Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Second day of Israel-Lebanon talks begin in Washington, US official tells 'Post' JPost Editorial: Israel's alliance with America is vital, but Jerusalem can't outsource its security Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli: Israel sees a grave strategic mistake unfolding in Iran IAEA chief says Iran inspections will go ahead, working on modalities Iran’s top diplomat speaks with Hamas official Ukraine to conduct preemptive attacks on facilities Russia uses for war, Zelenskiy says WSJ’s Jillian Kay Melchior: Ukraine’s new air-power paradigm A Turkish arms sale leads to a face-off between Trump and Congress Senior Islamic State leader killed by US airstrike on northwest Syria China’s assertions of authority over foreign ships near Taiwan draw U.S. rebuke Trump’s meeting with senators turns fiery over Iran war How a Crypto exchange became a major hub for illicit Iranian cashIn The News
Israel
The biggest casualty of the U.S.-Iran deal may not be Israel’s Iran strategy, but the political brand Benjamin Netanyahu spent decades building as the Israeli leader who could uniquely bend Washington to his will on Iran, analysts, former U.S. officials and diplomats say. – Reuters
An Israeli military official said on Thursday a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon after a vehicle had overturned. The official described the incident as an accident. – Reuters
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel will be the first country in the world to solve the global issue of explosive drones during a speech at the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel Conference on Wednesday. – Jerusalem Post
A second day of Israel-Lebanon negotiations began in Washington on Wednesday, a US State Department official told The Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post
Israeli officials assess that even if US pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw from the areas held by the IDF in southern Lebanon may intensify at this stage, a full withdrawal is almost impossible for him politically. – Jerusalem Post
The majority of Israelis view the agreement between the US and Iran negatively and feel that the war’s objectives were not fully achieved, according to the results of a Jewish People Policy Institute survey published on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Wednesday that Israel and Lebanon were discussing a potential scale-back of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon as part of the negotiations mediated by President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington this week. – Times of Israel
A Hamas terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an airstrike this week, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday. Akram Abu Madi, a member of Hamas’s military wing, recently acted to restore the terror group’s capabilities and advance attacks against IDF troops and Israeli civilians, the military said. – Times of Israel
Editorial: Every Israeli government should ask what happens when Washington is distracted, hesitant, divided, or pursuing a deal that Jerusalem sees as dangerous. Every defense budget should be tested against that question. Every procurement decision should consider whether it increases Israeli freedom of action or narrows it. The US will remain Israel’s most important ally. That relationship must continue to flourish. Israel should work with Washington, consult with Washington, and strengthen every channel of cooperation. But the lesson, from Ben-Gurion to Begin, remains clear: Allies are essential, and responsibility for Israel’s security belongs to Israel alone. That principle should guide doctrine, budgets, procurement, diplomacy, and national debate. It is the price of sovereignty. – Jerusalem Post
Amichai Chikli writes: The lesson of the past 2½ years — and indeed, of the past quarter-century — is simple: Stability can’t be gained by empowering those who reject the foundations of the free world. Peace can’t be bought by rewarding regimes and movements that treat diplomacy as a tactical break between rounds of aggression. And the goal of Israel’s destruction can’t be treated as a legitimate grievance. It is a central ideological obsession — and a civilizational threat. Israel will continue to speak the truth plainly. The Middle East punishes wishful thinking without mercy. It will do so again if the West continues to mistake Islamism for pragmatism, appeasement for diplomacy and silence for stability. – Washington Post
Dave Zimmermann writes: Mainstream news media’s extensive traditional and social media coverage of Israel since Oct. 7, 2023, has been instrumental in shaping global public opinion about the only Jewish-majority nation in the world. Although many believe they are consuming factual news, it can be argued a significant portion of the public have been fed a steady diet of biased, incomplete, and often demonstrably false reporting. This “information laundering” has fueled, and continues to fuel, the global rise in radical anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism since 2023. – Washington Examiner
