Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Aid is rushing into Gaza while the cease-fire holds Israel sees more to do on Lebanon ceasefire as deadline nears Channel 12 News’ Amit Segal: This Israel-Hamas deal sets a dangerous precedent Iran says Trump's 'terrorist' designation of Yemen's Houthis is 'baseless' JPost’s Alex Winston: Khamenei’s illusion: Victory, propaganda and Iran’s ‘reality’ Ahead of the expected Trump-Putin call, each side stakes out its position ICC prosecutor seeks warrants for Taliban leaders over women’s rights North Korea suspected of preparing to send more troops to Russia, Seoul says North Korea's assembly meets but no mention of unification, foreign policy changes Bloomberg’s Karishma Vaswani: Japan and South Korea were stable US allies. Not anymore Trump says he could reach trade deal with China, calls talk with Xi 'friendly' Rebels backed by Rwanda close In on major city in CongoIn The News
Israel
Humanitarian supplies are pouring into the Gaza Strip at an unprecedented rate, as foreign governments and aid groups race during a pause in the fighting to bring much needed relief to the beleaguered population. – Wall Street Journal
American security contractors have been enlisted to help handle the return of displaced Palestinians to the Gaza Strip’s devastated north, the next step in the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, according to four officials familiar with the matter. – New York Times
Israel’s military on Thursday pressed ahead with its offensive in and around Jenin, a city known as a center of militant opposition to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, killing two men in a nearby village who were wanted for the murder of three Israelis. – New York Times
Since the cease-fire started on Sunday, Hamas has been working overtime in an attempt to show it still controls Gaza, even after Israel killed thousands of its members and demolished its tunnels and weapons factories in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack that killed an estimated 1,200 people. – New York Times
Palestinians in northern Gaza prepared tent encampments for displaced families on Thursday, two days before they were expected to return to their home areas in accordance with the timeline of a ceasefire deal agreed between Israel and Hamas. – Reuters
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 653 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the fifth day of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas. – Reuters
Israel said on Thursday the terms of a ceasefire with Hezbollah were not being implemented fast enough and there was more work to do, while the Iran-backed group urged pressure to ensure Israeli troops leave south Lebanon by Monday as set out in the deal. – Reuters
Even before it was signed, the Gaza ceasefire forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into a tight spot – between a new U.S. president promising peace and far-right allies who want war to resume. That tension is only likely to increase. – Reuters
The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are trapped in limbo, two days before the second prisoner exchange of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, with many having relatives both on the list to be freed and those who aren’t. – Agence France Presse
Israel is on high alert for the publication of Hamas’s two lists on Friday, it was announced on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Israel next week after first making a stop in Saudi Arabia, Israeli television reported Thursday. – Times of Israel
Editorial: With Halevi stepping down and the expected resignation of several other top-level IDF officers, new appointments will need to be made. This provides the IDF with an opportunity to renew itself by appointing new leaders, untainted by October 7 and unburdened by the same groupthink that made the Hamas attack possible. These leaders can bring a fresh perspective to how the IDF should prepare and operate – something October 7 showed is badly needed. Following October 7, the country needs new faces and innovative strategies. – Jerusalem Post
Ruth R. Wisse writes: An enlarged war now rages against the Jews and the civilization they represent, and Poland, as custodian of Auschwitz, has chosen to stand with rather than against them. Whoever represents the Jewish state at the ceremonies, Poland will have remained true to its motto, za wolność naszą i waszą—“for our freedom and yours.” – Wall Street Journal
Amit Segal writes: Seeing the hostages at home fills the heart with joy. No words can capture the profound relief at seeing men, women, children and the elderly brought home from Hamas’s terror tunnels. Yet we must not forget the devastating price extracted. Now is the moment to halt this surrender to terrorism and send an unequivocal message to Hamas and every terror organization worldwide: The era of extortionate price gouging is over. – Wall Street Journal
Srulik Einhorn writes: Anyone who murders children deserves to be terminated. Terrorist organizations must be removed to hell. Shout “genocide” as much as you want. We will destroy Hamas. We will win in the eighth arena, and therewith the entire war. For the sake of Israel, the USA, the West, and above all – for the sake of humanity. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Iran on Thursday condemned as “baseless” a move by U.S. President Donald Trump to re-designate Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization (FTO)”. – Reuters
