Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
US-backed Gaza committee starts recruiting police, draws 2,000 applicants, officials say Netanyahu: Israel prepared for 'any scenario,' working closely with US amid Iran threat Archterrorists Mashaal and al-Hayya running for Hamas leadership role If Iran’s regime falls, options to replace it are narrow—and risky Trump warns Iran of 'bad things' if no deal made, sets deadline of 10-15 days Iran tells UN chief it will respond 'decisively' if subjected to military aggression EU designates Revolutionary Guards as terrorist organization US removing guardrails from proposed Saudi nuclear deal, document says Yorktown Institute’s Seth Cropsey: Trump can prevent a war among America’s Mideast allies A confident Kim embarks on new era of defiance at North Korea conclave Over 1,000 Kenyans recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, report says US imposes sanctions on commanders of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces paramilitary groupIn The News
Israel
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday a $10 billion U.S. contribution to rebuilding Gaza at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace, describing the organization as the premier world body for international peace and harmony. – Washington Post
Five countries have committed troops for an international security force for Gaza, the commander of the force said on Thursday during a meeting of President Donald Trump’s newly created Board of Peace. – Reuters
The U.S.-backed Palestinian committee established to take control of Gaza from Hamas militants opened applications for a police force for the enclave on Thursday, as President Donald Trump convened the inaugural meeting of his international Board of Peace. – Reuters
Israeli forces, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have both committed serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and carried out atrocity crimes, a U.N. report published on Thursday said. – Reuters
Soroka Medical Center has begun preparing for conflict with Iran, with hospital management and emergency teams updating procedures, checking readiness, and running simulations for wartime scenarios. – Jerusalem Post
Hamas had allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to influence Ra’am head Mansour Abbas to join a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2021, Israeli journalist Amit Segal reported on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recalled the sacrifice of the 925 IDF soldiers killed in the Israel-Hamas war in his speech to US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace at its inaugural meeting in Washington, DC, on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that “Israel was prepared for any scenario” amid the ongoing tensions with Iran and was working in coordination with the US. – Jerusalem Post
Iran and Yemen’s Houthis will pay “an immediate and grave price” if they attack Israel in response to a potential US attack, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), which is set to govern Gaza after Hamas, per the US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal, unveiled its new logo on Thursday, adding a shield and olive branches to the Palestinian Authority’s emblem. – Jerusalem Post
Hamas condemned the Palestinian Authority after security forces conducted an arrest operation in the West Bank that led to the accidental death of two children, aged 16 and four, this week. – Jerusalem Post
The murderous terrorist organization Hamas is preparing for the election of new leadership, following the elimination of many of its top officials by Israel since October 7, 2023. Sources within Hamas told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the decisive vote for the selection of a new leader for the organization’s political bureau will take place in the coming days. – Arutz Sheva
Editorial: If Israel’s political class continues to perform for the cameras instead of making their case, the result will stray far away from the “rehabilitation” the nation needs. Instead, it will only lead Israel into deeper stagnation. Without a serious and immediate shift in tone and priorities, the divisions that have plagued and weakened Israel in the years leading up to October 7 will continue to define it in the years to come. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
President Trump is reckoning with an unusually difficult risk assessment if he chooses to strike at the regime of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: There is no clear alternative that would emerge if it collapses. – Wall Street Journal
President Trump is weighing an initial limited military strike on Iran to force it to meet his demands for a nuclear deal, a first step that would be designed to pressure Tehran into an agreement but fall short of a full-scale attack that could inspire a major retaliation. – Wall Street Journal
President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear program or “really bad things” will happen, and set a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against U.S. bases in the region if attacked. – Reuters
