Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
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Israel, Hamas are finalizing a Gaza cease-fire agreement Iran, European countries to continue talks over Tehran's nuclear programme, report says WINEP’s Hamdi Malik: Making Iran choose between the bomb and bankruptcy Biden aides warned Putin as Russia’s shadow war threatened air disaster Russia faces higher costs on sea-borne oil exports due to new US sanctions Six EU nations call for temporary Syria sanctions relief Lebanon names Nawaf Salam, a diplomat and jurist, as Prime Minister North Korea fires short-range missiles ahead of Trump return Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University’s Arzan Tarapore: The long shadow of the Ladakh crisis US State Department approves military helicopter sale to Zambia for $100 million WSJ Editorial: A genocide ignored in Sudan US agencies warn of potential New Orleans copycat attackIn The News
Israel
As the war against Hamas dragged into 2024, there were worries here that investment would dry up in Israel’s globally important technology sector, as much of the world became angry against the casualties in Gaza and recoiled at the unstable security situation. – Wall Street Journal
Israel and Hamas are finalizing the terms of a cease-fire deal that could be announced as soon as Tuesday, Arab and Israeli officials said, raising hopes of an agreement that would at least pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and free some of the hostages held there. – Wall Street Journal
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal on Monday to end the war in Gaza, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump. – Reuters
Israeli far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened on Tuesday to quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if he agrees to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal being negotiated at talks in Qatar. – Reuters
Hamas said on Monday that talks over some core issues for a ceasefire deal in Gaza have made progress, an official in the Palestinian group told Reuters. – Reuters
Israel’s budget deficit could near 5% of gross domestic product in 2025, above the government’s target but below last year’s 6.9% and a level that could boost its credit rating after a series of downgrades, a senior finance ministry official said. – Reuters
Israel raised a record amount of debt last year to fund its multi-front war against Hamas and other Iran-backed militias. The government borrowed 278.4 billion shekels ($75.9 billion), the finance ministry said on Monday, surpassing the country’s previous record of 265 billion shekels in 2020 during the Covid pandemic. Most of the borrowing — about 81% — was done in Israel’s local bond market. – Bloomberg
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will unveil a plan for the post-war management of Gaza in a speech on Tuesday that has been the subject of internal divisions within the Biden administration, according to a US official. – Agence France Presse
Cuba has officially declared its intention to join South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the court announced on Monday. – Arutz Sheva
Iran
Talks held in Geneva between Iran, Britain, France and Germany will see dialogue continue regarding Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme, Iran’s official news agency reported on Tuesday. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will hold talks in Russia on Jan. 17 after which they will sign a long-awaited comprehensive strategic partnership pact, the Kremlin said on Monday. – Reuters
Nahid Taghavi, an Iranian-German women’s rights activist, has been released from prison and is back in Germany after more than four years incarceration in Iran, Amnesty International said on Monday. – Reuters
The National Security Council (NSC) issued a warning on Tuesday about increased Iranian attempts to lure Israeli citizens abroad under false pretenses, aiming to harm or kidnap them. – Jerusalem Post
Iran has congratulated Nicolás Maduro for beginning his third term as Venezuela’s president, despite international outcry over what many leaders have described as an “illegitimate” presidency only won through a “desperate attempt” to seize power. – Algemeiner
Mariam Memarsadeghi writes: The aspiration to be rid of a cabal that has waged war on Iranian women and destroyed the nation will never be extinguished. Any telling of modern Iranian history that does not begin with how the 1979 revolution decimated the dignity of Iranian women and girls is not rooted in truth. Sooner or later, Iranian women will win their freedom. Everyone in the world must stand with them on the right side of history. – Newsweek
Hamdi Malik writes: Many in Iran see Trump as an unpredictable leader who likes to strike deals but who is also prepared to come down hard on Tehran. Played skillfully, this combination could give him leverage with a regime that is already debating how to approach his administration. So long as that debate continues, Tehran is less likely to make a bold gamble on developing a nuclear bomb, especially if Khamenei fears how Iran’s adversaries would react. – Washington Institute
Russia & Ukraine
After innocent-looking cargo shipments began catching fire at airports and warehouses in Germany, Britain and Poland over the summer, there was little doubt in Washington and Europe that Russia was behind the sabotage. – New York Times
Ukraine struck Russian regions with a major drone and missile attack overnight, damaging factories in at least three cities, officials and media said. – Reuters
