Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
U.S., Iran exchange fire for second successive day IAEA board passes resolution demanding Iran report uranium stocks WSJ Editorial: Trump needs a new Iran strategy A twist in Ukraine’s drone campaign is ‘really hurting the Russians’ Israeli military says two 'launches' fall near Israeli troops in southern Lebanon Gulf Arab nations condemn new Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait WINEP’s Andrew J. Tabler: Syria’s pipeline dream meets hard realities North Korea’s uranium enrichment capacity could soon expand by 75%, analysis says Second flare-up of anti-migrant violence signals tensions in U.K. Taiwan says it won't tolerate Chinese patrols, vows expulsions Two House Republicans to meet with the leader of Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly opposition party OpenAI says Chinese propaganda is being deployed to foment dissent over tariffs, data centersIn The News
Israel
The Czech Republic will block the European Union’s attempts to sanction Israel’s national security minister over his treatment of activists who were trying to get aid into Gaza, the country’s top diplomat said. – Bloomberg
Knesset lawmakers early Thursday approved highly controversial coalition legislation giving the justice minister control over the Department for Internal Police Investigations, voting 43-39 to pass the bill into law. – Times of Israel
US Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “certainly gotten some things wrong” in his relations with Washington amid the Iran war, but is nevertheless a “good partner.” – Times of Israel
Preliminary results from an external audit have determined that the Palestinian Authority’s reform of its welfare program is being properly implemented to ensure recipients are no longer being awarded based on whether their relative carried out an attack against Israel, two Western diplomats briefed on the audit told The Times of Israel. – Times of Israel
The Israeli military on Wednesday confirmed that damage was caused to the Israeli Air Force’s Ramat David Airbase during Iran’s ballistic missile fire on Israel earlier in the week. – Times of Israel
Yitzhak Gal writes: A different policy must be adopted, and the measures that are damaging the Palestinian economy and collapsing the PA must be halted. Urgent action is required in three areas: ending the withholding of clearance revenues to stabilize the PA’s fiscal situation; establishing a stable arrangement regarding the indemnity letter for the Palestinian banking system; and gradually resuming entry permits for Palestinian workers into Israel while simultaneously strengthening enforcement measures to prevent the entry of unauthorized workers. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
The U.S. began a fresh wave of attacks on Iran on Wednesday, launching strikes against several targets on President Trump’s orders, the American military said. The attack came hours after Trump said Iran was “playing us for suckers” because it hadn’t accepted U.S. terms for a nuclear deal. The Pentagon cast the attacks as an act of coercive diplomacy designed to force Iranian concessions at the negotiating table. – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. and Iran are entering a risky new phase of conflict in which both sides are attempting to maintain pressure and respond to provocations without returning to all-out war, but with an ever-present danger of stumbling across each other’s red lines and triggering a dangerous escalation. – Wall Street Journal
Strikes early Wednesday destroyed what appears to be a drinking-water facility on Iran’s southern coast, near the Strait of Hormuz, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Around the time of the strikes, the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X that it had conducted attacks near the strait “with precision munitions from U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets.” – New York Times
It was a dramatic moment. President Trump seemed to be disclosing, on live television, a clandestine mission that involved spiriting away millions of barrels of oil, right under Iran’s nose. In Mr. Trump’s telling, the mission was so secretive that the Iranians were learning about it only at that very moment. – New York Times
The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a U.S.-backed resolution on Wednesday telling Iran to declare its remaining enriched uranium stocks and let inspectors verify them, which could complicate Washington’s talks with Tehran. – Reuters
Efforts to reach a preliminary deal between Iran and the U.S. have intensified, three Iranian sources and a European official told Reuters on Thursday, despite strikes launched by both sides, as they discuss a mechanism over releasing frozen Iranian funds. – Reuters
By targeting Israel in response to attacks in Lebanon, Tehran appeared to be signaling that its red lines no longer stop at its own borders – and that its leaders are ready to take greater risks. – CNN
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has allegedly used the country’s soccer system to spy on citizens, potentially violating FIFA bylaws, according to a new report from a major opposition party. – Fox News
A commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened the entire region with harsh consequences if the United States destabilized the Strait of Hormuz, state news site WANA reported on Thursday. – Jerusalem Post
An agreement between the United States and Iran that addresses Iran’s nuclear program “for the long term” is nearing fruition, US Vice President JD Vance told CBS News, adding that it could come in the coming weeks or months. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: Another idea is to use U.S. air power to create a safe zone inside Iran for regime opponents. The U.S. belatedly created such a zone for the Kurds in Iraq’s north in 1991. This would give Iran’s regime something to worry about besides shooting beyond its borders. A safe zone would increase U.S. leverage and further endanger the regime’s control. Mr. Trump still hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough, but even the press’s favorite unnamed Pakistani officials are now downbeat. As long as Iran believes Mr. Trump is stuck with no alternative, it will squeeze him in the talks and in Hormuz. The President’s choice now is to alter the facts on the ground or leave the conflict in a worse position than Mr. Bush did in Iraq. – Wall Street Journal
Mike Barbero writes: Our failure to “take Vienna” — to stay the course to truly defeat the Iranian regime thereby ending its malign capabilities — has produced an Iran that believes it has won. It has endured a conflict with the U.S. and Israel with all its asymmetric capabilities — regional proxies, leverage of the Strait of Hormuz, drone threat to regional high value infrastructure targets — remaining in place. While suffering great damage to its national leadership, conventional military assets and its nuclear program, this regime is far from defeated. Sadly, this outcome of Operation Epic Fury has validated Napoleon’s maxim and should serve as caution to future commanders in chief, “If you are going to take Tehran, take Tehran!” – The Hill
Russia and Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has often been compared to World War I for its brutal infantry assaults and heavy casualties. Yet the idea that it could, by any measure, surpass a conflict so long and bloody that French soldiers hoped it would be “the last of the last” once seemed unthinkable. – New York Times
A senior Russian military officer died on Tuesday after a car he was driving exploded near a residential building outside Moscow, a senior Ukrainian official and Russian media outlets said. – New York Times
Ukraine is wreaking havoc on unarmored trucks and trains in the battlefield’s rear, using drones with upgraded engines and batteries, integrated Starlink communication systems and new artificial-intelligence capabilities. The ramped-up attacks are causing fuel shortages, complicating troop rotations and reducing Russian military activity on the front. – New York Times
Residents in Russian-controlled Crimea were grappling with gasoline rationing on Wednesday after Ukrainian drone attacks constricted supplies from Russia, a Reuters witness said. – Reuters
Ukraine’s police chief has accused Russia of recruiting teenage Ukrainian girls to kill Ukrainian military personnel, following the arrest of a 17-year-old suspected of murdering a serviceman on the instructions of a Russian operative. – Reuters
The governor of Sevastopol in Russian-held Crimea said on Wednesday that plans for distributing rationed petrol had been delayed because trucks had been unable to bring the fuel into the city, following recent Ukraine strikes on supply routes. – Reuters
Russian investigators said on Wednesday that they had arrested at least two suspects behind a car bombing in Moscow, detaining teenagers who the domestic security service said were convinced to plant the bomb. – Reuters
Hezbollah
The Israeli military said on Thursday that two “launches” were identified falling adjacent to an area where Israeli troops are operating in southern Lebanon, after sirens sounded in several areas of northern Israel. – Reuters
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said, as Israel pressed its campaign against Hezbollah and the Iran-backed group claimed fresh attacks against Israeli forces in the south. – Reuters
A United Nations Security Council statement on the recent death of a UN peacekeeper in Lebanon failed to condemn Hezbollah, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon pointed out on X/Twitter on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
Turkey
The team of the ousted leader of Turkey’s main opposition, Ozgur Ozel, has resigned from the party’s assembly, his office said on Thursday, adding the move should legally trigger an extraordinary congress to re-elect a chairman. – Reuters
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon had reached a point where they also threaten Turkey, adding Israel’s “aggression” posed a threat to the whole world and must be stopped. – Reuters
The Justice Department asked a judge to let it drop a long-running US criminal case against Turkish state-owned lender Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS over alleged Iran sanctions violations. – Bloomberg
