Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Gaza crossing into Egypt will open to Palestinians Monday, Israel says U.S. approves $15.7 Billion in potential arms sales for Saudi Arabia, Israel Washington Institute's Dennis Ross and David Makovsky: Peace Through Leverage in Gaza Iran’s missiles pose deadly threat, gulf allies warn, as Trump weighs strikes Iran warns of regional conflict if US attacks, designates EU armies 'terrorists' Russia strikes Ukrainian energy sector after Trump push for pause WSJ’s Holman W. Jenkins Jr: A slow-cooked peace in Ukraine Syrian government and Kurdish-led militia seal a deal to merge forces WSJ’s Mary Anastasia O’Grady: China loses a foothold in Panama Pakistan forces kill 145 militants in two-day battle after wave of attacks Taiwan’s opposition seeks to slash arms budget demanded by Trump US President Donald J. Trump: My tariffs have brought America backIn The News
Israel
The Rafah crossing connecting Gaza to Egypt will open to Palestinians on Monday, Israel said, marking the first time they can both enter and exit the enclave in more than two years—though restrictions will still apply. – Wall Street Journal
Airstrikes killed at least 32 people in the Gaza Strip late Friday into Saturday, according to hospital and emergency response officials in the enclave, as Israel launched what it said were extensive strikes targeting Hamas militants and weapons sites. – Washington Post
The Trump administration late Friday approved $15.7 billion of proposed arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Israel, according to the Pentagon. – Wall Street Journal
The top U.S. and Israeli generals held talks at the Pentagon on Friday amid soaring tensions with Iran, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity. – Reuters
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Friday it will not submit lists of staff demanded by Israel to maintain access to Gaza and the West Bank after failing to receive assurances over the safety of its teams. – Reuters
A Gaza doctor and hospital director who criticized Israel in two separate New York Times op-eds has been revealed to be a Hamas colonel. – Jerusalem Post
An underground tunnel hundreds of meters long near Khan Yunis was destroyed by the IDF during operations to clear the area east of the Yellow Line in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
A German-Israeli IDF sniper has taken legal action against The Guardian newspaper and several German papers for falsely identifying him and publishing his photo in an article about war crimes. – Jerusalem Post
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir’s recent visit to Washington, DC included highly discreet meetings with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and the entire senior team, in what was one of the most significant working channels in Israel-US relations – according to two senior diplomatic sources who spoke with The Jerusalem Post on Monday. – Jerusalem Post
Israel’s military operations in Gaza are to blame for the breakdown in the ceasefire brokered by the United States, according to a joint statement from eight Muslim Nations released Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
Hamas planned to keep Israeli hostages for as long as a decade, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch said in an in-depth interview, describing what he called the terror group’s long game of using captives, living and dead, as strategic leverage meant to grind down Israel over years. – Jerusalem Post
Dennis Ross and David Makovsky write: Leverage, like any strategic asset, erodes if it is not used to produce concrete outcomes. The coming weeks will show whether diplomacy can shrink and ultimately eliminate Hamas’s zone of control, avert another war, and catalyze a transformation in Gaza. If Trump wants the Board of Peace to act in other conflicts, he will first need to show that it has succeeded in Gaza. – Foreign Affairs
Iran
Sam, who had just turned 17, is one of an expanding list of teenagers and other young people emerging as victims of the brutal crackdown on protests in Iran, a country where almost half of the population is under 30. Among the dead were athletes, artists and students whose photographs and brief biographies have since flooded social media, creating a digital memorial of young lives snuffed out under an internet blockade. – Wall Street Journal
As the Trump administration pressures Iran with a massive military buildup in the region, Persian Gulf states are warning U.S. officials that Tehran’s missile program remains capable of inflicting significant damage to U.S. interests in the region, according to two Western officials briefed on the matter. – Washington Post
A deadly explosion that rocked an apartment building in southern Iran on Saturday and that officials said had most likely been caused by a gas leak spread panic in a country on edge about a potential outside attack. – New York Times
Iran will not engage in direct negotiations with the United States unless President Trump stops threatening it, its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Friday. – New York Times
Details of various diplomatic processes to manage tensions with the U.S. are being examined by Iran, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, adding that Tehran hoped for results in the coming days. – Reuters
Iran’s leadership warned of a regional conflict on Sunday if the U.S. were to attack it, stoking the tension between Washington and Tehran, and it designated EU armies as “terrorist groups” in a retaliatory move. – Reuters
