Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Chinese intelligence firm publishes photos of US F-22s deployed at Israeli air base PA sent half a billion shekels to terrorists in 2025 Tel Aviv University’s Nimrod Rosler and Alon Yakter: The Trump effect in Israel In Iran talks, U.S. brings tough demands, growing military presence Iran would be outgunned in any war with the US but could still inflict considerable pain JPost Editorial: Iran does not want a lasting deal but time to rebuild its capabilities and strength MEI’s Alex Vatanka: Tehran has discovered Moscow is a fair-weather friend Russia launches big strikes before U.S.-Ukraine talks in Geneva How the west’s "compassion fatigue" reanimated the ISIS caliphate WINEP’s Matthew Levitt: Hezbollah is winning the race to rearm in Lebanon Pakistan strikes Afghanistan in ‘open war’ against Taliban government Atlantic Council’s Paula J. Dobriansky and Center for the National Interest’s Paul J. Saunders: How to make NATO great againIn The News
Israel
Israel has indicted an intelligence agent on charges that he profiteered from the smuggling of goods into the Gaza Strip during the two-year war in the territory, Israeli prosecutors said Thursday. – New York Times
Across Israel, hospitals have been conducting emergency drills while neighbors share locations of bomb shelters in WhatsApp groups. – New York Times
The U.N. expert on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, denounced on Thursday what she described as “toxic” attacks impacting her personal life and work, after a number of European states called for her resignation. – Reuters
India and Israel will pursue joint development, production and transfer of technology in defence, as well as work on a free trade agreement, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. – Reuters
Former Gaza hostage Matan Angrest told Channel 12’s ‘Uvda’ that he was tortured, including by electrocution, during his time in Hamas’s terror captivity, in an interview broadcast on Thursday evening. – Jerusalem Post
Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Al Khaja called for coexistence, defended the Abraham Accords, and warned that extremist groups seek to exploit the holy month to inflame tensions at a Ramadan iftar hosted by the Emirati embassy on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
The Chinese intelligence agency MizarVision published satellite photos showing 11 US F-22 Raptor fighter jets deployed at the Uvda Air Force Base on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF located and dismantled underground tunnel routes in the Beit Hanoun area of Gaza, the IDF announced in a press release on Thursday. The tunnels, about 5 km in total, transited east of the yellow line into Israeli-controlled territory. – Jerusalem Post
Some Israeli officials are considering paying compensation in a small number of high-profile cases in which Palestinians were killed during the war, The Jerusalem Post has learned. – Jerusalem Post
Pro-Palestinian activists, in collaboration with civil society organizations, have launched a campaign for a new maritime flotilla to the Gaza Strip. The flotilla is scheduled to depart on April 12 from several ports in Spain, Italy, and Tunisia, with the stated goal of breaking the blockade on the strip and delivering aid. – Arutz Sheva
A report by i24NEWS states that in 2025 the Palestinian Authority transferred approximately half a billion shekels in payments to terrorists and their families. According to details presented during a recent cabinet meeting, 395 million shekels were allocated to terrorists currently imprisoned, while 92 million shekels were paid to families of terrorists killed while carrying out attacks. terrorists released during the recent hostage agreements were also granted a special payment. – Arutz Sheva
Neomi Neumann writes: Israel’s official policy is that it has no territorial ambitions in Gaza, but some factions may push the government to apply West Bank models in the Strip—for instance, the establishment of outposts “for security needs” that could later evolve into civilian settlements. This concern is not merely theoretical: Defense Minister Katz proposed such a move in December, and the idea is supported by those settlers who view control over Gaza as part of their “Greater Israel” vision. This issue bears close watching, since applying these or other West Bank models to Gaza could exacerbate international tensions with Israel, wreck U.S. diplomacy, and reinforce the notion that the two territories are converging into an unsustainable one‑state reality for two peoples. – Washington Institute
Nimrod Rosler and Alon Yakter write: If the administration capitalizes on this moment, the Trump effect could in fact outlast Trump himself. These are achievable aims. Trump has long claimed that he alone can resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bring stability to the Middle East. Hyperbolic as these pronouncements may have seemed, his influence over the Israeli public makes him uniquely qualified to make good on his promises. Whether Trump will succeed where other leaders have consistently failed now depends on whether he can wield that influence productively. – Foreign Affairs