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he is going to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “very quickly” after he takes office next week. – Reuters
Sweeping U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil industry will make it more expensive for Moscow to sell its oil and complicate sea-borne crude exports due to restrictions on tankers, analysts and traders said on Monday. – Reuters
Russia said on Monday it had downed nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack part of the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline, through which Russian gas flows to Turkey and Europe, and called the attack an “act of energy terrorism”. – Reuters
Syria
The head of an American organisation focused on hostage releases said on Monday he believes U.S. journalist Austin Tice was still being held in Syria by people loyal to toppled leader Bashar al-Assad. – Reuters
Six member states of the European Union have called for the bloc to temporarily suspend sanctions on Syria in areas such as transport, energy and banking, according to a paper seen by Reuters. – Reuters
Syria’s new central bank governor, Maysaa Sabreen, said she wants to boost the institution’s independence over monetary policy decisions, in what would be a sea change from the heavy control exerted under the Assad regime. – Reuters
European Union foreign ministers will meet in late January to discuss easing sanctions imposed on Syria, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said Sunday. However, she said the move would depend on Syria’s new rulers carrying out an inclusive political transition after last month’s overthrow of President Bashar Assad. – Associated Press
Alon Ben-Meir writes: The US, the EU, the Arab states, and Israel have a vested interest in maintaining regional stability and security and need to collaborate with the new Syrian regime to achieve their mutual objectives, starting by lifting the designation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organization and bestowing legitimacy on its governing authority. Thus far, all signs point to the new government’s commitment to executing its publicly stated goal of ending suffering and forging a new path to peace and security, which the Syrian people desperately long for. – Jerusalem Post
Ofra Bengio writes: Ocalan appears to have accepted the offer, but the big question mark is if Kurdish parties in Qandil and Syria will follow suit, since it will mean the demise of both their ethos and very existence. It’s not clear who will win the battle within the Kurdish camp – between the jailed chief and the local leaders, between an uneasy rapprochement with Turkey or an unlikely alliance with Israel. – Haaretz
John Calabrese writes: While the fall of Assad represents an epochal turning point for Syrians, the future remains precarious. At the local level, challenges in governance and reconstruction are compounded by entrenched authoritarian tendencies. Regionally, the shift in power dynamics could lead to further instability as neighboring countries position themselves for influence. Internationally, the competing interests of global powers, particularly Russia and the United States, will play a significant role in shaping Syria’s future trajectory. As Syrians emerge from the “prison” of the Assad regime, their future remains uncertain, shaped by a complex web of domestic, regional, and international forces. – National Interest
Turkey
Paving the way for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to run for a fourth term in office is “on our agenda”, the spokesman for the president’s ruling party said on Monday, adding that the important factor was whether the people wanted it. – Reuters
Turkey’s intelligence chief discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza in a phone call on Monday with officials from the political wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas, a Turkish security source said. – Reuters
Turkey’s intelligence agency conducted a cross-border operation inside Syria and seized a man suspected of perpetrating a 2013 bomb attack near the Syrian border that killed dozens of people, a Turkish security source said on Monday. – Reuters
Steven A. Cook writes: It is true that Turkey is in an advantageous position in Syria. Ankara’s patrons, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the amalgam of militias called the Syrian National Army, were responsible for the end of the Assad regime. Turkey’s proximity to Syria and the well-known Turkish expertise in infrastructure development will also help firms that are well connected in Ankara to win reconstruction contracts. – Foreign Policy
Lebanon
Lebanon’s fractured Parliament named Nawaf Salam as prime minister on Monday, handing the country’s political reins to the prominent diplomat and international jurist as Lebanon emerges from a devastating war and attempts to recover from a dire economic meltdown. – New York Times
A high-level United Arab Emirates delegation was in Lebanon on Monday to make arrangements for the reopening of the Gulf Arab state’s embassy in Beirut after more than three years, state news agency WAM reported. – Reuters
Lebanon’s Hezbollah is trying “to regain strength and rearm with the assistance of Iran,” Israel’s U.N. ambassador told the Security Council on Monday, declaring that the militants remain a “serious threat” to Israel and regional stability. – Reuters
Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad said on Monday the Iran-backed group’s opponents were seeking its fragmentation and exclusion from power in Lebanon. – Reuters
