Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Netanyahu pushes off US trip to late July as Lindsey Graham’s funeral delayed U.S. targets Iranian bridges in bid to choke off regime’s supply routes Iran's IRGC say they targeted US command centre in Syria, state media reports Iran continues to talk to U.S., wants to make a deal, White House says Ukraine parliament approves energy executive Koretskyi as new PM Syria seizes weapons hidden in tanker truck, says cargo was for Hezbollah Iran tells Houthis to close Red Sea gateway if US hits power network, sources say Dark ships and Oman transfers indicate Hormuz transits continue AEI’s Kyle Balzer: Taiwan is no Berlin – it’s more important for US deterrence Co-Founder and Director of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin Thorsten Benner: The coming clash between China and Europe UK sanctions gold and finance networks over Sudan war Trump accuses China of 2020 election interference, contradicting US intelIn The News
Israel
It was just before sunrise when the last columns of Israeli tanks crossed from Lebanon back into Israel and then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who ordered the withdrawal, said the homecoming of Israeli troops sent “shivers down his spine.” – Associated Press
The Knesset plenum passed the party funding law early Friday morning, which includes a provision to dissolve the 25th Knesset before the election period begins. – Jerusalem Post
The Israeli government distributed dozens of drones, rangers, and other equipment to farms on the eastern border of the country in a ceremony last week in the Jordan Valley. – Jerusalem Post
Israel should be able to produce its own JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) bombs en masse within two years, The Jerusalem Post has learned. – Jerusalem Post
The crisis over the American refueling aircraft parked at Ben-Gurion Airport, thought to be resolved, is now escalating from the military to the diplomatic arena. – Jerusalem Post
President Isaac Herzog said that his dream is to see peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia in a Thursday interview with Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Al-Arabiya about the unfolding situation with Iran and the prospect of normalization in the region. – Jerusalem Post
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be flying to the US next week, his office told The Times of Israel on Thursday, a day after a senior Israeli official said he would be traveling Saturday night. – Times of Israel
While driving in the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin in late June, eight months after being freed from captivity in the Gaza Strip, former hostage Rom Braslavski received a phone call from a military officer. – Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will testify at the end of the year about Israel’s relations with Qatar as part of a defamation lawsuit against a series of prominent figures who alleged that the premier’s Likud party received funds from the Gulf state. – Times of Israel
Editorial: We can criticize Rahm Emmanuel for haughtily coming to Israel and warning us about what needs to be done to repair the US-Israel relationship, while acknowledging that some of his points were spot-on and unfolding before our very eyes in the House vote and Vance interview. Jerusalem can no longer ignore or downplay the growing trends in the US of having to endorse the “Israel is genocide” trope to become a candidate, or of blaming Israel for getting the US entangled in Iran. The unsettling news this week demonstrates that with stark clarity. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
President Trump is betting that reimposing the blockade on Iran and revoking its right to sell oil will throttle the regime’s economy and convince it to release its hold on the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran is betting it can hold out. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. struck multiple bridges in Iran on Thursday in an effort to cut off supply routes to a port city and naval base in the Strait of Hormuz that Iran uses to attack ships and project power, according to a senior U.S. official. – Wall Street Journal
As President Trump dials up his rhetoric against Iran, he has a new target in his sights: Pickaxe Mountain, the site of a subterranean complex under construction near one of the country’s main nuclear installations. – Wall Street Journal
Iran said Thursday it would destroy “all” regional infrastructure if President Donald Trump followed through on his threats to attack Iranian power plants and bridges, as U.S. military forces expanded their range of strikes within Iran. – Washington Post
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had attacked a U.S. special operations command centre at al-Tanf in Syria in retaliation for the killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr, state media reported. – Reuters
The White House on Thursday said Iran continues to talk to the U.S. and wants to make a deal. “The reason for the recent strikes over the course of the last several days is because Iran violated the memorandum of understanding that we struck with them,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. – Reuters