The naval forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have no plan to carry out live-fire exercises in the Strait of Hormuz as reported by some media outlets earlier this week, an Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday. – Reuters
Iran considers as “terrorist groups” the armies of EU countries that listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the bloc’s list of terrorist organisations, the speaker of the Iranian parliament said on Sunday. – Reuters
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met with top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in Tehran and reviewed efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Saturday in a statement. – Reuters
The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni and a businessman it said helped launder money for Tehran, as President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up pressure on the Islamic Republic. – Reuters
Fresh satellite images have captured roofs being built over damaged buildings at Iranian nuclear sites that were attacked by the U.S. and Israel last year. – FOX
A strike on Iran is unlikely to take place this week, although tensions with Tehran have entered a particularly sensitive period and Washington is weighing its next moves, Israeli officials said Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
The US and Iran have reportedly informed each other that they are ready to conduct negotiations on an agreement to end tensions between them, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held top-level meetings on the situation. – Times of Israel
Farah N. Jan writes: As a result, the Trump administration’s threats and potential strikes against Iran may, conversely, result not in increased American influence, but in diminished relevance as the region divides into competing spheres of influence. And perhaps most alarming of all, I fear that it could teach every aspiring nuclear state that security is attainable only through the possession of the bomb. – Defense News
Michael Eisenstadt writes: At the very least, the goal of military strikes should be to leave the Islamic Republic more vulnerable, less capable, and less stable, thereby limiting its future options and perhaps causing it to act with greater caution in its dealings with the Iranian people, the United States, and America’s partners. Yet military strikes combined with more stringent sanctions enforcement could catalyze longer-term processes and confront the regime with multiple crises, forcing it to fight on several fronts as sources of income dry up and insoluble economic and environmental problems mount. By ripening the contradictions driving the current unrest in the Islamic Republic—lack of regime legitimacy, diminished government capacity, and a broader, more assertive opposition—this kind of combined U.S. approach might set conditions for the regime’s eventual undoing. – Washington Institute
Dokhi Fassihian writes: Direct military action would likely consolidate command-and-control within the security apparatus, narrow elite debate, and foreclose the very accommodations that succession uncertainty might otherwise force. The Islamic Republic’s own history offers a cautionary precedent: external war has strengthened internal consolidation rather than weakened it on more than one occasion. This is not a call for instant democratization, nor does it absolve those officials responsible for ongoing atrocities. It is a recognition of political reality and — compared to militarization, fragmentation, or renewed repression — the only path that plausibly aligns Iran’s internal dynamics with the interests of its society and the region alike. – War on the Rocks
Russia and Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv supported the U.S.-proposed pause to strikes on energy infrastructure, as he said that Russia hadn’t struck Ukrainian energy facilities overnight. – Wall Street Journal
President Trump is fast approaching his first major strategic arms decision since returning to the White House: whether to agree to a Russian proposal to extend limits on long-range nuclear weapons for another year or do nothing when the treaty expires next week. – Wall Street Journal
Russian drones attacked coal mining facilities in southeastern Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least 12 miners heading home after finishing their shift. The attack came days after President Donald Trump said he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for a partial pause in attacks, which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said would apply only to Kyiv, the capital, and would end Sunday. – Washington Post
Ukrainians woke to another frigid Friday with the possibility that, for now, there could be a halt in Russia’s punishing attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector that have plunged much of the country into cold and darkness. This possibility arose after a call by President Donald Trump. – Washington Post
A second round of trilateral talks to end the war in Ukraine has been postponed for several days after a surprise meeting this weekend between Russian and U.S. negotiators in Florida. – New York Times
As Russia holds direct peace talks with Ukraine for the first time in months, the Kremlin’s most potent fuel for the war, oil revenue, is under mounting strain. – New York Times
Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Kremlin security official, said in remarks released for publication on Monday that the world was getting very dangerous, but that Russia did not want a global conflict. – Reuters
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, praised U.S. President Donald Trump as an effective leader who was seeking peace but added that Moscow had seen no trace of nuclear submarines Trump said he moved to Russian shores. – Reuters
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s powerful Security Council, said that Russia will “soon” win military victory in the Ukraine war but the key thing was to prevent any further conflict. – Reuters
A new round of U.S.-brokered trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia will take place in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 4 and 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, adding that Kyiv was ready for a “substantive discussion”. – Reuters
Elon Musk said on Sunday that moves by his SpaceX company to stop the ‘unauthorized’ use by Russia of its internet system Starlink seemed to have worked, while Kyiv’s defence chief said officials were working on ways to prevent any future use by Moscow. – Reuters
The U.N. atomic watchdog’s board held a special session Friday to discuss risks to nuclear safety in Ukraine as concerns mount that relentless Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure pose an increasing danger of a nuclear accident. – Associated Press
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. writes: Mr. Putin hasn’t abandoned his ambitions. But he or a successor would have a steep hill to climb to convince fellow elites to renew an experiment that has failed so miserably. A simple truth: Even if Mr. Trump were as bad as his detractors say, Mr. Putin would be hard-pressed to conjure a Ukraine ending now that wouldn’t simply be an exclamation mark on the overall trajectory of Russia’s decline. – Wall Street Journal
Hezbollah
Syria said on Sunday it had detained a group behind recent rocket attacks on the Mezzeh military airport in Damascus, with investigators tracing the weapons to Iran-backed Hezbollah. – Reuters
An airstrike in the southern Lebanese town of Doueir on Sunday afternoon killed a Hezbollah engineering commander, the Israel Defense Forces said. – Times of Israel
The IDF announced on Friday evening that it had begun striking Hezbollah terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon. Saudi-owned Al-Hadath reported that more than 17 separate strikes were carried out. Footage released by the IDF showed multiple explosions across the area. – Ynet
Syria
Syria’s government and a powerful Kurdish-led militia reached a comprehensive agreement on Friday to integrate Kurdish forces into the Syrian military, according to Kurdish leaders and a Syrian official, the most decisive step yet to bringing calm after clashes between the sides had threatened to reignite a full-blown conflict in the country’s northeast. – New York Times
Syria said on Sunday it had detained a group behind recent rocket attacks on the Mezzeh military airport in Damascus, with investigators tracing the weapons to Iran-backed Hezbollah. – Reuters
“On the first day, I asked ‘why are there no more women?’,” says Hind Kabawat. She is Syria’s minister for social affairs and labour – the only female minister in the transitional government tasked with navigating the country’s jagged road from war to peace. – BBC
Asli Aydintasbas writes: Ultimately, this is Mr. Erdogan’s choice. As he often speaks of shaping a new “century of Turkey,” the legacy he leaves will depend in part on whether he opts for coercion or coexistence across Turkey’s borders. In its turn, Washington needs to urge Turkey to jump-start the peace process with the Kurds. Turkey’s security concerns are legitimate, but a pluralistic Syria should be seen as a stabilizing force, not a threat. – New York Times
Iraq
Iraq’s alliance of Shi’ite political blocs, the Coordination Framework, reaffirmed on Saturday its support for former premier Nouri al-Maliki to lead the next government, despite a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that Washington would no longer help Iraq if Maliki returned to power. – Reuters
Mark Savaya, named by U.S. President Donald Trump as special envoy for Iraq in October, is no longer in that role, sources familiar with the move said. – Reuters
Transfers of Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq by the U.S. military have slowed this week, seven sources familiar with the matter said, following calls by Baghdad for other countries to repatriate thousands of foreign jihadists. – Reuters
Arabian Peninsula
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, son of the oil-rich country’s president, was put in charge of ADQ, a $263 billion wealth fund in the U.A.E., the country said Friday. He takes responsibility for state crown jewels such as Etihad Airways and Abu Dhabi’s nuclear-energy company, which had been under the control of the prince’s uncle, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan. – Wall Street Journal
Sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is seeking an A$3.75 billion ($2.6 billion) loan backed by four Australian assets held by the firm’s wholly-owned subsidiary, according to people familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg
The president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed, is is cancelling a state visit to Japan amid growing tensions in the Middle East over Iran, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported. – Bloomberg
Middle East & North Africa
President Trump’s promised “armada” has arrived in the Middle East, headed by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier battle group, and sophisticated F-35 jets have moved closer to the region. – Wall Street Journal
A number of Middle Eastern governments are trying to push the U.S. and Iran into talks to head off a possible conflict, efforts that so far are failing to gain traction as both sides dig in. – Wall Street Journal
An investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates purchased nearly half of the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company last year, making the family business partners with the U.A.E. even as President Trump negotiated foreign policy matters with the Middle Eastern nation. – New York Times
The clandestine drone operation offers new evidence of how the civil war in Sudan — racked by famine, atrocities and tens of thousands of deaths — is morphing into a sprawling theater for high-tech drone warfare driven by the interests of rival foreign powers. – New York Times
Yemen’s Iran‑aligned Houthi paramilitary has removed critical telecommunications equipment belonging to the U.N., the global body said on Friday, warning that further restrictions on its work would fuel a worsening humanitarian crisis. – Reuters
Tunisian President Kais Saied has extended a long-running state of emergency by 11 months until December 31, the official gazette showed on Friday. – Reuters
Korean Peninsula
South Korea needs more discussion with the U.S. on a trade deal they reached last year, the industry minister said after two days of talks through Friday with his counterpart, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement to raise tariffs. – Reuters
The defence ministers of South Korea and Japan agreed on Friday to upgrade defence cooperation and plan to work together in incorporating artificial intelligence and unmanned weapon systems, South Korea’s Defence Ministry said. – Reuters
South Korea’s exports extended their growth streak in January, underpinned by robust semiconductor demand and an increase in the number of working days from a year earlier because of the effects of a favorable calendar. – Bloomberg
China
In purging his top generals, Chinese leader Xi Jinping put the command of the armed forces in the hands of one man—himself. Now, his vision alone will decide the course of Beijing’s looming confrontation with Taiwan. – Wall Street Journal
Panama’s Supreme Court decision to void Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison’s contract to operate two ports at either end of the Panama Canal is rippling through global shipping and geopolitics, complicating a $23 billion ports deal and sharpening U.S.-China competition in the Western Hemisphere. – Wall Street Journal
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Moscow continues to support Beijing over Taiwan, state news agency TASS reported on Sunday. – Reuters
China conducted naval and air patrols around the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Saturday, the China Southern Theater Command said. – Reuters
Operating the world’s largest navy by hull count, China possesses combat vessels—including surface warships and submarines—acquired from Russia decades ago, that helped it build sea power capable of challenging the United States. – Newsweek
Editorial: Mr. Ho, former chairman of the group behind the annual Tiananmen vigil, is in poor health and has pleaded guilty to inciting subversion. He no doubt is hoping for leniency in sentencing. Mr. Lee and Miss Chow have pleaded not guilty. Whatever their fate, their bravery should not be forgotten. Their trial is more evidence of the continuing brutality of a Communist government that tries to cover up a murderous sin of its past. – Wall Street Journal
Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes: The U.S. Embassy in Panama applauded the court’s decision as a triumph of the rule of law. China is less sanguine. Panama’s La Prensa reported Friday that Beijing called the decision “ ‘contrary to the legal basis’ under which the Panamanian side approved the concession rights, adding that the company ‘reserves all its rights, including legal action.’ ” See you in court, as they say. – Wall Street Journal
Juan Pablo Spinetto writes: More broadly, China will continue seeking inroads across the region through commercial partnerships, political alliances and soft power, leveraging its massive trade ties, particularly in South America. As outlined in its latest strategic policy paper released in December, the Chinese government maintains an ambitious cooperation agenda spanning trade, infrastructure, finance, energy, manufacturing, food, technology and more. – Bloomberg
Jonathan A. Czin and John Culver write: In its lurid details, that case evoked an airport novel: Bo’s wife had murdered a British businessman who had been a fixer for the family. Although we do not yet know what operatic feuds or basic miscalculations led to Zhang’s demise, his ouster is a reminder about the folly of applying algebraic logic to the dramatis personae of China’s political hierarchy. There are likely to be many more acts in this unfolding play. The real question for Xi is whether he can author the denouement that so far seems to have eluded him: a military that lives up to his unforgiving standards of party loyalty and operational proficiency. – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