Lebanon
The UN human rights office will deploy a team of investigators to Lebanon next week to assess potential violations of international law by all parties during the current war in the country, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday the end of a ban it imposed on Lebanese imports five years ago, marking a major step in attempts to rebuild relations between Lebanon and Gulf countries. – Associated Press
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday urged the Lebanese people to “join Israel” in peace and reject Iran and Hezbollah, declaring that “Israel is not at war with you,” but is only looking to oust the Iran-backed terror group and its “sick aims” with its military operations in the country. – Times of Israel
Gulf States
Foreign ministers of Arab states on the Persian Gulf met on Wednesday to condemn a new round of Iranian attacks that targeted Bahrain and Kuwait, demanding an “immediate halt” to the hostilities and questioning whether their relations with Iran could be rebuilt. – New York Times
When President Trump casually threatened last month to bomb Oman, a longtime American ally, it was so extraordinary that some people assumed he had misspoken. Surely he meant Iran? Apparently, he did not. – New York Times
Saudi Arabia has lifted a roughly five-year ban on imports from Lebanon in a show of support for Beirut’s embattled government that may also offer relief to businesses battered by years of conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
Oil prices rose on Wednesday after President Trump told reporters that he planned to attack Iran again, after the United States and Iran traded new strikes across the Middle East. Global stocks mostly fell. – New York Times
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that cooperation with Syria was developing very actively and that Moscow was discussing with Damascus a “possible reformatting” of its military facilities in Syria. – Reuters
Heba El Koudsy writes: The fallout from the war in Iran reveals the fragility of the equilibrium underpinning the Egyptian pound’s stability. While the government has succeeded in absorbing the initial shock through fiscal and monetary measures and external support, this stability remains hostage to external factors beyond Cairo’s control. Between apparent stability and latent pressures, the Egyptian pound appears to have entered a phase of “crisis management” rather than sustainable recovery—making its future closely tied to how the war unfolds and the economy’s capacity to absorb successive shocks. – Washington Institute
Andrew J. Tabler writes: In short, Washington, Damascus, and other relevant players in Syria’s energy future must bear in mind that geography alone does not create investment. Yes, Syria sits at the crossroads of multiple regions and possesses genuine potential as a future energy transportation hub. Yet for more than seventy years, pipelines crossing Syria have repeatedly fallen victim to war, political instability, regional rivalries, and sabotage. The post-Assad era presents an opportunity to change that history, but doing so will require far more than ambitious maps and optimistic projections. If Damascus can reduce the risks that have plagued previous projects, Syria may indeed emerge as part of a broader solution to the vulnerabilities exposed by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. If not, investors are likely to pursue safer alternatives elsewhere, leaving Syria once again watching major regional energy routes pass it by. – Washington Institute
Korean Peninsula
North Korea’s uranium-enrichment capacity could soon expand by 75% once a new facility reaches full production, a clear signal that leader Kim Jong Un intends to expand his arsenal in defiance of international pressure. – Wall Street Journal
The European Union and South Korea signed a digital trade agreement on Wednesday designed to make digital transactions easier and further cement economic ties between the partners at their first summit in three years. – Reuters
North Korea and China both walked away claiming major wins from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit this week to the isolated state, which helped elevate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s global stature and pulled Pyongyang more tightly into China’s orbit. – Reuters
South Korea and the European Union said North Korea will “never” be recognized as a nuclear-weapon state, reaffirming their commitment to denuclearization days after China and North Korea pledged closer ties at a summit that made no public mention of the issue. – Bloomberg
China
The Hong Kong government said on Wednesday that it had charged seven people and two companies with dozens of offenses, including manslaughter, in relation to the city’s worst fire in generations. – New York Times
The U.S. government on Wednesday said it was imposing sanctions against 11 people and entities, including several based in China and Hong Kong, for supporting weapons procurement by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian military. – Reuters