President Donald Trump has ramped up U.S. air strikes on Iran and threatened broader escalation, but there is little sign that a military strategy that has already failed to extract concessions from Tehran will succeed this time. – Reuters
Iran’s lead negotiator defended diplomatic efforts to end the war, pushing back against hardliners urging him to abandon a tentative peace deal and avenge the country’s slain supreme leader. – Bloomberg
Iran’s space program is advancing in its infrastructure development, satellite development, and satellite data and imagery services, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported on Thursday, citing the head of the Iranian Space Agency, Hassan Salarieh. – Jerusalem Post
Tom Rogan writes: In foreign governments the world over, Iran is now increasingly seen as the obstacle to a peace that would bring calm to their economies. Iran’s main trading partners in China and India both want the war over in order to reduce business energy costs, for example. America’s Middle Eastern allies also belatedly appear to have realized that the risks of Iranian attacks on their own oil infrastructure are outweighed by the risks of allowing Iran a perpetual blackmail get-out-of-jail free card in the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, while forcibly reopening the strait would likely take many more months, Iran’s military threat and associated political leverage would decline as the conflict goes on. Hence why Trump seems newly confident in dangling a choice before Tehran. Either the regime takes a deal it can live with, or it faces the ever-escalating risk of a true crisis. – Washington Examiner
Russia and Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s choice of Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister this January elevated a 35-year-old digital enthusiast who promised to use technology to halt Russian advances. – Wall Street Journal
When the masked men came banging on his door in a Moscow suburb this week, it seemed like overkill to Boris B. Nadezhdin. He had already been designated days before as a “foreign agent,” ending his decades-long run as a political survivor in a Russian system that jails, kills or drives into exile most of its opponents. – New York Times
Russian and Ukrainian attacks on civilian areas in towns and cities, many on the front line of the more than four-year-old war, killed at least 13 people on Thursday, local officials said. A Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia killed three people and wounded 15, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram. – Reuters
Ukraine’s parliament voted on Thursday to appoint energy executive Sergii Koretskyi as prime minister, the third since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022. Koretskyi, previously CEO of the state energy giant Naftogaz, was praised by lawmakers as a capable and efficient manager. He received 289 votes in favour. – Reuters
Ukraine and Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Thursday on vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, stepping up hostilities in a zone vital for grain exports that have triggered a rise in global wheat prices. – Reuters
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ousted Ukrainian defense minister remained part of his team even as Mykhailo Fedorov insisted he’d turned down a position as a presidential adviser, deepening a rift within the country’s ruling elite at a pivotal moment in the war against Russia. – Bloomberg
Several of Russia’s richest people including some close to President Vladimir Putin have moved billions of dollars abroad in the past year after growing concerned about the country’s economy and the government budget. – Bloomberg
Russian recruits arriving on the front lines in Ukraine survive an estimated 20 to 30 minutes before they are killed or wounded, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday, marking the first time a senior American intelligence official has confirmed how deadly the war has become for Moscow. – Defense News
Jonathan Sweet and Mark Toth write: On Monday, Ukraine and nine European countries agreed to establish an anti-ballistic missile coalition to bolster Europe’s missile defense capabilities and support Ukraine in developing its Freya air defense project. Equally significantly, Trump said on Tuesday that he would support the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026. Drafted by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), it would authorize the president to impose secondary sanctions against countries that purchase Russian oil, gas, or uranium. The walls are closing in on Putin, yet he remains defiant. The question is, how much longer will Russia’s elite tolerate the inconveniences Zelensky is imposing on them? – The Hill