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he hopes the Iranian nuclear crisis can be solved without Israel having to carry out a military strike against the Islamic Republic. – Times of Israel
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday condemning what it called Iran’s systematic human rights abuses, highlighting the use of the death penalty against Kurdish activists Pakhshan Azizi and Varisheh Moradi. – Iran International
Alex Winston writes: ‘How have members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps been allowed to enrich themselves while the people suffer high inflation, low wages, and decreasing standard of living?’ they ask themselves. Iran is not an autocracy. It is a kleptocracy, stealing from the people and sending it out to terror proxies across the Middle East. If Khamenei has such a deluded definition of victory, when the Iranians finally stand up to the ayatollah, he might have had a hard time realizing what is happening. – Jerusalem Post
Aidin Panahi and Andrew Ghalili write: EU must target sanctions against the IRGC’s financial networks, isolating the group economically without disrupting legitimate trade. Additionally, Europe should strengthen border controls and security measures to prevent further Iranian influence. A recent ruling by the European Court now makes it easier for the EU to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization – an opportunity that must be seized without delay. These steps will limit the IRGC’s growing influence and reinforce the international community’s resolve against state-sponsored terrorism. – Jerusalem Post
Russia & Ukraine
For around a decade, the Russian spy ship Yantar has crossed the globe and loitered over undersea cables in what Western officials suspect is an attempt by the Kremlin to map vital arteries for the global economy running along the ocean floor. – Wall Street Journal
Amid expectations in Moscow that President Donald Trump will speak by phone in the coming days with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian officials are staking out hard-line positions on the Ukraine war ahead of any talks and playing down any imminent major breakthrough on U.S.-Russia ties. – Washington Post
The war of attrition between Russia and Ukraine is killing soldiers at a pace unseen in Europe since World War II. Ukrainian artillery fire, explosive drones and mines are killing Russian troops, as they repeatedly charge across the no-man’s land. – New York Times
Since Russia invaded his country three years ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has survived a military assault on his capital, assassination plots, corruption scandals in his government, political infighting and ominous setbacks in his army’s fight against Russia. – New York Times
Russia on Thursday reprimanded the head of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF for not providing a “weighty argument for her refusal” to brief the Security Council on children in Gaza – a meeting requested by Russia. – Reuters
Russian security official Sergei Shoigu warned in an interview published on Friday that the risk of an armed clash between nuclear powers was rising. – Reuters
Russian air defences repelled a massive Ukrainian drone attack overnight, intercepting and destroying 121 drones targeting 13 regions, including Moscow, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday, making no mention of casualties or damage. – Reuters
Kyiv’s talks with its allies on a possible foreign troop contingent in Ukraine that would act as a security guarantee are only in their early stages and have not focused on specific numbers, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. – Reuters
A Russian man was jailed for 17 years after being found guilty of passing classified information to a representative of a U.S. intelligence agency, the TASS state news agency reported on Thursday. – Reuters
Ukraine praised U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday for threatening to impose tariffs and sanctions on Russia if it refuses to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine and said the comment sent a “strong signal”. – Reuters
Jack Keane and Marc A. Thiessen write: Its resources can be developed for the benefit of both countries only if Trump succeeds in negotiating a resolution to the conflict. It is hard to mine for minerals or develop offshore oil and natural gas under enemy fire. The time has come to end the war in Ukraine and to secure a just and lasting peace. The only way to do so is to make sure that Ukraine is armed with weapons made by American workers — without requiring U.S. taxpayers to bear the cost. – Washington Post
Andrei Kolesnikov writes: Even now, Putin has already begun to make his own division—he doesn’t see western Ukraine so much as “his” territory, because, unlike Crimea and the eastern part of the country, it is culturally and historically Western and in this sense alien to him. If there is a new cold war, then the West may also be entering a new era of containment. But it is a far more complex situation than in the old days. Rather than to two mostly rational superpowers, the world is now hostage to three unpredictable and dangerous leaders: Putin, Trump, and Xi. – Foreign Affairs