Iran told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday that Tehran will consider bases, facilities and assets of the “hostile force” in the region as legitimate targets if it faces military aggression. – Reuters
Denmark’s maritime authority said on Thursday it had detained and inspected an Iran-flagged container vessel anchored in the Nordic country’s waters on the grounds that it was not properly registered. – Reuters
Russia said on Thursday that it was seeing an unprecedented escalation of tension around Iran as the United States moved military assets into the Middle East, and the Kremlin urged both Tehran and “other parties” to exercise prudence and restraint. – Reuters
Standing on her balcony in the Iranian capital, Tehran, the teacher shouted out into the darkness, “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the murderer, Khamenei!” on a recent night, joining the slogans coming from windows and rooftops around her relatively affluent neighborhood. – Associated Press
The US military build-up in the Middle East means Iran’s window to reach a diplomatic agreement over its atomic activities is at risk of closing, according to the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog. – Bloomberg
A free Iran may come from a cooperation between Iranians and Israel, said Peyman Vian, one of the most wanted women by Tehran authorities, in an interview with the Israeli journalist Itai Anghel, N12 reported on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
The massive accumulation of US military assets in the Middle East is not merely a show of force but a signal that the United States has the capacity to dismantle the Iranian regime’s power structure in a matter of hours, according to Vice Admiral (Ret.) Bob Harward, former deputy commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM). – Jerusalem Post
The European Council, the European Union’s chief decision-making body, on Thursday formalized its decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. – JNS
Khosro Isfahani writes: Again, Trump, with his unorthodox methods, has repeatedly surprised the world by achieving what others would not even dare to imagine. Unfortunately, nations seldom succeedively produce leaders of the high caliber of Donald Trump, and the US Constitution has put a term limit on this window of opportunity. Only time will tell if a good deal can be secured and enforced with Tehran. But one thing is for certain: The moment President Trump steps out of the White House, even the best deal will unravel. That’s why Iranians chant: “No deal with mullahs.” – Jerusalem Post
Thomas Bergeson, Karen Gibson, and Sam Mundy write: With the Houthis threatening escalation with a video showing a burning ship captioned “soon,” and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warning US strikes “will be a regional war,” the need to address Iran’s proxy front as part of the same campaign is clear. An outcome that leaves supply to the Houthis intact—whether through omission, ambiguity, or unenforced commitments—would leave Iran’s proxy leverage untouched. It is unacceptable to leave intact such a dangerous network that can continue undermining regional stability and the credibility of America’s commitment to security. – Breaking Defense
Charbel Antoun writes: Policy should therefore avoid two mistakes: legitimizing a militarized restoration as reform, and imposing territorial or institutional blueprints from abroad. Instead, external powers should calibrate tools to keep space open—politically, diplomatically, and economically—for Iranians to turn a top‑level power struggle into a deeper reckoning with the system. The day Khamenei falls, many will call it liberation. They will be right that an era has ended. But it will not yet be the birth of a free Iran. Between the Supreme Leader and the people stands an entire security empire that will try to inherit his throne. Whether Iranians can turn that inheritance into a reckoning—that, not the fall of one man, is the real question of the day after. – National Interest
Russia and Ukraine
In talks about ending the war, Ukraine and Russia have converged on one goal: to avoid angering President Trump by appearing to block peace. – Wall Street Journal
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States and much of the West all but severed economic ties to Moscow. But since President Trump took office more than a year ago, he has described a “tremendous opportunity” for deals with Russia if the war ends, and the Kremlin has dangled possible investments in front of the famously transactional leader. – New York Times
More than 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, according to a Kenyan intelligence report presented to lawmakers this week, five times more than authorities had previously estimated. – Reuters
Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports late last year have reduced their capacity and harmed Ukrainian agricultural and mineral exports, industry sources said, the country’s main source of income during its four-year war with Russia. – Reuters
Ukraine could export several billion dollars of military goods and services this year after authorising its first wartime foreign sales and is considering introducing a tax on those exports, a senior Ukrainian defence official said. – Reuters
