan, and Australia before it, the Chinese won’t hesitate to use their economic power to intimidate neighbors—and even nations farther afield. Lithuania learned that the hard way when Beijing effectively embargoed all goods to and from the country earlier this decade. A diplomatic touch has always been necessary to avoid conflict over Taiwan, but the real danger here isn’t a Japanese statement of reality. It’s Beijing’s growing use of military and economic power to threaten Taiwanese democracy. Mr. Trump will need Japan’s help to ward off the worst of China’s ambitions. – Wall Street Journal
Ely Ratner and Randall Schriver write: Helping Taiwan is not an act of charity; it is an act of prudence. The United States has a profound interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. A stronger, more resilient Taiwan reduces the risk of war and the danger to U.S. forces. As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Asian defense leaders earlier this year: “Our goal is to prevent war, to make the costs too high, and peace the only option. And we will do this with a strong shield of deterrence.” Taiwan is now building that shield. And Washington should stand with it. – Washington Post
South Asia
Sri Lanka’s recent history has been riddled with serious setbacks. But President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared that the cyclone that hit the country last week is the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history.” – New York Times
The sons of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan fear authorities are concealing “something irreversible” about his condition after more than three weeks with no evidence that he is still alive, one of them said. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin starts a two-day visit to India from Thursday, pitching for more sales of Russian oil, missile systems and fighter jets in a bid to restore energy and defence ties hit by U.S. pressure on the South Asian nation. – Reuters
Apple does not plan to comply with a mandate to preload its smartphones with a state-owned cyber safety app and will convey its concerns to New Delhi, three sources familiar with the matter said, after the government’s move sparked surveillance concerns. – Reuters
Raymond Vickery writes: Underlying the values of absolute independence and non-interference is a belief in Indian greatness, and a concomitant drive for a world order defined by “multipolarity” with India as one of the poles. Fueled by the experience of imperialism, Indian foreign policy has a strong streak of grievance and balks at what it perceives as disrespect to its great power status. Although self-confidence has grown over the years as Indian achievements have become more evident, there is still concern that India is not given pride of place on the international stage. Some Indian actions, such as its nuclear weapons program, seem driven as much by demonstrating “greatness” as by hard strategic considerations. – National Interest
Asia
Three cyclones happened simultaneously across South and Southeast Asia this week, the latest of several huge storms that have battered the region, killing at least 1,200 people, with hundreds more still missing and millions displaced. – New York Times
There is no room for compromise when it comes to Taiwan’s security, while freedom and democracy are foundational values that have nothing to do with ideological disputes, President Lai Ching-te told army reservists on Tuesday. – Reuters
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is facing mounting criticism over his government’s slow response to deadly floods in the south, threatening to derail his party’s ambitions ahead of a snap election. – Reuters
Flying over the blue waters off Taiwan’s east coast, a light aircraft equipped with a powerful U.S.-made radar slung under its belly tracks Chinese warships, collecting data its operator is keen to provide to Taipei’s security forces. – Reuters
OSCE election observers said on Monday that a weekend parliamentary election in Kyrgyzstan had been efficiently run, but stifled by a restrictive campaign environment and that fundamental freedoms were increasingly limited. – Reuters
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said U.S. chipmaker Intel has announced an additional investment of 860 million ringgit ($208 million) in the country for assembly and testing operations. – Reuters
During a visit to Nagasaki with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, the sound of her name being screamed by well-wishers along the roads overwhelmed the cheers for her parents. As she turns 24 on Monday, her supporters want to change Japan’s male-only succession law, which prohibits Aiko, the emperor’s only child, from becoming monarch. – Associated Press
A top transatlantic security and rights watchdog warned Monday that fundamental freedoms in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan were being “increasingly restricted” as part of its report on the country’s early parliamentary election. – Associated Press
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that’s part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. – Bloomberg
The dispute between China and Japan could drag on for a year, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said, adding Taipei hoped the two sides can find a way to resolve their differences. – Bloomberg