Afghanistan
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced Thursday that he is seeking arrest warrants for the leader of the Taliban and another senior regime official over their alleged persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan. – Washington Post
A decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to halt visa processing for refugees has caused uncertainty and shock at an English school for Afghans in Islamabad who are awaiting resettlement in the United States. – Reuters
An Afghan women’s group on Friday hailed a decision by the International Criminal Court to arrest Taliban leaders for their persecution of women. – Associated Press
Syria
Syria’s central bank has ordered commercial banks to freeze all accounts tied to people and companies linked to the ousted regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, according to a document seen by Reuters and people familiar with the decision. – Reuters
Syria’s new authorities are using Islamic teachings to train a fledgling police force, a move officers say aims to instil a sense of morality as they race to fill a security vacuum after dismantling ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s notoriously corrupt and brutal security forces. – Reuters
Samir al-Baghdad grabbed his pickax and walked up a wobbly set of stairs made of cinderblocks and rubble. He is rebuilding his destroyed family house in the Qaboun neighborhood near Damascus, Syria ‘s capital. – Associated Press
As insurgents raced across Syria in a surprise offensive launched in the country’s northwest late last year, officials from several countries backing either the rebels or Syria’s government met in Qatar on what to do. – Associated Press
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for an inclusive transition in Syria after the fall of leader Bashar Assad, in a call with powerbroker Turkiye, the State Department said Thursday. – Agence France Presse
Iraq
Israeli-Russian Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, who is being held hostage by an Iraqi militia, is alive and the Iraqi prime minister is working on her release, Iraqi foreign minister Fouad Hussein told Axios reporter Barak Ravid on Thursday. – Reuters
The Iraqi parliament has passed an amnesty law that could lead to the release of thousands of prisoners, including Iraqis convicted of attacks on U.S. soldiers and people who fought for Islamic State, lawmakers said on Thursday. – Reuters
Baghdad and BP’s (BP.L) negotiations over a major deal to redevelop Kirkuk’s oil and gas fields must include Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, the Kurdish Prime Minister told Reuters, flagging a potential conflict with the central government. – Reuters
Turkey
Outrage over alleged safety failures at a 12-storey hotel in Turkey has escalated into a political clash between the government and the opposition-run local authorities, after a fire killed 79 people and injured more than 50. – Reuters
Turkey’s central bank cut its key interest rate by 250 basis points to 45% as expected on Thursday, carrying on an easing cycle it launched last month alongside a decline in annual inflation that is seen continuing through the year end. – Reuters
Commercial flights between Turkey and Syria resumed Thursday after 13 years with a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Damascus. – Associated Press
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia will continue supporting Lebanon and is optimistic about the country’s future after a ceasefire brought an end to a war between Israel and the militant Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, the kingdom’s foreign minister said from Beirut. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud will visit Damascus on Friday and meet with top officials in the new Syrian administration, a Syrian official said on Thursday. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will demand Saudi Arabia and OPEC bring down the cost of oil and will ask Riyadh to increase a planned U.S. investment package to $1 trillion from an initial reported $600 billion. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
Italy’s interior minister said on Thursday a Libyan man detained under an international war crimes arrest warrant and then unexpectedly released had been swiftly repatriated because of his “social dangerousness”. – Reuters
Two Bulgarian sailors and a Romanian crew member returned home after being held for 14 months by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, receiving a warm welcome from their families and officials at Sofia airport on Thursday. – Reuters
Experts from the U.S. Air Force are looking at ways to upgrade Cyprus’ premier air base for use as a humanitarian staging post in future operations in the Middle East, a Cypriot official told The Associated Press Thursday. – Associated Press
Egypt is “cautiously optimistic” a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will eventually translate into a recovery in Suez Canal revenue, which fell at least 60% due to the war, the country’s minister for foreign trade and investment said. – Bloomberg
Korean Peninsula
South Korea has told its low-cost carriers to prioritize safety over profit after the deadly crash of a Jeju Air plane in South Korea last month, in an effort to shore up confidence in the country’s aviation industry. – New York Times