Federal authorities announced on Wednesday the seizure of 13 internet domains tied to what the U.S. Justice Department called fake consulting firms designed to recruit current or former U.S. government and military employees to provide information to suspected Chinese agents. – Reuters
Taiwan’s maritime sovereignty cannot be “violated” by Chinese efforts to create a false impression of jurisdiction, the island’s coast guard said after China ended a patrol off its eastern shores. – Reuters
China is hosting an international conference in Xinjiang to promote economic development efforts in the northwestern region, which has been known as the site of mass detentions of ethnic minorities. – Associated Press
South Asia
All personnel on board a military helicopter have been killed in a crash near Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir, Pakistan’s military said in a statement on Wednesday, without specifying the number of deaths. – Reuters
Pakistan’s military struck militant hideouts along the Afghan border, killing at least 26 militants, Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said on Wednesday. – Reuters
India does not have surplus manufacturing capacity in textiles and steel as alleged in the U.S. Trade Representative’s Section 301 investigation, trade official Amitabh Kumar said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The Kremlin on Wednesday praised Narendra Modi for becoming India’s longest-serving elected prime minister, saying that 250 million people had been pulled out of poverty during his rule. – Reuters
Six men from the Naga community in India’s northeastern Manipur state have died after they were believed to have been taken hostage by an armed group nearly a month ago, state police said on Wednesday, amid escalating tensions between two predominantly Christian tribes in the state. – Reuters
An American official has died in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon, according to the U.S. State Department, in an incident that two sources on Thursday said took place at a hotel last month. – Reuters
A violent crackdown on a protest in western Afghanistan against the arrests of women for allegedly violating dress code regulations has killed at least one person, the United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan said Wednesday. – Associated Press
Asia
Four members of an Indonesian military intelligence unit were sentenced to prison on Wednesday after they were convicted in an acid attack on a rights advocate, but critics called the proceedings “a blatant whitewash.” – New York Times
Japan has resumed operations at the world’s largest nuclear power plant to help the country meet huge electricity demands during a global oil crisis, but the reboot highlights a big problem: Japan is running out of space for spent nuclear fuel and has no viable plans for permanent disposal of the radioactive waste. – Associated Press
The mayor of a southern Philippine town that was devastated by a powerful earthquake pleaded Thursday for helicopters to transport food to stave off hunger in several landslide-isolated villages. – Associated Press
Two leading House Republicans are meeting with Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly opposition leader this week as she travels to Washington at a time when China is scrutinizing the Trump administration’s posture toward the self-ruled island it views as its own. – Associated Press
Gearoid Reidy writes: These days, however, more countries see a stronger Japan not as a danger, but a counterweight to China’s actions and growing US untrustworthiness. And Tokyo is also getting better at its own messaging: Koizumi’s speech, delivered in English, is the kind of front-foot diplomacy that the country needs more of, while the Takaichi administration has been clapping back at the claims with smarter, more pointed social media posts. Beijing will doubtless keep summoning the specter of past militarism. But much of Asia stopped believing in ghost stories a long time ago. – Bloomberg
Europe
For over three years, Jared Kushner has striven to build a set of luxury hotels and resorts in a corner of Eastern Europe that U.S. investors typically overlook. It isn’t going well. In the past two weeks, a proposed Kushner development on an environmentally protected beach in Albania has exploded as a political issue in the country. – Wall Street Journal
The U.K. confronted a second bout of anti-immigration riots in a week after a Sudanese asylum seeker allegedly stabbed a man on a street in Belfast, showing how the issue, which has drawn criticism from the Trump administration, has become a significant flashpoint in the country’s politics. – Wall Street Journal
French and Swiss authorities will impose a week of pandemic-like border restrictions as U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders attend a G7 summit starting Monday while organizers fear potentially violent protests. – Associated Press
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Sagrada Familia Basilica as a masterpiece of “stones, colors and light,” as he marked the centenary of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí, with a Mass on Wednesday to inaugurate its final soaring sandcastle spire. – Associated Press