Pakistani security forces killed 145 militants in a 40-hour battle launched as a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks across Balochistan left nearly 50 people dead, the province’s chief minister said on Sunday. – Reuters
Tens of thousands of people have fled a remote mountainous region in northwestern Pakistan in recent weeks, residents said, after warnings broadcast from mosques urged families to evacuate ahead of a possible military action against Islamist militants. – Reuters
The International Monetary Fund on Friday said Bangladesh’s gross domestic product is expected to rebound to 4.7% in the fiscal year 2026, following a recent economic slowdown. – Reuters
India’s government dismissed a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel made by Jeffrey Epstein in a 2017 email, which suggests the two may have had some previous contact. – Bloomberg
India is looking to remove taxes on import of equipment for processing critical minerals and spur manufacturing of rare earth magnets locally, a move aimed at minimizing dependence on China. – Bloomberg
Asia
The arrests of two alleged ringleaders of transnational scam networks in Cambodia have led to thousands of workers—many of them trafficked—being let go from compounds across the country, one of the biggest shake-ups to date of the so-called pig-butchering industry. – Wall Street Journal
Rubber farmer Pinittaya Boonlieng sat with friends in a key political battleground in Thailand to discuss how to vote in the February 8 general election – a choice that once would have been simple in a region long loyal to former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. – Reuters
Two tankers suspected of illegal ship-to-ship oil transfers were detained and more than 512 million ringgit ($129.9 million) worth of crude oil seized 24 nautical miles west of Muka Head, Penang last week, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said on Saturday. – Reuters
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte faced another round of impeachment complaints on Monday after surviving attempts to remove her last year, with rights groups and activists accusing her of betraying the public’s trust, corruption and other crimes. – Reuters
Rohingya survivors of the 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar expect the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, to rule the country committed genocide against them, they said on Friday. – Reuters
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK and Japan will deepen their partnership as he traveled to Tokyo following a modestly successful visit to neighboring China. – Bloomberg
Taiwan’s opposition parties have advanced a bill that would slash a special military budget, potentially jeopardizing the purchases of billions of dollars of US weapons aimed at deterring the threat of invasion by China. – Bloomberg
Taiwan’s military is likely to stand up U.S.-made HIMARS rocket launchers on outlying islands in the Taiwan Strait, a move analysts say would pose a risk to People’s Liberation Army targets along China’s southeast coast—if the launchers survive the opening stage of a war. – Newsweek
Europe
A French consulting and information-technology company has decided to sell a division that does business with ICE, after it emerged that the company has a contract with the agency to help track immigrants. – Wall Street Journal
A rising number of incursions into NATO airspace have led some officials to allege an escalation of Russian hybrid attacks against the alliance and the European Union. – Washington Post
Three months after Dutch voters ousted the far-right party of Geert Wilders, the Netherlands is about to have a new government. But it may not bring the stability that politicians have promised and voters seem to crave. – New York Times
Former British government minister Peter Mandelson has resigned as a member of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party after new reports of his ties with disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, media reported on Sunday. – Reuters
Germany is “not in equidistance” from the United States and China, and will always be closer to Washington despite recent tensions, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said in Singapore on Monday. – Reuters
Denmark said on Friday it would introduce legislation allowing the expulsion of more foreigners including criminals despite the risk of clashing with Europe’s human rights court. – Reuters
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to China is the latest win Beijing can tout in its rivalry with Washington, but the deals he brings back to London also show the limits of the balancing act that middle powers may try to play. – Reuters
Spanish police have detained a 38-year-old Chinese national who owned a hair salon near Barcelona on suspicion of financing the militant group Hamas through about 600,000 euros ($714,960) in cryptocurrency transfers, regional police said on Friday. – Reuters
Britain’s foreign minister said she would use a visit to Ethiopia on Monday to focus on measures to try to stem rising numbers of migrants from the Horn of Africa seeking to reach the United Kingdom. – Reuters
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he still wants the UK to join the European Union’s flagship €150 billion ($178 billion) defense fund after negotiations last year ended in failure. – Bloomberg