Ani Chkhikvadze writes: But by removing Fedorov, the president effectively sided with Ukraine’s old guard. The significance of the Fedorov case extends beyond the fate of one minister. It touches a deeper strain of cynicism among Ukraine’s political class: the assumption that institutions cannot truly be transformed, that corruption and informal arrangements are permanent features of government, and that those who promise otherwise are politically naive. That outlook is prevalent across much of the post-Soviet space, especially in Russia. But it is also part of what Ukraine is fighting against in this war. – Washington Examiner
Syria
Lebanon and Syria will in the coming months begin revising decades-old trade agreements to revive their economic relationship following the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in 2024, Lebanon’s economy minister told Reuters on Thursday. – Reuters
Syrian authorities said on Thursday they had foiled an attempt to smuggle advanced weapons and missiles across the border from Iraq, with an Interior Ministry source quoted by state news agency SANA saying the shipment appeared destined for Hezbollah. – Reuters
Syrian authorities have arrested a former military officer accused of supervising the production of sarin-filled bombs used in chemical attacks between 2013 and 2017, opening a legal process that rights advocates say could expose the wider structure behind Syria’s chemical weapons program. – Jerusalem Post
Yemen
Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat to global energy supplies. – Reuters
Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday that all Saudi oil and other vital facilities would be targets for the group’s missiles and drones if Riyadh escalated its involvement in the conflict. – Reuters
April Longley Alley writes: Until now, the two sides have exchanged carefully calibrated strikes meant to signal demands and red lines without triggering a wider conflict. They may still find a temporary accommodation, but the room for miscalculation is growing. What makes this moment particularly dangerous is that Yemen’s fragile truce is no longer being tested solely by domestic grievances—it is increasingly influenced by a regional contest in which the Houthis see an opportunity to extract greater concessions, while Iran views them as a valuable lever against Riyadh and Washington. The stakes are high for Yemen, but also for the global economy and the evolving balance of power in the Middle East. – Washington Institute
Gulf States
Qatar’s defence ministry said its armed forces thwarted an Iranian missile attack early on Friday, while the interior ministry said a child has been injured by shrapnel resulting from interception operations. – Reuters
Most Gulf economies will contract more sharply this year than expected three months ago before rebounding in 2027, a Reuters poll found, as crumbling hopes of a quick U.S.-Iran de-escalation keep the Strait of Hormuz – the region’s oil and gas export lifeline -largely closed. – Reuters
The Dubai Media Office said on Thursday there had been no sounds of explosions in downtown Dubai, after witnesses earlier reported hearing booms in the area. In its original story about the reported booms, Reuters did not disclose that it could not immediately verify the reason for the sounds. – Reuters
The expanding U.S. military campaign against Iran has put three small islands that sit at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz in the crosshairs once again. – Associated Press
A handful of oil tankers were seen conducting ship-to-ship transfers off the coast of Oman, a sign that ships are continuing to sail through the Strait of Hormuz before offloading their cargoes onto other vessels after recent Iranian attacks. – Bloomberg
Mohammed Soliman writes: The Ukraine war gave us clear clues on what infrastructure redesign requires: hardened and dispersed facilities, resilient energy systems, flexible cross-border data legislation, and air defense systems, all cost-priced into project finances from the start. None of this is cheap, and none of it featured in the Gulf states’ gigawatt-scale original vision. The Gulf’s positioning as one of the main global compute nodes will be decided not by how many gigawatts it announces but by how many are actually built during this long Iran war and, most importantly, still running the day after Iran’s next attack. – Foreign Policy
Middle East & North Africa
Chevron intends to sign preliminary deals Friday to invest in two Iraqi oil fields and will join a consortium of investors exploring the construction of a pipeline to connect Iraq’s oil patch with the Syrian coast. – Wall Street Journal
A cruise catering to gay passengers found itself circling the Mediterranean last week after two Muslim countries denied the ship permission to dock in their waters, with the Turkish authorities citing “moral values.” – New York Times
A blaze at an orphanage killed 11 people, including children, in Algeria early Thursday morning, the authorities said, as emergency responders fought fires across the country in 100-degree Fahrenheit heat. – New York Times
Iraq briefly suspended oil loadings on Thursday after a drone hit an oil tanker at its Basra terminal, four Iraqi oil and security sources told Reuters, before later resuming them. The drone did not cause damage or fire and it was not immediately clear who launched it, the sources added. – Reuters
