Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs’ Alan Baker: These government measures are not de facto annexation Vance says Iran is ignoring core U.S. demands in talks WSJ Editorial: Iran wants Trump to pull an Obama Trilateral talks on Russia-Ukraine war enter 2nd day Bloomberg Editorial: Putin doesn’t want peace. He wants more time Hezbollah rejects disarmament plan and government's four-month timeline U.S. hardens allegation that China conducted a secret nuclear test India seizes sanctioned shadow fleet tankers amid trade thaw with U.S. Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson: Put up or put a sock in it, Europe Pentagon conducts strikes on three more alleged drug boats, killing 11 Former US Air Force general Glen VanHerck: Collaborating and integrating to defend the Homeland against drones Elon Musk's Grok faces global scrutiny for sexualised AI deepfakesIn The News
Israel
A senior official for Gaza on President Trump’s “Board of Peace” met with a top Hamas leader last week and pressed the militant group on the issue of disarmament, according to two officials briefed on the encounter, amid concern that Israel may return to war. – New York Times
A Palestinian child was killed Tuesday and two were injured by a blast caused by previously unexploded IDF ordnance near a military shooting range in the Jordan Valley, the army said, citing reports it received. – Agence France Presse
U.S. cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks announced on Tuesday the purchase of Israeli startup Koi Security in a deal estimated at $300 million, just days after it completed its acquisition of Israeli identity security company CyberArk. – Haaretz
A 16-year-old Israeli’s iPhone that went missing at Dubai International Airport in July has surfaced months later in central Tehran, according to the device’s tracking application. – Ynet
An Israeli was rescued from the area of Kalkilya in the West Bank by Civil Administration officers, the administration said in a Tuesday statement. – Jerusalem Post
American Jews are concerned about ideological and political polarization in Israel. They are also concerned about violence and the death toll in the Arab sector, hostilities initiated by settlers, and the seriousness of the Iranian threat. – Jerusalem Post
The Knesset’s Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee voted on Tuesday in favor of advancing a bill that would expand the power of rabbinical courts in Israel to act as arbitrators in limited civil matters. – Jerusalem Post
The Lod-Central District Court extended the restrictive release conditions on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman on Tuesday, and said that the evidence gathered during the police investigation had “substantially strengthened” the suspicions against him. – Times of Israel
The IDF reported Wednesday that a soldier was killed in a friendly fire incident in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. – Ynet
Police officers from Arab communities have accused law enforcement of negligence and unequal treatment in tackling violent crime, as homicides among Arab citizens reach record levels this year. – Ynet
As negotiations between Iran and the United States continue, Israeli officials believe the talks have been less encouraging than public statements suggest, despite reported progress on Tehran’s nuclear program. – Ynet
An IDF soldier who also holds Turkish citizenship is facing calls for her arrest in Turkey after Islamist groups in Ankara launched a public campaign against her, publishing her personal information online and urging authorities to detain her. – Ynet
A Palestinian security force killed a 16-year-old boy and his 4-year-old sister on Sunday while arresting their father in the town of Tammun in the West Bank. – Haaretz
Alan Baker writes: As an international official, the Secretary-General should be reminded that the “UN Charter and Staff Rules” require senior officials to act with impartiality. His consistently slanted statements, which single out and condemn Israel while disregarding Palestinian violations and incitement, undermine the integrity of his office – and any last shreds of credibility that the United Nations may still have. – Times of Israel
Iran
Vice President JD Vance said Iran had failed to acknowledge core U.S. demands in talks here Tuesday, after which Washington said it had agreed to give Tehran two weeks to close the gaps between the sides. – Wall Street Journal
Parts of the Strait of Hormuz will close for a few hours on Tuesday due to ‘security precautions’ for shipping safety, semi-official Fars news agency reported, as the Revolutionary Guards conduct military drills in the waterway. – Reuters
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened on Tuesday to sink U.S. warships amid continuing nuclear talks between the Middle Eastern nation and the U.S. – The Hill
Editorial: Iran’s nuclear obstinacy is rooted in the nature of the regime. Aggressive and revolutionary from the start, Iran’s regime has hardened into what the historian Ali M. Ansari calls an “Islamic security state.” Nuclear, missiles, massacres and proxy militias are all fallout from its rule. They won’t end until the regime does. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Khamenei has made clear that Iran will not limit its missiles, will not abandon enrichment, and will not retreat from its regional campaign. He has also made clear that he believes Washington lacks the will to act. For the good of Israel, for the security of American forces, and for a Middle East held hostage by Tehran’s ambitions, the question is: When will the world finally do something about this tyrant by providing a clear response? – Jerusalem Post