Italy’s defense minister has claimed the U.K. is not doing enough to share its cutting-edge technology with its partners on the tri-nation GCAP fighter program and called the alleged British secrecy “madness.” – Defense News
Martin Ivens writes: Starmer, like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz who will be following him to Beijing in February, also has another audience in mind. Of late Trump has been taking his most loyal European allies for granted — even insulting them — while buddying up to Putin and Xi. Starmer and Merz are both instinctive Atlanticists. A gentle reminder to the White House that two can play this game is well in order. But the revival of UK prosperity is unlikely to lie in trade with Beijing. Wedded to the notion of self-reliance, the Communist Party proclaimed 2025 as the year of Made in China. – Bloomberg
Africa
Paramilitary fighters kidnapped children during their takeover of the Sudanese city of al-Fashir in October and in other attacks in the Darfur region over the course of Sudan’s civil war, in some cases killing their parents first, witnesses say. – Reuters
The Nigerian army said on Sunday it had killed a top Boko Haram commander and 10 other militants during a night operation in northeastern Borno state. – Reuters
More than 200 people were killed this week in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located, told Reuters on Friday. – Reuters
One person was killed and another injured in drone strikes in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said, in another sign of renewed conflict between regional and national forces. – Reuters
South Africa declared the top diplomat at Israel’s embassy persona non grata on Friday and ordered him out within 72 hours, a move that could worsen strained relations with the United States. – Reuters
Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on the airport in Niger’s capital Niamey in a statement on Friday, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist activity and communications worldwide. – Reuters
Madagascar has lifted a 16-year moratorium on new mining permits for most minerals, the government said late on Thursday, but the suspension on gold permits will remain due to regulatory challenges. – Reuters
Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo opened a 200,000 metric ton per year graphite processing plant at a Chinese-owned mine on Friday, as the south-east African country boosts output of the battery mineral. – Reuters
The Americas
After the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration called on his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, to release hundreds of political prisoners—a test of her willingness to break with Maduro’s repression. – Wall Street Journal
Laura Fernández, a candidate handpicked by the departing president as his successor, won Costa Rica’s presidential election on Sunday after running on a tough-on-crime platform, according to a preliminary count of the votes. – New York Times
The United States and Argentina are in advanced talks to sign an agreement that would allow the U.S. to deport immigrants from other countries to the South American nation, according to two people familiar with the negotiations and U.S. government records obtained by The New York Times. – New York Times
More than 30 people in Venezuela considered to be “political prisoners” were released on Sunday, legal rights group Foro Penal said, as part of a prisoner release process that families have said is too slow. – Reuters
Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced a proposed “amnesty law” for hundreds of prisoners in the country, and said the infamous Helicoide detention center in the capital Caracas will be converted into a center for sports and social services. – Reuters
Argentina bought $808 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the U.S. Treasury to meet an interest payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), local newspaper La Nacion reported on Sunday. – Reuters
Laura Dogu, the top U.S. envoy for Venezuela, arrived on Saturday in Caracas as the two countries gradually resume bilateral relations, broken in 2019 by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. – Reuters
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was discharged from hospital on Friday after undergoing successful cataract surgery on his left eye, the government said in a statement. – Reuters
U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron (CVX.N) offered investors a few pieces of new insight into their thinking about Venezuela on Friday, even though neither company announced long-term investment commitments despite President Donald Trump’s continued push to convince American oil firms to rebuild the South American country’s energy sector. – Reuters
Editorial: No serious multinational is going to sink billions and multiple years of investment into a socialist dictatorship that could confiscate it again. Reviving Venezuela’s oil industry would take an estimated $90 billion of capital expenditures. Shortly after Maduro’s capture, the CEO of ExxonMobil said the country is “uninvestable.” On Friday, he said Venezuela will need to transition to a “representative government” before investment can resume. – Washington Post
North America
President Donald Trump said he is “decertifying” all aircraft built in Canada, and he threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on Canadian aircraft sold to the United States — an escalation of trade tensions between the neighboring countries that could have ramifications for U.S. air travel. – Washington Post