Judges at the International Criminal Court ruled on Thursday that a 48-year-old suspect accused of running one of the most notorious prisons in Libya could be charged with multiple crimes, paving the way for his trial. – Reuters
Robert Satloff writes: Finally, the White House meeting will also give Aoun an opportunity to put a stake through the heart of a dangerous idea that seems to have grabbed Trump’s imagination: empowering Syria to dispatch troops into Lebanon to supposedly quash Hezbollah. Aoun is all too aware that any Syrian military intervention would revive memories of the horrors committed during the Assad regime’s iron grip on his country, in the process igniting sectarian divisions and boosting Hezbollah’s popular support. Despite Sharaa himself ruling out the idea, Trump keeps returning to it. Hopefully, Aoun will present such a convincing case of his own commitment to dismantling Hezbollah that Trump will finally let the Syria option go. – Washington Institute
Korean Peninsula
North Korean state media on Friday called South Korea a “puppet” following its participation in a maritime exercise led by the U.S., saying Seoul and Washington would need to bear responsibility for any “unpredictable escalation” in the region. – Reuters
South Korean authorities have conducted an on-site search and seizure at the local office of Montage Technology, in connection with a potential competition law violation, the Chinese chipmaker said in an exchange filing. – Reuters
A team of South Korean and U.S. researchers has unveiled a robotic technology that allows a person to suit up without using their hands or aid from others, with potential for applications in chip cleanrooms and emergency services. – Reuters
George E. Bogden writes: There’s also a broader geopolitical lesson. When U.S. allies cripple American companies with discretionary enforcement, they inadvertently help China. Every campaign against a U.S. platform opens space for a Chinese one. Every selective prosecution tells American investors to think twice before building in an allied market. […] South Korea has benefited enormously from American markets, troops, capital and restraint. These benefits are a privilege, not a right. If Seoul wants to remain a trusted partner, it must behave like one. If instead it chooses anti-American economic nationalism, Washington must respond with harsh consequences. – Wall Street Journal
China
This is the split-screen reality of China’s economy. On the one hand: soaring exports, advanced manufacturing and cutting-edge technology. On the other: a shrinking labor market, tepid consumer spending and a real estate slump with no end in sight. – Wall Street Journal
Hong Kong was once home to one of Asia’s most freewheeling book markets, with shops selling everything from exposes of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown to critiques of the deadly famine precipitated by the Great Leap Forward in the early 1960s. – Wall Street Journal
China said on Friday it firmly opposes and strongly disapproves of Britain’s decision to nationalise British Steel and urged fair treatment for Chinese firms there. – Reuters
Twenty-nine countries on Thursday signed an agreement to establish the World AI Cooperation Organization, an intergovernmental body China says aims to promote international cooperation and global governance in artificial intelligence. – Reuters
A Czech citizen held in China since the end of June is being investigated on suspicion of national security offences, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, as it demanded the release of one of its citizens awaiting trial in the Czech Republic on charges of working for Beijing intelligence. – Reuters
China has asked Thailand to promptly extradite a Chinese journalist who rights groups say faces political persecution and torture back home because of his investigations into corruption in China. – Reuters
Joseph C. Sternberg writes: This column sometimes draws comparisons between Japan in the 1990s and China today, but here is a contrast. Whereas the rest of the world mostly made its peace with Japanese exports as that economy slowed, it’s unlikely China will benefit from a similar Western change of heart. Japan’s status as a democracy and a reliable American and European ally helped. Xi Jinping increasingly wants to accentuate China’s political and strategic rivalries with its trade partners, either to pacify domestic political constituencies or out of sheer communist paranoia or dialectical dogma. How he attempts to square that with his economy’s utter dependence on the goodwill of those rivals will determine whether and how China’s economy ever returns to a stable growth footing. – Wall Street Journal
South Asia
For 19 days, Sonam Wangchuk, a prominent Indian activist, has been on a hunger strike in New Delhi, adding momentum to a youth-led protest demanding justice for millions of Indian students. – New York Times
Attacks on Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis this week have frustrated Pakistan and threaten to draw Islamabad into the conflict, complicating any future role it may have as a mediator between the United States and Iran. – Reuters
