Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Netanyahu vows Israel will keep occupying Lebanon, Syria, Gaza Hegseth to meet Netanyahu over possible sale of F-35s to Turkey, source tells Reuters Foreign media were granted rare visas to cover Khamenei’s funeral. Here’s what our reporter saw. Trump says interim accord to end war is 'over' after Iranian strikes WSJ Editorial: No more oil sanctions waiver for Iran Belarus gets squeezed as Putin seeks war help and Ukraine threatens strikes China's actions risk creation of new status quo, Taiwan official says In NATO’s next act, can Europe lead? Denmark ready to defend 'every inch of NATO', including Danish kingdom, PM says Nine countries commit to global defence bank, Canada says U.S. gave Tehran details on Iranian asylum seekers, lawsuit alleges The Atlantic’s Michael Schuman: China is abusing AIIn The News
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a CNN interview on Tuesday that despite occasional disagreements with U.S. President Donald Trump on Iran, they see “eye to eye” on the big things related to handling Tehran. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will discuss the possible sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, a sale likely to anger Israeli officials. – Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that among the most important lessons from the 2023 Hamas attack was “having buffer zones inside enemy territory — not inside our territory.” – Bloomberg
Former US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel met President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Tuesday, saying afterward that Israel’s security needs, the Arab world’s desire for regional stability, and the Palestinian people’s aspiration for self-determination could be combined in a “historic agreement.” – Jerusalem Post
The state was due to file its response to a petition filed by NGO Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) before the High Court of Justice on Tuesday. The NGO seeks the release of 14 Gazan doctors, including Hamas-affiliated Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who Israel has been holding in administrative detention. – Jerusalem Post
Israel still has no national policy or designated government body to coordinate its response to foreign influence campaigns online, nine years after the threat was first identified, outgoing State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post
On Sunday, the IDF detained about 100 activists of the so-called “HaBashan Pioneers” settler movement who crossed from Israel through the Syrian buffer zone into the Syrian side of Mount Hermon. Several more Israeli citizens also attempted to cross the border on Monday, but IDF troops intercepted, detained, and transferred them to the police before they could penetrate Syria. – Jerusalem Post
IDF soldiers killed a Hezbollah terrorist in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil on Tuesday as part of an exchange of gunfire carried out while a soldier was conducting a search of a structure where a reservist was wounded last week, the Israeli military said Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
IDF Northern Command officials believe there is no set deadline by which the military will evacuate several points north and south of the Yellow Line in southern Lebanon. – Jerusalem Post
The Israeli government has Ruth Cohen-Dar as Israel’s ambassador to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. – Jerusalem Post
Neville Teller writes: Meanwhile, starting on June 30, the Board of Peace held a two-day “reset” meeting at a Cyprus resort, bringing together board officials, the NCAG, and allied advisers to review stalled plans for postwar governance, reconstruction, and a transition away from Hamas rule. Participants later called the talks “highly productive.” So the Gaza peace plan is not dead; it is languishing. It could surely be nursed back to health. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
The U.S. pounded sites along Iran’s coast with airstrikes and blocked its ability to sell oil legally on Tuesday in a fierce response to Tehran’s recent attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz. – Wall Street Journal
Iran’s renewed attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz are exposing a growing dilemma for Tehran’s hard-line leaders, who are relying on their control of the waterway for leverage in talks with the U.S. but feeling their grip weaken as more ships slip through. – Wall Street Journal
Iran’s turn to harder-line postwar politics has been on full display during funeral rites for the country’s assassinated supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, from the reappearance of senior military leaders to calls for revenge amid national mourning. – Washington Post
The coffin of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arrived in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf on Tuesday after funeral ceremonies in Iran, bringing a multi-day procession to one of Shi’ite Islam’s most sacred sites following the leader’s death in a February 28 U.S.-Israeli strike. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump said an interim agreement to end the war with Iran was “over” on Wednesday after Tehran carried out new attacks on U.S. bases in the Gulf. – Reuters