Amos Harel writes: Another date is also approaching – the 40th day since the Iranian government massacred most of the protesters who were killed during the anti-government demonstrations. The massacre happened on the night between January 8 and 9, and in Islam, the 40th day marks the end of the mourning period. The exact number of people killed that night and throughout the protests still isn’t clear, but it is known to be in the thousands. The timing of an American attack, should one be launched, might take this into account. – Haaretz
David Albright, Sarah Burkhard, and Spencer Faragasso write: Over the last two to three weeks, Iran has been busy burying the new Taleghan 2 facility at the Parchin military complex with soil. The facility has been under construction since May 2025, several months after an Israeli air strike in October 2024 destroyed the existing facility. Satellite imagery from February 5, 2026, shows soil being added on top of the concrete sarcophagus; as of February 13, a large part of the facility is covered with soil – Institute for Science and International Security
Russia and Ukraine
Ukrainian, Russian and American officials were set to reconvene on Wednesday for a second day of trilateral talks, the latest in a string of negotiations aimed at securing a peace that has proved elusive. – New York Times
The humble cucumber, a favourite in Russian salads and meals, is the latest staple to suddenly skyrocket in price, angering consumers and stirring up politicians and regulators keen to tamp down any popular discontent at a time of war. – Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said U.S. President Donald Trump was exerting undue pressure on him in trying to secure a resolution to the nearly four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow. – Reuters
Starlink terminals used by the Russian military have not been in operation for two weeks, but the disconnection has had no effect on its drone operations, a senior Russian military official said on Tuesday. – Reuters
U.S.-mediated talks in Geneva with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators on a settlement to the Ukraine war were tense and are to continue on Wednesday, Russian news agencies quoted a source as saying on Tuesday. – Reuters
Russian forces pounded Ukrainian power infrastructure before a new round of peace talks, killing three energy workers and leaving tens of thousands of people without power and heat, officials said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Three people were killed after part of a building collapsed at a military facility in the town of Sertolovo in Russia’s Leningrad region on Tuesday, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said. – Reuters
French authorities have let the seized oil tanker GRINCH leave territorial waters after the company owning the vessel had to pay a penalty worth “several million euros,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday. – Reuters
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said talks between Ukraine and Russia had “brought about meaningful progress” to end the war, as both sides prepared for a second day of negotiations in Geneva on Wednesday. – BBC
Editorial: President Trump has wanted Europe to do more for Ukraine, and on the evidence it is. But Vladimir Putin won’t end his campaign of conquest until the costs are higher than the benefits. And that still requires more American weapons and sanctions pressure to shrink the financing for his war machine. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: After World War II, nations agreed that wars should have limits. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian commanders over strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. While Russia rejects the court’s jurisdiction, attacks on objects indispensable to civilian survival are prohibited under the Geneva Conventions and customary international law. The idea that they can bring peace closer is risible. It’s time the US said so. – Bloomberg
Michael Brown and Matt Kaplan write: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was meant to last three days; instead, it has dragged on for four years. The United States needs to study why Moscow, previously thought of as a leading military power, failed and why Kyiv has performed so well. Washington must learn how weaker opponents can surprise stronger ones, prepare to iterate rapidly, and start producing large quantities of low-cost capabilities. These new paradigms of conflict are not easily or quickly internalized, which is exactly why adopting them requires urgency and large-scale focus. – Foreign Affairs
Middle East & North Africa
The Syrian government is moving to close a detention camp that held tens of thousands of people including family members of suspected Islamic State fighters, after unrest threatened its grip on the facility just weeks after taking it over. – Wall Street Journal
Armed group Hezbollah rejected on Tuesday the Lebanese government’s decision to grant the army at least four months to advance the second phase of a nationwide disarmament plan, saying it would not accept what it sees as a move serving Israel. – Reuters
Australia said on Wednesday it would temporarily ban one of its citizens held in a Syrian camp from returning to the country, under rarely-used powers aimed at preventing terror activity. – Reuters
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Israel’s recognition of the breakaway Republic of Somaliland would not benefit Somaliland or the region. – Reuters
Turkey and Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation during a visit by President Tayyip Erdogan to Addis Ababa on Tuesday, the Turkish Energy Ministry said, adding the accord would lead to joint production and projects. – Reuters
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani arrived in Venezuela on Tuesday, where he was greeted by Foreign Minister Yvan Gil, images on state television showed. – Reuters