Iran
The latest round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program wrapped up Thursday without a deal and both sides still far apart on key issues, as the U.S. raised the pressure by presenting tough demands and sending more jets and warships to the region. – Wall Street Journal
Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that while military strikes against Iran remain under consideration by President Donald Trump, there is “no chance” that such strikes would result in the United States becoming involved in a years-long, drawn-out war. – Washington Post
U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran will soon have a missile that can hit the United States is not backed by U.S. intelligence reports, and appears to be exaggerated, according to three sources familiar with the reports, casting doubt on part of his case for a possible attack on the Islamic Republic. – Reuters
The son of an Iranian carpet merchant from Isfahan, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has compared the country’s negotiating style to the bartering of the bazaar, an approach requiring “patience and great time”. – Reuters
A French court on Thursday convicted an Iranian national of glorifying terrorism in social media posts. The court sentenced Mahdieh Esfandiari, a student living in the city of Lyon, to four years in prison. Three years of the sentence were suspended. – Reuters
As U.S. forces mass in the Middle East, Iran faces the threat of major strikes by the world’s most powerful military, potentially targeting its leaders, military, nuclear sites and critical infrastructure. – Associated Press
Sylvan Adams, president of the World Jewish Congress Israel Region, has announced a global campaign urging the international business community to stand with the Iranian people by preparing to invest in Iran in the event of a post-regime-change future. – Jerusalem Post
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took to social media on Thursday evening and wrote that progress was made in that day’s Omani-mediated talks with the US, which took place in Geneva. – Arutz Sheva
Editorial: Iran is not negotiating toward a deal; it is negotiating around a deal. For Western policy-makers and Middle Eastern states alike, the challenge is not merely to lower the temperature in Geneva but to recognize that Tehran’s strategy is to extend talks indefinitely unless cornered by unambiguous consequences. If diplomacy is to be more than a stalling game, it must start from the premise that Iran’s engagement is tactical, not heartfelt, and it must be met with clarity about what will happen if time simply runs out. – Jerusalem Post
Mordechai Kedar writes: Freedom will come faster and at a cheaper price in blood if US President Donald Trump helps the citizens of Iran get rid of the rule of the ayatollahs. If he does not help, the Iranian citizens will continue their struggle for freedom – I have no doubt about it. It may take years, as well as the lives of many, but it will come. The citizens of Iran deserve to live in freedom, happiness, and joy, like the citizens of Israel, Europe, and the United States. – Jerusalem Post
Benjamin Jensen writes: In the end, just like U.S. leaders, Iran will select its response from a menu of options that move from low-cost, weak signals of resolve to more high-risk gambles that risk escalation spirals. This is a rational process where leaders try to maximize benefit relative to perceived costs and live to bargain another day. Intangibles that enter a calculation of an Iranian response to a U.S. attack arise from fear and honor. If the U.S. response is larger than press reports suggest out of fear of Iranian ballistic missile attacks or the need to limit naval attack options, including closing the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian leaders may confront a losses frame and adopt risk-acceptant behavior. – Center for Strategic and International Studies
Alex Vatanka writes: From Washington’s perspective, that visibility matters. If Russia’s support remains confined to diplomacy and mediation, U.S. policymakers can calibrate pressure on Tehran without fear of triggering direct confrontation with Moscow. The absence of alliance commitments reduces the risk of bloc polarization, even as rhetoric intensifies. The Islamic Republic now confronts a choice that is less dramatic but more consequential than war or peace: how to define realism in a world where partners are pragmatic, not protective. The fight over that definition—voiced in the arguments of figures such as Motahari and Falahatpisheh, and echoed across Tehran’s political establishment—will shape not only Iran’s response to the present crisis but its strategic posture in the post-Khamenei era. – Foreign Policy
Russia and Ukraine