Sweden announced on Thursday a 12.9 billion crown ($1.42 billion) military aid package for Ukraine that will include air defence, drones, long-range missiles and ammunition. – Reuters
Prior to Ukraine, the last time Russia all-out invaded another sovereign country was Georgia. Moscow was victorious after the 16-day conflict in 2008, but it was messy and showed that Russia’s armed forces needed a major upgrade. – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Steven Pifer writes: These measures would raise pressure on the Russian economy, which already has entered a period of stagnation, while the promise of continuing funds for the Ukrainian military would force Putin to face the reality that more war will mean more Russian dead. And for what? The Russian army has made only marginal territorial gains the past three years. Unfortunately, Trump has never appeared ready to put serious pressure on Putin. If Trump does not start doing so, his mediation effort will keep failing — a failure that he will own. – The Hill
Rebecca Lissner and John Kawika Warden write: Whenever possible, Washington and its partners should carry out joint exercises designed to align expectations in advance of a conflict. But exquisite coordination on strategic messaging and signaling in the midst of hostilities is also essential, particularly with Taiwan, where restrictions on contact between Washington and Taipei constrain joint peacetime contingency planning and operational integration. Above all, the war in Ukraine has shown the United States that it needs a new theory of victory for wars that feature great-power aggressors attacking U.S. allies or quasi allies. Only by linking credible threats, calibrating escalation, and managing coalition partnerships can Washington and its allies prevail in wars that remain limited in intensity and scope but nevertheless take a massive toll. – Foreign Affairs
Syria
Islamic State on Thursday claimed responsibility for an attack that killed one Syrian government security officer and wounded another in eastern Syria, marking an escalation in the group’s attacks against the country’s new leadership. – Reuters
A group of Australian men suspected of being former Islamic State fighters are among more than 5,000 detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq, where they potentially face charges which could carry the death penalty. – The Guardian
Sam Brownback writes: If the policy fight to ensure local security arrangements had succeeded, these catastrophes most likely would have been avoided—as they can be avoided now. The governing structure of Syria is still taking shape. Damascus needs American support and guidance, which must be conditional on organizing reliable long-term security for its vulnerable minorities. Without that, the U.S. will almost certainly see that our “never again” pledge concerning genocide becomes another “yet again.” – Wall Street Journal
Turkey
Turkey said on Thursday it opposed Greece’s “unilateral activities” in energy fields south of Crete with a consortium led by U.S. major Chevron as a violation of international law and good neighbourly relations. – Reuters
A Turkish parliamentary commission’s approval of a report setting out a roadmap for legal reforms alongside the disbandment of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group is an important step and the beginning of a fundamental change in Turkish policy, a PKK source told Reuters on Thursday. – Reuters
The Turkish government is planning to introduce tougher punishments for market fraud than what had originally been proposed, according to people familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia
President Donald Trump has told Congress he is pursuing a civil nuclear pact with Saudi Arabia that does not include non-proliferation safeguards the U.S. has long said would ensure the kingdom does not develop nuclear weapons, according to a copy of the document sent to Congress and reviewed by Reuters. – Reuters
The UK is renewing a push for Saudi Arabia to invest in its next-generation fighter jet program alongside Italy and Japan, as costs spiral and a rival project stalls. – Bloomberg
India is set to import the most crude from Saudi Arabia in more than six years this month, as the South Asian nation faces sustained US pressure to reduce purchases of Russian barrels. – Bloomberg
Zvika Klein writes: We wanted to believe the deal was coming. It was a reasonable thing to want, the notion that October 7’s darkness might ultimately produce a transformed, more stable Middle East, with Israel finally accepted by its most important neighbor. That hope was not naive; it was human. But in the bleak light of 2026, hope that the Saudi-Israeli deal is imminent amounts to little more than wishful thinking. The Saudi-Israeli deal may not be visible from this vantage point. – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
A Tunisian court on Thursday sentenced lawmaker Ahmed Saidani to eight months in prison over social media posts mocking President Kais Saied, a ruling that opponents say signals an intensifying crackdown on critics. – Reuters