A UK maritime agency said that an incident involving a vessel and small boats around 70 nautical miles southwest of Yemen’s port of Aden on Tuesday had been downgraded to “suspicious activity” as only warning shots were fired. – Reuters
Migrants in Libya, including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, according to a U.N. report that called for a moratorium on the return of migrant boats to the country until human rights are ensured. – Reuters
The Iraqi cabinet approved on Tuesday an “amicable settlement” with Russia’s Lukoil (LKOH.MM), opens new tab over the transfer of operations of the giant West Qurna 2 oil field to the state-run Basra Oil Company, according to a statement. – Reuters
Keith Phillips and Stewart Welch write: The challenges of navigating a potential collapse in Iran will be formidable, and it remains to be seen whether Iraq will be able to rise to the occasion. Will the next Iraqi prime minister lead in a way that unites and not divides the nation? Will the Iraqi security forces be able to contend with multiple external and internal crises? How will Iraqi sectarian, ethnic, and religious leaders support the nation? What role will outside nations play? What is clear, however, is that any change in Tehran will have a direct and immediate impact on Baghdad and the broader region. – War on the Rocks
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said on Wednesday that three civilians had sent drones to North Korea on four occasions since President Lee Jae Myung took office last year, harming inter-Korean ties. – Reuters
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un marked the completion of 10,000 new houses built in Pyongyang, state media KCNA said on Tuesday, as the country prepares to hold a key party congress. – Reuters
South Korea is awaiting one of the most consequential court rulings in decades this week, with judges due to deliver their verdict on insurrection charges against the former president Yoon Suk Yeol and prosecutors demanding the death penalty. – The Guardian
China
The U.S. presented new seismic data Tuesday to buttress its recent allegation that China has secretly carried out low-yield nuclear tests, challenging Beijing’s insistence that it has scrupulously observed an international accord banning all nuclear detonations. – Wall Street Journal
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the desire of the Chinese and American peoples for exchanges and cooperation will not change regardless of how bilateral relations evolve, in a reply to Iowa friends ahead of an expected meeting with President Donald Trump in April, according to Xinhua. – Reuters
Radio Free Asia has resumed broadcasts to people in China, its CEO said on Tuesday, after Trump administration cuts last year largely forced the U.S.-funded outlet to cease operations. – Reuters
Texas has sued TP-Link Systems for allegedly marketing its networking devices deceptively and allowing Beijing to access American consumers’ devices, the state attorney general said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Gordon G. Chang writes: “The Chinese smuggling of agricultural pathogens is part of the preparation for a full-spectrum campaign,” Weichert, also senior national security editor at the National Interest, said to me earlier this month. “This is China’s ‘unrestricted warfare’ aimed straight at the American people themselves.” – The Hill
Colin Clark and Lucas Weber write: Beijing’s elevation to the pantheon of al-Qaeda’s enemies may outpace the capabilities of jihadist groups to mount operations against Chinese interests around the globe. But as history has shown, jihadist groups are patient. As it continues to expand its footprint abroad, whether through its Belt and Road Initiative or through political, diplomatic, and military engagements throughout the Global South, China’s status as a great power will inevitably make it a focus of transnational terrorist and insurgent narratives and propaganda. China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim population evokes tangible grievances among the umma, or worldwide community of Muslims, a catch-all term that groups like al-Qaeda see themselves as defending. – War on the Rocks
South Asia
India’s Coast Guard has seized three tankers sanctioned by the U.S. that it says were involved in illicit ship-to-ship transfers off its western coast, a move that analysts said marks New Delhi’s first direct support of U.S. efforts to crack down on the so-called dark fleet. – Wall Street Journal
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Tarique Rahman was sworn in as prime minister on Tuesday, marking an important political shift in the South Asian nation following a period of turmoil. – Reuters
Militants rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into an army checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, killing 11 security personnel and a child, the military said on Tuesday, as the South Asian nation battles a surge in violence. – Reuters
Afghanistan’s Taliban government said on Tuesday it had released three Pakistani soldiers captured during border clashes in October, in a move mediated by Saudi Arabia amid strained ties and a prolonged frontier closure between the two neighbours. – Reuters
India is moving quickly to shore up relations with Bangladesh following last week’s landmark election that swept into power a former ruling party known for prioritizing closer links with China. – Bloomberg
Asia
Japan is planning roughly $36 billion in U.S. investments spanning critical minerals, oil and gas infrastructure and power generation as part of a $550 billion strategic trade and investment agreement, according to Commerce Department officials. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. plans to deploy more advanced missile systems and other weapons in the Philippines to deter Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, the State Department said Tuesday, affirming a policy that has angered Beijing. – Wall Street Journal