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group postponed an appointment with President Joseph Aoun on Monday at which it was due to communicate its preference for the post of prime minister, political sources said, indicating tensions in the process. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
A risky operation to salvage an oil tanker attacked by Houthi militants in the Red Sea and avert what could have been one of the largest oil spills in recorded history has been completed, British maritime security company Ambrey and Greece have said. – Reuters
Britain will sign a minerals cooperation partnership with Saudi Arabia that could help strengthen supply chains, create opportunities for British businesses and attract investment into the UK, the British government said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on Monday he would sign a bilateral security deal with Britain as well as a strategic partnership accord as he headed to London for an official visit against a backdrop of historic shifts in the Middle East. – Reuters
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer aims to start talks on a migrant returns agreement with Iraq when he welcomes his counterpart from the middle eastern nation, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, to Downing Street on Tuesday. – Bloomberg
Andrew Latham writes: The structural conflict between Turkey and the Gulf states represents a profound shift, with Iran playing a pragmatic role in countering Ankara’s ambitions. As these dynamics unfold, the region’s leaders face a stark choice: whether to navigate this transformation through creative diplomacy or to allow the shifting sands once again to bury hopes for stability and cooperation. – The Hill
Itamar Tzur writes: Against this backdrop, it is difficult to predict whether the region is on the brink of a stable new era, or whether more regimes will collapse or undergo significant change. A key question remains how Israel, as a central and influential power in the region, will shape the Middle East’s near future. It is evident that Israel’s governmental decisions — whether economic, judicial, or political — will continue to significantly impact the trajectories of neighboring states and the directions their leaders choose to pursue. – Algemeiner
Korean Peninsula
For six weeks, South Korea has lurched through its worst political crisis in decades, throwing the resilience of the country’s democracy into question. On Tuesday, it takes the biggest step toward a resolution, when the Constitutional Court begins deliberating whether to remove or reinstate the country’s impeached president. – New York Times
South Korea’s Constitutional Court adjourned the opening session of the impeachment trial of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol within minutes on Tuesday, after the embattled leader did not attend court. – Reuters
North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, marking Pyongyang’s latest show of force just days ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office. – Reuters
North Korean troops, unacknowledged by their own country, are getting chewed up in a vicious war in which, far from home, they are “cannon fodder” fighting anonymously on behalf of the Russians. – New York Sun
China
For decades, China sought to learn from Western finance. Now it’s purging many of the internationally experienced financiers who helped steer the country’s economic rise, while ushering in a new generation of loyal functionaries willing to carry out Communist Party edicts and disavow capitalist excess. – Wall Street Journal
Chinese exports surged to record levels in December as traders raced to ship goods before Donald Trump returns to the White House with threats to place huge tariffs on products imported to the United States. – Washington Post
China will expand the list of unilateral visa-free countries and extend the period of visa-free stays, measures issued on Monday by the Chinese government show. – Reuters
China is reportedly building a series of “D-Day style” barges that could be used to aid an invasion of Taiwan, according to media reports. At least three of the new craft have been observed at Guangzhou Shipyard in southern China, according to Naval News. – Fox News
South Asia
A U.S. push to reach a prisoner-swap deal with the Taliban is in danger of collapsing over President Biden’s insistence that the trade include an American who disappeared in Afghanistan in 2022 in return for an alleged former al Qaeda associate held at Guantanamo Bay. – Wall Street Journal
Pakistan’s army said on Monday its security forces killed 27 militants in an operation in its southwestern region. – Reuters
Indian refiners have stopped dealing with U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers and entities but the country does not expect disruption to Russian crude supplies during a two-month wind-down period, a government source said on Monday. – Reuters
Arzan Tarapore writes: India still faces diabolical challenges in establishing deterrence on its northern border, realigning its strategic posture, and managing its bilateral relationship with China. Nevertheless, the October 2024 disengagement deal offers Indian government officials and military planners, and their American partners, an opportunity to re-examine and recalibrate their approach to these priorities. How India handles them will determine the long-term significance of the Ladakh crisis, and India’s role as a strategic force in the Indo-Pacific. – War on the Rocks
Asia
The Philippines accused China on Tuesday of intimidating its fishermen at a disputed South China Sea shoal, and normalising an “illegal presence”, after Beijing sent its largest coast guard vessel into Manila’s maritime zone. – Reuters