A truck and a pickup truck collided on a highway in Egypt on Thursday afternoon, killing 18 people and injuring three others, officials said. – Associated Press
The IDF said it carried out strikes on Hezbollah terror infrastructure overnight into Thursday in multiple areas across southern Lebanon. – Jerusalem Post
Seth Cropsey writes: The U.S. can call into question the U.S.-Saudi deal of this past November, on which Riyadh relies for future military, civil nuclear, and technological support. Saudi ambitions, the U.S. must demonstrate, require an outlet beyond its regional rivalries. Nor does Riyadh have other strategic options: Russia lacks the capacity and trust to step in as a regional guarantor, while China’s doing so would carry obvious risks to Beijing’s relationship with Washington. As the Iranian regime falls, core regional allies of the U.S. will turn on each other. Fragmentation will threaten Middle Eastern stability, in which the U.S. has a major interest, while creating inroads for Russia and China to recruit allies and shift the balance of power in their favor. Middle East politics, as we are about to be reminded, are as fickle as Desdemona is faithful. To protect its interests, U.S. policy must adapt. – Wall Street Journal
Amine Ayoub writes: The Lebanese case underscores a broader reality: sovereignty cannot be restored by declaration alone. External encouragement may reinforce norms, but outcomes ultimately depend on local power balances and credible enforcement mechanisms. […] The effectiveness of Europe’s security model in the coming decade will depend less on the rhetoric of strategic autonomy and more on whether it develops tools calibrated to the conflicts it is most likely to face. – Jerusalem Post
Korean Peninsula
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un kicked off his country’s most important political event in half a decade with confidence, gearing up for an era of military expansion and defiance as a self-declared nuclear power. – Wall Street Journal
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologised on Friday for his short-lived declaration of martial law in December 2024, a day after a Seoul court sentenced him to life in prison for masterminding an insurrection. – Reuters
US and Chinese fighter jets briefly faced off above waters near the Korean Peninsula this week, Yonhap News reported, marking a rare confrontation in that area between the two superpowers. – Bloomberg
China
China’s economy has held up remarkably well against shocks like U.S. tariffs but continued resilience will need consumption to drive growth, rather than external demand, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund. – Wall Street Journal
Security personnel sent by Xi intercepted Zhang en route to the gathering at the Central Party School in Beijing, said people close to Chinese government decision-making. Securing the general in an undisclosed location, officers also raided Zhang’s home and detained his son, a military researcher, the people said. – Wall Street Journal
Almost $1 billion in US government funding helped fuel a series of research projects involving defense labs in China in recent years, according to a new study that concludes security policies around such partnerships have failed. – Bloomberg
Beijing says that it does not aid Russia militarily. However, Chinese-made technology is routinely found on the battlefield in Ukraine, where first-person view drones that allow pilots to remotely monitor events in real time have reshaped the face of modern warfare. – Bloomberg
Lizzi C. Lee and Jing Qian write: If the hybrid model succeeds, it could become one of Xi’s most consequential legacies: a political economy that blends centralized authority with entrepreneurial vitality. Whether such a synthesis is sustainable remains an open question, especially because Beijing is hesitant to encourage openness where firms need to collaborate internationally. But after years of crackdowns and recalibration, Beijing appears to have absorbed a critical lesson about the private sector: it is the country’s golden goose. China’s leaders now understand that when it comes to entrepreneurs and the country’s technological and economic goals, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
Bill Gates canceled his keynote address at an artificial intelligence summit in India as the Microsoft co-founder faces growing scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. – Wall Street Journal
Pakistan has agreed with the U.S. government to jointly redevelop New York’s Roosevelt Hotel, the government in Islamabad said on Thursday, allowing Islamabad to unlock value from its major overseas investment. – Reuters
France and India are entering a new era of defence cooperation with plans to jointly produce Rafale fighter jets as well as helicopters, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, adding France also hopes to sell more submarines to India. – Reuters
Brazil and India are set to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals and artificial intelligence when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the two nations position themselves as leading voices for the developing world amid a fragile global order. – Bloomberg