Leonard Grunstein writes: The US can and should play a vital role in brokering a final peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. It should also publicly support their collective efforts utterly to defeat, totally disarm and dissolve FTO Hezbollah; so that Hezbollah and its cohorts can never prey on Americans, Lebanese, Israelis or anyone else. If the terrorist Iranian Regime demurs, then they have demonstrated yet again that they are not genuinely interested in bona fide peace. Whatever the case, the Iranian Regime cannot be allowed to dictate the US’ relationship with its faithful and stalwart allies, like Israel, nor how it deals with FTO’s. The stakes are high and illusions of peace are no substitute for real peace. – Arutz Sheva
Iran
Dressed in a pink top and acid-washed jeans, the young woman in the video hardly looked the part of a pious loyalist to Iran’s clerical rulers, standing alongside a crowd of women draped in black from head to toe. – New York Times
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it may never be known who was at fault for a deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran on February 28, the first day of the Iran war, that killed scores of children. – Reuters
The U.N. nuclear watchdog will carry out inspections in Iran soon following an interim peace accord between the United States and Iran, its chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday, although Tehran later indicated that access to key sites remained contingent on a final agreement and sanctions lifting. – Reuters
U.S. host officials “caused problems” for Iran forward Mehdi Taremi and assistant coach Saeed Alhoei, delaying their delegation as they travelled to Seattle for the World Cup match against Egypt, Iran’s football federation said on Wednesday. – Reuters
President Donald Trump said tolls on ships sailing in the Strait of Hormuz would be a red line issue for the US in negotiations with Iran. – Bloomberg
Shippers can transit the Strait of Hormuz via Iranian or Omani-and US-coordinated waters, according to the International Maritime Organization, part of a broader plan to evacuate stranded vessels. – Bloomberg
Foreign policy experts are advising the Trump administration to continue to carefully watch Iran’s behavior over its terror proxy Hezbollah — a group with American blood on its hands. – Fox News
Iran is reportedly seeking to include Gaza in its discussions with the United States in an attempt to end hostilities in the war-torn enclave, as the regime seeks to preserve its regional proxy network, ramp up pressure on Israel, and influence ceasefire negotiations. – Algemeiner
Yahya Hosseini Panjaki, commander of the Iranian hacker group “Handala,” was killed in a targeted strike, reportedly carried out by Israel, during the recent war in Iran. – Arutz Sheva
Tehran on Wednesday sharply criticized Washington over its public handling of the recent post-war framework, with Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei claiming that conflicting messaging from American leadership threatens to compound a deep-seated history of distrust. – Arutz Sheva
Iran’s top diplomat spoke with a senior official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas regarding talks between Iran and the United States, state television reported on Wednesday. – Alarabiya
Karl Rove writes: No president should fight or conclude a war because polls turn south. Where would Lincoln’s numbers have been after Union defeats in 1862? Or Churchill’s after the fall of France in 1940 or reverses in North Africa before El Alamein in 1942? Mr. Trump observed in 2020 that “Iran never won a war but never lost a negotiation.” Does he really want to help Iran add another win to that column? The president runs the risk of disappointing supporters without converting critics. That would be a needless political and foreign-policy disaster. – Wall Street Journal
Lionel Laurent writes: What else could the EU do to boost influence in a region where it’s lost so much of it? Ashton suggests engaging more with the Gulf economies, themselves coming to terms with the impact of a war that’s shattered complacency, and calls for diversified defense partnerships. She also says the EU must “realize its own power” when it’s united, as seen with regards to Ukraine. Easier said than done — but worth it to avoid a Versailles redux. – Bloomberg
Aaron Kliegman writes: Like Trump, the US officials currently leading the negotiations — JD Vance, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff — don’t recognize the importance of ideology and seem to think they can find the key to unlock Tehran’s recalcitrance, if only they can figure out Iran’s “interests.” But this is a regime that rapes and tortures nurses to the point of needing their intestines or uterus removed just for trying to help fellow Iranians who were shot while protesting. And many, though not all, of the leaders of this regime who oversee such horror do so with the confidence that the god of Islam is on their side. The US administration has left the Iranian people at the mercy of this evil. Even if they and much of the media forget what is happening inside Iran, we certainly won’t. – Algemeiner
Russia and Ukraine
The toll of war is visible on Jr. Lt. Ihor Vizirenko. He has a facial tic that he blames on his concussions and a limp stemming from back problems. – Wall Street Journal
Ukraine will carry out preemptive attacks on facilities Russia is using for its war, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address on Wednesday, as Kyiv expands strikes on energy infrastructure in an attempt to force Moscow into talks. – Reuters