European leaders aim to use meetings with Donald Trump at a Group of Seven summit in France next week to get the US President on board with plans to push for new peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter. – Bloomberg
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić says relations between Serbia and the United States have undergone a dramatic transformation under President Donald Trump, a shift he says has changed public perceptions in a country where memories of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign remain deeply rooted. – Fox News
The National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP) is facing intense backlash after it was revealed that a policy paper it promoted contained what critics say are “antisemitic lies,” while also facing accusations that the organization is “infiltrated or controlled by Islamists.” – Fox News
Europe’s most ambitious effort to build a homegrown sixth-generation fighter jet has collapsed, dealing a major blow to the continent’s push for military independence just as NATO allies pledge historic increases in defense spending. – Fox News
NATO allies on Wednesday discussed a proposal for an accelerated drone-buying program, just days after a Russian drone crash caused multiple injuries in Romania. – Politico
EU defense chief Andrius Kubilius is exploring a new initiative for countries to jointly fund military capabilities like air-to-air refueling now provided by the U.S., three European Parliament officials told POLITICO. – Politico
The European Union is scrambling to deepen its tech ties with countries such as Brazil and South Korea to offset the bloc’s reliance on U.S. technology. – Politico
In recent months, leaders of Europe’s far-right nationalist parties have scrambled to distance themselves from the increasingly unpopular policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. – Politico
Rupert Lowe denies there’s anything personal about his drive to make Restore Britain a nationwide force — and squeeze his rival Nigel Farage from the right. – Politico
Mujtaba Rahman writes: Truth is, Starmer won’t be safe even if Burnham fails in Makerfield either. In that case, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner or Energy Secretary Ed Miliband would likely emerge as leading candidates on the so-called soft left to replace him, and Streeting would position himself as the leading centrist contender. The result would be a divisive leadership contest Labour would prefer to avoid. Politics is often slow until it suddenly starts moving fast. Westminster appears to be approaching one of those moments. If Burnham wins in Makerfield, his route to the top job will be clearer than ever. – Politico
Africa
The U.S. plan to open an Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya was meant to help contain the outbreak by isolating American patients exposed to the virus. Instead, it has caused an outbreak of violence and political rancor, with hundreds of Kenyans taking to the streets in protest. – New York Times
Carers and medics said that after her death six other babies were identified as suspected Ebola cases at the orphanage of 69 children in Bunia – a city in Ituri province at the epicentre of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. – Reuters
Gunmen killed three people in a school attack on Wednesday in Nigeria’s central Kogi state, the police said, adding that joint security forces repelled the assault following a gun battle. – Reuters
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday it would provide an additional $20 million to help fight the Ebola outbreak in Africa, bringing its total direct support to more than $220 million. – Reuters
Three laboratories in Democratic Republic of Congo have run out of supplies to test for Ebola, the World Health Organization said, as the outbreak of the dangerous Bundibugyo species of the virus continues to grow. – Reuters
Rights groups on Wednesday denounced the arrest of two prominent journalists in Mali in the past two days, the latest crackdown on freedom of expression by the West African country’s military leadership during a security crisis. – Associated Press
The Americas
Four months after a spasm of cartel violence paralyzed Guadalajara and the surrounding state of Jalisco, Mexican authorities are mounting a multimillion-dollar security dragnet to convince the world the tournament is safe. Guadalajara is particularly sensitive, located in the namesake state of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel—one of the biggest, most violent organized-crime groups in the country. – Wall Street Journal
The three SUVs pulled into the gas station parking lot, one after the other, Iranian flags taped onto the hoods and fluttering from the windows. […] Like so many in Tijuana, the Iranian national soccer team was never supposed to end up here. They originally had planned to spend the month across the border, in Tucson, preparing to play their World Cup matches in Los Angeles and Seattle. – Washington Post