At least one person died and nearly 100 were taken to hospital on Thursday in a crush at a popular chariot festival in Puri in eastern India, officials said. – Reuters
The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that its staff team had concluded a visit to Bangladesh at the government’s request and that discussions on the parameters of a new arrangement would take place in the coming months. – Reuters
Asia
Taiwan must heed international calls to share the responsibility for “collective defence”, President Lai Ching-te said on Friday, appealing for parliamentary support for new spending on drones. – Reuters
Papua New Guinea’s foreign minister said on Thursday his government has decided to close Taiwan’s representative office in the country immediately, winning praise from China, though the government in Taipei said the office would remain open. – Reuters
The Philippines strongly condemned state-run China Daily for releasing an AI-generated video that depicted Filipinos as monkeys, saying the “racist” imagery is “offensive, distressing and unacceptable” and drawing a firm line against dehumanising propaganda. – Reuters
Australia summoned Laos’ ambassador to Canberra on Friday, saying it was “deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed” that Laos was not pursuing the most serious charges over the deaths of two Australians who drank methanol-contaminated alcohol. – Reuters
Japan’s parliament enacted Friday a historic revision to the 19th-century Imperial House Law by insisting only paternal-lineage men can become emperor, sparking fear that it could doom the already shrinking imperial family. – Associated Press
Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the killing of a distinguished American marine biologist at his home in the central Philippines, police said Thursday. – Associated Press
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim pledged Wednesday to immediately expel any Israeli citizens identified within the Southeast Asian country, as federal agencies look into allegations that Israelis joined an international technology retreat located in the Muslim-majority nation. – Arutz Sheva
Kyle Balzer writes: And if Tokyo is interested in a nuclear-sharing arrangement—in which the US maintains custody of its nuclear weapons in peacetime, but transfers them to allies in crisis or wartime—Japan could operate dual-capable hypersonic missiles from that island. Taiwan is of immense importance to America’s security and prosperity. It is for this reason that Washington should broaden its regional nuclear options and discourage the friendly proliferation of nuclear weapons. Analogies to the Cold War are valuable not because the stakes between Taiwan and Berlin are the same, but because they are different: the stakes are even higher in today’s new cold war with China. – The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune
Europe
Britain has become accustomed to shuffling through prime ministers at a rapid pace and is now poised to have its seventh leader in a decade. But the transition still requires a few steps. – New York Times
The former chief executive of an Italian highway operator was handed a 12-year prison sentence by an Italian court on Thursday for lapses that contributed to the collapse of a major bridge in Genoa in 2018 that killed 43 people. – New York Times
France and Germany will discuss deepening cooperation on nuclear deterrence, missile defence, long-range strike capabilities and space at a joint ministerial retreat, the Elysee said, seeking to show that the EU’s two largest defence powers can still work together despite differences over major armament programmes. – Reuters
A disputed Spanish law granting an amnesty to those involved in Catalonia’s separatist drive does not violate European Union rules, the bloc’s top court said on Thursday, in a boost to the Spanish government and its Catalan allies. – Reuters
A British 14-year-old on Thursday denied plotting a terrorist attack on two mosques in south London, which prosecutors say was motivated by extreme right-wing ideology set out in a “manifesto” which said he was inspired by Adolf Hitler. – Reuters
Italy’s lower house of parliament on Thursday approved a highly contested government plan to overhaul the electoral law, a move opponents denounced as an attempt to help Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni retain power in the next election due in 2027. – Reuters
Poland has charged an 18-year-old Ukrainian man with inciting ethnic tensions by desecrating memorials to Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War Two, the Internal Security Agency (ABW) said on Thursday. – Reuters
Seven Greek islands in the Aegean Sea have declared drought emergencies this year to preserve water as climate change makes summers hotter and rainfall more erratic. Now, authorities are wondering if it will rain next year to sustain the thousands of tourists who strain the supply of water just when locals need it most. – Reuters
The British government said Thursday it will keep the country’s spies on a tighter rein after a report found MI5 misled courts about its ties to a neo-Nazi informer accused of attacking his partner. – Associated Press