The deputy leader of Russia’s Yabloko party, which opposes the war in Ukraine, was convicted on Wednesday of spreading lies about the Russian army and jailed for seven years, in a verdict he said showed public dissent had become illegal. – Reuters
Russia wants to know if Donald Trump has really changed his stance on the Ukraine war after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested at this month’s G7 summit that the U.S. president had done so, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Ukrainian forces struck a major natural gas processing plant and two key satellite communications centers in their latest nighttime attacks on Russia, Ukraine’s General Staff said Wednesday. – Associated Press
The next evolution of attack drones like Russia’s Shaheds will feature AI that allows the drone to independently recognize targets and choose to strike them, said one of Ukraine’s top drone analysts. – Business Insider
Ukrainian forces are relentlessly targeting Russian supply lines, both overland routes and bridges, around occupied Crimea with drones. Russian forces are, in turn, throwing up smoke screens to shield a key bridge from attack, new satellite images provided by commercial satellite imagery company Vantor show. – Business Insider
Ukraine wants its naval drones to detain commercial vessels in the Black Sea rather than destroying them, a commander in Kyiv’s military intelligence agency told Business Insider. – Business Insider
Jillian Kay Melchior writes: Ukraine got a prime opening in February, when SpaceX limited Russia’s access to Starlink, disrupting military communications. Additionally, Ukrainian soldiers are now experienced enough to carry out complicated combined-arms operations, a vital skill for midrange strikes. […] ISW says Ukraine now has the advantage and the initiative over Russia for midrange strike capability. This increases costs and risks for the Kremlin while weakening Russia’s negotiating position. – Wall Street Journal
Elena Davlikanova and Arne Bård Dalhaug write: A new European defense alliance would allow Europe to get moving on Ukrainian defense integration ahead of either EU enlargement or NATO accession. The objective would be territorial defense, a common defense market, joint capability development, and eventually common structures capable of acting independently when necessary. Europe currently has only two armies on the continent with extensive experience in modern large-scale warfare: Russia’s and Ukraine’s. One represents the threat. The other is its solution. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Pekka Virkki writes: If Europe is genuinely considering renewed dialogue with the Kremlin, the path ahead is full of pitfalls, some more visible than others. The same is true of plans to turn the EU into a genuine hard power and a more fertile territory for defense, technology, and intelligence efforts. In both cases, there is no excuse for failing to learn from the past. Appeasement takes many forms, and Russia has repeatedly demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt, often cloaking hostile influence operations in the language of peace, free trade, multilateralism, and liberal integration. Europe’s ability to look beyond these slogans, resist short-term business interests, and rigorously scrutinize Russian networks of influence may determine whether the mistakes of the past are repeated or avoided. – Center for European Policy Analysis
Can Kasapoğlu writes: Kyiv says the platform already covers more than 115 captured Russian systems across 79 categories, including assets such as the Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile and the T-90 main battle tank. Verified users of the platform can also request physical access to captured hardware for inspection, disassembly, or destructive testing. This innovation will almost certainly accelerate the development of new countermeasures against Russian weapons. It will be worth monitoring how the TrophyLab project is received by Ukraine’s partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ahead of the alliance’s July 2026 summit. – Hudson Institute
Turkey
The Trump administration is expected to override a decision by a Democratic lawmaker who is blocking a proposed $750 million sale of jet engines to Turkey over concerns about the country’s ties to Russia. – Wall Street Journal
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that he would “most likely” hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump when the U.S. leader comes to Ankara for a NATO summit next month. – Reuters
U.S. Vice President JD Vance indicated on Wednesday that a review was under way to see how the United States could sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets given Ankara’s 2019 acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defense systems. – Reuters
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that work was underway on a legal framework that would speed up the disbandment of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and that it would be put on parliament’s agenda without much delay. – Reuters
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who he suggested could have entered the war on the side of Iran because he doesn’t like Israel. – Times of Israel
Gulf States