Manila’s second Korean-made offshore patrol vessel was launched ahead of schedule last month at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard, marking the latest step in the Philippine Navy’s gradual modernization. – USNI News
Taiwan plans to buy its first weapons for a major air-defense system announced less than two months ago, underscoring Taipei’s urgency to get the program online as China escalates its military intimidation. – Military.com
Europe
European politicians pitched the continent’s green transition to voters as a win-win: Citizens would benefit from green jobs and cheap, abundant solar and wind energy alongside a sharp reduction in carbon emissions. – Wall Street Journal
Spain, which is mobilising to contain an outbreak of African swine fever in Barcelona, received confirmation from major pork importer China on Monday that it can resume pork exports to the country from all other regions, its agriculture minister said. – Reuters
The United States and Britain announced a deal on Monday to securezero tariffs on British pharmaceutical products and medical technology in return for Britain spending more on medicines and overhauling how it values drugs. – Reuters
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, and European Union member Lithuania exchanged diplomatic barbs and issued official protests on Monday, with each side accusing the other of airspace violations. – Reuters
Spanish police said on Monday they had broken up the country’s first known cell linked to The Base, a white supremacist group designated as a terrorist organisation by the European Union. – Reuters
Swiss authorities on Monday said they have indicted a former official at Credit Suisse — now part of Swiss banking titan UBS — for alleged money laundering in a case involving state companies in Mozambique, and charged the bank with not doing enough to stop it. – Associated Press
A proposal to rename a Dublin park named after a former Israeli president has sparked an outcry, with Ireland’s chief rabbi saying it would be “a shameful erasure” of the country’s Jewish history. – Associated Press
The president of the International Criminal Court said during the institution’s annual meeting Monday that it will not bow to pressure from the United States and Russia. Nine staff members, including six judges and the court’s chief prosecutor, have been sanctioned by U.S. President Donald Trump for pursuing investigations into U.S. and Israeli officials, while Moscow has issued warrants for staff in response to an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. – Associated Press
The European Union’s top diplomat expressed concern that US attempts to push Ukraine into a lopsided peace plan would only encourage Russia’s warmongering as Kyiv’s allies brace themselves for a week of talks to end Moscow’s invasion. – Bloomberg
The European Union plans to commit at least €3 billion ($3.5 billion) over the next year to help sever its dependence on China’s raw materials, which are critical to much modern technology and military equipment. – Bloomberg
Two minors, one of them a Russian national, have been placed in custody in Paris on suspicion of plotting an antisemitic attack, according to judicial and press sources. – Agence France-Presse
Local authorities in the UK have dramatically increased their use of drones, fueling fears that the government is monitoring or even snooping on people from above, according to reports. – Fox News
Africa
Sudan’s military government has offered Russia what would be its first naval base in Africa and an unprecedented perch overlooking critical Red Sea trade routes, according to Sudanese officials. – Wall Street Journal
Nigeria has offered Guinea-Bissau’s opposition presidential candidate Fernando Dias protection at its embassy in the capital Bissau following a military coup, the Nigerian foreign ministry said on Monday. – Reuters
African state-owned institutions are now managing a record $1 trillion in assets, according to a monthly report from sovereign fund tracker GlobalSWF. – Reuters
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Monday that it seized full control of Babanusa, a transport junction in the country’s oil-producing South. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday to sign a peace agreement, the White House said. – Reuters
Cameroonian opposition leader Anicet Ekane, who supported a bid for president by a rival to the country’s long-serving leader in October, died in detention on Monday, his lawyer and family said, a development that may worsen political tensions. – Reuters
French nuclear fuels group Orano, said on Monday a uranium shipment from its expropriated SOMAIR mine in northern Niger last week posed “serious safety and security risks”, citing threats of diversion of the radioactive material and breaches of international transport rules. – Reuters
A delegation from the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS made no headway in talks Monday with coup leaders in Guinea-Bissau, but said at the end of its visit that discussions would continue later this month. – Associated Press
A South African court remanded a female state-radio presenter and four men in custody until a Dec. 8 bail hearing after they were charged with contravening the country’s laws against assisting foreign military forces. – Bloomberg