The U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) on Tuesday raised the threat level to transit the strait to “severe” from “substantial” following the attacks, citing deliberate hostile action likely under current conditions, the first time the threat level has been set at that severe status since June 15. – Reuters
At least four oil and gas tankers have turned back from attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, ship-tracking data showed, as renewed attacks on vessels in the critical waterway heightened safety and security concerns. – Reuters
France and Britain will outline plans for a multinational maritime mission in the Strait of Hormuz at talks between NATO and Gulf Arab foreign ministers on Tuesday, but diplomats say Iran’s rejection of the initiative makes it unlikely to break the deadlock over the vital waterway. – Reuters
Editorial: When Iran last attacked commercial ships in June, Mr. Trump retaliated by striking low-value military targets. This failed to deter Iran. But the regime also failed to halt traffic through the Omani route. That’s why Iran has attacked again—to win the battle for Hormuz. Revoking the oil-sanctions waiver suggests that perhaps Mr. Trump won’t merely stand down, clinging to the husk of the MOU. It suggests the dawning of knowledge about an Iranian regime that remains a bully and whose word is worthless. Terrorism is all it knows. – Wall Street Journal
Joseph Epstein writes: Consider first what “victory” has bought. In little more than a year, Iran has lost two wars: the Twelve-Day War of June 2025 and the far larger conflict that began in February 2026, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and left his son Mojtaba atop what is now an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military dictatorship. Its economy is in free fall, with inflation approaching 70%, the highest since the 1979 revolution. And in January, when Iranians, exhausted by that misery, staged the largest uprising since the revolution, the state answered with the deadliest two-day massacre of protesters in modern history. – Washington Examiner
Patrick Clawson writes: In the unlikely event that Tehran takes the necessary steps in the business sector, Washington and its partners would face the difficult political question of whether to proceed with economic normalization—especially if the regime’s economic reforms are not accompanied by similarly deep changes on crucial issues like the nuclear program, missile/drone production, human rights, and opposition to Israel’s existence. – Washington Institute
Russia and Ukraine
Before the war, this was a walkable district near central Kyiv with a historically working-class character. In the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, it has also become a symbol of Ukrainians’ determination to keep living their lives. – Wall Street Journal
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is under growing pressure from his warring neighbors, walking a tightrope between not angering his closest ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and not provoking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who has threatened to strike Russian military and security assets in Belarus. – Washington Post
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that Ukraine had signed three more “drone deals” with Denmark, Estonia and the Netherlands, making available its expertise gained from more than four years of war with Russia. – Reuters
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia would closely monitor the outcome of the NATO summit in Turkey, adding that a series of “confrontational” statements about Russia had preceded the event. – Reuters
Ukrainian drones have attacked a dozen tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet” over the past two days that were delivering fuel to Crimea, Kyiv’s military said on Tuesday, as it intensifies efforts to isolate the Russian-occupied peninsula. – Reuters
Ukraine’s overnight drone attacks on Russia killed one person and damaged numerous industrial sites and two empty oil tankers, local authorities said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Finnish President Alexander Stubb called on his fellow NATO leaders to work on providing Ukraine with the means of defending itself against waves of missile strikes by Russia. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Getting Patriots to Ukraine can help conclude a bloody conflict that continues to chew through lives and money. Putin’s war machine has stalled on the battlefield, and Russian civilians are feeling the sting as Ukrainian drone strikes targeting oil refineries reach deeper and deeper into Russia’s heartland. Leaning into the allied effort to bring Putin to the table is a calculated risk worth taking. Letting Putin believe he can win more concessions from the air only prolongs the carnage. – Washington Post
David H. Petraeus and Clara Kaluderovic write: Still, Ukraine has changed the central question of the war. For much of the conflict, observers asked whether Ukraine could survive Russia’s mass. Increasingly, the question is whether Russia can withstand Ukraine’s adaptation and persistent pressure. That is a remarkable reversal. Ukraine is writing the first draft of this new form of warfare. America and its allies should study it carefully. – Wall Street Journal
Turkey