A former South Korean defence minister charged with insurrection for his role in a short-lived martial law attempt told a court on Thursday that he wanted a broader military deployment but was overruled by President Yoon Suk Yeol. – Reuters
South Korea’s military said on Friday that it suspects North Korea is preparing to send more troops to Russia to fight Ukrainian forces, even after suffering losses and seeing some of its soldiers captured. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Thursday that he plans to seek to engage North Korean leader Kim Jong Un anew after the two men developed a working relationship in Trump’s first term. – Reuters
North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) met over two days this week and reported on its achievements during 2024 but state media made no mention of anticipated changes to the constitution that would further cement its hostile policy towards South Korea. – Reuters
Karishma Vaswani writes: Boosting cooperation in defense systems would further enhance the alliance’s ability to respond to emerging threats. At a time of deep political divisions, a focus on public diplomacy would help bring citizens along. The reality, however, is that Trump’s transactional approach to even partners and allies will make these goals difficult to achieve. Asia has already been destabilized by a rising China and volatile North Korea. Cooperation, not further conflict, is the way forward. – Bloomberg
China
President Donald Trump, before taking office Monday, was ratcheting up the rhetoric against Beijing, threatening tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese imports and surrounding himself with China hawks. – Washington Post
U.S. President Donald Trump said his conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week was friendly and he thought he could reach a trade deal with China. – Reuters
China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said at a meeting with Dutch King Willem-Alexander in The Hague that China stands ready to increase mutual trust and that it would work together to maintain stability and smoothness of the global supply chain. – Reuters
A Chinese man who injured a Japanese mother and her child and killed a Chinese bus attendant trying to protect them in a knife attack near Shanghai last June has been sentenced to death, according to a Japanese government official. – Associated Press
South Asia
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will visit Beijing on Jan. 26-27 to discuss steps to boost ties with China, as the Asian neighbours revive relations that were strained since a deadly military clash on their disputed frontier in 2020. – Reuters
The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, said on Thursday that his country’s high growth under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was “fake” and faulted the world for not questioning what he said was her corruption. – Reuters
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, called off reconciliatory talks with the government on Thursday, a week after a court handed him a 14-year jail term on graft charges, his party’s chairman said. – Reuters
Pakistan’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a controversial bill that will give the government sweeping controls on social media, including sending users to prison for spreading disinformation. – Associated Press
Mihir Sharma writes: Trump’s agenda might be America-centric. But many of its pillars — including dealing with illegal immigration — will require cooperation from other countries. If he wants to work with governments such as India’s, he can. The question is how willing he will be to notch quiet victories rather than crowing about them. – Bloomberg
Asia
A law allowing same-sex marriage came into effect in Thailand on Thursday, leading to an outpouring of celebration across the country. – Washington Post
The deployment of the U.S. military’s Typhon missile launchers in the Philippines was in line with Washington’s longstanding defence ties with the country, the Philippine armed forces said on Friday. – Reuters
The Philippines will respond favourably if Interpol is asked by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants related to its probe into the former president’s bloody “war on drugs”, a top official said on Friday. – Reuters
Indonesia and France will on Friday sign an agreement over the repatriation of a Frenchman on death row for drug offences, a senior Indonesian minister said. – Reuters
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday announced cash incentives to attract apprentices to an overstretched construction industry, adding to billions of dollars in extra spending ahead of a general election due within months. – Reuters
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sought support for his minority government with the opening of parliament on Friday, as he aims to pass a record ¥115.5 trillion ($738 billion) annual budget and navigate ties with the new US administration. – Bloomberg
Europe
Italy’s highest court on Thursday upheld the slander conviction of former American exchange student Amanda Knox, leaving one crime on her record at the end of a 17-year legal odyssey that began with the death of her British roommate. – Washington Post