Asia
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned of growing Chinese “coercion” in her first post-election speech to parliament on Friday, and pledged to overhaul defence strategy, ease curbs on military exports and strengthen critical supply chains. – Reuters
Indonesia and the United States finalised a trade deal to cut U.S. levies to 19% from 32% on goods shipped from Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, with Jakarta securing tariff exemptions for its top export, palm oil, and several other commodities. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s comment that he is discussing potential arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping is raising concerns in Taipei as the island democracy relies on U.S. backing in the face of China ’s territorial claims. – Associated Press
Brahma Chellaney writes: Washington should recognize what just happened. Japan did not simply elect a new government. It chose strategic normalization — deterrence over hesitation — and signaled that the era of passive alliance management is over. For Washington, the message is clear: The most important geopolitical shift in Asia is not China’s rise alone, but Japan’s return. The alliance must evolve accordingly. – The Hill
Kamran Bokhari writes: It remains a barrier to expanding American-Azerbaijani ties envisioned in the Strategic Charter signed by Vance. The Armenian National Committee of America’s effort to preserve the restriction is increasingly anachronistic and counterproductive to the very community it seeks to serve. Profound changes in Armenia’s own interests, regional geopolitics, and American global strategy have altered the landscape. Overcoming Cold War–era constraints is essential for Washington to operationalize its new geostrategy in the Middle East and West Asia. – National Interest
Europe
Christine Lagarde said she expects completing her mission as president of the European Central Bank will take until the end of her term, amid speculation that she will resign early to allow the French government to help pick her successor before next year’s election. – Wall Street Journal
British police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, on suspicion of misconduct in public office, as revelations linked to Jeffrey Epstein roil British politics and the royal family. – Wall Street Journal
A war of words erupted between French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday over the killing of a French far-right activist who was beaten by hard-left activists over the weekend during protests in Lyon. – Reuters
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright gave the International Energy Agency on Thursday a one-year deadline to scrap its support of goals to reduce energy emissions to net zero or risk losing the United States as a member. – Reuters
Poland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention means it will be able to lay anti-personnel mines along its eastern border in the space of 48 hours if a threat emerges, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday, shortly before the withdrawal becomes effective. – Reuters
Germany currently has no plans to purchase additional F-35 fighter jets, a government spokesperson said on Thursday, after sources said Berlin was considering ordering more of the planes, which are made by U.S. contractor Lockheed Martin. – Reuters
Leila Shahid, the first female Palestinian diplomat, who held prominent posts in Europe during some of the most tumultuous years of the Mideast conflict, has died in France at the age of 76. – Associated Press
Spain is planning to build more political and financial links to China as US President Donald Trump upends the global economic order. – Bloomberg
Europe’s five biggest military spenders are set to jointly develop low-cost air defense weapons based on lessons learned on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to a draft statement seen by Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski issued a public rebuke of President Karol Nawrocki, calling his suggestions that the country should obtain nuclear weapons “irresponsible and harmful.” – Bloomberg
Emmanuel Macron is preparing for one more big moment on the world stage — and it looks like he wants to mark it with a fight with Donald Trump over social media and free speech. – Bloomberg
US President Donald Trump’s latest retraction of support for Britain’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius comes as the UK government holds off giving permission for him to use the Diego Garcia military base in the archipelago for any possible strike on Iran. – Bloomberg
Tim Stanley writes: Mountbatten-Windsor embodies a monarchy that is reduced in stature in a country that is itself getting poorer and crasser, and has inherited a set of institutions — Crown, a state church, House of Lords — the purpose of which it can’t recall. […] Is America any more democratic, or its elites any more accountable, for being a republic? The ex-prince perhaps faces jail for his connection to Epstein; U.S. presidents, intellectuals and billionaires do not. Post-Elizabethan Britain has no illusions about its rulers and, regarding its elite as a soap opera, feels zero embarrassment at arresting its aristocrats. – Washington Post