President Trump said Tuesday that he would consider selling the F-35 jet fighter to Turkey, signaling his embrace of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and setting up a potential showdown with U.S. lawmakers who have long opposed such a deal. – Wall Street Journal
Canada and Turkey have formally launched negotiations for a free-trade agreement (FTA), Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Editorial: Mr. Erdogan is an autocrat who jails political opponents, silences the adversarial press, and fights the kind of secularism that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk instilled in Turkey after World War I. Turks increasingly turn on America, and antisemitism spreads in the country. Ankara hosts Hamas, controls adjacent Syria, and dreams of dominating the Mideast and lands once ruled by the Ottomans. America’s advanced weapons would only whet such appetites. – New York Sun
Middle East & North Africa
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said on Wednesday that airlines should not operate within the airspace of Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, amid ongoing tensions and the potential for further military action, as the U.S. and Iran exchanged fresh attacks. – Reuters
Gulf countries’ dependence on oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz could be significantly reduced by a pipeline linking the Gulf to Europe via Israel, Israel’s energy minister said, allowing them also to bypass Red Sea shipping disruptions. – Reuters
The Private Department of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalid Al Nahyan, an investment firm owned by members of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, has committed to invest $1.13 billion in liquefied natural gas company MidOcean Energy, the two firms said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Egyptian lawmakers are set to review a draft law that would dramatically expand the powers of the Future of Egypt Authority, an agency with a wide economic remit, and place it under presidential oversight, according to a copy of the bill seen by Reuters. – Reuters
Korean Peninsula
A new amendment to South Korea’s communications act went into effect on Tuesday, significantly increasing financial penalties for spreading false information online and raising concerns about restrictions on free speech in one of Asia’s most open media landscapes. – New York Times
The foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and the U.S. signed an agreement to cooperate on the deployment of small modular reactors in third countries on the sidelines of the NATO summit, South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday. – Reuters
South Korea’s finance minister agreed on Wednesday with other economic policymakers to closely monitor risk factors that could heighten stock market volatility, the ministry said. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Tuesday he hoped his country would expand cooperation with NATO allies in research and development, including in cutting-edge technologies, and in production of weapons systems. – Reuters
China
China’s gradually increasing pressure tactics risk creating an entirely new status quo in the Taiwan Strait, which the international community may not realise until it is too late, a senior Taiwan official said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Taiwan’s preparations to deal with a possible Chinese attack are not a provocation, and the island’s people need to take the threat seriously and prepare now, a senior Taiwanese security official said on Tuesday. – Reuters
China has lifted refined fuel export restrictions for the rest of July and allowed a private refiner to resume shipments after a four-month halt, trade sources said on Wednesday, as the world’s biggest refiner returns towards normal after disruptions from the Iran war. – Reuters
Dutch Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma said on Tuesday that the Netherlands and China were cooperating “extremely well” to resolve a dispute involving chipmaker Nexperia, as he sought to reset ties with Beijing during the first visit by a Dutch trade minister to China since 2018. – Reuters
China’s test this week of a submarine-fired ballistic missile may mark the beginning of more regular Pacific launches as the country advances its arsenal for delivering nuclear warheads, unsettling governments already wary of Beijing’s military buildup. – Bloomberg
David Petraeus and Clara Kaluderovic write: Taiwan still has time to build the architecture that will deter Chinese aggression. It likely does not, however, have the time to purchase its way to safety, especially given the pace of deliveries from its major suppliers […] The choice before Taipei, therefore—and, to a considerable degree, before those countries that have an interest in Taiwan’s ability to defend itself—is whether to persist in acquiring modest numbers of expensive but increasingly vulnerable manned platforms or to undertake the harder work of building expendable mass at home and the architecture to enable it. Other countries may assist in that task, but they cannot perform it. The deterrence posture of Taiwan is, in the end, Taiwan’s to sustain. – Foreign Affairs
South Asia
A Pakistan-registered Boeing 737 cargo plane with five crew members on board lost contact with air traffic control on Tuesday night after reporting a navigational system problem on its way to Karachi, Pakistan aviation authorities said. – Reuters