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said an investigation is underway into former foreign minister Peter Szijjarto’s ties to Russia. – Bloomberg
Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo asked the speaker of parliament to reconvene the Nordic nation’s legislature in the middle of its summer break as a simmering political crisis flared up. – Bloomberg
The European public prosecutor announced Thursday that it had brought the first criminal case against Greek lawmakers in the country’s widening farm fraud scandal. – Politico
France’s National Assembly on Thursday approved legislation that puts a Caribbean island’s border into law — nearly four centuries after French and Dutch governments agreed to divide it. – Politico
German military personnel are set to take part in France’s flagship nuclear drill Poker for the first time this fall, according to a German government official. – Politico
Swedish defense firm Saab has secured an 8.7 billion kronor ($900 million) contract to supply combat systems and sensors for the German Navy’s new MEKO A-200 DEU frigates, the company announced Thursday. – Defense News
Thorsten Benner writes: The scenario is easily mapped: China could respond to European tariffs by cutting off key inputs for industrial production. This would leave Europe isolated, and force its voters, unwilling to bear the costs of escalation, to pressure their leaders to give in. Were that to happen, it would strengthen those defeatist voices in Europe who already argue that Europeans should simply submit to a Sino-centric order. But this possibility is not preordained. Indeed, the only thing worse than the risk of defeat is the risk of letting Europe’s valuable and capable industrial base simply atrophy. Time is short, but Brussels can still put up a fight. – Foreign Affairs
Franz-Stefan Gady writes: If Berlin genuinely wants to become an anchor and integrator of Europe’s deterrence and defense, its military paradoxically needs to become more national. A Germany that can lead a complete corps under wartime conditions is a Germany that the rest of Europe can actually plug into. But that requires the command architecture, doctrine, and deep-battle assets to be German-owned and unconditionally available to a commander fighting an aggressor in the 21st century. Once you get over your old reflexes about German might, this is good news for deterrence. We finally need to think of NATO as a wartime alliance, not a peacetime alliance-management tool. – Foreign Policy
Africa
An Ebola response team ran into an unexpected obstacle when they arrived to spray a roadside market with disinfectant a couple of weeks ago: the admin for a local WhatsApp group. – Wall Street Journal
Ebola patients and responders fled a hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after it was attacked by an angry crowd, a health worker at the facility told Reuters — the latest incident to hamper efforts to contain the deadly outbreak. – Reuters
Nigeria has completed the voluntary evacuation of 1,490 citizens from South Africa following a series of xenophobic attacks, its foreign ministry said on Thursday, with the latest flight bringing 305 returnees home from Johannesburg. – Reuters
Britain on Thursday targeted what it said was illicit gold and finance networks fuelling Sudan’s war, imposing sanctions on 11 individuals and entities. – Reuters
South Africa’s nuclear regulator said Thursday that no radioactive material leaked into the environment during three recent “contamination” events inside Africa’s only nuclear power station. – Associated Press
Ebenezer Obadare writes: To be sure, Tinubu is not Obasanjo, and his administration is arguably still playing catch-up to South Africa, which has challenged Nigeria’s status as a continental leader since becoming a multiracial democracy in 1994. Pretoria has not been shy about taking the lead on controversial matters, with its landmark case against Israel at the International Court of Justice being the most obvious example. Indeed, it has sought to position itself as the moral conscience of the continent, showing more diplomatic forthrightness where Abuja has hedged its bets. Despite this, it would seem that many analysts have overlooked a certain cogency in the Nigerian president’s foreign policy. His administration is leaving money on the table by not shouting it from the rooftops. – Foreign Policy
The Americas
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada on Thursday noted the widespread disruption caused by wildfires in Ontario that have spewed smoke across parts of Canada and the United States. – New York Times
Nicaragua severed diplomatic relations with Italy on Thursday over Rome’s long-running demand to extradite a former Red Brigades militant convicted for his role in the 1978 kidnapping and killing of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro. – Reuters
Brazil’s government convened top ministers on Thursday to prepare retaliatory measures against Washington’s latest tariffs, with options including curbs on U.S. audiovisual companies and suspension of pharmaceutical and agricultural patents, three sources told Reuters. – Reuters