As they sipped their beers, Dubai residents said Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, and his often erratic conduct over the course of it, had threatened the stability of the United Arab Emirates, a place they had come to do business, and tarnished their view of him. – Washington Post
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Gulf Arab leaders on Wednesday, seeking to reassure them about a preliminary U.S.-Iran deal that has left some of their most pressing concerns unresolved. – New York Times
The Bahraini government has imposed strict rules on how a key Shiite religious day is commemorated on Thursday, the latest measures the Gulf country has taken against its Shiite Muslim citizens amid sectarian tensions over the Iran war. – New York Times
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Bahrain officials on Thursday on the final leg of a trip to the Middle East where he has sought to sell the Trump administration’s preliminary Iran accord to skeptical Gulf Arab allies. – Reuters
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait resumed operations on Wednesday during a visit by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, months after services were suspended in March by Iranian attacks. – Reuters
A group of investors including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has sought EU subsidy approval for its $55 billion acquisition of videogame developer Electronic Arts a European Commission filing showed on Wednesday. – Reuters
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani visited Muscat on Wednesday for talks with Oman on initiating negotiations involving Iran, Iraq and Gulf Arab states on the Strait of Hormuz, a diplomat briefed on the talks told Reuters. – Reuters
Major energy exporters the U.S. and Qatar urged the European Union on Wednesday to rewrite planned methane emissions rules for oil and gas imports, warning that the policy could disrupt fuel supplies to Europe. – Reuters
Middle East & North Africa
Three stranded tankers carrying 5 million barrels of crude oil were exiting the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, with two heading to Asia, shipping data showed, as the interim deal between Iran and the U.S. unlocks more supply stuck in the Gulf, bringing down global prices. – Reuters
Ships have begun sailing through the Strait of Hormuz under a new scheme by the U.N.’s shipping agency to evacuate vessels trapped there by the conflict, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Oil prices extended their decline on Thursday to near levels last seen before the start of the Iran war, as rising supply expectations from the Middle East outweighed demand concerns. – Reuters
Iraq will consider all available options if its OPEC quota is not significantly increased and has weighed leaving the producer group, sources with knowledge of Iraqi oil policy told Reuters. – Reuters
Authorities based in the eastern part of divided Libya have banned entry for people from four nearby African countries, a move likely meant to stem the influx of migrants seeking to set off for Europe from the country’s northern coast. – Associated Press
An airstrike on northwest Syria last week killed a senior member of the Islamic State group, the U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday. Ali Husayn al-Ulaywi was killed on Friday as part of ongoing U.S. efforts to ‘’disrupt and eliminate terrorists seeking to attack Americans abroad or the U.S. homeland,” a CENTCOM statement said. – Associated Press
The Netherlands is expanding its military assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in a strategic bid to fortify Beirut’s control over southern Lebanon and suppress the influence of Tehran’s terror proxy, Hezbollah, according to a Wednesday report by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. – Arutz Sheva
Hamdi Malik writes: Keeping in mind that the main vulnerability of militias like AAH and KIA is their desire to be treated as normal political actors, Washington should use this opportunity to press them through the Iraqi judiciary and other institutions. Getting them to give up their weapons and stop helping Iran bypass sanctions will take time, but a deliberate, sustained strategy can yield gradual rewards. Notably, this process should be pursued regardless of what happens with the latest deal between the United States and Iran. Although the potential lifting of sanctions against Tehran could change the regime’s calculus about U.S. pressure on Iraq, the picture is still murky, and follow-on negotiations are likely to take months. – Washington Institute
Korean Peninsula
A North Korean soldier escaped across the Korean demilitarized zone, one of the world’s most fortified places, demonstrating that even Kim Jong Un’s intensified surveillance can’t completely stop his people from fleeing the regime. – Wall Street Journal
South Korean semiconductor shares rallied on Thursday after U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology’s quarterly results and forecast beat expectations, boosting optimism over AI-driven chip shortages. – Reuters
A South Korean court ordered the arrest of Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, over allegations he orchestrated an illegal scheme for followers to join a political party, news reports said. – Reuters
In late May, a South Korean attack submarine slipped into a harbor in Victoria, British Columbia — a floating sales pitch for one of the largest military contracts in Canadian history. – Bloomberg