American and Ukrainian negotiators met for hours on Thursday in Geneva to prepare for the next round of trilateral peace negotiations with Russia, which Ukrainian officials hope could be held as early as next week. – New York Times
The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Thursday approved an $8.1 billion, four-year loan for Ukraine, with $1.5 billion to be disbursed immediately to help keep the government running as its war against Russia’s invasion drags into a fifth year. – Reuters
Images of debris from Russian strikes on Ukraine strongly indicate that Moscow has used a cruise missile whose development led Donald Trump to quit a landmark nuclear pact in his first term, two experts said, confirming earlier Reuters reporting. – Reuters
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that any deployment of British troops in Ukraine would prolong the war, not end it. – Reuters
The next round of U.S.-brokered trilateral peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will likely take place in Abu Dhabi in early March, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday. – Reuters
Ukraine will see less economic growth this year due to extensive destruction of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure by Russia over the winter, an international development bank said Thursday, as businesses struggle to keep going into the fifth year of Russia’s invasion. – Associated Press
As Russia’s war economy strains under growing pressure from sanctions and slumping revenues, even businesses in regions that have benefited from massive increases in military spending are feeling the pain and turning to officials for help. – Bloomberg
NATO member Poland has deployed fighter jets in response to Russian attacks on Ukraine. The Polish armed forces posted on X that the aircraft had been deployed following “another massive attack” by Russia on Ukraine. – Newsweek
David Ignatius writes: The Estonians, on Russia’s border, have an intimate appreciation of Russia’s catastrophic mistake: “The Kremlin fails to recognize that acts of vandalism, arson and other physical hostility … only reinforce Russia’s reputation as an aggressor and strengthen further Western unity against Moscow.” In the annals of what historian Barbara Tuchman described as “The March of Folly,” Putin’s blunder in Ukraine belongs near the top of the list. – Washington Post
Justice Malala writes: After Ramaphosa’s call with Putin last week, South Africa — a staunch ally of Moscow — issued a statement saying the “two leaders pledged their support to the process of returning South Africans fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.” It’s unlikely that Russia’s recruitment fiasco, even with a mounting death toll, will rupture the fast-growing Africa-Russian relationship. It is, however, an illustration of Russia’s view of its relationship with the continent. It shows that African leaders shouldn’t be fooled into misinterpreting the courting of the continent as being about African development — rather than Russia’s geopolitical ambitions. – Bloomberg
Syria
The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with U.S. interests and threatens U.S. national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter. – Reuters
The Syrian government and Druze factions controlling the southern city of Sweida carried out their first prisoner exchange on Thursday since deadly sectarian clashes last summer, the Syrian government’s Sweida media office said. – Reuters
Amine Ayoub writes: As the month of Ramadan takes place , the region finds itself in the grip of a renewed existential threat. The closure of Al-Hol proves that “soft security” and administrative ease are the greatest allies of radical Islamism. You cannot evacuate a murderous ideology, and you cannot “reintegrate” a population that views your very existence as a theological affront. By allowing the inhabitants of Syria’s largest radical incubator to melt into the shadows, the West has prioritized the short-term optics of closing a camp over the long-term survival of civilization. The attacks in Raqqa are not a local skirmish; they are the opening bells of a global campaign fueled by the very people the world decided were too difficult to manage. – Arutz Sheva
Middle East & North Africa
U.S. Air Force pilots Lt. Col. William “Skate” Parks and Maj. Michael “Danger” Blea were returning from a strike mission in Yemen last year, when the Houthi militants lit up their F-16s with targeting radar. – Wall Street Journal
NATO member Turkey is investigating the still unknown cause of an F-16 fighter jet crash that killed its pilot shortly after takeoff on a mission toward the Bulgarian border region, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday. – Reuters
The Israeli Air Force carried out multiple strikes in eastern Lebanon on Thursday, which it said targeted eight military compounds belonging to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. – Times of Israel