Wess Mitchell writes: In 1949, the NATO charter answered that question when it committed members to safeguard the “freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.” For too long modern Western leaders have evoked the second half of that passage but neglected or even scorned the civilizational aspect. Rubio’s speech was a welcome corrective, and Europe would be wise to listen. – Washington Post
Blerim Vela writes: Europe and the United States should maintain a clear understanding of Balkan military developments and how imbalances could affect stability. Accountability in this context means adherence to alliance standards for NATO members, transparency obligations for non-members, and restraint in political and military signaling across the region. Without these guardrails, modernization risks reinforcing insecurity rather than deterrence. The Western Balkans will maintain stability only under disciplined transparency and measured military modernization. Otherwise, miscalculation and misinterpretation could generate new crises among old neighbors that could quickly spin out of control. – War on the Rocks
Africa
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed deepening cooperation on security, power and infrastructure in a phone call, Tinubu’s office said on Thursday. – Reuters
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three commanders of the Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces over their role in the 18-month siege and capture of al‑Fashir, accusing the group of carrying out systematic and widespread killings. – Reuters
Islamist militants have killed dozens of soldiers and civilians and overrun an army detachment over the past week in coordinated attacks across multiple regions of Burkina Faso, according to internal reports by two diplomatic missions reviewed by Reuters. – Reuters
At least 34 people were killed on Tuesday when suspected Lakurawa Islamist militants launched coordinated attacks on multiple rural villages in Nigeria’s northwestern Kebbi state, a security report seen by Reuters said on Thursday. – Reuters
A son of former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was arrested in South Africa along with another man on Thursday over the shooting of a man at a house in Johannesburg, police and a family lawyer said. – Associated Press
Ghana has launched an investigation into a man believed to be Russian who is accused of secretly recording sexual encounters with several women and publishing them online without their consent, authorities said Wednesday, in a case that sparked public outrage. – Associated Press
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed amendments to the country’s electoral law that critics warned may weaken safeguards before next year’s presidential election. – Bloomberg
Ethiopia and Eritrea are deploying troops and military equipment to the northern Tigray region, according to regional diplomats, raising the risk of renewed conflict in the Horn of Africa. – Bloomberg
The Islamic police in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano arrested nine Muslims on Wednesday who were seen eating food during the first day of this year’s Ramadan fast. Kano has a majority Muslim population, where an Islamic legal system – Sharia – operates alongside secular law. – BBC
The Americas
Venezuelan lawmakers passed a wide-ranging amnesty bill on Thursday that could free hundreds of political prisoners, in perhaps the strongest indication yet that the interim government, under pressure from the United States, is moving to ease some of the regime’s most repressive tactics. – New York Times
Venezuela’s economic and humanitarian situation is “quite fragile,” the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, adding that it was seeing inflation estimated to be in the triple digits and a rapid depreciation of the currency. – Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron has invited his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to attend the G7 summit in June, Brazil’s government said on Thursday. – Reuters
The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that continued reserve accumulation by Argentina is essential for securing durable access to private credit markets after the central bank has purchased over $2 billion in foreign currency since the start of 2026. – Reuters
Venezuela’s acting president on Thursday signed into law an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of politicians, activists, lawyers and many others, effectively acknowledging that the government has held hundreds of people in prison for political motivations. – Associated Press
A general strike protesting Argentine President Javier Milei’s flagship overhaul of the country’s labor law disrupted public transport, hospitals, ports and schools across Argentina on Thursday and intensified a standoff between the libertarian leader and long-powerful workers’ unions. – Associated Press
Bolivia’s long-serving socialist former leader, Evo Morales, reappeared Thursday in his political stronghold of the tropics after almost seven weeks of unexplained absence, endorsing candidates for upcoming regional elections and quieting rumors he had fled the country in the wake of the U.S. seizure of his ally, Venezuela’s ex-President Nicolás Maduro. – Associated Press