President Trump on Wednesday threw nascent trade talks with Mexico and Canada into disarray, saying he wasn’t sure he would renew the pact that has shaped the North American economy over the past three decades. – New York Times
Colombian lawmakers are considering a proposal that would temporarily suspend President Gustavo Petro from office amid an investigation into allegations that he improperly intervened in the country’s presidential election. – Fox News
United States
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was planning to hold his first meeting with a foreign leader this week, but the Trump administration effectively nixed it in a behind-the-scenes effort that marks a new flashpoint between the mayor and President Donald Trump, said four people familiar with the matter. – Washington Post
A group of college-aged activists were arrested after they allegedly waged a year-long campaign of intimidation, vandalism and threats against University of Michigan officials, businesses and Jewish-linked institutions to pressure them into cutting ties with Israel, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Wednesday. – Fox News
Multiple countries are pitching the Trump administration on how they can offer alternatives to the energy crisis the Iran war has sparked over the Strait of Hormuz. – Politico
Jon B. Alterman writes: Iran’s strategic patience rests on a bet: American unilateralism will do Tehran’s work for it, fragmenting the coalition that would otherwise make U.S. pressure decisive. That wager is not irrational. Trust in the United States has eroded, and a zig-zagging approach to the Iran conflict threatens to erode it further still. Reversing that erosion with Gulf partners, with Europe and with Asia is not a diplomatic courtesy. It is a strategic necessity. Sherman was right that you do not need to trust an adversary to negotiate with one. But to win, you do need to win the trust of your friends. – The Hill
Cybersecurity
When the 19-year-old Canadian was pulled over in a speeding Rolls-Royce in Miami in March, the smell of cannabis billowing out and the amphetamines in his bag were the least of his worries. For two years, court documents show, Trenton Johnston had built a lavish lifestyle through cryptocurrency fraud. – New York Times
Canada is joining a growing list of countries seeking to protect young people from harm online by restricting their access to social media platforms. – New York Times
Late last year, Australia became the first country in the world to institute a nationwide ban on children younger than 16 having social media accounts. – New York Times
Chinese propagandists have been trying to use OpenAI’s flagship chat to gin up opposition to Donald Trump’s tariffs and intervene in American debates over data centers and AI, OpenAI said in a report published on Wednesday. – Reuters
The concern centered on the U.K.’s use of secret Technical Capability Notices under the Investigatory Powers Act, which critics say could make U.S. companies weaken encryption or create “backdoors” weaken encryption or create “backdoors” while preventing firms from disclosing requests without U.K. government approval. – Fox News
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Thursday backed a testing regime for frontier AI models that would allow governments to block or deter deployment if an independent third-party auditor deems it too risky for public release. – Politico
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Wednesday ordered federal agencies to prioritize vulnerabilities based on four criteria, as part of push to “patch smarter, not harder.” – Cyberscoop
Liaquat Ahamed writes: No one doubts that American technology companies, with their unrivaled ability to marshal capital and talent, have turbocharged the A.I. revolution. But bringing A.I. to fruition has required more than just American technological prowess. It has required the semiconductors of TSMC and Samsung, the lithography machines of ASML, the power infrastructure of European engineering firms, the copper and rare earths extracted from emerging markets. The bull market so many think they understand is smaller than the bull market that actually exists. The rest of the world has been writing one of the more remarkable chapters in modern financial history — and we have largely been too busy watching our own screens to notice. – New York Times
Defense
The Trump administration plans to meet executives from the biggest U.S. defense contractors at the White House as soon as next week to discuss accelerating production, as U.S. strikes on Iran and other military operations draw down supplies, sources said. – Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned the government of Cuba on Wednesday against seeking weapons that could strike the U.S. homeland or the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, saying it would invite a confrontation Havana could not withstand. – Reuters
The U.S. Navy has established a naval support activity in Western Australia, the service announced, the latest move designed to enhance security cooperation between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. – Defense News