Matthew Levitt writes: Israel says its forces regularly carry out airstrikes targeting Hezbollah in response to ceasefire violations, such as when Hezbollah operatives move weapons or rebuild infrastructure south of the Litani River. LAF activity in south Lebanon is facilitated by a US-led International Monitoring and Implementation Mechanism that efficiently transmits information between the Israeli and Lebanese militaries and monitors the LAF’s progress toward disarming Hezbollah. Moreover, for the first time in recent memory, Lebanon has a government led by a president and a prime minister who are both vigorously committed to disarming Hezbollah and placing all of its weapons under government control—even as Hezbollah warns that doing so would be a “grave sin.” – National Interest
Korean Peninsula
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will make state visits to Singapore and the Philippines in early March and discuss cooperation in artificial intelligence and nuclear energy, according to his office on Friday. – Reuters
South Korea will soon no longer be one of the few countries where Google Maps doesn’t work properly, after its security-conscious government reversed a two-decade stance to approve the export of high-precision map data to overseas servers. – Reuters
South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote defence cooperation that would be worth more than $35 billion, Seoul’s presidential envoy said on Thursday. – Reuters
China
China’s military said on Friday it conducted a routine patrol in the South China Sea from February 23 to 26, and accused the Philippines of “disrupting” peace and stability by organising joint patrols with countries outside the region. – Reuters
In the days surrounding Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s February election win, several dozen X accounts linked to a Chinese misinformation campaign attacked her deeply conservative views and hawkish approach to China, said a U.S. research institute focused on national security and foreign policy. – Reuters
Kyle Chan writes: Beijing is not scrambling to take advantage of Trump’s chaos because it does not need to. It can take the same tack it always has: cooperating when possible and retaliating when necessary, always with an eye to its own national interests. It is ultimately Trump who is doing the heavy lifting of shattering trust in the United States and pushing the world into China’s arms. The United States needs to work hard to regain the trust of its allies or risk forfeiting its most powerful advantage—soft power—over China. – Foreign Affairs
Matthew Rochat writes: Xi’s statement does not resolve these tensions. China can keep expanding renminbi settlement and trade finance while maintaining a managed capital account, and that trajectory is already visible in specific corridors. But reserve status requires predictable rules and a credible right for outsiders to move money in and out when conditions deteriorate. The takeaway is clear. The renminbi can become more common in global commerce without becoming a true reserve currency. Whether China reaches that threshold will be decided by how Beijing governs access when markets tighten, not by what it declares when they are calm. – War on the Rocks
South Asia
Pakistan carried out airstrikes on Afghanistan’s two largest cities on Friday, including the capital, Kabul, according to officials from both nations, escalating months of tension and border skirmishes into an open conflict. – New York Times
A new decree from Afghanistan’s Taliban government is set to further crush rights and freedoms in the war-torn nation, especially for women, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Thursday. – Reuters
Narendra Modi writes: To fuel the growth of our AI ecosystem, we are building a robust infrastructure foundation. Under the India AI Mission, we have deployed thousands of GPUs and are set to deploy more soon. By accessing world-class computing power at highly affordable rates, even the smallest startups can become global players. […] India’s diversity, democracy and demographic dynamism provide the right atmosphere for inclusive innovation. Solutions that succeed in India can serve humanity everywhere. That is why our invitation to the world is this: Design and develop in India. Deliver to the world. Deliver to humanity. – Newsweek
Asia
The navies of the Philippines, the U.S. and Japan trained alongside each other in the South China Sea this week to ramp up cooperation among the military allies, the Philippines’ armed forces said on Friday. – Reuters
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF has expressed alarm over reports of Myanmar military air strikes this week that a rebel group and local media said inflicted large civilian casualties, as a civil war rages around the country. – Reuters
Japan’s top spokesperson condemned foreign influence operations, as alarm heightened after OpenAI reported a China-linked attempt to discredit Japan’s leader online. – Bloomberg
Japan’s Defense Ministry has confirmed it will move forward with plans to bolster air defenses on a remote island near China-claimed Taiwan, giving 2031 as the target deployment date. – Newsweek