China
A new campaign by Chinese coast-guard vessels to exercise authority over foreign commercial ships on the Pacific side of Taiwan’s main island drew a round of rebukes Wednesday from the U.S. and other Western countries. – Wall Street Journal
China has been contacting U.S. states and private firms to discourage engagement with Taiwan and mischaracterising U.S. policy, but links with Taiwan should be expanded, three U.S. government departments said in joint letters. – Reuters
Hong Kong police have arrested two owners of a bookshop suspected of displaying and selling publications with “seditious” content, according to a Hong Kong government statement released on Thursday. – Reuters
Taiwan expressed its thanks after the U.S., Britain, France and Germany raised the alarm about the Chinese Coast Guard and other activities off the island’s east coast, with the government saying freedom of navigation was essential to global trade. – Reuters
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for the early restoration of normal navigation through the Strait of Hormuz to help ensure the stability of global industrial and supply chains, state media Xinhua reported on Wednesday. – Reuters
The US has decided against sending senior officials to an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Macau, blaming what it called China’s “discriminatory” visa rules on American diplomats. – Bloomberg
China has built a new US destroyer replica at a remote missile-testing site in its northwestern desert, satellite imagery shows, a target analysts say could be used to test anti-ship weapons. – Bloomberg
South Asia
Lawyers for Gautam Adani on Wednesday urged a U.S. judge to formally dismiss criminal charges against the Indian billionaire, after the Justice Department said last month it would no longer pursue the prosecution. – Reuters
Indian shares rose on Thursday, tracking gains in most of Asia after crude oil prices fell to pre-Iran war levels as tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz following an initial peace deal between the U.S. and Iran. – Reuters
A key road named after U.S. President Donald Trump in India’s opposition-ruled tech hub of Hyderabad has drawn criticism from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, which dismissed the move as “hypocrisy”. – Reuters
China and India are taking steps to get relations back on track after deadly clashes along their disputed Himalayan frontier in 2020, with the two sides in May discussing how to settle their territorial disagreements. – Bloomberg
Asia
The civil war in Myanmar has churned for five years, with the military finding ever more creative ways to kill people who are fighting for democracy and an end to ethnic repression. But the conflict has garnered little attention compared with those in the Middle East and Ukraine. – New York Times
Australia faces multi-faceted threats from autocratic regimes, hackers and antisemitic extremists that present a systemic challenge to national security and are degrading the security environment, the country’s spy chief said. – Reuters
Myanmar’s newly appointed government appeared “more open” to suggestions compared to the previous regime, Malaysia’s foreign minister Mohamad Hasan said on Thursday, as countries in Southeast Asia continued efforts to engage with the war-torn nation’s military-backed administration. – Reuters
Vietnam’s state utility EVN called on firms and households to conserve energy on Thursday to ease the strains on the country’s power grid, with intense heat driving electricity consumption to record highs. – Reuters
U.S. defence firm Anduril Industries is in talks to acquire Nissan Motor’s Oppama assembly plant near Tokyo as the maker of autonomous weapons looks to build military drones in Japan, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. – Reuters
A powerful earthquake struck off Japan’s northern coast on Thursday, but the country’s meteorological agency said there was no danger of a tsunami. The quake had a magnitude of 7.2 and occurred off the eastern coast of Iwate, upgraded from an initial reading of 6.9, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. – Associated Press
Taiwan’s executive branch pitched a $6.6 billion budget last week for the procurement of more than 200,000 domestically-made unmanned systems designed to defend the island’s shores. – USNI News
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has received four solar-powered Triton unmanned underwater and surface vehicles from the United States to strengthen its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The US Embassy in the Philippines announced the deliveries on 22 June, saying the systems are worth PHP754 million (USD12 million). – Janes
Europe
Germany said it had scrapped a €15.2 billion project (equivalent to $17.2 billion) to build its biggest military ship since the end of World War II in the latest sign of the country’s rapidly changing priorities as it embarks on a massive rearmament effort. – Wall Street Journal
On Wednesday, French officials announced the country’s first case of Ebola from this outbreak — a doctor who had traveled to Congo on a humanitarian mission. The doctor was being treated at a special medical facility and was reported to be in stable condition, according to a statement from the French Health Ministry. – Washington Post