India’s central bank has reasserted a call for a cryptocurrency policy “leaning towards prohibition,” while the country’s tax department warned that trading via offshore exchanges is hard to track, government documents reviewed by Reuters showed. – Reuters
Another overseas trip, another state honor for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indonesia awarded Modi its highest civilian honor — Bintang Adipurna — on Tuesday during his high-profile visit to Jakarta this week, bringing his tally of foreign government awards to at least 35. – Bloomberg
Asia
Japan will receive a boost in Middle East crude supply this month as two more stranded Japanese-owned supertankers carrying Saudi oil were exiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, shipping data showed. – Reuters
China and Japan reported conflicting accounts on Tuesday of a confrontation near the disputed Senkaku Islands involving their coast guards and a Japanese fishing vessel. – Reuters
Malaysia’s government rejected a lawmaker’s request for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to disclose former anti-graft agency chief Azam Baki’s shareholding records. – Bloomberg
Gearoid Reidy writes: Japan has enjoyed years of record tax revenue and its corporates are cash rich. The problem is one of coordination, not lack of funds. Takaichi’s biggest obstacle might be staying in office long enough to convince corporate executives, along with bond traders and finance ministry officials, that this is the start of something new. A multi-decade industrial policy, after all, requires a prime minister who lasts longer than a budget cycle. – Bloomberg
Bedross Der Matossian writes: Since the 19th century, the Armenian question has too often become a pawn in international politics, with the so-called “civilized world” invoking it selectively to advance geopolitical interests rather than consistently defending the rights and security of the Armenian people. Recognition, if it is to have genuine moral significance, must be accompanied by concrete action to prevent persecution, protect vulnerable populations, and uphold international law. – Jerusalem Post
Edmund J. Malesky and Viktoria Zlomanova write: If Vietnam’s new party-led capitalism succeeds, the country could finally become an economic powerhouse in Southeast Asia. But if it fails, Vietnam could face economic stagnation, and its political system could falter. With authority now concentrated at the top, Vietnam’s future depends on whether stronger leadership delivers lasting reform or weakens the self-correcting mechanisms that stabilized the country during its decades of growth. – Foreign Affairs
Europe
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she plans to run in next year’s presidential elections, mounting a campaign that faces a legal minefield stemming from her conviction for misusing European Parliament funds. – Wall Street Journal
Nigel Farage, the British populist whose anti-immigration party has led polls for the past year, said he was stepping down as a lawmaker amid a scandal over his finances, but plans to run again for the same seat. – Wall Street Journal
European leaders arrive for this year’s NATO summit meeting in Ankara, Turkey, with the alliance under threat. They want to keep President Trump and the United States deeply engaged in NATO, but they have come to accept that the alliance is changing — and will have to rely far less on Washington for the conventional defense of Europe. – New York Times
Five NATO members are projected to meet the alliance’s goal of spending 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defence already in 2026, according to updated NATO data published on Tuesday ahead of a leaders’ summit in Ankara, which also showed some members are still expected to spend only about 2%. – Reuters
Denmark is ready to defend every inch of NATO, including the kingdom of Denmark, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in Ankara on Wednesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated that Greenland should be controlled by the U.S. – Reuters
British and Dutch forces will be equipped with new amphibious transport ships under a £2.4 billion ($3.2 billion) maritime partnership signed on Tuesday, the British government said. – Reuters
NATO announced a roughly $4.5 billion plan on Tuesday to buy up to 10 Saab GlobalEye surveillance planes to replace ageing AWACS early warning aircraft, backing a Swedish system over a rival solution from U.S. planemaker Boeing – Reuters
President Maia Sandu on Tuesday named Deputy Prime Minister Eugeniu Osmochescu, a former international financial official, as acting prime minister to replace Alexandru Munteanu, who stepped down unexpectedly on Friday. – Reuters
The UK, France and Germany have launched a $50 billion NATO initiative to spur the development of long-range weapons without US involvement, aiming to close the gap in an area where Russia is well ahead. – Bloomberg
The UK, Poland, Netherlands, and Finland said they were making “significant progress” over a joint defense financing initiative aimed at creating cost-efficiencies during a massive military build-up to deal with escalating security threats from Russia. – Bloomberg