Editorial: This all could have been avoided. To start, Trump might have relied on a more solid legal basis for imposing tariffs. He could have engaged in more traditional trade talks to make deals that are harder to unwind. Instead, the promise of liberalizing Asia’s tightly protected markets — a goal that has eluded presidents of both parties for decades — risks once again slipping away, which would be a shame on both sides of the Pacific. – Washington Post
Giorgi Gvalia and Bidzina Lebanidze write: This helps explain why Georgia is not “punished” in dramatic fashion but is instead ignored. The absence of high-level visits is not a sanction; it is a signal of reclassification—from strategic partner to secondary actor. Seen through this lens, Georgia’s problem is less about failing to meet US expectations for democracy and more about failing to convince Washington that it still matters strategically. The two issues are related, but not in a straightforward causal chain. Democratic backsliding has damaged Georgia’s normative standing, but the decline in its geopolitical utility ultimately accounts for Washington’s growing disengagement. – National Interest
Europe
President Trump’s diplomats are increasingly willing to chastise Europeans in public. The response from authorities here has been sharp: Mind your own business. – Wall Street Journal
Børge Brende, president and chief executive of the World Economic Forum, said he would step down from his role after the organization conducted a review into his past connections with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. – Wall Street Journal
The risk premium demanded by investors to lend to countries in central and eastern Europe has fallen back to levels last seen before Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, easing the war’s negative impact on the region’s economies, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Thursday. – Wall Street Journal
Mr. Stubb urges calm even as rhetoric has grown high among European and NATO leaders about the failings of the trans-Atlantic relationship under Mr. Trump. – New York Times
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark said on Thursday that snap parliamentary elections would be held next month. The announcement came just weeks after she surged in public opinion polls for standing up to President Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory. – New York Times
Hungary’s upcoming election is about whether it can cement its place as a European nation and revive its stagnating economy with crucial EU funds or drift eastwards into the authoritarian camp, opposition leader Peter Magyar told Reuters. – Reuters
A German court granted the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) an injunction on Thursday ordering the domestic intelligence agency not to classify it as “extremist” for the moment, pending a final decision on the case. – Reuters
Belgium is preparing to deploy an air-defence system at the port of Antwerp to counter the growing drone threat to critical infrastructure, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. – Reuters
The U.S. Treasury handed Swiss private bank MBaer Merchant Bank AG a potentially crippling blow on Thursday by threatening to sever its access to the U.S. financial system on the grounds it had breached sanctions against Iran, Russia and Venezuela. – Reuters
The Green Party won a special parliamentary election in England on Friday, a big boost for the small party and a blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose center-left Labour Party was relegated to third place. – Associated Press
A top Polish official called into question a core financing instrument designed to boost the European Union’s defense capabilities, saying the €150 billion ($177 billion) loans-for-weapons program risks jeopardizing ties with the US. – Bloomberg
The European Union’s anti-fraud office has been asked to “look into” the conduct of Peter Mandelson during his time as the bloc’s trade chief, after further details of the British politician’s links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to light. – Bloomberg
A Greek court sentenced former IDF intelligence officer and spyware CEO Tal Dilian and his partner, Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, to a prison sentence, N12 News reported on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
Police in Berlin recorded a record 2,267 antisemitic crimes in 2025, a sharp increase from 1,825 cases in 2024 and 900 in 2023, according to German daily Tagesspiegel. – Times of Israel
Paula J. Dobriansky and Paul J. Saunders write: For far too long, NATO focused more on its size than on its purpose and capabilities. Trump has launched a series of necessary disruptions that, if successful, could sustain the alliance well beyond its 100th anniversary in 2049. It looks messy, but the outcomes could be profound. Getting there will take disciplined U.S. effort toward this new strategic vision — and European allies willing to match American ambition with their own. – Washington Post