European leaders reaffirmed on Wednesday their commitment to a stronger defence partnership ahead of next month’s NATO summit in Ankara, following a series of spats with U.S. President Donald Trump and tensions among the main European members. – Reuters
As Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community readies for the annual Pride march in Budapest on Saturday, activists and members of the community want to see their rights restored after an erosion during Viktor Orban’s former government that ruled for 16 years. – Reuters
Diplomats running the International Criminal Court’s oversight body have decided that prosecutor Karim Khan had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior staff member and should be fired, two copies of its decision showed. – Reuters
In his final weeks as Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, has repeatedly warned how “dangerous and volatile” the world is becoming. Andy Burnham is on a collision course with it. – Bloomberg
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte played to President Donald Trump’s love of praise and splashy visuals during a visit to Washington that was aimed at easing the US leader’s anger over alliance nations’ reluctance to help with the campaign against Iran. – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump was dismissive of Andy Burnham, who is set to become the next UK prime minister, saying he was unfamiliar with him and has only heard that he is “extremely liberal.” – Bloomberg
The US ambassador to Italy moved to further ease tensions between the two allies, saying relations are “fine” in the aftermath of a public clash between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Donald Trump. – Bloomberg
Switzerland is opening contract talks for a new long-range air defense system, while scaling back a planned sales-tax increase intended to help fund its military buildup. – Bloomberg
Hungary plans to declassify communist-era secret services files as part of freshly elected Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s push for the country to come to terms with its past. – Bloomberg
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expects talks with the US over Greenland to yield a deal by the end of the year, he told local newspaper Politiken. – Bloomberg
France wants the United States to reduce its military footprint in Europe in a predictable way, amid abrupt announcements of American troop and asset withdrawals. – Politico
Agon Maliqi writes: The record of Gen Z protests worldwide has been decidedly mixed, and Albania has no elections until 2029. But these particular demonstrations have done one important thing: They have dented the charismatic prime minister’s reputation as someone who is always able to talk his way out of a situation. His attempts to mock protest participants as out-of-touch influencers and to co-opt their symbol by wryly wearing a flamingo T-shirt have, at best, fallen flat. A rising generation is figuring out how to mobilize public discontent into electoral politics. And for the first time in his long career, Rama seems unable to have the last word. That may cost him yet. – Washington Post
Adrian Wooldridge writes: Perhaps he spent his Manchester years producing a radical but realistic blueprint for government, one that combines growth with inclusion and devolution with national purpose. Perhaps running a city is better training for leading the country than working in Westminster: Some of America’s best presidents started out as governors. But Britain’s mayors have limited powers and managing a metropolis is very different from running a state. Burnham has no experience of foreign policy. Unfortunately, I reckon the result will be much the same as it was for the previous spasms: short-lived enthusiasm followed by long-term disappointment and eventual disintegration. The problem is not just Burnham: Our system for selecting and promoting politicians is designed for failure. – Bloomberg
James Jeffrey writes: The main challenge to this informal international partnership in the months ahead is not outside threat but internal disunity. Arab states are somewhat divided on approaches to both their adversary, Iran, but also their informal ally, Israel, as long as it continues its oppressive policies in the West Bank. Europe faces populist uprisings over immigration policy, aggressive measures to address climate change and social welfare due to poor economic performance. At the same time, it faces an ideological challenge from a US currently governed by people who sympathise with that European populist upsurge. – Al Majalla
Africa
The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it has completed reviews under several arrangements with the Ivory Coast, unlocking an immediate disbursement of $832.8 million. – Reuters
The White House is seeking more than $1.4 billion in new funds from Congress to address the widening Ebola virus outbreak, including $800 million for humanitarian crisis response, according to a Trump administration official. – Reuters
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has increased to 1,118, including 291 deaths, government data showed on Wednesday. – Reuters
Zimbabwe’s upper house of parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to extend presidential terms from five to seven years, which will allow current President Emmerson Mnangagwa to remain in office until 2030. – Reuters