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and said he would impose tariffs on all U.S. imports from any country that supplies the island nation with oil. – Washington Post
The United States on Sunday accused Cuba of interfering with the work of its top diplomat in Havana after small groups of Cubans jeered at him during meetings with residents and church representatives outside the capital. – Reuters
Cubans from all walks of life are hunkering into survival mode, navigating lengthening blackouts and soaring prices for food, fuel and transport as the U.S. threatens a stranglehold on the communist-run nation. – Reuters
Mexico will seek diplomatic solutions and alternatives to help Cuba, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on countries supplying the Caribbean island with oil. – Reuters
James Kirchick writes: A truly courageous leader—like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that “Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers”—might have raised these uncomfortable points, both identifying others’ weaknesses and acknowledging his country’s own. But not Mr. Carney, who passes off conventional wisdom as bold truth-telling and mistakes empty moralizing for statesmanship. – Wall Street Journal
United States
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Sunday that he is “confident” he will have enough support from Republicans in the House conference to end the partial government shutdown by Tuesday. – Washington Post
The United Nations said on Friday that it was facing imminent financial collapse and would run out of money by July if countries, namely the United States, did not pay their annual dues that amount to billions of dollars. – New York Times
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from ending protections from deportation that had been granted to thousands of Ethiopians living in the United States. – Reuters
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration head Bryan Bedford said his agency accepted findings by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board that a series of systemic failures by the FAA led to a devastating mid-air collision that killed 67 people last year. – Reuters
A US judge has denied Minnesota’s request to pause the Trump administration’s recent surge of thousands of immigration enforcement agents in the state. – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump, in a brief phone call with POLITICO, cast himself as the savior for a United Nations in danger of financial collapse, touting his ability to get members to pay unpaid dues. – Politico
The Senate passed a compromise spending package Friday, clearing a path for Congress to avert a lengthy government shutdown. – Politico
The Israeli nongovernmental organization Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA) announced this week that it uncovered a terrorist plot by white nationalists to target Jewish communities in the United States on the eve of Passover and that the intelligence was handed over to the FBI. – Algemeiner
Donald J. Trump writes: It was the tariff that made America strong and powerful in generations past, and it is tariffs that are making our country stronger, safer and richer than ever before. Given the results of the past year, and the spectacular economic numbers coming out every single day, perhaps it is time for the tariff skeptics at the Journal to consider putting on one of my favorite red hats—the one that reads, “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!” – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
Digital espionage was likely to have been behind the uncovering of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner’s name ahead of its official release, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. – Reuters
Nvidia plans to make a “huge” investment into OpenAI, probably its largest ever, CEO Jensen Huang said on Saturday, denying he was unhappy with the ChatGPT maker. – Reuters
Indonesia has allowed Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot to resume services, lifting a ban over sexualised images on the app, after X Corp committed to improving compliance with the country’s laws, according to a government statement. – Reuters
Defense
To ensure future missions such as last summer’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities can succeed, the U.S. Air Force must improve the way it securely transmits critical information with bombers and other aircraft securely transmit critical information, a top general said Thursday. – Defense News
The Senate on Friday evening confirmed Marine Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan as four-star general and commander of U.S. Southern Command. – Defensescoop
The six senior officials appointed by Pentagon leadership to oversee the recently-restructured “critical technology areas” and accelerate the military’s adoption of each of those top-priority capabilities, were officially announced Thursday evening via social media. – Defensescoop
The Space Force is planning to issue a new contract this summer to create a pool of qualified vendors to help fill Guardian needs for hands-on training in electronic, cyber and orbital warfare — with the latter to eventually involve dedicated satellites on orbit, according to service officials leading the effort. – Breaking Defense