Thailand’s political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra believes Southeast Asia’s second largest economy should push to legalise online gambling, which he said could net the government as much as 100 billion baht ($2.89 billion) in annual revenues. – Reuters
Japan Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba asked U.S. President Joe Biden to allay concerns in the Japanese and U.S. business communities over the status of Nippon Steel’s planned acquisition of U.S. Steel. – Reuters
Chinese and Indian refiners are seeking alternative fuel supplies as they adapt to severe new U.S. sanctions on Russian producers and tankers that are designed to curb the revenues of the world’s second-largest oil exporter. – Reuters
Taiwan’s intelligence bureau says China’s main spy agency is working with criminal gangs, shell companies and other dubious partners to gain intelligence on Taiwan’s defenses, resulting in a major rise in those arrested for alleged espionage on the island. – Associated Press
Kenneth Weinstein writes: Understanding Trump’s America First approach, which would have allies take on more responsibility for their defense, Abe pushed for a stronger Japanese military capable of operating alongside allies. He secured legislative changes allowing Japanese forces to participate in collective self-defense missions. As Japan increases defense spending to 2 percent of GDP, opportunities for buying American weaponry and supporting American operations will grow. As we face growing global uncertainty in 2025, the Trump-Abe partnership should serve as a model for enhanced economic strength, energy cooperation, and regional security. – New York Sun
Sheena Chestnut Greitens and Isaac B. Kardon write: For the United States, pursuing defense cooperation with Vietnam has been an important way to act on “shared security interests” in the Indo-Pacific—especially countering Chinese activity in contested maritime areas. This emphasis was clear during a meeting between Biden and Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary To Lam in New York last September: The leaders discussed “working together to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific” and “reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific—especially in the South China Sea.” – Foreign Policy
Europe
During Elon Musk’s freewheeling conversation with the leader of a far-right German party last week, spanning Hitler, multiplanetary civilizations and the existence of god, the billionaire tech entrepreneur insisted that the Alternative for Germany was moderate. – Wall Street Journal
Responding on Monday to the diplomatic earthquake set off last week by President-elect Donald J. Trump, who mused about taking over the gigantic island in the Arctic Ocean, Greenland’s prime minister said the territory would like to work more closely with the United States on defense and natural resources. – New York Times
Identifying suspect ships and limiting their activities is the most efficient way to protect critical undersea infrastructure, European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen told Reuters on Monday. – Reuters
Britain named Michael Ellam to lead official-level discussions with the European Union and in international forums on Monday, as the country aims to reset relationships with the bloc and secure closer links in trade and security. – Reuters
Top secret MI5 files detailing first-hand accounts of confessions of three of Britain’s most notorious double agents including Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt who spied for the Soviet Union were released for the first time on Tuesday. – Reuters
Crew on board an oil tanker accused of sabotaging undersea power and communications cables in the Baltic Sea were poised to cut other cables and pipelines when Finnish authorities boarded the vessel last month, the head of the Finnish investigation said. – Reuters
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party and the conservative People’s Party said on Monday that after three days of coalition talks they had reached a deal on bringing the budget deficit back within the European Union’s limit. – Reuters
Denmark recognises that the United States has security interests in the Arctic and is ready to discuss these with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Monday. – Reuters
Britain’s King Charles will visit Poland later this month to attend commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp in World War Two. – Reuters
German police have launched an investigation into suspected cases of Russian espionage after drones were spotted over several military installations in Bavaria, according to a statement on Monday. – Reuters
The defense ministers of Europe’s five top military spenders said Monday they want to continue increasing their investments in defense but described meeting President-elect Donald Trump’s challenge for them to raise spending to 5% of their overall economic output as complicated. – Associated Press
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to hold talks on resuming natural gas transit after a deal between Kyiv and Moscow expired at the start of this year. – Bloomberg
A group of 10 European Union nations is pushing to toughen sanctions against Russia by introducing further restrictions on natural gas and bolstering the enforcement of a price cap on oil. – Bloomberg
Dozens of countries will send delegates to Norway on Wednesday as part of a global alliance aiming to find a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Norway’s foreign ministry said on Monday. – Times of Israel
Africa
Canadian miner Barrick Gold, said it will have to suspend mining operations in Mali after the government seized gold stocks from the company’s Loulo-Gounkoto complex and flew them out by helicopter over the weekend. – Reuters