Ireland’s Micheál Martin was elected prime minister for the second time by a coalition of the country’s two large centre-right parties and independents on Thursday, and set himself the task of warding off threats arising from Donald Trump’s return as U.S. president. – Reuters
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s administration plans measures to prevent long-running public protests from escalating into attempts at overthrowing the government, citing intelligence showing opponents seeking to gain power. – Reuters
Germany is working intensively to deport more criminals to Afghanistan, said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in Berlin on Thursday, a day after an Afghan asylum seeker was arrested for a deadly knife attack. – Reuters
The last time Belarus staged a presidential election in 2020, authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner with 80% of the vote. That triggered cries of fraud, months of protests and a harsh crackdown with thousands of arrests. – Associated Press
The European Union is set to buy time in its case against China at the World Trade Organization over allegations of economic coercion targeting Lithuania, according to people familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg
Denmark’s defense minister wants to raise the Nordic country’s total military spending to more than 500 billion kroner ($70 billion) through 2033 as it seeks to ramp up investment in security in the Arctic region. – Bloomberg
Joseph C. Sternberg writes: Meanwhile, the single most beneficial thing anyone could do for Europe right now would be to revive American energy production, which would boost U.S. economic growth and offer knock-on benefits in global energy markets. And behold, it’s happening. Europeans may never learn to love Mr. Trump, but if they’re smart, they’ll learn to take “yes” for an answer when he offers it. – Wall Street Journal
Lee Hockstader writes: But the residue of pain remains potent. Laura, one eye badly hurt in the attack, is damaged physically and mentally. She was visibly jittery during the trial; she is no longer able to work. Paul told me that though his body is mended, “My convalescence is psychological.” The same could be said for France. – Washington Post
Africa
Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrounded the eastern city of Goma, in one of the sharpest escalations in years of a conflict that has pitted the Central African country against its neighbor Rwanda. – New York Times
Botswana President Duma Boko said on Thursday that the West had every reason to play a role in Africa as other global powers like China exert an influence on the continent. – Reuters
Twenty-five victims’ families and survivors of apartheid-era political crimes have sued South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government for what they say is its failure to properly investigate those offences and deliver justice. – Reuters
The U.S. plan to withdraw from the World Health Organization will squeeze Africa’s health initiatives, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday, calling on African countries to find alternative sources of financing. – Reuters
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Thursday accused each other of attacking the Khartoum refinery in Al-Jaili. – Reuters
Gabon’s council of ministers said late on Wednesday that presidential elections would be held on April 12, 2025, marking an end to the military rule that began with a coup on August 30, 2023. – Reuters
Justice Malala writes: The key challenge for West Africa currently is leadership. With France retreating, will democratic regional leaders step up to strengthen old alliances and build new ones that benefit Africans? Or have they expelled one colonial power to make way for others pursuing their own geopolitical goals? – Bloomberg
The Americas
Chile accused Venezuela’s second-most powerful man of giving the order to kill a dissident in Santiago last year, a hit it alleges was carried out by the transnational gang Tren de Aragua in a demonstration of strongman Nicolás Maduro’s ability to strike opponents across borders. – Wall Street Journal
The war over cocaine between armed groups in northeastern Colombia has killed about 80 people in recent days and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes, signaling a likely end to President Gustavo Petro’s plans to sign peace accords with drug-trafficking organizations. – Wall Street Journal
The money materialized as soon as Colombia’s president confirmed his visit to southern Haiti. The Haitian government invested more than $3.8 million to more than double the runway at the airport in the coastal city of Jacmel, repair its streets, renovate its town hall and restore electricity to a population living in the dark for at least three years. – Associated Press
Police in Jamaica killed a top gang leader whose death unleashed a violent backlash near the capital of Kingston on Thursday, prompting authorities to raise the threat level to police officers to extreme. – Associated Press
Former President Jair Bolsonaro said he won’t flee Brazil if sentenced to prison, a week after a judge barred him from traveling to Donald Trump’s inauguration amid investigations into an alleged coup attempt. – Bloomberg
Peru is facing its worst public safety crisis in recent memory, with top government officials blaming transnational criminal organizations for the chaos and violence that’s also roiling neighbors Ecuador and Colombia. – Bloomberg