Lionel Laurent writes: Obviously this will require leadership, urgency and a certain political confidence that it wouldn’t result in voters running faster into the arms of the far right. On that score, it looks like the electorate may be readier than politicians think. A new poll cited by Internationale Politik shows that 73% of Europeans believe that the continent must ensure its own defense. Four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, swagger and ambition don’t have to just be a German thing. – Bloomberg
Pawel Markiewicz writes: Washington has a strategic interest that the Baltic Sea be a benign and stable security environment. Strong congressional bipartisan support exists toward the region and littoral states, which are seen as among America’s closest allies. For this reason, Congress should urge the Trump administration to draft a Baltic Sea strategy as a necessary element of the U.S. policy toolbox. A free and open Baltic will foster economic and other connectivity between Europe, North America and the world. Most importantly, it would counter Putin’s “arc of crisis” from further destabilizing the transatlantic space while advancing America’s interests. – The Hill
Africa
In late January, Rwandan President Paul Kagame placed a call to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham asking him to help stop the White House from imposing sanctions on his country for breaking a peace deal brokered by President Trump. – Wall Street Journal
Violence by Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in the Sudanese city of al-Fashir bears “the hallmarks of genocide”, the foreign ministers of the Sudan core group at the UN Human Rights’ Council said in a statement on Thursday. – Reuters
There are big issues in the deals the United States is pursuing with African countries that govern how U.S. global health funding will work from now on, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. – Reuters
The U.S. aims to process 4,500 refugee applications from white South Africans per month, far above President Donald Trump’s stated refugee program cap, and is installing trailers on embassy property in Pretoria to support the effort, a U.S. contracting document said. – Reuters
Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States have agreed a $1.2 billion strategic health partnership, the two governments said in a joint statement on Thursday. – Reuters
South Africa and Kenya faced more signs on Thursday of citizens being drawn into the war in Ukraine, as Pretoria reported two South Africans killed on the front lines and a Nairobi court charged a man with trafficking 25 Kenyans to fight for Russia. – Reuters
The European Union will provide some 63 million euros ($74.39 million) in humanitarian funding for Somalia, it said on Thursday. – Reuters
Congolese authorities and a civil society group said Thursday that mass graves were found in part of eastern Congo that the M23 rebel group has recently withdrawn from, as fighting in the region escalates despite a U.S.-mediated peace deal. – Associated Press
Enas Arbab fled Sudan’s western region of Darfur after her hometown fell to Sudanese paramilitary forces, taking only her year-old son with her and the memory of her father, who was killed, she said, simply for working at a charity kitchen serving people displaced by the fighting. – Associated Press
Islamic militant groups have stepped up attacks and deepened their presence in border areas of Benin, Niger and Nigeria in West Africa over the past year, a crisis monitoring group said Thursday. – Associated Press
South Africa’s president instituted an investigation into Iran’s participation in naval exercises off the coast of Cape Town last month. Justice Bernard Makgabo Ngoepe will head a four-person panel that will report directly to President Cyril Ramaphosa on its findings, the presidency said in a statement on Thursday evening. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Sales under a flagship oil supply agreement between Venezuela and the U.S. are expected to reach $2 billion by the end of this month, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright told reporters in Texas on Thursday. – Reuters
Venezuela’s oil ministry has suspended 19 oil production-sharing contracts with private companies signed under the administration of President Nicolas Maduro, four sources with knowledge of the move told Reuters on Thursday. – Reuters
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro asked a judge on Thursday to throw out his U.S. drug trafficking case, accusing the U.S. government of interfering with his defense by blocking the Venezuelan government from paying his legal fees. – Reuters
Uruguay and Argentina on Thursday became the first founding members of the Mercosur bloc of South American nations to ratify a long-sought free-trade agreement with the European Union to establish one of the world’s largest free-trade zones. – Associated Press