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told Reuters on Tuesday that Thai forces are occupying Cambodian territory after fighting last year despite a peace accord brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, and called on Thailand to allow a joint boundary commission to begin working on their disputed border. – Reuters
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said on Wednesday that she will run for president in the 2028 elections while blaming incumbent leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr for the country’s problems, including corruption. – Reuters
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was reappointed Wednesday by Parliament to form her second Cabinet, following last week’s landslide election win that she hopes will allow a hard-right move to the country’s policies. All previous ministers are expected to be retained. – Associated Press
Indonesia is tightening state control over the world’s largest nickel supply after years of betting the metal would anchor a homegrown electric-vehicle industry, and just as global demand begins shifting away from heavy reliance on nickel. – Associated Press
The decline in the number of Chinese visitors to Japan accelerated in January, fueling the first monthly drop since Covid restrictions were lifted, offering the clearest sign yet of economic fallout from tensions between the countries. – Bloomberg
Ruben Vardanyan, a founder of one of Moscow’s first investment banks, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a court in Azerbaijan, concluding one of the highest-profile trials stemming from Baku’s takeover of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. – Bloomberg
Thailand’s election agency is facing allegations of ballot traceability in the Feb. 8 election, with growing calls from activists and politicians for the vote to be annulled potentially delaying the formation of a new government. – Bloomberg
Editorial: How much? The Philippines Enhanced Resilience Act allotted $2.5 billion over five years to arm a treaty ally with American-made defense systems. It was signed into law by President Donald Trump as part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. That’s a rounding error in terms of total U.S. gross domestic product — and a bargain considering the significance of these contested waters to world markets. – Washington Post
Europe
For years, guides who escorted Chinese tourists through the Louvre were using the same ticket for multiple people in their groups, French authorities said. They weren’t caught because museum security had been bribed to look the other way. – Wall Street Journal
Belgium’s foreign minister summoned the U.S. envoy over comments Ambassador Bill White made regarding the country’s treatment of Jews, marking at least the third dispute in recent months between an American ambassador and the country of his posting. – Wall Street Journal
It was billed as the answer to high-tech U.S. stealth fighters. Instead, an ambitious pan-European project has become a case study into some of what has gone wrong with the region’s defense push. – Wall Street Journal
The Vatican will not participate in U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations. – Reuters
Chinese and Indian tourists are set to make up for a potential slowdown in growth from U.S. travellers to Europe this year, according to a survey published on Wednesday by the European Travel Commission, with international arrivals to the continent set to rise by 6.2%. – Reuters
Poland has barred Chinese-made vehicles from entering military facilities due to concerns their onboard sensors could be used to collect sensitive data, the Polish Army said on Tuesday evening. – Reuters
Nordic government ministers will meet in Denmark on Wednesday to discuss elevating Greenland and two other autonomous territories to equal status in a regional forum, boosting cooperation after U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to control the Arctic island. – Reuters
Four people, including an aide to a French hard-left lawmaker, have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a far-right activist that has jolted the country’s political class, a police source said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Lithuania’s Vilnius airport has resumed operations after a short closure due to weather balloons from Belarus entering its airspace on Tuesday night, airport operator said. – Reuters
Thousands gathered in Pristina on Tuesday bearing banners of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army to protest against the trial of former KLA leaders, including a former president, accused of war crimes during the 1998-99 war for independence. – Reuters
Freed Belarusian dissident Maria Kalesnikava urged European governments on Tuesday to enter a dialogue with President Alexander Lukashenko, saying failing to engage with him would only strengthen Russian influence over Belarus. – Reuters
The Spanish government approved financial aid worth around 7 billion euros ($8 billion) on Tuesday for people affected by the storms that battered the Extremadura and Andalusia regions in the past weeks. – Reuters
Italy’s opposition groups criticised a government plan to attend the inaugural meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace this week, saying on Tuesday that the body undermined the United Nations and ran counter to international law. – Reuters
A Cypriot court acquitted former parliamentary speaker Demetris Syllouris on Tuesday of corruption charges linked to a scrapped citizenship-for-investment scheme that triggered public outrage and intense European Union scrutiny. – Reuters