Finland, Norway and Latvia agreed to cooperate on the development and possible joint purchases of tracked vehicles from Patria Oyj in the latest sign that European governments are increasingly working to pool orders of defense equipment amid growing threats from Russia. – Bloomberg
Slovenia is expected to become the only country among 32 NATO members this year to miss the alliance’s key defense spending commitment, a report released on Tuesday showed. – Bloomberg
NATO allies are close to a landmark agreement to extend a Cold War-era fuel pipeline network to eastern Europe and Turkey, aiming to ensure those countries can get supplies in a crisis. – Bloomberg
Ireland’s parliament on Tuesday approved legislation banning imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jewish areas of East Jerusalem, as Dublin pressed ahead with one of Europe’s most far-reaching trade measures over Israel’s control of those regions. – Agence-France Presse
Editorial: The National Rally is hated by French elites, but the party is leading in the polls. It has sought to purge its ranks of antisemitism in recent years, while France’s leftist coalition hasn’t shunned the radical France Unbroken party despite its antisemitism. Neither Ms. Le Pen nor Mr. Bardella seem willing to pursue the urgent priorities of rebuilding French defenses or reforming the bloated welfare state. But neither is anyone else in French politics today. France’s prosecutors may discover that voters resent their intrusion into the 2027 presidential elections. – Wall Street Journal
Rosa Prince writes: As Lowe points out, a special election drains the public purse of about £250,000, a lot of money to spend on one man’s fit of pique. No matter what happens in Clacton in a few weeks’ time, the wheels of justice will keep rolling and the standards commissioner will soon make a ruling. That will be the proper moment for Farage’s actions to be judged. When he delivered his YouTube rant, Farage probably didn’t mean to start his exit from the political stage. That might well be what happens anyway. – Bloomberg
Rick Scott writes: Most importantly, the Ankara summit must send an unmistakable message to our adversaries: NATO is stronger than ever because its members are united in both word and deed, and America isn’t going anywhere. Trump’s objective was never to weaken or walk away from NATO. It was to secure a better deal for the public. Trump challenged the alliance to become stronger. The alliance appears to be delivering, and the results will speak for themselves.It should demonstrate that Europe can and will continue taking greater responsibility for its own security while standing shoulder to shoulder with the U.S. – Washington Examiner
Alexander Gabuev writes: Stubb has, for years, been one of Europe’s most pro-Ukraine politicians and generally hawkish toward the Kremlin. But now, Stubb told journalists, ignoring Russian President Vladimir Putin was becoming untenable. “This border will remain,” he said, referring to his country’s 833-mile boundary with Russia. “At some point, we will have to maintain political relations.” Stubb is hardly the only European politician who has recently advocated talking to the Kremlin. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in favor. – Foreign Affairs
Africa
The president of Zimbabwe signed into law on Tuesday a bill extending his term of office by two years to 2030, in a move that critics argue tightens his autocratic grip on power and erodes the nation’s democracy. – New York Times
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has increased to 1,708, including 580 deaths, government data showed on Wednesday. – Reuters
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has directed the country’s competition regulator to investigate major technology companies over alleged anti-competitive practices and unauthorised use of news content, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission said late on Monday. – Reuters
South African police said on Tuesday the death of a Nigerian man in custody late last month had nothing to do with a surge in anti-migrant violence and that he collapsed after being arrested for drug possession. – Reuters
Ghana has postponed bilateral meetings with South Africa that were planned for next month because of a surge in anti-migrant violence in the country, Ghana’s government spokesperson said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Zimbabwe’s state power utility, ZESA, said on Tuesday it had restored power to most of the country after a fault on a key transmission line caused a nationwide blackout on Monday evening, while work continued to bring remaining generation units back online. – Reuters
Senegal has formally kicked off a selection process to hire a financial adviser on debt matters, two sources told Reuters, as investors closely watch how the country plans to tackle its debt burden. – Reuters
Benoit Lefevre writes: Without that buy-in, any counter-piracy campaign would treat symptoms offshore while leaving the onshore infrastructure of piracy largely intact. International partners like the United Nations, the European Union, and the International Criminal Police Organization should therefore pair maritime security assistance with targeted support on land: strengthening local governance and rule-of-law capacity and investing in climate adaptation, drought resilience, and humanitarian relief in the hardest-hit regions. These measures will not deliver quick wins, but they are the only path to reducing the economic desperation and political permissiveness that make piracy a repeatable business model. – War on the Rocks