The U.S. government has designated two new Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. They are the Juárez Cartel, on the border with Texas, and Los Viagras, a criminal group from the western state of Michoacán. The Federal Register, the U.S. government’s gazette, published the designation on Thursday. – Associated Press
Mexican federal agents arrested a former governor on fuel smuggling charges in the latest push from authorities to crack down on a criminal racket that has cost state coffers billions of dollars in lost tax revenue. – Bloomberg
United States
America is on a global shopping spree outside China to secure critical minerals for jet fighters, tanks and cutting-edge ammunition, while European countries are hunting the same things to counter the threat of Russian aggression. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. President Donald Trump declassified documents on Thursday that he asserted showed Chinese interference in U.S. elections, reviving his long-running attacks on election security despite a U.S. intelligence assessment that found no evidence Beijing affected the 2020 vote that he lost. – Reuters
The Trump administration announced Thursday it will drastically shorten visas for foreign journalists in the U.S. to 240 days, down from years, and cut those for Chinese journalists to only 90 days, raising concerns over press freedom in the United States and retaliation against American journalists overseas. – Associated Press
Puerto Rico announced water rationing measures on Thursday as a drought grips the U.S. territory, worsening chronic water shortages that have forced the governor to declare a state of emergency. – Associated Press
The Maine Senate race has been jolted yet again after the fatal shooting of a Colombian man by a federal agent this week, galvanizing Democrats against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. – Bloomberg
A judge in the United States has ordered a pause in the Trump administration’s visa restriction policy targeting disinformation researchers and platform regulators, including former European Commissioner Thierry Breton. – Politico
Editorial: It’s a telling sign that even Seth Moulton, often sensible on foreign policy, voted to disarm Israel as he competes in a Democratic Senate primary in Massachusetts. That’s where the party’s grassroots voters apparently are. Some might dismiss the House vote as of no great account because everyone knew the Massie measure would fail. But the mistake is thinking that this is a one-time affair. The political momentum is growing against Israel, even if Israelis depose Prime Minister Netanyahu in their October election. This movement thinks Israel is evil while Palestinian terrorists are victims. The party of Harry Truman, who recognized Israel in its time of founding crisis, is becoming the party of Zohran Mamdani. It’s a betrayal for the ages. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Americans agreed to none of this. As the State Department observed, “all American presidents since the ICC’s ratification have maintained” that the organization has no jurisdiction over Americans. Nonetheless, the ICC has refused to close the spurious investigations it launched into U.S. soldiers who fought terrorists in Afghanistan. In February 2025, the Trump administration announced sanctions against ICC officials for refusing to respect the sovereignty and rights of Americans. In a world that often refuses to distinguish between good and evil, except to condemn the former and embrace the latter, the ICC is part of the problem. Abolishing it is part of the solution. We look forward to details about how Rubio intends to do this. – Washington Examiner
Heather A. Conley writes: There is a risk that the effort to strengthen the United States’ and NATO’s northern flank will be derailed before it can be fully realized. With conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, maritime tensions in the South China Sea, and military activities in the Caribbean all demanding Washington’s attention and resources, it is all too easy to imagine Arctic security falling down the list of spending priorities, and important Arctic infrastructure left unfunded. […] It has all the ingredients to assemble a unified strategy with U.S. allies to improve security in a region that is steadily growing more competitive and more dangerous. A failure to bolster Arctic defenses today will only leave the United States vulnerable in the future. – Foreign Affairs
Cybersecurity
Nvidia chips are set to power Japan’s artificial-intelligence push, with the government planning to buy thousands of the company’s next-generation semiconductors to build an AI ecosystem on its own soil. – Wall Street Journal
Google was ordered by European Union regulators on Thursday to lift restrictions that limit how rival A.I. companies can reach users of Android smartphones, a sign of increased government scrutiny of the booming business of artificial intelligence. – New York Times