Civilians and soldiers celebrated in Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan’s El Gezira state, after it was recaptured by the Sudanese army from the paramilitary Rapid Support Services, marking a possible turning point in a devastating near two-year civil war. – Reuters
The U.S. State Department approved a foreign military sale to Zambia of military helicopters and related logistics support for an estimated cost of $100 million, the Pentagon said in a statement on Monday. – Reuters
Britain and Mauritius said on Monday there had been good progress in talks to finalise a deal over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, including a U.S.-British military base, with London hoping for sign-off before Donald Trump’s inauguration. – Reuters
Suspected Islamist militants killed 40 farmers in an attack on the Dumba community in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno State on Sunday, a senior state official said on Monday. – Reuters
Ugandan military prosecutors on Monday added a charge of “treachery” – which carries the death penalty – to the list of violations of military law they say were committed by a prominent opposition figure. – Reuters
Nigeria’s air force said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties during a weekend air strike that targeted armed gangs in the northwest, the latest military operation where innocent people may have been accidentally killed. – Reuters
A prominent Tanzanian activist has been released after being “kidnapped” on Sunday by three armed men on the streets of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, her husband said, accusing Tanzania’s national intelligence service of responsibility. – Reuters
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party said it won’t stand in the way of calls for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his tenure an extra two years, until 2030. – Bloomberg
South African Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein has invited a counter terrorism task force to the country to assist with the investigation into the recent terror attack in Cape Town, and to make recommendations to protect places of worship, schools, and community centers. – Arutz Sheva
Editorial: Did anyone hear her? In December 2023, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter to call the Security Council’s attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But Israel’s pursuit of Hamas bears no resemblance to the ethnic cleansing in Sudan. In October, Mr. Guterres expressed concern over the “humanitarian catastrophe” occurring in Sudan, but he hasn’t invoked Article 99 for the crisis unfolding there. – Wall Street Journal
Imran Khalid writes: Central to any resolution is the role of the African Union. Its intricate understanding of Sudan’s complexities and established connections with key players make it uniquely suited to lead peacebuilding efforts. The African Union’s engagement is not just important — it is indispensable. Collaboration between the African Union and global powers could create a powerful coalition for stability. Joint peacekeeping missions, synchronized diplomatic strategies, and shared intelligence would amplify the impact of intervention efforts. – The Hill
The Americas
A Peruvian judge on Monday threw out a money laundering trial that began last year involving former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who was accused of received illegal funds from a Brazilian construction company and local firms. – Reuters
Venezuela attorney general Tarek Saab said on Monday his office has requested an arrest warrant and Interpol red notice against opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez, who spent years in detention in Venezuela and has lived in Spain since 2020. – Reuters
Venezuela’s foreign minister on Monday accused opponents of President Nicolás Maduro as being linked to damages at the country’s diplomatic facilities in five nations. – Associated Press
North America
The leader of Canada’s energy-rich province of Alberta, Danielle Smith, met with President-elect Donald Trump and his team at Mar-a-Lago in Florida this past weekend to try to convince them that a trade war would be bad for both countries. She came home resigned to a fight. – Wall Street Journal
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday rolled out an economic plan aimed at curbing imports from China in an apparent nod to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his allegations that Mexico is a back door for Chinese goods entering the United States. – Reuters
A contingent of 72 Mexican firefighters received a briefing from U.S. fire officials on Monday alongside their American counterparts before heading out to help fight the wildfires plaguing Southern California. – Reuters
United States
Outgoing President Joe Biden sought to burnish his foreign policy record on Monday and said U.S. adversaries are weaker than when he took office four years ago despite global crises that remain unresolved. – Reuters
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday warned of a potential public safety threat from violent extremists who might try to copy the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people. – Reuters
U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith concluded that Donald Trump engaged in an “unprecedented criminal effort” to hold on to power after losing the 2020 election, but was thwarted in bringing the case to trial by the president-elect’s November election victory, according to a report published on Tuesday. – Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump is considering Washington trade lawyer Jeffrey Kessler to lead the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), according to people familiar with the matter, a key post in the U.S.-China tech war. – Reuters