Nigeria’s defense minister quit as President Bola Tinubu prepares to unveil a plan to deal with a security emergency in the West African nation. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is running out of options to step down and leave his country under U.S.-guaranteed safe passage, following a short call with U.S. President Donald Trump last month where Trump refused a series of requests from the Venezuelan leader, according to four sources briefed on the call. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump held talks on Monday with top advisers to discuss the pressure campaign on Venezuela, among other topics, a senior U.S. official said. – Reuters
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Monday said he swears “absolute loyalty” to the Venezuelan people, amid mounting tensions with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. – Reuters
Colombia said Monday it sent 26 members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor to the United States after determining that the rights of some of the children in the group were at risk. – Associated Press
Visiting Bolivia became a little easier for certain travelers on Monday, when the South American nation’s first conservative government in nearly 20 years eliminated visa requirements for citizens from the United States and Israel, among several other countries, as part of a broader geopolitical and economic overhaul. – Associated Press
Rafael de la Cruz writes: With Ms. Machado and Mr. González’s leadership and public legitimacy, Venezuela is positioned for reconciliation and the restoration of democratic institutions, territorial control and governance. This includes plans to address uncertainty and ensure security from the outset of the new government. The end of Mr. Maduro’s narco-terrorist state will mark the beginning of Venezuela’s return to democracy, order, prosperity—and hope. – Wall Street Journal
North America
Last year, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was convicted in a New York courtroom of enabling drug bosses to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S. and turning his tiny country into a violent narco state. – Wall Street Journal
Algoma Steel said it would eliminate about 1,000 jobs, or about a third of its workforce, as the company shuts down production from its blast furnace and coke ovens that became financially unsustainable with hefty U.S. tariffs. – Wall Street Journal
A conservative candidate held a narrow lead in Honduras’s presidential race that had been thrown into disarray in its final days due to the surprise endorsement of President Trump. – Wall Street Journal
Even in the operatic annals of Mexican organized crime, it was a shock last year when one of the country’s biggest drug lords was abducted by a son of his former business partner and flown across the border into the hands of American federal agents. – New York Times
Canada has reached an agreement to join the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, which will give Canadian defense companies expanded access to the European market, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said on Monday. – Reuters
Official results for St. Lucia’s general elections on Tuesday showed the governing Labour Party winning at least nine of 17 legislative seats up for election, enough to re-elect Prime Minister Philip Pierre. – Reuters
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader said on Monday that a temporary agreement allowing U. S. personnel access to restricted airport areas for counter-narcotics operations will expire in April 2026, clarifying the deal’s scope. – Reuters
Heavily armed gangs attacked Haiti’s central region over the weekend, killing men, women and children as they set fire to homes and forced survivors to flee into the darkness. – Associated Press
United States
The White House said Monday that the U.S. military conducted two strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September, deepening questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s role in an operation that led to the killing of two survivors. – Wall Street Journal
Authorities are searching for clues to why a man shot two West Virginia National Guard members serving in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, killing one and grievously wounding the other. – Wall Street Journal
The White House published a website detailing what it calls “false and misleading” media coverage, the latest in a series of unorthodox steps by the Trump administration against media outlets. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: That’s all the more reason for Congress to learn the truth about the Hegseth story, and some are ready to do so. Reps. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.) and Adam Smith (D., Wash.), the top members on the House Armed Services Committee promised in a statement over the weekend “bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.” The Senate Armed Services Committee also promised an inquiry. The drug-boat war is presenting questions of presidential power and America’s role in the world that will continue long after President Trump leaves Washington, and good for lawmakers who appreciate the stakes. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Northwestern said Friday that its settlement with the Justice Department was done to restore federal research funding to the university. Northwestern also says that no provision of the settlement may be “construed as giving the United States authority to dictate faculty hiring, University hiring, admission decisions, Northwestern’s curriculum, or the content of academic speech and research.” Interim University President Henry Bienen told the Northwestern community Friday that “the payment is not an admission of guilt” and that “Northwestern runs Northwestern.” Schools should run themselves, but not when those who are supposed to be in charge let antisemites run wild in violation of the law and every liberal principle. – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday calling for the U.S. departments of Justice and Homeland Security to investigate online retailers Shein and Temu, which ship most of their merchandise from China, for wide-scale intellectual property theft and counterfeiting. – Reuters