Spanish law enforcement agencies backed by French customs agents have dismantled a criminal gang and seized what police said was the biggest fake-perfume factory in Europe, Catalan authorities said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete under their own national flags at the 2026 Paralympics in Milan-Cortina, the Games’ governing body confirmed to AFP on Tuesday. – Agence France Presse
Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is taking a big gamble by holding a referendum on judicial reform next month that could puncture her aura of invincibility. – Politico
Boris Johnson writes: European leaders need to be serious. They either need to show that they mean it—that they are willing to do something big, risky and strategically autonomous to help Ukraine, which they show no sign of doing—or else they need to put a sock in it. – Wall Street Journal
Katja Hoyer writes: Right now a German bomb isn’t realistic. What the country can do is make a conventional military contribution befitting its heft, explore forms of collaboration with French and Brititish nuclear programs and improve economic independence. If Germany has learned to stop worrying about the bomb, perhaps it can learn to love nuclear energy again, too. – Bloomberg
Gabrielė Klimaitė-Želvienė writes: Instead of pointing fingers at the US and offering imaginary solutions, demand adherence to international law. Request accountability. Pressure governments to respond to violations. Punish the ambition to conquest. Deter your enemies. Ensure that nuclear states like Russia never again attack non‑nuclear states like Ukraine (which now ruefully acknowledges that surrendering its nukes in the 1990s opened the door to today’s Kremlin aggression). Until we reach that day when peace is declared on earth and borders and nation-states are abolished, the best way to stop them will be to raise the price through deterrence. Before asking that the vulnerable be disarmed, make sure the danger has been neutralized. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Africa
Four Chagos islanders have landed on one of the Indian Ocean archipelago’s atolls to establish what they say will be a permanent settlement, a move they hope will complicate a British plan to transfer the territory to Mauritius. – Reuters
Veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war mounted a court challenge on Tuesday to proposed changes to the constitution that would extend presidential terms from five years to seven, allowing President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stay in office until 2030. – Reuters
About 100 U.S. military personnel have arrived in Nigeria as Washington scales up an operation to target Islamist insurgents, a Nigerian defence spokesperson said. – Reuters
Kenyan airport workers called off a strike on Tuesday after two days of disruption that had caused flight delays and cancellations at one of Africa’s busiest air transport hubs. – Reuters
The European Union extended an arms embargo on Zimbabwe by a year — until February 2027 — as part of an annual review of sanctions it imposed against the southern African nation. – Bloomberg
The Americas
The Pentagon announced Tuesday it struck three more alleged drug boats in separate attacks that killed 11 men, marking an uptick in strikes on the small vessels as the military redirects the vast number of warships it had focused on Venezuela and sends them toward the Middle East. – Washington Post
The U.S. attack on Venezuela and apprehension of President Nicolás Maduro on drug trafficking and other charges was preceded by an escalating pressure campaign against Maduro as the United States built up naval forces in the region, seized oil tankers and destroyed boats that the U.S. alleged were carrying drugs. – Washington Post
Peru’s Congress voted on Tuesday to impeach President José Jerí after he failed to disclose meetings with Chinese businessmen who were under government scrutiny, the latest upheaval in a country that has cycled through leaders with striking speed. – New York Times
One of Latin America’s oldest democracies is under siege from powerful criminal gangs, and a manhunt for three warlords wanted by Donald Trump threatens to unleash even more chaos before Colombians vote this year. – Bloomberg
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Ottawa’s new “Buy Canadian” defense strategy is aimed at reducing Canada’s reliance on the United States while ramping up domestic production after years of underinvestment in the military. – Politico
United States
An immigration judge dropped the Trump administration’s case against Columbia University protester Mohsen Mahdawi, his lawyers said, the second such dismissal in recent weeks. – Wall Street Journal
California and Connecticut are working together on a multi-state “plan of attack” against President Donald Trump’s repeal of the foundation of federal climate regulation of vehicles, the states’ attorneys general told Reuters on Tuesday. – Reuters
Rights advocates and multiple Democrats on Tuesday condemned anti-Muslim comments by Republican U.S. Representative Randy Fine who said on Sunday that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” – Reuters
An 18-year-old man ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun on Tuesday before police arrested him without incident, said U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan. – Reuters
The US has developed a critical minerals price floor system that it’s pitching to allies as the Trump administration and more than 50 countries look to reduce dependence on China for the resources that are deemed critical to national security. – Bloomberg
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Tuesday threatened to pull America out of the International Energy Agency, whose work on deploying renewables conflicts with the pro-fossil fuel policy of the Trump administration – Politico