Two Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged Congress and President Joe Biden to extend a Jan. 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok or face a U.S. ban. – Reuters
The U.S. special counsel who prosecuted Democratic President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden called the president’s criticisms of the cases “gratuitous and wrong” in a final report on his probe published on Monday – Reuters
A lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Monday accuses the public utility of failing to properly manage water supplies critical to fighting the deadly Palisades Fire, a court filing showed. – Reuters
A federal judge on Monday cleared the way for the U.S. Justice Department to publicly release a portion of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on President-elect Donald Trump’s 2020 election subversion case. – Reuters
The Los Angeles wildfires, which have reduced entire neighborhoods to smoldering ruins and left an apocalyptic landscape, could become the costliest wildfires in U.S. history in terms of insured losses if analysts’ estimates of up to $20 billion materialize. – Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump’s Republican allies in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to build support for a bill on authorizing talks for the purchase of Greenland, according to a copy of the bill circulated for co-sponsors on Monday. – Reuters
CBS News is facing renewed accusations of anti-Israel bias over a “60 Minutes” segment criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza that relies largely on two former State Department officials with ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), whose executive director has drawn condemnation from the White House for praising Hamas. – Jewish Insider
US President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is heading into a potentially explosive confirmation hearing Tuesday as senators question whether the former combat veteran and TV news show host is fit to lead the US military. – Times of Israel
Cybersecurity
After Supreme Court justices Friday seemed inclined to let stand a law that would shut down TikTok in the U.S., the Chinese social-media platform Xiaohongshu, translated in English as Little Red Book, received a flood of American TikTok users. – Wall Street Journal
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he wanted to make the UK an artificial intelligence “superpower”, promising to take a pro-innovation approach to regulation, make public data available to researchers and create zones for data centres. – Reuters
Online trading firm Robinhood Markets has agreed to pay $45 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges over record keeping, trade reporting and other rule violations, the regulator said on Monday. – Reuters
The U.S. government said on Monday it would issue a new regulation designed to control access to U.S.-designed artificial intelligence chips and technology by other countries around the world. – Reuters
OpenAI on Monday laid out its vision for artificial intelligence development in the U.S., saying the country needs outside investment and supportive regulation to stay ahead of China in the race for the nascent technology. – Reuters
Three Russian nationals were indicted this week for their roles in managing a pair of cryptocurrency mixing services, operations that were funded in part by money gained through ransomware attacks. – CyberScoop
Defense
Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has recommended a boost in defense spending by about $50 billion more than the current 2026 projections, a move that could push the defense budget beyond $1 trillion in the coming years, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. – Reuters
The Air Force under a Trump administration could choose to pursue a more advanced successor to the F-35 instead of the costly Next Generation Air Dominance platform to maintain air superiority, outgoing Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Monday. – Defense News
The number of times NATO fighter jet scrambled to intercept Russian military aircraft approaching allied airspace over Europe has changed little in 2024 compared to 2023, even as Western leaders grow increasingly worried about Russian aggression and hybrid warfare targeting European countries within the alliance. – Defense News
The Marine Corps has awarded Forterra a contract to integrate its autonomy package on the Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires ground vehicle, the Pentagon’s first-ever production contract for off-road autonomous driving capability. – Defense News
The White House announced Monday that the Navy will name the two latest Ford-class aircraft carriers after former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. – Military News
Radha Iyengar Plumb writes: In addition to the hardware-centric rigor, the department should apply a software-centric mindset to major acquisition programs such that the principles of interoperability and replaceability are built in from the beginning. Applying the Open DAGIR tenets across a spectrum of future procurements will enable the department to have access to best-in-breed technology solutions critical to the warfighter while also driving responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars through competition within industry and leveraging the massive scale of the defense enterprise. – War on the Rocks