India’s telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cyber security app that cannot be deleted, a government order showed, a move likely to antagonise Apple and privacy advocates. – Reuters
South Korean police said on Monday they were tracing IP addresses and looking into possible tech vulnerabilities at Coupang after the e-commerce giant suffered the country’s worst data breach in over a decade. – Reuters
A group of Swiss and German law enforcement agencies said on Monday they shut down cryptomixer.io, one of the largest platforms to cover up the tracks of bitcoin transfers from illegal activities. – Reuters
Australia on Tuesday unveiled a roadmap to ramp up the adoption of artificial intelligence across its economy but said it would rely on existing laws to manage emerging risks, stepping back from earlier plans for tougher rules on high-risk scenarios. – Reuters
Behind the hoopla over the promise of artificial intelligence lay difficult realities, including how such technology might affect people already disadvantaged in a data-driven world. A new report by the United Nations Development Program notes most of the gains from AI are likely to be reaped by wealthy nations unless steps are taken to use its power to help close gaps in access to basic needs, as well as such advanced know-how. – Associated Press
The US Commerce Department has agreed to invest as much as $150 million in xLight Inc., a chip technology startup tied to former Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger. – Bloomberg
The US will seek agreements with eight allied nations as part of a fresh effort to strengthen supply chains for the computer chips and critical minerals needed for AI technology, according to the top State Department official for economic affairs. – Bloomberg
European authorities shut down and seized the assets of Cryptomixer, a cryptocurrency mixing service that allegedly facilitated more than $1.5 billion in money laundering for cybercriminals and other illegal activity, Europol said Monday. – Cyberscoop
Russia has restricted access to WhatsApp for many users, warning that the messaging service could face a nationwide block unless it complies with domestic regulations — the latest step in Moscow’s widening crackdown on Western technology. – The Record
A recent cyberattack on South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was allegedly conducted by a North Korean government-backed hacking group. – The Record
Defense
The world’s biggest weapons-producing companies saw a 5.9% increase in revenue from sales of arms and military services last year as demand was fed by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as well as countries’ rising military spending, according to a report released Monday. – Associated Press
In the austere desert or island outpost of the future, the U.S. Marine Corps wants its aircraft to land on a functioning airfield 90 minutes after the required equipment is flown in via an MV-22 Osprey or CH-53 King Stallion. – Defense News
The U.S. Marine Corps recently activated three new companies at Camp Schwab in Okinawa, Japan, as part of Force Design 2030 and a greater effort to defend the first island chain, the service announced last week. – USNI News
The addition of uranium to the United States’ critical minerals list could have wide-ranging economic and national security implications. On Nov. 6 the Department of the Interior, through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), published the final 2025 list of critical minerals that the government says are vital to negate potential risks from disrupted supply chains. – Military.com
Judd Rosenblatt and Cameron Berg write: America built the atomic bomb when the physics seemed impossible. We reached the moon when the engineering seemed fantastical. We created the internet when networked computing seemed impractical. Americans have always risen to civilizational challenges when we’ve seen them clearly and moved with conviction. The challenge now is to build AI systems we can trust with the future. That future is closer than most realize, and the window for shaping it is open. But it won’t stay open forever. – Wall Street Journal
Bill Greenwalt writes: There is still a lot to like in the final draft, even as it’s clear the goals laid out by Hegseth, included in the early draft, were watered down. Now, imagine what will happen in the coming months as the self-protecting acquisition bureaucracy begins to “implement” the guidance at the ground level. Real acquisition reform doesn’t have a chance unless leadership quickly overturns all of this bureaucratic nonsense and backtracking. These changes can and should be corrected to correspond to the vision the secretary articulated so well, and senior leadership needs to keep its hands on the steering wheel to drive these changes home. – Breaking Defense