Guillermo Beltrán walked away with two heavy bags on Thursday, each containing an essential haul — rice, beans, amaranth and crackers — complemented by a bottle of oil, large cans of sardines and canned peaches. Every label carried the same simple phrase “Made in Mexico.” – Associated Press
The head of U.S. military operations in Latin America met with Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, and members of her cabinet during an hourslong visit Wednesday to the South American country’s capital. – Associated Press
Latin America stands to benefit from President Donald Trump’s greater involvement, said Paraguay President Santiago Peña, who has emerged as one of the staunchest US allies in the region. – Bloomberg
North America
Mexico has surpassed Canada as the top market for U.S. exports, data show. Commerce Department figures indicate that in 2025 the U.S. shipped $337.9 billion in goods to Mexico, or 15.5% of total American exports. That overtakes Canada, where U.S. exports totaled $336.5 billion or 15.4% of the total. – Wall Street Journal
Alberta will hold a referendum this fall to ask residents if its government should limit the number of new international students, temporary foreign workers and asylum seekers arriving in the oil-rich Canadian province. – Reuters
The Mexican navy intercepted a submarine carrying up to four tons of cocaine along the Pacific Ocean off the country’s West coast, Mexico’s Seurity Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Thursday. – Reuters
The U.S. International Trade Commission has initiated an investigation into the automotive rules of origin under the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, the commission said in a statement on Thursday. – Reuters
United States
President Trump is stepping into alien territory. Based on “tremendous interest shown,” Trump said in a social-media post Thursday night, he will direct the defense secretary and relevant departments to begin the process of releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena, unidentified flying objects “and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.” – Wall Street Journal
The White House is ratcheting up pressure on Congress to enact President Trump’s proposed ban on investors buying homes, laying out for the first time what sort of investment firms he plans to target. – Wall Street Journal
Protesters calling for the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan said they were attacked Thursday afternoon by bodyguards protecting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev outside the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Washington’s Pennsylvania Avenue, a few blocks from the White House. – Washington Post
The United States has paid about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations, the U.N. said Thursday, and President Donald Trump promised more money to the financially strapped world organization. – Associated Press
Cybersecurity
Toronto-based chip startup Taalas said on Thursday it had raised $169 million and has developed a chip capable of running artificial intelligence applications faster and more cheaply than conventional approaches. – Reuters
Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world “urgently” needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology. – Agence France-Presse
The Trump administration is planning a new Peace Corps initiative that would send thousands of US science and math graduates abroad to boost foreign countries’ reliance on American technology and reduce global adoption of competing products from China, according to a US official. – Bloomberg
The dominant narrative has framed the Jan. 3 Caracas power outage during the mission to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro as a “precision cyberattack.” But publicly available information points to a more complicated picture: videos, photographs, and accounts published from Caracas show significant physical damage to at least three Venezuelan substations. – CyberScoop
A top FBI cyber official said Salt Typhoon, the Chinese cyber espionage group behind the widespread compromise of U.S. telecommunications infrastructure in 2024, continues to pose a broad threat to both America’s private and public sectors. – CyberScoop
Criminals are increasingly using malware to steal money out of ATMs, with hundreds of incidents taking place in 2025 alone. In a flash alert on Thursday, the FBI said it has tracked more than 1,900 ATM jackpotting incidents since 2020 and over 700 in 2025 that involved more than $20 million in losses. – The Record
Editorial: AI can now do basic coding and IT work, so companies don’t need H-1Bs for those basic duties. They need foreign workers with higher skills. Underscoring this point, the study notes that the top seven Indian-based companies had only 4,573 H-1B petitions approved in 2025 for initial employment. That’s 70% fewer than in 2015 and 37% fewer than in 2024. U.S. firms are going up the value chain with H-1Bs as they search for tech talent. Immigrants are one of America’s main comparative advantages in the AI race with China. Yet the Administration is making it harder to import foreign talent by limiting the number of visas and adding a $100,000 fee on many H-1B applications. When government increases the cost of innovation, the inevitable result will be less of it. – Wall Street Journal