Bret Stephens writes: It was the recognition that the politics that increasingly divide Europe and the United States are secondary to the values of the civilization that still broadly unite us — and distinguish us from our enemies. The West is not some make-believe concept devised to oppress others. It is the only civilization worth defending not just for the sake of those already in it but for everyone. The least we can do is to explain to our children what it’s all about. Isn’t that what college used to be for? – New York Times
Cybersecurity
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain said on Tuesday that his government will ask prosecutors to investigate social media giants X, Meta and TikTok for allegedly spreading child sexual abuse material generated by artificial intelligence, the latest salvo in a Europe-wide effort to regulate big tech companies. – New York Times
Microsoft on Wednesday said it is on pace to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to help expand AI to countries across the ‘Global South’. – Reuters
European nations are ratcheting up the pressure on social media companies, responding to a public outcry over child safety fears but risking a backlash from the United States, home to the likes of Facebook and Elon Musk’s X. – Reuters
Governments and regulators around the world are cracking down on sexually explicit content generated by Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok on X, launching probes, imposing bans and demanding safeguards in a growing global push to curb illegal material. – Reuters
Indian data centre company Yotta Data Services said on Wednesday it will build one of Asia’s largest AI computing hubs using Nvidia’s latest Blackwell Ultra chips, in a project costing more than $2 billion. – Reuters
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is building an artificial intelligence accountability program as his office probes Elon Musk’s xAI over the generation of non-consensual sexually explicit images, he told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. – Reuters
A phone used by prominent Angolan journalist Teixeira Candido was infected with surveillance software from spyware vendor Intellex for a brief period in May 2024, Amnesty International said in a report published on Tuesday. – Reuters
Researchers uncovered more worrying details about a long-running cyber espionage campaign suspected to be backed by the Chinese government, exemplifying how such attacks often go undetected until they’ve already caused significant damage. – Cyberscoop
Defense
RTX Corp. has improved its capability to deliver a key missile for the US Navy but the company’s performance remains below expectations, according to a Pentagon assessment that comes after President Donald Trump singled out the defense contractor in a broader assault on the sector. – Bloomberg
The US Air Force said it intends to complete by the end of the year a restructuring plan for the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile system from Northrop Grumman Corp., after the projected $141 billion program was plagued by skyrocketing costs and fielding delays. – Bloomberg
The Pentagon is looking for cheap commercial satellites that can maintain surveillance on other satellites in orbit, including close-range inspections, according to a Defense Innovation Unit solicitation published Tuesday. – Defense News
The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it expects its next-generation LGM-35A Sentinel nuclear missile to reach initial capability in the early 2030s, following a revamp of the over-budget program’s acquisition plan set to finish this year. – Defense News
Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and its escorts are operating in the Atlantic Ocean as they sail to U.S. Central Command amid tensions with Iran, USNI News has learned. – USNI News
The Coast Guard is ready to protect crucial ports and supply lines from drone attacks during a potential wartime scenario in the Indo-Pacific in support of Navy and Marine Corps operations, according to the service’s Pacific commander. – USNI News
General Atomics’ LongShot program is aiming to have its first flight test “as early as the end of 2026,” — three years after the company first said tests would begin, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced today. – Breaking Defense
Harrison Kass writes: The Air Force operations in Antarctica are challenging in the ways one might expect, forcing airmen to “brave harsh conditions to fly personnel, equipment and supplies” where “conditions at McMurdo can change rapidly.” And while Antarctic operations have ceased for now, and while the Pentagon may have shifting priorities, “there is little chance of the Air Force’s role in Operation Deep Freeze being affected” moving forward. – National Interest
Glen VanHerck writes: The drone threat is here and growing, and it is probing the seams of our system. Our nation can’t afford to wait for a crisis to force our hand. JIATF-401 has shown what is possible when the right people collaborate to solve common challenges. The government must define responsibilities, fund integration, and demand measurable results to defend the homeland with the clarity, speed, and unity the moment requires. – National Interest
Timothy A. Walton and Dan Patt write: As DoW and congressional leaders consider options for the Air Force, they should resist the siren song that tempts “a score more of the same aircraft, weapons, or flying hours each year will tip the scales.” No, only through a major transformation of the Air Force’s force design and commensurate architecture can the Air Force position itself to deter and defeat PRC aggression while retaining the flexibility and scale it needs to address other global demands. A balanced force design is viable and can achieve this. – Hudson Institute