Colombia is at risk of “reverting to the serious human rights situation” it faced before a peace deal with the nation’s largest rebel group improved security conditions, the United Nations warned Thursday, adding that an uptick of violence in rural areas could also “undermine” the nation’s upcoming elections. – Associated Press
North America
For years, Canada and India have had bitter relations, expelling diplomats and stalling trade talks. Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney wants New Delhi as his newest friend as he travels the world building alliances with so-called middle powers. – Wall Street Journal
Anger over President Trump’s trade policy has fueled a notable increase in Canadian spending on domestic products and local tourism, according to research from the Bank of Canada. – Wall Street Journal
A day before Amijail Sánchez González entered Cuban waters on a Florida-registered speedboat, his family says, he called his elderly parents on the island to tell them he was heading their way. – Washington Post
With a U.S. chokehold pushing Cuba’s economy toward potential collapse, President Trump is hoping to reach a deal with the island’s communist government to avoid chaos even if it means the leadership change long sought by many of his close allies has to wait. – New York Times
Cuba criticized the U.S. government for allowing anti-Cuban groups to operate with impunity on Thursday, as Cuban exiles wounded in an apparent attack aboard a Florida-registered speedboat convalesced at a provincial Cuban hospital. – Reuters
The United States is offering rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the arrests or convictions of René Arzate-García and Alfonso Arzate-García, two brothers alleged to be bosses in the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, the State Department said in a statement on Thursday. – Reuters
Canada is negotiating with the U.S. to remove tariffs on some critical sectors, and a deal could be wrapped into bilateral pacts alongside a review of the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, a Canadian senior minister said on Thursday. – Reuters
Panamanian authorities searched a ports unit of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison in Panama on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the operation, escalating a rift over control of two key ports in the strategic waterway. – Reuters
The Kremlin said on Thursday that the situation in Cuba was heating up and called for restraint after a deadly incident with a Florida-registered speedboat off the coast of the Caribbean island. – Reuters
Carlos Eire writes: As much as I and most other Cubans would love to see Cuba rebuilt and quickly transformed into a free, democratic, prosperous nation, this moment in history, right now, is full of uncertainty, too freighted with the potential for chaos, violence, disappointment. This is not a time for optimism — not yet. I am keeping my optimism under lock and key. At least for now. But oh, how I itch to unlock it. The sooner, the sweeter. – Washington Post
Ioan Grillo writes: It could be the start of a wider shift among Mexican authorities to stand up to the bullies who have ravaged Mexico for too long and to clear the way for broader policies to reduce impunity and violence. True change would require the United States to act, too. Not by conducting illegal military strikes on Mexican soil, as Mr. Trump has threatened, but by working to reduce American demand for drugs by transforming its rehabilitation system and by stopping the flow of guns south of the border. Standing up to cartels in the face of their violent lobbying is a first step. A nation cannot cede its future to the threats of crime kings like Mr. Oseguera forever. – New York Times
United States
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with President Trump on Thursday in hopes of securing over $21 billion in federal grants to help build 12,000 units of new affordable housing and infrastructure. – Wall Street Journal
The Federal Reserve is waging a behind-closed-doors legal challenge to a pair of subpoenas issued as part of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s criminal investigation into Chair Jerome Powell, according to people familiar with the matter. – Wall Street Journal
The Trump administration is pausing nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota, calling it a way to push the state to better account for how government funds are being distributed. – Wall Street Journal
The family of independent U.N. investigator Francesca Albanese has sued the Trump administration over U.S. sanctions imposed on her last year for her criticism of Israel’s policies during the war with Hamas in Gaza, saying the penalties violate the First Amendment. – Associated Press
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to move ahead with ending legal protections for migrants from Syria, in the latest emergency appeal to the nation’s highest court. – Associated Press