Anne Neuberger writes: The U.S. government could provide tools to help companies implement cyber best practices. The new NIST centers could include technical training for businesses, as well as forums to test the security of autonomous agents in no-fail networks such as those in power systems. We are in an arms race. If we rely on human-speed defense against machine-speed attacks, we will lose. We must build a network of continuously learning, secure defensive agents that can detect, reason and react faster than any human. – Wall Street Journal
Defense
The U.S. military has deployed scores of combat aircraft across the Middle East and will soon have a second aircraft carrier within range of Iran if President Trump gives the order to strike. Over the past month, dozens of jet fighters and support aircraft have flown from the U.S. and Europe to bases in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, according to flight-tracking data. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Navy wants to a new anti-radiation missile with a longer range than existing weapons. The Advanced Emission Suppression Missile, or AESM, “must be compatible with existing launch platforms (e.g. F-18, F-35) and infrastructure currently supporting the Navy and Air Force’s existing inventory of anti-radiation guided missiles,” according to the Navy’s Sources Sought notice. – Defense News
Airbus is open to a “two-fighter solution” to break the deadlock on the future air-combat system that France, Germany and Spain are developing, Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said, as work on the next-generation fighter (NGF) that’s part of the program has stalled amid infighting between Airbus and Dassault Aviation. – Defense News
The Pentagon will adhere to existing laws and regulations associated with surveillance, security and democratic processes as it fast-tracks the military’s frontier AI adoption, but it won’t permit companies supplying the technology to determine its rules for operation, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael told DefenseScoop. – DefenseScoop
David Ignatius writes: The larger question is whether we’re setting off a new arms race that could ultimately hurt America more than its adversaries. Soon, other countries, too, will be able to launch rockets and drones that can trigger rolling electricity blackouts, fry computer circuits and cause severe neurological damage. A warning to enthusiasts for what Trump called “the Discombobulator”: What goes around comes around. – Washington Post
Marc A. Thiessen writes: So the Pentagon should undertake a new Nuclear Posture Review to determine the appropriate nuclear force levels to deal with a new multipolar nuclear security environment. Then, if appropriate, President Trump can offer to record those changes in a treaty with Russia and China, or he can simply make them unilaterally. It really doesn’t matter. Because ultimately, the security of the free world does not depend on a piece of parchment. It depends on the United States wielding a credible nuclear deterrent. – Washington Post
John R. Bolton writes: If so, this truly reveals the administration’s earthworm-like isolationist national-security vision. Of course, in a White House having difficulty grasping Europe’s strategic significance to U.S. interests, it is no surprise Diego Garcia’s importance didn’t ring any bells. Satisfactorily resolving our strategic concerns for both the Chagos Islands and Greenland is easy, right in front of us, and undeniably important. All we need is for Trump to get out of his own way. – Washington Post
James Stavridis writes: Finally, it conceptualizes a global Navy that relies on speed of reaction. To me, this is the key idea. As Admiral Caudle recently said, “We find ourselves in an era with other great powers, an era in which the speed of decision ruthlessly punishes delay.” Whether the Navy can live up to the ambitions of Fighting instructions and modernize at the pace it envisions are legitimate questions. But the principles it articulates are the right ones for the coming challenges from China, Russia and ambitious smaller opponents from Iran to North Korea. We must think both smaller and faster. – Bloomberg
James Holmes writes: And lastly, the Maritime Action Plan closes by acknowledging that Congress must be part of the maritime quest. Legislation is needed to rebuild mercantile sea power, and political support needs to be bipartisan. So much—and such fundamental—work is necessary to bring about a restoration that the effort will long outlast the Trump presidency. Accordingly, the cause of Mahanian sea power will need support from lawmakers, future presidents, and the electorate for many years to come if the cause is to flourish. As we should all hope it will. Now—as Captain Mahan might say from beyond the grave—let’s execute. – National Interest