The Americas
As post-quake efforts in Venezuela start shifting from rescue to recovery, a crack has opened in Venezuelan society, and people are speaking out against their repressive government with a force and openness that has not been seen in years. – New York Times
Brazilian Senator and presidential hopeful Flavio Bolsonaro on Tuesday argued to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) against a new 25% tariff on Brazilian goods, distancing himself from a policy that had been used as a cudgel to defend his father. – Reuters
Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez on Tuesday appointed Jose David Cabello as head of state petrochemical company Pequiven and Roman Maniglia to lead the country’s tax authority Seniat, according to a post on social media. – Reuters
Colombian president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella said he’s suspending transition meetings with the outgoing government, as tensions escalate ahead of the Aug. 7 handover. – Bloomberg
Editorial: While Rodríguez has been willing to usher in modest reforms and is ostensibly open to American investment, oil companies are still hesitant about making multibillion dollar investments in a dictatorship with a long history of expropriating private assets. Rodríguez recently crossed 180 days in power, the point at which her “interim” mandate expired. Besides a robust humanitarian response to the earthquake, the best thing Washington can do for the Venezuelan people — and America’s interests in the region — is to force the regime to set a date for a free and fair election. – Washington Post
Editorial: Received with gratitude by local Jews and acknowledged by its interim president, Israeli uniforms in Venezuela are a reminder that the caricature the world sometimes portrays of Israel collapses a different reality appears. The state so often accused of cruelty sends experts to help save lives and rebuild homes, even to those who do not wish diplomatic relations with us. Israel’s humanitarian instinct is part of the country’s national character. That does not mean Venezuela will change course diplomatically. But it does mean the Venezuelan people have seen, on the ground, Israelis there helping day in and day out since the disaster occurred. Because Israel shows up, and when it does, even its fiercest critics have no choice but to say thank you. – Jerusalem Post
North America
Mark Carney swept to power on a backlash to President Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state, which many Americans took for mere shtick. But for the new prime minister, reading intelligence reports detailing the gravity of the crisis, it was a breaking point. – Wall Street Journal
A construction worker, Orelien had spent about $3,000 traveling to the United States in search of what he called “a better life.” But it was the height of the pandemic, and the Biden administration was expelling new arrivals by the thousands, often in shackles. – Washington Post
Scattered protests broke out across Havana on Tuesday evening, with residents banging pots, honking horns and shouting “turn on the lights” as millions of Cubans remained without power amid a six-month-long U.S. fuel blockade. – Reuters
Nine countries have committed to a new global defence bank, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday, in a boost for the multilateral drive to help rearm allied nations. – Reuters
Businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife Genevieve filed an appeal on Tuesday against their detention over an alleged plot to assassinate top members of the Trinidad and Tobago government, including Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. – Reuters
Roberto González writes: Prosperity doesn’t automatically produce freedom, but it changes what people are willing to tolerate. The reforms Havana just approved create the conditions under which a Cuban middle class could emerge. Private banks, private companies of meaningful scale, foreign investment and diaspora capital are the preconditions for an independent economic base. Although not always, an independent economic base can lead to political demands that a government can’t simply starve into submission. – Wall Street Journal
United States
A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington alleges the Trump administration violated U.S. law by providing Iran’s government with confidential information detailing the asylum applications for Iranians it planned to deport. – Washington Post
US prosecutors charged alleged Indian gang members with directing the 2023 assassination of a prominent Sikh activist in Vancouver, a killing which prompted a diplomatic crisis between India and Canada. – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump escalated his public feud with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, further fueling a rift between the two leaders in the lead up to the NATO summit in Turkey this week. – Fox News