Editorial: UCLA said in a statement that the school had “taken concrete and significant steps to strengthen campus safety, enforce policies and combat antisemitism.” But that’s hard to credit if UCLA didn’t discipline or expel students for behavior that crossed into threats and harassment. Justice says the government “will now do what UCLA has thus far failed to do: protect Jewish and Israeli employees.” The suit asks the school to stop tolerating a hostile work environment based on race, religion and national origin. The enforcement is likely to be more severe than if UCLA’s leaders had done what is their legal obligation to protect its campus Jewish minority. – Wall Street Journal
Cybersecurity
Anthropic said it wouldn’t back down in a dispute with the Defense Department over artificial-intelligence guardrails, complicating efforts to reach a compromise ahead of a Friday deadline. – Wall Street Journal
A key Senate Committee moved to advance legislation that would overhaul cybersecurity practices at the Department of Health and Human Services. – CyberScoop
Madhu Gottumukkala is out as acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, with current agency executive director for cybersecurity Nick Andersen replacing him as the interim leader. – CyberScoop
Sen. Ron Wyden this week pledged to block a vote confirming Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd as the new head of both U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, citing his lack of digital warfare and intelligence experience. – The Record
Editorial: Hyperscalers prefer to draw electricity from the grid, since it’s cheaper than building their own generation. It also lets them claim their data centers are running on wind and solar power, even if the grid is backed up by fossil fuels. But the Democratic Party’s drive to close nuclear, natural gas and coal plants prematurely to be replaced by solar and wind is one of the largest economic-policy mistakes in decades. The bill is now arriving, and AI firms that abetted the wind and solar fantasy will have to pay part of it. The U.S. can’t afford to lose to China in the race for AI, and Americans shouldn’t have to pay for the cost of tech companies’ green virtue signaling. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Interestingly, Anthropic slightly relaxed its AI safety commitments the same day its CEO met with Hegseth. The company says that is unrelated to its fight with the Pentagon. Rather, Anthropic is trying to keep competitors at bay, saying it will no longer halt development for safety concerns if a rival has released an equal or superior model. The government should take heed: Americans benefit from having as many companies as possible vying for government business, not by making Uncle Sam a nightmare customer. – Washington Post
Matt Calkins writes: AI-written code may replace minor applications, but it isn’t dependable enough to write anything essential on its own. I talk to a lot of customers, and none has yet suggested they might vibe-code a critical system. In the end, AI-generated code may do more to lower costs for software companies than it does to lower prices for their consumers. The software industry will survive its second free-code scare. As Safra Catz of Oracle said in 2012, “If you are in this business long enough, you hear about a thousand things that are going to kill you. Open source? Yeah, we are not dead yet.” – Wall Street Journal
Defense
The U.S. has arrested and charged a former U.S. Air Force fighter jet pilot with allegedly training China’s military, highlighting Beijing’s persistent efforts to modernize its armed forces by siphoning off U.S. secrets. – Reuters
The Pentagon is building up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades, including two aircraft carrier strike groups, as President Donald Trump warns of possible military action against Iran if talks over its nuclear program fall apart. – Associated Press
The Pentagon accidentally shot down a US Customs and Border Protection drone on the Texas border with Mexico using a high-energy laser, according to people familiar with the matter, weeks after another incident led to confusion and exposed communication lapses among several US agencies. – Bloomberg
The Pentagon’s first kamikaze drone unit is ready to participate if President Donald Trump decides to launch strikes on Iran, according to US officials and analysts. – Bloomberg
United States Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Admiral Brad Cooper briefed US President Donald Trump on potential military options in Iran, sources familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post on Friday. – Jerusalem Post
“Acoustic rainbows” sound psychedelic. But the idea is no acid trip: By dispersing sound waves, noisy objects can actually be made silent. That’s why U.S. Special Operations Command is seeking acoustic rainbow emitters, or ARE, for its drones, according to a SOCOM Small Business Innovation Research solicitation. – Defense News
The Space Force has seen positive results from experiments with space-based sensors to track airborne targets, and now is hoping to use incoming funds to speed capability to orbit, according to Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman. – Breaking Defense