A once-sleepy port destination has suddenly found itself at the center of India’s larger quandary over artificial intelligence, where many people question official enthusiasm over their city becoming the country’s data capital. – New York Times
Two British hackers behind a 2024 cyberattack on London’s public transport body which cost £29 million ($39.16 million) to fix were each sentenced on Thursday to 5-1/2 years in jail. Thalha Jubair, 20, and Owen Flowers, 18, pleaded guilty last month to hacking Transport for London (TfL), which had been blamed on hacking collective “Scattered Spider”. – Reuters
Britain’s media regulator launched an investigation into TikTok on Thursday to understand whether its UK unit failed or is failing to protect children from harmful content. A month ago, the government imposed a blanket ban on social media for users under the age of 16 and placed restrictions on gaming and live-streaming platforms. – Reuters
It is a key finding from a Meta Oversight Board study released Thursday, showing that major AI systems, including those built in the U.S., are more likely to refuse to criticize restrictive leaders or governments. – Associated Press
Major Taiwan computer chipmaker TSMC said Thursday it plans to spend another $100 billion on expanding its manufacturing capacity in the United States. – Associated Press
Anthropic PBC Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei and five other employees of the company gave more than $2 million to a super political action committee focused on regulating artificial intelligence, boosting the AI safety movement’s war chest in this year’s midterm elections. – Bloomberg
U.S. tech giant Google will inadvertently help fund the EU’s coffers as the European Commission plans to put its multibillion-euro fine toward the bloc’s central budget. – Politico
Over the life of the Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce program that effectively went away last year, 13 agencies offered 106 positions and received 634 applications, according to the Government Accountability Office. Eight workers won approval to participate. – Cyberscoop
Russian military intelligence hackers have begun using fake CAPTCHA prompts on compromised websites to trick Ukrainian targets into infecting their own computers, researchers have found. – The Record
Editorial: The U.S. government can screen DNA synthesis orders, harden critical infrastructure and build bio-surveillance networks to thwart attacks, no matter whose model designs them. Gatekeeping the frontier models offers little more than Kabuki security theater. That’s especially true because China’s best models are quickly closing the gap with America’s best. Open models and falling costs will put these capabilities everywhere within a few years. Any bureaucracy built to restrain frontier research in America risks becoming a permanent straitjacket. – Washington Post
Defense
Iran’s speedboats, missiles, drones and mines have shown they can still wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz, defying daily strikes from the most powerful navy in the world. Five months into the war, the US is confronting the limits of its military power against a determined adversary in a critical global chokepoint. – Bloomberg
Robot boat builder Saronic Technologies has tapped a site in Brownsville, Texas, for its ambitious Port Alpha $3.2 billion shipyard after securing a tax abatement deal from the local government. – USNI News
The House on Thursday abruptly delayed a vote on the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act (TCAVA), shelving one of the largest veterans legislative packages in years after Republican leaders apparently failed to secure enough support amid a growing fight over disability compensation that has divided many of the nation’s largest veterans organizations. – Military.com
During a recent training rotation to the Mojave Desert, soldiers with 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team reckoned with a problem heavy units across Eastern Europe have become all-too familiar with in recent years: drones. – Defensescoop
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao recently signed off on a new Strategy to Weaponize Data and Artificial Intelligence that introduces more than a dozen instructions to integrate and deploy data and algorithms across the sea service — including by standing up a new AI War Council. – Defensescoop
The Space Development Agency has successfully launched its third plane of operational data transport satellites Thursday — officially ending a nine-month pause in deployments to address software and hardware issues discovered in the initial satellites launched in 2025. – Defensescoop
Ro Khanna writes: Congress needs to hear senior Pentagon leaders outline the major operational problems that the military is tackling and what capabilities are required to counter them. The security environment facing the United States grows more complex by the day. Increasingly, Congress and the Department of Defense have shared incentives to make meaningful change in how they fund and equip the U.S. military. By promoting innovation, taking the right risks, and institutionalizing some bold steps, the two can transform today’s military—and tomorrow’s force. – Foreign Affairs