David W. Wang writes: If this summit yields a successful realignment, Trump may find himself uniquely positioned to fulfill both his domestic and international agendas. Trump is expected to use the Ankara Summit to formalize a rigid new division of labor. His message to Europe is clear: If you want the United States to protect you from Russia in the East and maintain our support for the proposed $80 billion package for Ukraine, you must backstop our logistics, secure your own skies from Middle Eastern missiles, and police the waters off your own southern doorstep. – Washington Examiner
Cybersecurity
India has demanded that Instagram remove advertisements promoting child sexual abuse imagery, state-owned media reported this weekend, following accusations that the popular social media platform had facilitated the spread of illegal content exploiting children. – New York Times
Russian forces are trying to counter Ukrainian “mid-strike” drone attacks by camouflaging cargoes and installing powerful jamming systems to disrupt Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system, Ukrainian drone commanders and pilots told Reuters. – Reuters
A cybersecurity platform operated by China’s industry ministry warned on Wednesday that it had identified a serious security “backdoor” risk in Anthropic’s AI coding tool, Claude Code. – Reuters
Australia’s biggest telecoms company Telstra said on Wednesday it was urgently investigating the cause of a nationwide outage that cut phone services for thousands of customers, disrupted wireless payments and halted trains. – Reuters
China’s DeepSeek is developing its own chip to help power artificial intelligence systems, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources. – Bloomberg
The AI rotation trade is gathering pace in Asia as investors pull money from the chipmakers that powered this year’s rally and hunt for cheaper ways to play the technology boom. – Bloomberg
Longtime IT industry leader Teresa Carlson has joined Anthropic to lead its public sector strategy as the artificial intelligence company navigates relationships with the U.S. and other governments. – Fedscoop
China-aligned attackers broke into the networks of U.S. and Canadian universities to steal sensitive data and establish persistent access via webshells and backdoors, Proofpoint threat researchers said Tuesday. – Cyberscoop
Authorities arrested an alleged member of Cyber Army of Russia Reborn, a pro-Russian hacktivist group accused of committing multiple attacks against critical infrastructure providers in the United States and Europe. – Cyberscoop
Britain’s cyber agency laid out plans on Tuesday for what it called “a national scale, sovereign defense capability” that would use agentic AI systems to discover and fix cybersecurity weaknesses across government networks and critical national infrastructure. – The Record
Parmy Olson writes: The US still builds the most capable models, and the largest corporate customers aren’t shifting who they buy from any time soon. But history has shown that adoption has its own kind of advantage. The more the world’s developers build on Chinese models, the more entrenched the habits, standards and dependencies of those models become for the world of programming and fast-growing startups. That’s perhaps a quieter contest than the race for the smartest tools, and it’s one the leading US labs may be losing. – Bloomberg
Michael Schuman writes: OpenAI banned the suspect accounts, and the data-center campaign seems to have gained little traction. A Chinese-embassy spokesperson in Washington, D.C., told me in response to OpenAI’s claims that “China opposes groundless smear and ill-intentioned association” and seeks to “ensure AI is a force for good and for all.” Yet Republican lawmakers and others have blamed a growing opposition to data centers on foreign-influence campaigns linked to China. – The Atlantic
Defense
The U.S. Navy on Tuesday identified Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards as the sailor lost at sea after an MH-60S helicopter made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea last week. – Fox News
NATO nations will venture to field a multinational satellite constellation aimed at facilitating military operations from communications to surveillance, officials said at the alliance summit taking place here this week. – Defense News
When hidden deep in the vastness of the ocean, America’s ballistic missile subs are practically invulnerable. But berthed in port — or sailing on the surface while transiting to and from port — these powerful yet fragile boats can be sitting ducks for drones, mines and even anti-tank rockets. – Defense News
When mounted to a vehicle, the U.S. Army’s Volcano mine dispenser can blanket roughly 32 acres with up to 960 mines. Now, the service is testing a system that can do the same thing without a driver behind the wheel. – Defense News
The U.S. Marine Corps concluded two bilateral exercises last week in the first island chain, which overlapped to demonstrate the service’s “Two MEFs Abreast” strategy. – UNSI News
The Navy’s program acquisition executive for strategic systems programs is launching a Next Generation Undersea Security Initiative focused on unmanned systems, autonomy and other high-tech capabilities that could enhance and protect the sea service’s assets. – Defensescoop
The military services remain challenged to deliver key hypersonic weapons to warfighters by their previously projected timelines, according to a new report from the U.S. government’s watchdog organization. – Defensescoop