Zimbabwe is considering using its vast natural resources to fund road and railway construction projects with China, finance minister Mthuli Ncube said on Wednesday. – Reuters
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo is still outpacing response efforts, and frontline health workers there face very risky conditions, World Health Organization officials said on Wednesday. – Reuters
UNICEF and global vaccine group Gavi said on Wednesday they are seeking information from developers and manufacturers on plans for a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. – Reuters
Al-Nazir Al-Sadig sought safety in Egypt from the civil war in Sudan. Instead, the 18-year-old died of pneumonia after more than three weeks in a squalid Cairo jail, where he had suffered beatings and extortion at the hands of other inmates, his friends and relatives said. – Reuters
Paramilitary attacks on a strategic city of a half-million people in central Sudan have raised international alarm that another round of mass violence against civilians is being planned as the country’s war surges into its fourth year. – Associated Press
Police in Kenya set up roadblocks on Thursday to prevent access to the capital, Nairobi, ahead of a planned demonstration marking two years since at least 60 people died in anti-government protests that also saw protesters storming the parliament. – Associated Press
The leader of the second-biggest party in South Africa’s governing coalition has taken a strong stand against xenophobic violence and called on the authorities to protect immigrants who are being targeted by protesters. – Bloomberg
The Americas
Two powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela on Wednesday, causing buildings to collapse in the capital of Caracas and rattling other cities, as videos posted online showed people running for safety. – Wall Street Journal
Keiko Fujimori’s victory in her fourth bid for Peru’s presidency returns a polarizing political dynasty to power, reviving deep divisions that have long split the South American country. – Reuters
Ricardo de Lima Filho, a 34-year-old video game translator, has voted for left-wing presidential candidates in every election he can remember, including President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers Party in the 2022 runoff. – Reuters
Brazil plans to raise up to 5 billion yuan ($735 million) with its first-ever issuance of panda bonds, Finance Minister Dario Durigan told Reuters on Thursday, marking the largest debut of yuan-denominated debt by a foreign nation in China. – Reuters
The U.S. said late on Wednesday it was in touch with Venezuelan authorities following strong earthquakes and was mobilizing assistance for the South American nation. – Reuters
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez on Wednesday declared a state of emergency after strong back-to-back earthquakes and nearly two dozen aftershocks shook the country, collapsing buildings in capital Caracas and elsewhere. – Reuters
Colombia’s new right-wing president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella said Wednesday that his country and Israel will share a relationship “like never before” once he takes office. – Agence France-Presse
Chile’s Senate floor narrowly gave initial approval to President José Antonio Kast’s economic omnibus bill despite calls to delay the vote, setting up a tense next stage as lawmakers prepare for article-by-article debate. – Bloomberg
Colombian electoral authorities confirmed Abelardo de la Espriella as the winner of the nation’s presidential election after completing the legally-binding vote verification. – Bloomberg
For months, Delcy Rodríguez has been crisscrossing Venezuela atop a truck in what she describes as a pilgrimage. Motorcycles and cars follow her caravan in a scene that looks remarkably like the presidential campaign that opposition leader María Corina Machado ran less than two years ago. – Bloomberg
Connor Pfeiffer writes: Since the 2016 peace accord with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, successive Colombian governments have failed to bring state control to every corner of the country and fill the vacuum left by the demobilization of the FARC and paramilitary groups. FARC dissidents, the Ejército de Liberación Nacional, the Clan del Golfo, and other armed groups have stepped into that gap. Petro’s Total Peace policy, which attempted to negotiate peace accords with each of the armed groups at once and abandoned coca eradication, supercharged their rise. – Washington Examiner
North America
The Cuban government, responding to the country’s worst crisis in modern history, recently announced a sweeping economic restructuring. The package of 176 measures would allow more private enterprise and loosen the Cuban government’s grip on the island’s economic activity. – New York Times
Canada on Wednesday ramped up economic-development efforts in the Arctic, by indicating it is keen to back a proposed 500-mile highway through the north, and an export terminal designed to ship critical minerals abroad. – Wall Street Journal
A chief architect of the repressive security system that has kept Cuba’s Communist government in power for almost seven decades is dead. – Wall Street Journal
Norma Laguna’s daughter Idaly Juache was a striker for a soccer team in Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez, a stone’s throw from the Texas border. Two days after playing in her Sunday night game, in 2010, the 19-year-old went missing. – Reuters