Imran Khalid writes: This temporary reprieve owes much to fiscal discipline and tight currency controls, strategies that have kept the peso artificially strong. But this artificial stability is a precarious balancing act. The IMF has already raised concerns, eliciting sharp rebukes from Milei. Milei’s short-term gains may win him applause today, but the specter of past failures loom large. Whether this revival is sustainable or merely another chapter of fleeting hope remains to be seen. – The Hill
United States
President Donald Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill are working to translate his recent complaints about the Panama Canal into legislative action. – Washington Post
U.S. President Donald Trump demanded OPEC lower oil prices and the world drop interest rates in a speech to global business and political leaders and warned them they will face tariffs if they make their products anywhere but the U.S. – Reuters
U.S. lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill on Thursday that would revoke China’s preferential trade status with the United States, phase in steep tariffs and end the “de minimis” exemption for low-value Chinese imports. – Reuters
President Donald Trump has revoked government security protection for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his top aide, Brian Hook, who have faced threats from Iran since they took hard-line stances on the Islamic Republic during Trump’s first administration. – Associated Press
A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from restricting who is eligible for automatic US citizenship at birth, in an early legal setback for the new administration’s hard-line immigration agenda. – Bloomberg
Editorial: That might be important to Mr. Lee if he hopes to remove his pariah status and attend a meeting in the U.S. again. Certainly it should be important to a city that claims to be a world financial center. If the Chinese government were smart, it would let the men running Hong Kong know that Mr. Pence was doing them a favor. – Wall Street Journal
William P. Barr and John P. Walters write: The Mexican cartels are more like foreign terrorist groups, like ISIS, than they are the American mafia – and it is heartening that President Trump has signed an executive order designating them as such. […] Trump’s tariff initiative shows, that, rather than dither with America’s stubborn drug crisis and passing it on to his successor, Trump is willing to tackle it head on with decisive action. – Fox News
Alexander B. Gray writes: The American and European pundit class first dismissed Trump’s interest in Greenland as a joke. When that became untenable, it turned to blithely assuring the world that Trump lacked options to effectuate the historic American security interest in Greenland. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the hands of an experienced dealmaker like Trump, the government has strong options to bring Greenland into the U.S. while strengthening our shared economic and security interests. – The Hill
Cybersecurity
President Donald Trump called for boosting US dominance in artificial intelligence with an executive order that demands a new policy direction for a rapidly evolving technology that’s the focus of intense competition with China. – Bloomberg
The U.S. government delivered another blow to North Korea’s fake IT worker scheme Thursday, with the Department of Justice announcing indictments against five men for fraudulently obtaining remote credentials to work with American companies and generate revenue for Pyongyang. – Cyberscoop
A little-known hacking group has been mimicking the tactics of a prominent Kremlin-linked threat actor to target Russian-speaking victims, according to new research. – The Record
LinkedIn Premium customers are suing the social media platform, alleging that it shared their private messages with third parties without their consent in order to train artificial intelligence models. – The Record
Karen Hao writes: The tech industry expertly laid the groundwork for this outcome: It made big promises about the wondrous potential of its technologies while creating a sense of peril by evoking China’s own technological advancement. During the Stargate announcement, Trump said that he would do what he could to strip away any regulatory barriers. “China is a competitor, and others are competitors,” he said. “I’m going to help a lot through emergency declarations, because we have an emergency. We have to get this stuff built.” – Atlantic
Defense
Navy researchers are testing a fully autonomous satellite designed to detect and characterize objects in space. – Defense News
Veterans Affairs officials issued guidance Thursday exempting more than 300,000 department health care posts from the White House’s federal hiring freeze, labeling them as essential to public health and department operations. – Military Times
Kristyn Jones writes: An organization that can pass an audit has more reliable information and, due to improved system controls, is less prone to cybersecurity or insider threat attacks. […] To those who will take on the mantle of leadership of the DOD and military departments: Thank you for your service and your willingness to tackle these challenges. Achieving the DOD’s audit milestones will not be an easy task, but there is significant momentum. – Center for Strategic and International Studies