Claudia Sheinbaum rarely speaks highly of other heads of state, but when it comes to Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, she doesn’t hold back. – Bloomberg
George F. Will writes: In January, Trump said, “Cuba is ready to fall.” Into what? Has Trump thought through his vow to “take care” of Cuba with a “friendly takeover” during “a little brief stopover”? Before he skittered away from demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” he jovially said of Cuba: A U.S. aircraft carrier will “stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say ‘Thank you very much. We give up.’” Such a cutup. Our Metternich from Midtown Manhattan is not intimidated by the aphorism that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. – Washington Post
United States
President Trump on Wednesday engaged in a fiery clash over the Iran war with one of his top Republican critics, just hours after the president blindsided lawmakers by insisting they pass legislation to tighten voter-eligibility rules before he would sign a bill focused on lowering housing costs. – Wall Street Journal
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday formally ended its hantavirus response, nearly two months after an outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic triggered an international effort to contain a rare strain that left three people dead and infected several others. – Wall Street Journal
Three International Criminal Court judges on Wednesday sued U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration over sanctions imposed on them last year, arguing the measures were unlawful. – Reuters
President Donald Trump centered himself and his policies as key to the future of American greatness as he turned an event tied to celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the US into a campaign-style rally. – Bloomberg
Editorial: The U.S. used to be the world’s leader in nuclear power. America pioneered the nuclear age, but that leadership has eroded. The White House notes that it took nearly 40 years for the U.S. to add as much nuclear capacity as another developed nation managed in just 10. As American nuclear power has slowed, other countries have stepped into the void. According to the White House, 87% of nuclear reactors installed worldwide since 2017 are based on designs from two foreign countries. Not only has the U.S. fallen behind on nuclear design, but it has also become dependent on foreign sources of uranium and uranium enrichment. – Washington Examiner
Cybersecurity
Earlier this year, crypto sleuths found an alarming series of transactions tied to two digital wallets controlled by the Central Bank of Iran. Tracing backward, investigators discovered the wallet’s funds were linked to $1.5 billion that North Korean hackers stole from the crypto exchange Bybit. – Wall Street Journal
Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 Security Technology has developed what it calls a domestic answer to Anthropic’s Mythos, it said on Wednesday, casting the U.S. model as a strategic cyber capability that China could not afford to lack. – Reuters
U.S. AI company Anthropic accused Alibaba the Chinese technology and e-commerce giant, of illicitly extracting its Claude AI model capabilities in what it said was the largest known attack of its kind on the company, according to a letter seen by Reuters. – Reuters
Defense
The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth up to $35 billion to make hundreds of Thaad interceptors a year to replenish U.S. stockpiles drawn down by the war with Iran. – Wall Street Journal
Gen. Chris Donahue seems to have done it all. He led the Army’s Delta Force commandos in Iraq and Syria when it took the fight to Islamic State militants and was the last man out when the troops he commanded at the 82nd Airborne Division were called in to secure the 2021 evacuation of U.S. personnel and Afghan allies from Kabul. – Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon reinstated its flu vaccine requirement for all military recruits on Wednesday after a flu outbreak sickened nearly 300 people at an Air Force base boot camp in Texas, reversing a policy put in place by War Secretary Pete Hegseth just two months ago. – Washington Examiner
Brett D. Schaefer and Danielle Pletka write: The original purpose behind the creation of UNDOF is no longer relevant to the facts on the ground. Israel controls and is sovereign over the Golan Heights and will retain control of the area. The Syrian government partner in the Agreement on Disengagement is ousted and its continuation in force is in question notwithstanding statements from the interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, reaffirming his government’s commitment to the 1974 agreement. The current authorities appear unable or unwilling to prevent abuses against minority populations, particularly the Druze, or effectively clamp down on terrorist groups in or transiting the country, both of which precipitated Israel’s expansion into the buffer zone. Should the US agree to continue a UN peacekeeping presence in Syria – not the recommended course of action – Washington should demand a reorientation focused on the internal instability in Syria, countering terrorism, and addressing long term development and humanitarian concerns. – American Enterprise Institute